Tank Lighting?

[Jo and Gra]

Just bought an electric socket timer thing so the light can go on and off without me having to do it......

how lazy......

but how long should i have the light on for?

what times of day?

any lighting advice greatly received!

 

[rdd1952]

Actually, it's not lazy, it's the best way to do it because you have the lights on for the same amount of time each day and you can add breaks during the day while you aren't there. It really depends on what you have in the tank as to how long you burn your lights.

If you don't have live plants, you only need the lights on while you are there to view the tanks. In that case, you really don't need the timers at all.

If you do have live plants, it depends on the type and wattage of lights you have. Most plants need 8 to 10 hours of light a day and at least 2 watts per gallon. Unfortunately, 2 watts per gallon (which is really the minimum for most plants) will require a lighting upgrade from the hood that probably came with your tank. You will almost certainly have to go to power compac light. This is one of the cheapest places I have found for buying lights online.

I split my light time during the day (seems to be a common thing to do). I have them on for 4 hours in the morning (6 to 10) and 4 hours at night (5 to 9). That way the lights are on while we are there to watch the fish but aren't on so long that algae becomes a problem. Excess light alone won't cause algae but a combination of the lights being on too long and overfeeding will lead to an algae nightmare regardless of whether the tank is planted or not.

 

[Jo and Gra]

so maybe from twenty past five in the evening till eleven at night ok?

 

[Bloo]

so maybe from twenty past five in the evening till eleven at night ok?

Not 26 minutes past 5 then ?

I have mine on from 7am - 1pm
and then again from 5pm - 11pm

they seem to do fine

 

[@ombomb]

Mine are on from 14.00 - 24.00 other wise I found I was turning them on when I left for work...

...only to turn them off almost as soon as I got home.

 

[Jo and Gra]

so the lighting is literally a "hi honey i'm home" thing.....

just for us to see our iccle fish......

conveiniance thing.

 

[@ombomb]

Yeah the fish are fine with the natural light in the room really, but if you have real plants, they can't survive without it.

 

[rdd1952]

so the lighting is literally a "hi honey i'm home" thing.....

just for us to see our iccle fish......

conveiniance thing.

If you don't have live plants, then that's about right. There is enough ambient light during the day that they don't really need the lights on.

 

[Paul_MTS]

mine are on from 7am right thorugh to 11pm on my big tank, with 3 tubes each on there own timer i ahve different lighting levels durign the day.

on my other tank i turn them on when i get up then turn them off when i go to bed, as this is next to my bed i don't bother with timers.

 

[Teelie]

Ftom 10am to 6pm here.

 

[Jo and Gra]

got a couple of live plants, but would describe as "planted"

 

[Jules H-T]

15:00-23:00 for me, and now I also have some blue moonlight LEDs running 24/7 to see in the dark. Any more light and algae can become a problem IME.

 

[Logitech]

In the morning, I open up my windows and my tank gets illuminated by the morning sun.
Then in the afternoon, my timer turns my light on at 3pm and turns off at 9pm, one hour after that my blue led moonlights switch on for five hours then turn off.
I'd say this is a pretty good light schedule for me.

 

[Jo and Gra]

so the fish dont need i then, its just for us humans......

what ever suits, without too much to casue algae?

 

[Ami]

I'm a little confused about lighting as well.

I have straight vallis and 2 amazon swords in the tank. Both were added in spring and are putting up new leaves, but seem to have a lot of thin, yellowing ones. I know the amazon leaves die back and I think the thiness is due to the snails that came with them!

I read that the amazons in particular needed at least 12 hours of strong light per day, but my LFS advised me that 6hrs of 25watts would be fine.

I feed them once a week, but because I've never had real plants before, I have no idea whether they're meant to look like they do or if they should be totally lush and green.



Any help would be appreciated.

Ami