Lighting Advice Needed Plus More!

H

howiehok

AC Members
Apr 4, 2005
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Manchester, England.
Hello, have just set up my first tank, had it fishless for while then introduced fish on saturday. The tank sits in lounge so natural light cycle is light, but fairly glum during day (as only light is door to balcony), artificial light (ie lightbulb) in evening til about 11:30pm then darkness til 7am. Was wondering how often i should have light on that is in hood of tank. Does too much upset fish? Does too much darkness upset them? And are these blue nightlights ok for fish's wellbeing?
Also, how often do you feed fish? Says on packet 2-3 times a day, man in shop who seemed to be very knowledgeable said only a few flakes every 2 days.
And finally! How do you change water? If i change it with new water, won't temperature of tank go down? Is temporary reduction by couple of degrees dangerous? And these drops you put in to get rid of tap water chemicals-do they work instantly, or do you have to let water sit for a while before adding to tank?
Sorry so many questions, and sorry if i am going over old ground!
 
With no live plants in the tank, I wouldn't have the lights on for more than 10hrs/day. Some people put them on for fish viewing. If you're out during the day and the fish get natural light, then it's fine. When you come home, you can put the lights on so that you can view the fish better. It's best to put it on a timer so it's automatic. Really it's up to you. The standard light won't upset the fish at all as it's not intense enough. I wouldn't bother putting the nightlight on unless you want to use it for night viewing.

Once or twice a day is all you need for feeding. Try variety of at least two foods. One food in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Don't feed too much. Depending on the fish, you'll see how they take it. It's also good to have some cories so that they pick at leftover food. If you see that your fish are picky, you can skip a meal. It's sometimes good to leave them without food for one day of the week to start them eating well again. Again, depends on the fish you have.

Depending on the size of your tank, you can either use a pathon for faucet to tank changes or the buckets. You should try to match the temperature of the water to the tank. 2F difference is acceptable. If you fill by buckets, you can mix hot and cold and adjust. Same with the python, connect it and open the drain on python and take a reading this way. You don't have to age the water. I age the water as my water supply only has chlorine in it and by aging and aerating the water you remove chlorine. This way I don't have to add any conditioners. I also heat the water to match withing 2F to tank water. Water conditioners work pretty much instantly. As you fill the water, you can add the conditioner to the main tank.

I hope this answers your questions.
 
Thanks for that

Thanks for those tips- I should mention there are some live plants in tank as well-about 5 i think. The capacity of tank is 96 litres, which in gallons is, erm, hang on.........i think it's about 315 US gallons!
 
Your tank is about 25g, going by the liters(96/3.79). Since you have live plants, I would leave the light on for about 10-12 hours. If you natural source is pretty good, then you might get away with less. Also, if the plants have been surviving and growing slowly, then I wouldn't change much - more or less personal preference.
 
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