Help needed...again..

[PheonixKingZ]

Hi, I will be leaving to attend my great grandmothers funeral in Kansas tomorrow, and I will be gone for 4 days. If I leave my lights off for that long, will my plants die? I have the following....Anacharis (long and short leaved) Anubias, Salvinia, a lite bit of frogbit, and Java Fern. I have a 10g, a 5g, a 2.5g, and a 1.5g. (The 1.5g is a snail/plant only tank). I know as far a feeding goes, I can feed them the morning I leave, and they’ll be fine. I do 2 windows in my fish room, but the desk they are all on is not in front of the window, it’s sort of off to the side. Would it be safe to leave the lights on on 2 on the tanks for 4 days? Sort of a confusing read, sorry.

(P.S. I would get someone to feed/care for my tanks when I’m gone, but I don’t have anyone to help, as my whole family is going. )

 

[Essjay]

I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother, my thoughts are with you and your family.


The lights should not be left on all the time you are away as this is not good for fish. The plants you have should cope for 4 days with just daylight.
My lights are on timers, this makes it much easier to go away and leave them.

 

[Retired Viking]

I also have timers

 

[seangee]

+1 for timers. The fish will be fine without feeding.

 

[Byron]

As essjay noted, never leave the tanks lights on 24/7. This is a certain way to get ich or even worse. Fish are severely stressed by not having a period of several hours of total darkness each 24-hour period. Something similar applies to plants too, and the other thing is algae is bound to take advantage. Ther are other threads noting near-total deaths of the entire tank just due to 24/7 tank lighting.

The "no light" approach would certainly be the better of the two. But better yet, for now and going forward, would be a timer with all lights connected. This way you can control the "daylight" period and keep it consistent every 24 hours, and that is very important for fish even more than plants.

 

[Fishmanic]

All my tank lights are on SMART plugs which are controlled via an app or via Alexa. You can program a timer schedule for the each plug and also can turn the plug on or off via voice using Alexa or even control them via the app when you are away from home.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Thank you guys for the replies, and your condolences. The main just I’m getting is my tanks will be OK for 4 days without lights, but I should look into getting a timer? Any brand suggestions?

 

[Fishmanic]

Do you have an echo device? If so, buy a smart plug for $10-$15.

if you don’t have an echo, you can still buy a smart plug and control it
via an app.

 

[Essjay]

To be honest, since the lights should be on at the same time of day every day, and for the same length of time every day, just a plain standard timer is good enough. I know this is a UK website but there must be things like this in the US https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-mechanical-segment-timer/p/0343076

 

[seangee]

I have been using those mechanical ones for years. But there is little difference in the price of digital ones these days, their biggest benefit is they keep the same time in the event of a power failure, and the time is less inclined to "drift".

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07KQZLLRB/?tag=

 

[Fishmanic]

Smart plugs dont require resetting for power failures or biyearly time changes. Just set it once and forget it. But the one benefit of the timer essjay mentioned is that it is somewhat less expensive.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Thank you guys for the replies, and your condolences. The main just I’m getting is my tanks will be OK for 4 days without lights, but I should look into getting a timer? Any brand suggestions?

You can get one for about 5 bucks at Walmart.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I think I’m going to look into getting a smart plug, they sound useful and effective. Are they controlled by Bluetooth? Or via WiFi? It would be cool if they could be controlled several states away. I know FLUVAL made some lights like that a few years back, but they are like $100-$200 each.

 

[Byron]

I think I’m going to look into getting a smart plug, they sound useful and effective. Are they controlled by Bluetooth? Or via WiFi? It would be cool if they could be controlled several states away. I know FLUVAL made some lights like that a few years back, but they are like $100-$200 each.

In the interests of saving you money, why would you need this? The filters and heaters should be plugged directly into constant power. The tank lights only need a timer so they are on/off at the same time every day. I would certainly rather have a digital timer controlling my tank lights so I know they will turn on and off regularly without any intervention from me. I've had these for over ten years now.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

In the interests of saving you money, why would you need this? The filters and heaters should be plugged directly into constant power. The tank lights only need a timer so they are on/off at the same time every day. I would certainly rather have a digital timer controlling my tank lights so I know they will turn on and off regularly without any intervention from me. I've had these for over ten years now.

Any recommendations on brands?