How Long To Leave Lights On?

[kuhliloacher]

I want to put timers on my both my tanks to control lighting, since I work on call with no schedule at all. I was wondering if 14 hours of light would be ok. I want to set the timers for 8am to 10pm. Would this be ok? Any other suggestions?

 

[modaz]

I want to put timers on my both my tanks to control lighting, since I work on call with no schedule at all. I was wondering if 14 hours of light would be ok. I want to set the timers for 8am to 10pm. Would this be ok? Any other suggestions?

i had mine on for that length of time and algae grew fast, try reducing it to 8 hours with a few hours gap in the middle

 

[for_my_fish]

I want to put timers on my both my tanks to control lighting, since I work on call with no schedule at all. I was wondering if 14 hours of light would be ok. I want to set the timers for 8am to 10pm. Would this be ok? Any other suggestions?

Do you have plants?
What lights are they?

 

[rdd1952]

10 to 12 hours is plenty (if you have plants). If you don't have live plants, just turn them on when your home and off when you leave. The longer they are on, the more likely you are to develop algae problems. I have mine set for 4 hours in the morning and 6 in the evening, mainly during the hours we are home the most. Since you have a different type works schedule, it mainly depends on when you want them on. The fish definitely need so dark time though as too much light will stress them.

 

[chibi]

I leave mine on for over 15 hours a day (6:30am to about 11 pm) most of the time and my algae problem isn't bad at all. I have a 29-gallon with real plants and my lamp is 6500 degree Kelvin natural daylight lamp. I suggest using a lamp under 10,000 degrees to prevent algae.

 

[kuhliloacher]

Sorry for leaving out the important details. No live plants and I use the flourescent bulbs that came with both tanks. When you guys speak of algae, are you talking green, brown or both? I have had brown algae outbreaks in both tanks. I took out all of the plants and ornaments and washed them off, and did gravel siphons, this seemed to clear out the problem. I also added a flying fox algae eater to both tanks. Neither tank recieves direct sunlight at all. One tank is a 55 gal, the other a 14 gal, both hex.

I want to put timers on my both my tanks to control lighting, since I work on call with no schedule at all. I was wondering if 14 hours of light would be ok. I want to set the timers for 8am to 10pm. Would this be ok? Any other suggestions?

Do you have plants?
What lights are they?

 

[rdd1952]

Actually the algae most common with too much light is blue-green algae which is almost impossible to get rid of. No algae eater will eat it since it isn't really algae at all but an organism called cyanobacteria. As I mentioned earlier, with no live plants, I wouldn't worry about a timer. Just turn them on and off when your home. During the day, they get plenty of ambient light so they will be fine een if you only hae the lights on for 2 or 3 hours a day.

As for the flying fox algae eater, there are 3 different species of fish that look almost identical and are all called flying foxes or siamese algae eaters. A true SAE is a great algae eater but the other 2 aren't. Here is a good link with pictures and details on each of them long with profile on chinese algae eaters too..

 

[kuhliloacher]

Excellent. Thank you.

Actually the algae most common with too much light is blue-green algae which is almost impossible to get rid of. No algae eater will eat it since it isn't really algae at all but an organism called cyanobacteria. As I mentioned earlier, with no live plants, I wouldn't worry about a timer. Just turn them on and off when your home. During the day, they get plenty of ambient light so they will be fine een if you only hae the lights on for 2 or 3 hours a day.

As for the flying fox algae eater, there are 3 different species of fish that look almost identical and are all called flying foxes or siamese algae eaters. A true SAE is a great algae eater but the other 2 aren't. Here is a good link with pictures and details on each of them long with profile on chinese algae eaters too..

 

[AndreaC]

I leave the lights on 12 hours a day, 10-10. I sometimes turn the goldies tanks off earlier as the comet doesnt like to much light, normaly know when it wants them off as he will sit at bottom under filter trying to rest. Sometimes my tropical can be on more or less hours. I may be busy at night and not realise time, turning them off at midnight making it 14 hrs, or I might be late turning them on it the morning making it 8 or 12 hours lol. Not often though. I dont have any algae problems at the moment. i did have a brown algae problem a month back but related that to a certain plant in the tank which wasnt actualy a tropical plant! once I removed it the brown algae stopped.

 

[cooky]

you could add a uv sterilizer to combat the algae

 

[paul_219]

Can keep it from 8 to 12 hours per day.

 

[rdd1952]

you could add a uv sterilizer to combat the algae

Actually, a UV Sterilizer won't have any effect on algae. It will help clear green water as it kills the diatoms that cause it as they pass through the Sterilizer but unless you figure a way to get the algae to pass through the Sterilizer, it won't affect it.

 

[Rhiannon]

I dont have an algae problem, and mine are on from about 7 30am until 10 30 at night.

I turn them off though if I am leaving the house for more than 1/2hr.

 

[Tiarni Roberts]

hi i am Tiarni i am only 10 years old but i usually put my light on from 6:00 to 8:00 in the morning and when i get bak from school at 3:15pm i keep it on until 8:30pm