Tired of switching your aquarium lights on in the morning and off in the evening? We can understand that, and a simple timer can help. Tried and tested for years, this small analogue part regulates the CO2 supply as well as the lighting.
So why change anything? Let's turn the question around. You have been able to control your lighting at home in the same way for many years - by operating it manually.
But smart sockets and light switches are now finding their way into our homes. The smart home is no longer a pipe dream, it’s a real enrichment bringing a lot more opportunities beyond the core features of on/off and a timer. Not to mention the electricity savings and the effort and hassle of operating it.
It's the same with our aquariums. A computer that automatically regulates the lighting times, switches the light on and off and also enables effects such as sunrises, thunderstorms or clouds, even simulating different settings throughout the year. This is not only nice to look at, it’s also a significant enrichment for our fish and a big step in the direction of biotope-oriented and species-appropriate animal keeping.
The JBL LED SOLAR CONTROL is a control unit that can be integrated via the home Wifi network or controlled directly. Unlike many other control devices, all the settings have already been made for you and you can start right away with just a few additional settings. No programming and no hassle. The abundance of features may not be obvious at first glance, but it’s there and conveniently preset for you. If you still want to implement your ideas and settings individually, you can do this in "manual mode". We’ll explain this in another blog post whose link you’ll find at the end.
Selecting automatic programmes
When you open the JBL LED SOLAR app, you will immediately find five preset scenarios, the so-called themed aquariums, to suit your aquarium stock. Each of these setups has a fixed lighting time of 10 hours per day. Within this time, a sunrise and sunset of 30 minutes each is integrated. In the intervening lighting phase, strong sunshine hours and cloudy phases occur randomly and intensely according to a fixed proportion - following nature's example. Sun phases are always at least two hours at a time. The thunderstorm and lightning phase, occurring in one piece, is also random, with the frequency of the lightning decreasing towards the end. The settings of the various programmes differ not only in the colour of the light, but also in the intensity and duration of the sunshine hours, the frequency of the cloud / rain simulations, and also the preset lightning. The respective continents with dry and rainy seasons or the seasons serve as models. The lighting is thus modelled on nature. The length of the day is limited to 10 hours, even if this can vary greatly from continent to continent and season to season.
Did you know that in Germany the duration of sunshine hours has a range from 7 hours 28 minutes to just under 17 hours throughout the course of the year? The winter and summer solstices are representative of the two extremes.
To ensure an even plant growth in the aquarium and the associated prevention of algae, we have limited the day to 10 hours and interpreted the climate data of the continents by means of lighting intensities and cloud phases. This is not only easy on your wallet, but also ensures an increased stability of the aquarium ecosystem. A lighting duration of more than 10 hours is not recommended, as the plants then stop working under strong lighting. This effect can be recognised by the "folding up" of the leaves.
Colour effects?
All the features mentioned so far, such as thunderstorms, clouds and sunrises and sunsets, are possible with the JBL LED SOLAR NATUR , but without colour effects! These are created by expanding the lighting with the JBL LED SOLAR EFFECT and provide the visually beautiful dramaturgy.
The themed aquariums
Next we’ll give you a short outline and explanation of the different themed aquariums. Here you can see a comparison of the light colour, the hours of sunshine, the cloud phases and the duration of the thunderstorms.
Community aquarium
The community aquarium has a light colour of 4500 K.
It is a very balanced programme for all classic community aquariums. It includes a slight increase in sunshine hours in summer. The model is the tropical day with 10 hours of sun. It always provides the right light for vigorous plant growth and good colour rendering for your fish.
| parameter | min (h) | max (h) | average (h) |
|---|---|---|---|
| hours of sunshine | 7.0 | 9.0 | 7.9 |
| cloud phases | 1.0 | 3.0 | 2.1 |
| thunderstorms | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
The table refers to the yearly period of 365 days.
JBL Dreamscape®
You can find everything about this themed aquarium here: Aquascaping aquarium type JBL Dreamscape® .
The right programme for all aquascaping aquariums. With a light colour of 5000K, it really showcases your scape.
The high power light programme especially benefits heavily planted aquariums and is similar to the community aquarium programme, only with higher intensity. It’ll make your scape the centrepiece of your living room.
| parameter | min (h) | max (h) | average (h) |
|---|---|---|---|
| hours of sunshine | 8.0 | 9.0 | 8.4 |
| cloud phases | 1.0 | 2.0 | 1.6 |
| thunderstorms | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
The table refers to the yearly period of 365 days.
JBL Rio Pantanal®
You can find everything about this themed aquarium here: Jungle aquarium type JBL Rio Pantanal® .
Suitable for any jungle river with dense plant growth, the automatic programme Rio Pantanal ® is operated with a light colour of 4000K. Its model in the wild is the Pantanal in southwest Brazil, the home of angelfish, loricariids and neons. The South American fish and the local plant species have brilliant colour rendering, so let’s show off these jewels in all their colourful finery.
| parameter | min (h) | max (h) | average (h) |
|---|---|---|---|
| hours of sunshine | 4.5 | 8.0 | 5.9 |
| cloud phases | 2.0 | 5.5 | 4.1 |
| thunderstorms | 0.5 | 1.9 | 1.0 |
The table refers to the yearly period of 365 days.
JBL Malawi Rocks®
You can find everything about this themed aquarium here: Rocky reef aquarium type JBL Malawi Rocks® .
Modelled on the East African rift valley lakes (Malawi & Tanganyika), we used the climate data with a light colour of 6000K.
The colourful fish of the lakes resemble a coral reef and this effect is visually enhanced by the cold white light which brings out the colours. As these lakes only have a few and very robust plant species, the focus is not on plant growth but on the animals’ colour rendering and as little algae growth as possible.
| parameter | min (h) | max (h) | average (h) |
|---|---|---|---|
| hours of sunshine | 5.0 | 10.0 | 6.9 |
| cloud phases | 0.0 | 5.0 | 3.1 |
| thunderstorms | 0.0 | 1.5 | 0.6 |
The table refers to the yearly period of 365 days.
JBL Goldfish Paradise®
You can find everything about this themed aquarium here: Goldfish aquarium type JBL Goldfish Paradise® .
In a goldfish aquarium the focus is on showcasing the colour of the goldfish and of the popular veiltail breeds. With a colour temperature of 3500K, the plants also come into their own in terms of colour while receiving the light they need to grow. This automatic programme is inspired by climate data from southern China and is therefore absolutely authentic.
| parameter | min (h) | max (h) | average (h) |
|---|---|---|---|
| hours of sunshine | 4.0 | 8.5 | 5.9 |
| cloud phases | 1.5 | 6.0 | 4.1 |
| thunderstorms | 1.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 |
The table refers to the yearly period of 365 days.
Additional settings - as individual as you
Would you like a little more flexibility in the automatic programmes? For each of the programmes, the start time can be shifted. This means the light doesn’t have to start at 07:00 and end at 17:00 - you can change it. The start time and thus also the last ray of sunlight is your decision.
A lot of people have requested a lunch break, which was introduced into aquaristics more than 20 years ago as a "algae prevention” measure. There was never any real evidence for this working, but we’re happy to accommodate this request and can justify it as “clouding over”. In this way setting a lighting break does not extend the total lighting time of 10 h. It just dims down to the lowest level as if the clouds were covering the sun.
Since lightning can occur anytime in a 24-hour period, i.e. also at night, you have the option to deactivate the lightning at night. Should the thunderstorm occur during the day, it will run normally.
If you have previously illuminated your aquarium with a T5 or T8 fluorescent tube or are switching from a weaker LED lighting to the much brighter light of the JBL SOLAR LED, you can select the acclimatisation mode at the beginning. It helps your plants to adjust easily and without problems. Of course, every programme can also be selected without acclimatisation.
