Aquarium lighting

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fishn10s

AC Members
Aug 28, 2006
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Southern Calif
Please give some guidelines for providing lighting to a community fish aquarium (75 gal). It only has artificial decorations and fish. I like to leave it on to view but I think I have it on to long. I put it on about 5:30am when I wake up and now am turning it off around 9 pm. What is the schedule that allows the longest time on. I turn it on when I wake up and not later with a timer as I like to feed them a little in the morning before I leave to work

Thanks in advance for any input! ;)
 
Without live plants, you can get away with basically any wattage. The spectrum I personally prefer is 5000-7000Kelvin, as that is the full-spectrum daylight range. It just looks more natural, like you're outside.

The problem with leaving the lights on that long is you're probably going to get algae. Since you have a timer, have it turn on in the morning in time for you to feed and turn off not more than 10 hours after that. 10 hours may still be long enough to promote algae. Play with it and see how it works.
 
plah831 said:
Without live plants, you can get away with basically any wattage. The spectrum I personally prefer is 5000-7000Kelvin, as that is the full-spectrum daylight range. It just looks more natural, like you're outside.

The problem with leaving the lights on that long is you're probably going to get algae. Since you have a timer, have it turn on in the morning in time for you to feed and turn off not more than 10 hours after that. 10 hours may still be long enough to promote algae. Play with it and see how it works.
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10 hours is what I have been hearing but that means like from sun up to sun down and we don't get to see and enjoy the tank much at night. I could maybe have the timer turn the lights on about 10am, (it will still get some light from outside through the windows but not near the intensity of the hooded light fixture) and turn it off via timer 7-8 pm. That would be 9-10 hours/day. We would have a couple hours in the evening to enjoy the tank. pla831 (sorry I don't know your name) what is the schedule for your lights on your tanks? Its funny because as I think of people who have fish tanks, it always seems that they are on at night later in the evening???
 
My name is Paula. "Plah" is how my name sounds when said real fast :)

I think people tend to leave lights on later in the day so they can enjoy the fish when they come home at night. I change the timing of my lights to reflect the daylength outside. So in the summer the lights might be on from 7 am to 7 pm, but in the winter it's 7 am to 4:30 pm. I have lots of plants to compete with algae, so 12 hours doesn't really result in algae blooms. I like mimicking natural conditions, so my fish get some semblance of a yearly/seasonal schedule.

But I make the lights turn on a little after dawn and off a little before sundown. That way, there's still some light coming in through the window. I think it tends to stress fish if they go from 100% dark to 100% light and vice versa. Another solution would be to turn on the light in the room before the aquarium lights are turned on, and again before you turn off the lights for the night.

All those are really my personal choice. I'm sure plenty of fish don't care if their day length remains the same all the time, or if it's totally dark and then suddenly the bright tank lights are on over them. I was just letting you know how I do things, since you asked. Thanks for valuing my opinion :) I'm flattered.
 
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