Light In My Tank

[nickl77]

how long does my light in my fish tank need to be on for is it any specific time period
as i leave for work in 7 in the morning and dont come back till 9 at night what should i do should i get a timer fo the light or is there no need

 

[chrisrm]

how long does my light in my fish tank need to be on for is it any specific time period
as i leave for work in 7 in the morning and dont come back till 9 at night what should i do should i get a timer fo the light or is there no need

i think the norm is about 12 hours but 14 shouldnt hurt. a timer would be good , say on at 10 am and off at 10-11pm then you get to see your fish when you get home for a couple of hours

 

[drobbyb]

Your fish don't need much light to see. If you are not growing plants, just turn it on when you want to see the fish.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Do you have any live plants in the tank?

If you don't have any live plants in the tank then there is no need for a light.

So, if you are not around during the day to view your tank, then you do not need the light on at all.

Unless your tank is in absolute darkness all day, you don't need a light at all.

So, turn your light on when you get home from work for a couple of hours, and shut if off before you go to bed and your fish will be just fine.

-FHM

 

[waterdrop]

Yup, depends a lot on whether you have plants. Even if you do though, my feeling is its better to start a new tank at about 4 hours of light and slowly work up toward 6 or 7 hours, all the while watching closely for algae. If you have no algae and want to grow more difficult plants you might find higher # hours desirable.

Timers are great. My timers give a couple of hours in the morning, then the lights go off most of the day and come back on for a lot of evening hours when we are around to enjoy the tank. The cheap mechanical lamp timers are better in my opinion as you don't ever have to even worry about a battery going out.

~~waterdrop~~