Lighting

[Kittycat001]

Hi,
Does anyone know what the best time to turn the lights off and on in the tank is? I have a 55 gallon with two lights. I have been turning one on and leaving one off so the fish that like the light can go to that side., and during the day I turn them both off. Should they be on during the day and off at night? There's no light in the room at night. Should they be in the dark, and for how long. Probably silly questions, but.......

 

[guppymonkey]

This is the way I do lighting with my 55 gallon. I work in the afternoon into the night. So when I am at work I turn the tank lights off and turn off the room light to give the fish about 12 hours of darkness. When I come home I turn on the tank light and leave it on all night. That way the fish are more active when I am around instead of when I am working. Its best to keep the fish in a pattern. Always turn on the lights at a certain time, always turn them off at a certain time.

 

[Bol]

A regular pattern would probably be good.

Also, if the room really has "no light" other than the tank light, then when you deem it to be "day"really shouldn't matter much.

If you're keeping the one light on 24 hours a day, that's probably going to stress your fish over the long run. It's bad for live plants, too.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

i have my fish on a timer.

The light comes on about 12:30pm, goes off at about 12:30am

 

[Adrinal]

Right I agree the amount of time is less importiant than a regular schedual.
A timmer is a cheep and great investment. Set the timmer for when you will most likely want to view and feed the fish.
................
If you have live plants you need to work with them...
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If you don't have live plants more time with lights off is better (esp if you have a window in the room which is plenty of light for them to get around
More time off means less algea
8-12 hours on will be plenty.
.................
If the lights have 2 power cords you can get a blueish bulb to come on in the morning and night... for a little moodlighting

 

[Kittycat001]

OK. If I set a timer for lights to go on at 12 noon and off at midnight, will they be OK in the dark when the lights go off, or should there be a little light in the room still so it's not totally dark? Basically, I just want to know if the fish are OK in the darkness at night without a light on. I'm gathering that as long as there's a set pattern, that it doesn't really matter. Is that correct? I've had fish for a while now and used to keep the light on during the night and off during the day. I just haven't had too much luck with them (except plecos), so I started thinking that maybe they need more "night time". I think I might try the timer noon - midnight. Any other suggestions are appreciated also. Thanks!

By the way, I don't have live plants, so it's all about the fishies!

 

[Kittycat001]

If the lights have 2 power cords you can get a blueish bulb to come on in the morning and night... for a little moodlighting

I do have two power cords. The bulbs are F15T8. What kind of blueish bulbs do you recommend? That sounds like a great idea!

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I have my lights on from 10:00 to 10:30 in my 19US and 41US but my biggest tank as the normal light from 10:00 - 21:00 but a blue light from 21:00 - 00:30, totalling 14 and a half hours. And that's with me having nocturnals.

If you turn the lights off in the day the fish will still be getting light from outside, I presume? Then if you have any light on at night, the fish will be getting no night. I think IMO that it's very bad for fish to have the light on all the time. It's natural that creatures, including fish I expect know to sleep when it's dark and wake when it's light by the biological clock, this works the other way round with nocturnal creatures.

Do you have nocturnal fish?

HTH

 

[Bol]

Basically, I just want to know if the fish are OK in the darkness at night without a light on.

Yes, they'll be fine.

 

[Kittycat001]

I have my lights on from 10:00 to 10:30 in my 19US and 41US but my biggest tank as the normal light from 10:00 - 21:00 but a blue light from 21:00 - 00:30, totalling 14 and a half hours.  And that's with me having nocturnals.

If you turn the lights off in the day the fish will still be getting light from outside, I presume?  Then if you have any light on at night, the fish will be getting no night.  I think IMO that it's very bad for fish to have the light on all the time.  It's natural that creatures, including fish I expect know to sleep when it's dark and wake when it's light by the biological clock, this works the other way round with nocturnal creatures.

Do you have nocturnal fish?

HTH

Hi again,

Yes there is light through the windows during the day with the tank lights off. I don't know if I have nocturnal fish or not. They all seem more active with the light on, of course.
I have 1 opaline gourami, 1 gold gourami, 1 pleco, 1 chinese algae eater, 2 bronze cory cats, and another fish that I'm not really sure what it is. A friend gave it to me awhile ago. It was the only fish in the tank for a while, but I decided to add more. I did post a pic of it a long time ago for help identifying it, and quite a few said it looked like a red-finned cigar shark. It's really mellow and gets along fine with the other fish. By the way, I have a 55 gallon tank. Here is the pic of the "unidentified" fish again... It's about 7-8 inches long.

 

[Woody]

This is interesting, because I usually turn my tank lights on for an hour or two after the morning feeding, then on again for several hours in the evening. Meanwhile, there's a fair amount of natural light during the day. By June, my fish might turn into psycho killers; I live in Alaska and they'll get only a couple of hours of twilight "darkness" per day by then.

I should probably develop a more regular winter routine, but I can't do anything about the summer light.

 

[Kittycat001]

By June, my fish might turn into psycho killers; I live in Alaska and they'll get only a couple of hours of twilight "darkness" per day by then.

Well, I guess you'll just have to keep your hands out of the tank..

 

[Spat_si]

I'm on midnights so i turn the light on at 10pm and leave it on til about 9am ten i goto bed. My room is totally dark due to my garbage bag in the window and black curtains. My fish seem to be fine.