Air pump & Lighting running time.

[777james777]

My fish tank is in the hallway under the stairs away from any natural light.
(there is a window in the kitchen and there is no door on the kitchen so it is enough to see what you are doing but not enough to effect the fish)
How long (in a 24 hour period) should I

- have the light on
- have the air pump/bubble machine on

I have looked online but im getting all kinds of times.

 

[Essjay]

Lights need to be on for roughly 8 hours a day at a time to suit you. They should be on at the same time of day, every day. The best way for this is by using the built in timer or app which some lights have, or a plug in timer for those lights which don't.
Since the hall has no direct daylight, the hall light should be switched on for at least half an our before the tank lights turn on and left on for at least half an hour after they turn off. Fish don't have eyelids and their eyes take a while to adjust to different light intensity. They will be stressed if the lights turn full on in a dark room and could dash around and injure themselves. The same if they go from bright light to darkness. Having a room light on makes a sort of dawn and dusk effect.
Some lights can be turned on at a low intensity and slowly build up, then at the end, slowly dim down. I don't have this type of light so I'll leave it to those who do to say if this type is OK turning on and off in a darkish room.

For a tank with live plants, the length of time the lights are on need to be long enough for the plants but not so long that the tank grows algae. It is usually recommended to experiment, starting with 8 hours and if algae appears use an hour less. But if the plants are not growing well with 8 hours, increase by an hour.
In a plant with no live plants, lights on too long will encourage algae to grow so again adjust the time on to limit algae growth.


I've never had air stones so I can't comment.

 

[777james777]

Lights need to be on for roughly 8 hours a day at a time to suit you. They should be on at the same time of day, every day. The best way for this is by using the built in timer or app which some lights have, or a plug in timer for those lights which don't.
Since the hall has no direct daylight, the hall light should be switched on for at least half an our before the tank lights turn on and left on for at least half an hour after they turn off. Fish don't have eyelids and their eyes take a while to adjust to different light intensity. They will be stressed if the lights turn full on in a dark room and could dash around and injure themselves. The same if they go from bright light to darkness. Having a room light on makes a sort of dawn and dusk effect.
Some lights can be turned on at a low intensity and slowly build up, then at the end, slowly dim down. I don't have this type of light so I'll leave it to those who do to say if this type is OK turning on and off in a darkish room.

For a tank with live plants, the length of time the lights are on need to be long enough for the plants but not so long that the tank grows algae. It is usually recommended to experiment, starting with 8 hours and if algae appears use an hour less. But if the plants are not growing well with 8 hours, increase by an hour.
In a plant with no live plants, lights on too long will encourage algae to grow so again adjust the time on to limit algae growth.


I've never had air stones so I can't comment.

Perfect, thanks, the way my hall is, we have a dim light above the tank, so this will be ideal as it will get them easy adjusted before the main light comes on.

I really like the effect of an air stone, is it just something your not keep on or do you have your reasons?

 

[Magnum Man]

I also always wondered on the light... I have a tendency to run mine longer... natural sun light hours range from about 18 hours at max, to about 12 at minimum here in Minnesota, which is why I run mine longer... I like the idea of sun rise / sun set timers & lights... 15 - 20 years ago, when I had my salt water reef tanks ( & before LED ) I ran a high pressure sodium for 4 hours twice a day, to simulate the redder light spectrum or sun rise & sun set... then over lapped with 8 hours of white light in the middle with a metal halide... I don't have one of those fancy LED aquarium lights right now, that allow you gradual increase / decrease in brightness & spectrum, I do mine currently with an LED black light, that comes on for 4 hours before & after my plant grow light LED lights that are on for 8 hours

the same effect can be done with room ambient light centered around your normal living hours

BTW... I would cut down on the light hours if I had Algae issues but I don't currently

I run my air 24 / 7

 

[10 Tanks]

My fish tank is in the hallway under the stairs away from any natural light.
(there is a window in the kitchen and there is no door on the kitchen so it is enough to see what you are doing but not enough to effect the fish)
How long (in a 24 hour period) should I

- have the light on
- have the air pump/bubble machine on

I have looked online but im getting all kinds of times.

Hello 777. If you have plants, lighting should be on between 10 to 14 hours every day. Aquarium plants are tropical and used to long hours of daylight. As for aeration, you want the air stone to run 24/7. This will make sure you have a steady mixture of oxygen going into the tank water.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Essjay]

I really like the effect of an air stone, is it just something your not keep on or do you have your reasons?

It simple. My husband spends a lot of his time listening to his expensive audio equipment. My main tank used to be in the living room and he objected to the hum of the filter interfering with his music. He even threatened to turn the filter off when he was listening. So for the first 20 years of fish keeping I couldn't use anything which made bubbles or increased the humming.
The tank has been in the dining room for the last 8 years and although I can now do what I like I've got used to no bubbles. When I had a betta in the small tank in the kitchen I used a sponge filter powered with an air pump and to be honest, the sound of bubbles from that would have driven me mad if I'd been in there longer than necessary to prepare meals.

 

[Byron]

Agree with some of what has been posted, but there are a couple of important points to emphasize.

Starting with the air...you do not want surface disturbance running during the day and not at night. Leave it on full time. Plants need adequate light (intensity and spectrum) balanced with all 17 nutrients--one of which is carbon which most of them take up as CO2 from the water (or air for floating plants). Surface disturbance from filters and air stones will promote the gas exchange (oxygen and CO2) in the tank, which is fine, unless it is too great and starts dissipating out the CO2 before the plants can use it. At night, the natural respiration of fish, plants, and some bacteria species, along with decomposition of organics in the substrate primarily, will release CO2. The CO2 rebuilds during the night, so when daylight occurs and plants need to photosynthesize they have sufficient CO2. But if you run unnecessary airstone at night, you risk losing some of the much-needed CO2, and carbon is a macro-nutrient for plants.

This can be an issue during the day as well, but that depends upon the plant load, surface disturbance, light, and nutrient availability. And by the way, the above is why the pH has what is termed a diurnal fluctuation; it will be lowest in the very early morning, after the CO2 has rebuilt during the night, and highest at the end of the daylight when the plants have used most all of the CO2. This also governs your light.

Plants need adequate intensity and spectrum of light to drive photosynthesis. But photosynthesis will only occur if all nutrients are available to the plants. This is where we work out the light duration. If everything is available, the plants will photosynthesize full out, and problem algae will be thwarted. But as soon as something essential runs out--and this is most often the CO2--photosynthesis slows and may even cease. If the light remains on, problem algae is home free and will use the advantage.

Tropical aquatic plants do not need 12 hours of light, they adjust very well. But they do need everything in the equation, light and nutrients. If you have ever seen videos taken underwater in almost any watercourse in South America, you will see algae covering everything. The plants have fewer nutrients but stronger light, and that means algae.

The "daylight" period is the period of strongest white light. It can be at any time of day, but it must be consistent. And, not beyond the available nutrients. In my fish room of 8 tanks, I worked out the balance to be 7 hours, and for the following years I had no problem algae at all, whereas previously it came and went, mostly came, because the light was on too long and there were insufficient nutrients.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Ooof @Byron OP is an absolute beginner, you fry my brain at the best of times so much to take in!

 

[Byron]

Ooof @Byron OP is an absolute beginner, you fry my brain at the best of times so much to take in!

I had that (the beginner) in mind while posting. But if he asks, it would be useless not to point out what and why, there is no success otherwise. There is a lot to this hobby, because it is dealing with nature. Someone once said the aquarist is a chemist, biologist and veterinarian rolled into one.

 

[777james777]

Agree with some of what has been posted, but there are a couple of important points to emphasize.

Starting with the air...you do not want surface disturbance running during the day and not at night. Leave it on full time. Plants need adequate light (intensity and spectrum) balanced with all 17 nutrients--one of which is carbon which most of them take up as CO2 from the water (or air for floating plants). Surface disturbance from filters and air stones will promote the gas exchange (oxygen and CO2) in the tank, which is fine, unless it is too great and starts dissipating out the CO2 before the plants can use it. At night, the natural respiration of fish, plants, and some bacteria species, along with decomposition of organics in the substrate primarily, will release CO2. The CO2 rebuilds during the night, so when daylight occurs and plants need to photosynthesize they have sufficient CO2. But if you run unnecessary airstone at night, you risk losing some of the much-needed CO2, and carbon is a macro-nutrient for plants.

This can be an issue during the day as well, but that depends upon the plant load, surface disturbance, light, and nutrient availability. And by the way, the above is why the pH has what is termed a diurnal fluctuation; it will be lowest in the very early morning, after the CO2 has rebuilt during the night, and highest at the end of the daylight when the plants have used most all of the CO2. This also governs your light.

Plants need adequate intensity and spectrum of light to drive photosynthesis. But photosynthesis will only occur if all nutrients are available to the plants. This is where we work out the light duration. If everything is available, the plants will photosynthesize full out, and problem algae will be thwarted. But as soon as something essential runs out--and this is most often the CO2--photosynthesis slows and may even cease. If the light remains on, problem algae is home free and will use the advantage.

Tropical aquatic plants do not need 12 hours of light, they adjust very well. But they do need everything in the equation, light and nutrients. If you have ever seen videos taken underwater in almost any watercourse in South America, you will see algae covering everything. The plants have fewer nutrients but stronger light, and that means algae.

The "daylight" period is the period of strongest white light. It can be at any time of day, but it must be consistent. And, not beyond the available nutrients. In my fish room of 8 tanks, I worked out the balance to be 7 hours, and for the following years I had no problem algae at all, whereas previously it came and went, mostly came, because the light was on too long and there were insufficient nutrients.

Thank you for taking the time to type all of that, I have read it a few times and it’s quite complicated to take in. I’m learning quite fast that there are some quite intelligent people on this forum which is great. It just may take me awhile to get to grips with it all!

So if I have an o2 pump it should be running 24/7 ?
What about the tanks the don’t have an o2 pump?

Is there a slightly simpler way of explaining the above?

Ideally I’d like to have an air pump that I can turn of for the 8 hours of LED light that my fish will have but it seems more complicated than that?

 

[Byron]

So if I have an o2 pump it should be running 24/7 ?
What about the tanks the don’t have an o2 pump?

I need to know just what this is. Do you mean just the airstone bubbling in the tank, or something else?

Ideally I’d like to have an air pump that I can turn of for the 8 hours of LED light that my fish will have but it seems more complicated than that?

Is there a reason for something like this?

Is there a slightly simpler way of explaining the above?

Not that I am aware of, I was as succinct as I thought I could be and still get the significant issues across. You can take it one step at a time.

 

[StevenF]

Some lights can be turned on at a low intensity and slowly build up, then at the end, slowly dim down. I don't have this type of light so I'll leave it to those who do to say if this type is OK turning on and off in a darkish room.

I have this type of light and it takes 30 minutes to achieve full biightness and 30 minutes to slowly dim until it is off. It never startles the fish.

I can understand the pump noise. I don't like it either. In my case I place the spray bar from my filter so that it is just above the water surface. And it is possitioned so that the water goes down into the tank water. This mixes air with the water and in little to now sound

 

[TNG]

My fish tank is in the hallway under the stairs away from any natural light.
(there is a window in the kitchen and there is no door on the kitchen so it is enough to see what you are doing but not enough to effect the fish)
How long (in a 24 hour period) should I

- have the light on
- have the air pump/bubble machine on

I have looked online but im getting all kinds of times.

You can have the light on between 7 and 16 hours a day, but if the light is on longer than around 8 hours you could have algae problem.

Around 8 hours of sunlight would be enough for plants. It doesn’t hurt the plants if you have longer hour of light, although it’s not necessary for most plants.

Yes, the sun rises around 6am and sets around 6pm in the tropics, but it’s incorrect to say plants in the tropics receive 12 hrs of full sunlight a day. At 6am the sun is low on the horizon and aquatic plants in the ponds or rivers only receive bright light between around 9am - 3pm, which is roughly 6 hours a day.

When you turn the air pump on, you don’t pump O2 into the water, you pump air bubbles to agitate the water surface - just like a filter does. It’s the agitation of the water surface that oxygenates the water. How long to run the air pump to oxygenate the water depends on how big the tank is and how many fish you keep, but most will keep it running 24hrs a day. Your fish will tell you if you don’t run it long enough, they come to the surface and gasping for air.

 

[777james777]

You can have the light on between 7 and 16 hours a day, but if the light is on longer than around 8 hours you could have algae problem.

Around 8 hours of sunlight would be enough for plants. It doesn’t hurt the plants if you have longer hour of light, although it’s not necessary for most plants.

Yes, the sun rises around 6am and sets around 6pm in the tropics, but it’s incorrect to say plants in the tropics receive 12 hrs of full sunlight a day. At 6am the sun is low on the horizon and aquatic plants in the ponds or rivers only receive bright light between around 9am - 3pm, which is roughly 6 hours a day.

When you turn the air pump on, you don’t pump O2 into the water, you pump air bubbles to agitate the water surface - just like a filter does. It’s the agitation of the water surface that oxygenates the water. How long to run the air pump to oxygenate the water depends on how big the tank is and how many fish you keep, but most will keep it running 24hrs a day. Your fish will tell you if you don’t run it long enough, they come to the surface and gasping for air.

I come home from work at 2pm every day to take the dogs out for 30 minutes and and my wife tend to go to bed at 10. So I think il be turning the light on between 2pm and 10pm each day and see how I get on with that.

The air bubbles seem to have a mixed bag of opinions. So for me I wanted them because I think they will look really nice in my tank. @TNG (160 litres 100x40x40cm) I *thought* that they did put oxygen into the water but I’m still learning every day, so thanks for the information!

A lot of people don’t seem to have them, so therefore I’m guessing they’re not essential?
Say for example, person (A) doesn’t have one, then there is no surface movement. Person (B) has one but it’s important to have it on for certain amounts of hours? How is this so.

In an ideal world I would have the bubbles on 5:30 (when I get home) till 10:00 when I go to bed

 

[TNG]

I come home from work at 2pm every day to take the dogs out for 30 minutes and and my wife tend to go to bed at 10. So I think il be turning the light on between 2pm and 10pm each day and see how I get on with that.

The air bubbles seem to have a mixed bag of opinions. So for me I wanted them because I think they will look really nice in my tank. @TNG (160 litres 100x40x40cm) I *thought* that they did put oxygen into the water but I’m still learning every day, so thanks for the information!

A lot of people don’t seem to have them, so therefore I’m guessing they’re not essential?
Say for example, person (A) doesn’t have one, then there is no surface movement. Person (B) has one but it’s important to have it on for certain amounts of hours? How is this so.

In an ideal world I would have the bubbles on 5:30 (when I get home) till 10:00 when I go to bed

Most people have either a filter or an air pump for the tank. Water is also oxygenated without a pump or a filter, but with good agitation you have higher oxygen content in the water, good for the fish, especially if you have many fish in a small volume of water. Gentle water movement is also good for live plants.

You can get a mechanical timer to turn your pump on / off. One in the photo costs me under $A 10, I set it to turn on a small filter between 10am and midnight. I have one small fish in a 50L tank, I think the fish wouldn’t know any difference even if there was no filter, but it’s good for live plants.

Many people don’t like air pumps because of the noise and vibration, although pumps these days are fairly quiet. When first turned on out of the box it’s a bit noisy, but it’s a lot quieter when you attach an air tube to it. Placing air pump on the carpet also reduces the vibration.