Light On

[danielmeynell]

hello eveyone

i was just wondering how many hours should i leave my light on in my fish tank.

now some people say when it starts to get dark.

some people say atleast 12 hours.

is there a right or wrong time to have your light on.

i normaly put mine on about 9ish in the morning and turn them off befor i go to bed about 10ish sometimes later but i never suffer from an alge problems
so is this ok?

 

[Jinty McGinty]

hello eveyone

i was just wondering how many hours should i leave my light on in my fish tank.

now some people say when it starts to get dark.

some people say atleast 12 hours.

is there a right or wrong time to have your light on.

i normaly put mine on about 9ish in the morning and turn them off befor i go to bed about 10ish sometimes later but i never suffer from an alge problems
so is this ok?

Good question......been wondering same myself. I too switch it on when I get up and off when I go to bed.

 

[Fishy friend2]

hello eveyone

i was just wondering how many hours should i leave my light on in my fish tank.

now some people say when it starts to get dark.

some people say atleast 12 hours.

is there a right or wrong time to have your light on.

i normaly put mine on about 9ish in the morning and turn them off befor i go to bed about 10ish sometimes later but i never suffer from an alge problems
so is this ok?

Good question......been wondering same myself. I too switch it on when I get up and off when I
go to bed.

Me too

 

[soybean]

Is it planted? If so, 8 hours is around enough. I have mine on 2pm - 10pm. Any more than that and I get algae.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Mine is planted I use to keep mine on 24/7 then I relized that fish need sleep too

 

[Athena]

Do you have live plants in the tank? If not, it's not necessary to have the lights on for many hours. I do think 9am-10pm is rather a long time for lights to be on with or without plants. It can also work out quite costly as you will burn out your light bulb quicker, plus the extra cost of electricity.

Also, it's always good to research what conditions your fish would be subject to in the wild as some fish actually prefer darker, shadey waters during the day rather than having bright sunshine glaring down on them. So for those types of fish, you wouldn't want tank lights on for 13 hours a day as it would be stressful.

Athena

 

[SchottayB]

From when you get up untill you go to bed , I wouldn't do that even if it was planted lol.

I have mine on from 3:00PM - 10:30PM, planted tank.

 

[Fishy friend2]

every time I wake up in the middle of the night I turn on the light and look at the fish since they are right by my bed

 

[soybean]

every time I wake up in the middle of the night I turn on the light and look at the fish since they are right by my bed

The sudden light will startle and stress them. It's like someone waking you up by peeling back your eyelid and shining a torch in your eye. Please don't do this, they need darkness and 'sleep' as much as we do.

 

[BLACK DOG]

This is a subject that I have also been wondering about, I have been having the lights on for 7 hours a day, one tank gets a little natural daylight, the stats for both tanks are almost the same I use the "Interpet" tablet test kit, there test figures are worked out as mg/L
my tests are ammonia 0.0 mg/L nitrite 0.0 mg/L nitrate 50 mg/L. I was wondering if I increased the light times this would promote plant growth and lower the nitrate.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Sorry I didn't know I won't do this anymore

 

[Jinty McGinty]

From when you get up untill you go to bed , I wouldn't do that even if it was planted lol. Well we can't all be experts, we all start off somewhere.

Thanks all for the non condescending advice.

 

[StandbySetting]

No longer than 8 hours.

 

[danielmeynell]

thanks for all you replys

yeh like jitty said we all start somewhere i have had shops saying 12 hours here 8 hours there.

i have fake plants not real plants

 

[sarah40011]

i have real plants and i do 8am until 6pm (when im most around the tank) when i turn it off at 6 i leave the window blind up so they have the sun going down naturally. i would like to wake them up a bit less harshly, need to find out if theres a 'fade up light' be a bit kinder