When do they do that exactly?

[Melody]

I keep forgetting to turn my lights on in the tanks....lol. Then its dark in there already. Is it better for the plants to enter into their night state uninterupted, or can I still turn them on without a prob? Do they start the process as soon as the light starts to dim or is there a window there?

I don't want them to have mood swings or anything.:laugh:

[thegrandpoohbah]

Sounds like someone needs Santa to bring her some digital timers!

[Melody]

That's the profound advice of our resident plant guru?

I like it! In fact, my Mommy just asked me what I wanted. I sighed pathetically and said "Your Christmas cooking...", but I can change that!

Now poor ol' Mom isn't only stuck with me, but she's also fishless. What would I tell such a nice lady to look for and where? I need a wireless one that can run about 6 tanks or more ... ok, that's just greedy...lol. We're talking about Fredericton here - population nil, 2 fish stores, one is a chain.:rolleyes: I had to take my niece some healthy fish last year, which have been multiplying and multiplying and multiplying.... made my niece happy and irritated my Sister - the perfect gift. :biggrin:

ANYWAYS, back to the question - is it ok to turn them on after the tank has been dark? Does it stop the process? Hurt them in any way? Poor plants, stuck with me....

[thegrandpoohbah]

I would just leave the lights off and continue your normal lighting schedule the following day. They probably get enough ambient light to be able to survive a few days without added light. Of course, this is only a guess. But in the wild, plants have to go days at a time without direct sunlight when the weather is cloudy right?

As for the timer, how far apart are your tanks? You could get one timer and plug a power bar into it then run 6 light strips off of that. I have one made by Intermatic ($20 at Superstore if you can find them otherwise $30 from Rona). It is rated for 1475W, plenty of power to run multiple lights.

[Melody]

They're clear across the room from each other, or across from the 90G anyway. Otherwise, the livingroom is a 'no tank' zone. I turned the open Den into a fishroom/office of sorts. Of course, when I have incoming, the q-tanks are everywhere there's a surface, but that doesn't count...lol....but I digress...again ;) .

The majority are low light plants, except for some floaters, so I'm sure you're right. Thanks for the info/advice!

[Soggybottom]

Just finished covering "photoperiod" in class this week. Funny how similar growing chrysanthemums is to that other plant...

Turning the lights on and off at strange times is not going to do anything drastic. The plants will be very slightly "confused" but the effects would be negligible. A continued wacky schedule will keep the plants confused and growth will be affected, but one day is nothing.

There is only one situation where an unusual light period would mess things up. That is if you were trying to make a certain plant flower by artificially increasing night length, and accidentally let light in during the dark period. They do this with lots of greenhouse crops like chrysanthemums, and if the shading cloth is disturbed and light gets in even for a few seconds, the flowering process is delayed.
I doubt there are many aquatic plants that could use this kind of manipulation though, so I really wouldn't worry about it :)

[Melody]

Wacky is just how I do things...lol....but I'll try harder. Interesting about the flowering plants - I used to do that to get my Christmas Cactus to flower at Christmas rather than August like it did on its own.:rolleyes: