Feeding And Lighting Question

[ollybolly]

Hi all,
I am all very new to this great hobby.
I have to leave the house to go to work at 6:45am and dont get back home until 6:30-7:00pm.
Bearing these hours in mind: -
firstly what time should I have the lighting turned on (I have an time switch), to give my plants the light they need and to allow me to enjoy my fish tank in the evenings.
Secondly what should I do about feeding, should I feed first thing in the morning on my way out, and in the evening when I get in, or just one feed in the evening?
The room the tank lives in has thick curtains on the windows. The windows can provide light all day, but sunlight only gets into the room during sunset.
Any ideas??
Oliver

 

[OrionGirl]

Depending on what lights you have, what plants you have, and if you fertilize, the length of time to run the lights varies. I have my heavier planted tank lights come on around 11 AM--the rooms are all well lit, with a bit of direct sun between 6 and 8 AM. They go off around 9 PM. I have CO2 supplementation, about 4-6 wpg of CF lighting, very little fertiliation, and do 25-30% water changes weekly. For the low light tank, lights run the same cycle, but this tank has only low light plants and less then 1 wpg.

 

[ollybolly]

My tank is a Juwel Rekord 70 litres (15 gallon)
The light is a single 15watt tube.
The tank is lightly planted with a couple of amazon swords, densa, a hygrophilia, a fern and an anubias.
My LFS gave my some Leaf Zone to add on a weekly basis.
Oliver

 

[dwayne]

I don't have an answer about lighting because I don't have plants (we put the lights on when we get home, around 6pm and shut them off before bed, around 11-12pm, but the room gets sunlight all day long).

As far as feeding goes, I'd say once a day is more than enough... I feed my fish once every other day, and a cucumber slice every 2-3 days.

 

[carpguy]

1 wpg is kind of on the low end of the coin. The Anubias and Java Fern should be fine, but pretty much everyone else would be happier with some more light than that. Check in with the friendly folks in the plant forum.

My tank lights (plants, CO2, ferts, 2.5 wpg) go on at noon and off at 11pm. Tank gets some indirect sunlight in the morning (before lights on) but not much. You should feel free to tailor the lights to your schedule.

I feed once a day at most. 5 times a week, sort of at random. Fish don't need as much food as most folks give them. Conservative feeding will help keep your water cleaner and the fish will be just as happy.