Hi, it really is trial and error with lighting.
When I first started I had the lights on 13 hours a day...(poor advice from LFS) this created a few algae issuse, so i was forever scraping the glass and doing a weeky gravel vac. As I did more research (most of which on this site) I started to get to grips with algae.
I reduced the time hour by hour over a few months until I found a time that suited my tank. Like your self I like the lights to be on when i'm at home. for some time I did have the lights on for two hours in the morning then Seven hours in the evening. I still had a bit of algae but it was managable in my weeky maintanance. After further research I found that over feeding and stocking could be to blame. I was happy with my stocking. I started to feed my fish once a day. The fish seem to be ok as my angel was growing well. This also resulted in less algae.
To date the light doesn't go on in the mornig now, but it goes on Four untill eleven (7 hours) every day and I have very little algae.
I have alot of plants in my tank which also helps with the dreded green stuff.
, and they grow very well. As a rule I have stuck to one watt per gallon and every thing seems hunky dorey!!
At the end of the day the question of 'how long should I leave the lights on' is an impossible question to answer. A tank is like a human we all have the same needs but some need more than other. It's just a case of working it out for your self good luck.
Brads
