how long should lights be on for?

[norbie]

a question

how long should my lights be on for in my tank at night?

at the moment i only have a couple of guppies in there, and i like to have the lights on so i can see them. they're just white lights.

is there a problem with having them on? do they need to sleep?

thanks in advance

 

[paulthegreat]

10 -12 hours a day is fine I use a timer so the lighting is regular. This is necessary for planted tanks, longer then that and the algea can get a bit much.

 

[norbie]

i like to have them on so i can see the fish too - is this bad? its 9pm now, and its dark outside - should they be sleeping in the dark?

 

[Slyspy]

Give the fish a good nights sleep by leaving the light off when you go to bed (ie no daylight, no houselights and no tank light). Otherwise use the tank light as suggested by paulthegreat.

 

[norbie]

thanks

theyre right next to a window, so it starts getting light about 7am now?
i'll give them a bedtime of 9pm, then that should be fine shouldnt it? or would they need an earlier bedtime than that?

 

[Slyspy]

What time doesn't really matter so long as they get an extended period of darkness to be their night time.

Keeping a tank near a window may encourage algae growth and to combat this you may have to use the tank lights less.

If its of any help to you I have the following light regime on both my (planted) tanks (on automatic timers):

9:00am lights on
2:00pm lights off
6:00pm lights on
11:00pm lights off

This means the lights are on when I am most likely to be in (for my pleasure) while still ensure the fish get enough night-time and the plants enough light. The break in the middle is also supposed to help combat algae (I have very little green or brown algae but still sufer from bread/hair algae on my plants).

Where on the IoW are you? I live just over the water.

 

[norbie]

those times look good

i havent got any kind of timer set up yet - might have to invest in one!

im in shanklin, and im sure you know the sun is very scarce at the moment, so algae really isnt a problem with me yet. theres stuff growing on the glass but that should come off easily.

ive only set up my lights today, theyre only cheapy computer cathodes bodge jobs, and my plants have been alive since summer

 

[the caretaker]

If I have both of my lights on all day my tank temp goes up 2-3 degree's so I only put one on for most of the day and the 2nd one for about 4 hours a day. but I still have the lights on from 6:30am to 11m

 

[Slyspy]

Ah the mean streets of Shanklin!

I'm over Fareham way on the mainland.

I was advised to get a timer (one of those security light plug through jobs where it plugs into the socket and the appliance plugs into the timer) and it works well with my bodge job!

My other tank has the timer built in.

If the tank gets no direct sunlight from the window at all (only dyalight) then you should be ok. Otherwise expect algae growth and temperature fluctuations.

Note that my bodge job is proper aquarium stuff but bodged into a unit by yours truly. Never was good at DIY but it seems to have worked!

 

[LoachLover]

10 hours a day is what I would say.