Tank Lighting - Help!

Hi

The light in my tank has broken, it flickers on an and off which suggests its on its last legs.

Unfortunately im unable to get to a fish/pet shop until the weekend.

Could anyone please advise if my fish will be ok till then or if i can use something else, or! do i need to sort something sharpish?

Please help, ive had two fish die this week already!

Thanks

Michelle

x

Yes it will be ok, mine did it last week, usually have a spare one in but didn't replace it last time.
I just put a light at the side of the tank so i could see the fish.

I've When I had a big algae problem, i left my lights off or two weeks straight, and everyone was fine.

Thanks for your help, the tank is in desperate need of a clean which is probably why we have had two fish die.
Its been very neglected unfortunately, an algae eater and a few other fish were bought early december and since then the algae eater has kept the tank looking clean so it hasnt promted a cleanout, im ashamed to say that the tank hasnt been cleaned or the water changed for almost two months!

The filter has now stopped working so will i still be ok to clean and things without a light? I have a lamp i can put at the side.

Michelle

yeah, it will definatey be fine to clean the tank and the filter without the light on. I've heard it said that unless you have plants, thn the lights are more just for looks.

Be sure to do a small water change, becase your fish are used to the high nitrates now, so a drastic change will be shocking for them.

Sadly it happens, what are your stats if you have test kits in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph.
As when a tank has been neglected it can be bad to change the water stats to much, clean the filter to get it working properly again, i would do a gravel vac, but try not to change to much of the water.

It's not your light problem thats killing the fish, it's the neglect. Rinse the filter elements out in a container of tank water then I'd change 10% of the water a week.

Does your light use a starter? Sometimes its the starter which is faulty and not the actual bulb! A little trick my dad taught me was that you can take out the starter and the light would work fine (no idea why or how), my dad would then just go out and replace the starter!

I've attached a pic of what one looks like in case nobody knows what I'm on about!