lighting and water change

[Canadian tetra]

New member,,,

Presently I have a variety of tropical fishes in my 20 gal. tank. mix of tetras , gourami to clown loach... I live in a basement and don't get a lot of sunlight ...
My question is it healthy to keep the canopy light on throughout the nite. Second quest... is what is the recommended water change if I have a healthy tank?

Thanks for replying...

Canadian Tetra

 

[BobK]

Welcome to the forum. Why don't you introduce yourself in the Newbie forum?

Now to your questions. If your tank is planted it should have 12 hours of light. I wouldn't leave the light on more than 12 hours whether the tank is planted or not. It's stressful to fish to have 24 hours of light. It messes with their biological clocks (yeah they have them too). They'd get 8-12 hours of darkness in the wild and that's what they're adapted too. I do weekly water changes on all of my tank. Actually I try to do a 20% water change in my platy fry tank 2-3 times a week. By healthy I'm assuming your ammonia and nitrites are 0, your ph is stable and your nitrates are at minimal levels.

 

[Alurny]

Im not sure but i think clown loach need bigger tanks

 

[KentBlokey]

Im not sure but i think clown loach need bigger tanks

Hi, I've never had Clown Loaches. But from what I've read on here (and been told) they need to be kept in groups, and a much bigger Tank than 20 G