Lights on at night..off during day..is this okay?

[mykidsmylife]

We moved our 40 gallon tank into my daughters room a week and a half ago and we are now leaving all the lights off during the day (room is dark only natural light filter thru closed blinds) and she uses the tank lights thru the night as a nightlight. It's at the foot of her bed and she loves being lulled to sleep watching her fish.
The question is- Is this okay for the fish? There are no live plants in the tank and I figured the fish would adjust to the light cycle change. Then I started thinking it may not be best for them.

All water perameters are fantastic 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate, 7.8 ph. Weekly 40 to 50% water changes.

Tank inhabitants
8 harlequin rasboras
5 rummynosed tetra
1 male betta
6 neon tetra
2 albino cory cats
1 farlowella
1 itty bitty male wild guppy
(if anyone feels this is overstocked PLEASE inform me. I think it's a tad overstocked but I am religious with weekly maintenence)

 

[OrionGirl]

As long as the room is fairly dark during the day, this shouldn't be a problem. I wouldn't have the lights on ALL night--12+ hours is pretty long, and may lead to algae problems down the line. I'd have it come on about 15 minutes before she goes to bed (guessing this would be around 8-9), then turn off around 5:30. That should cover the darkest times for her, and not overwhelm the tank.

And yes, I'd say it's a bit crowded. I'd pull one of the schools out, at least.

 

[mykidsmylife]

As long as the room is fairly dark during the day, this shouldn't be a problem. I wouldn't have the lights on ALL night--12+ hours is pretty long, and may lead to algae problems down the line. I'd have it come on about 15 minutes before she goes to bed (guessing this would be around 8-9), then turn off around 5:30. That should cover the darkest times for her, and not overwhelm the tank.

And yes, I'd say it's a bit crowded. I'd pull one of the schools out, at least.

Thank you OG. Putting it on a timer is a great idea. Then I won't have to worry about the length of time it's on being too much.

I think I will move the farlowella to the 75 gallon and put the 5 rummy nosed into my son's 10 gallon (there is only one male betta in there now) That will take the largest sized fish out of the tank and cut down on the bio-load.

Thank you again for the suggestions and help!

 

[RTR]

The bottom tier of my central system is on reverse light cycle. Just a bit before the "main" tanks go off, the "reverse cycle" tanks go on. Those are planted tanks, so they get full 12 hour light cycles. I've operating arbitrary light cycles for many years without problems. The reverse cyce tanks in the systen now are the Dwarf Neon Rainbow breeding and rearing tanks, no problems. The tank room has no natural light in any case. Some regularity is desirable and timers take care of that nicely. Where in our day/night cycle the tank cycle comes is personal choice IME.

 

[Roan Art]

We moved our 40 gallon tank into my daughters room a week and a half ago and we are now leaving all the lights off during the day (room is dark only natural light filter thru closed blinds) and she uses the tank lights thru the night as a nightlight. It's at the foot of her bed and she loves being lulled to sleep watching her fish.
The question is- Is this okay for the fish? There are no live plants in the tank and I figured the fish would adjust to the light cycle change. Then I started thinking it may not be best for them.

How old is she?

My 4 year old has his own tank in his room. It's a 20gallon and the light goes on when he goes to bed and off when he gets up. It's also pretty dark in there, so they get their "night cycle".

We have his bed placed so he can watch his fish while he drifts off to sleep He loves his fishes.

We're taking his fish out in a couple of weeks and putting them downstairs in a 75g (silver dollars, natch, we didn't know at the time). We're gonna move my then empty 36 gallon in and add the two small Red Cap Oranda goldfish I picked up last night. He's already named them: "Zero" and "Hundred". He loves numbers.

Roan

 

[mykidsmylife]

Roan,
She is 6 and our 12 year old son has a ten gallon tank.

Isn't it funny the names they can come up with?? My daughter named her betta-Clyde, the albino corys are Pinky and the Brain, our farlowella she named "Sneaky" because he sneaks up on the algae wafers, and her favorite is a tiny little wild male guppy-she calls him Apple Dumpling. Apple Dumpling is convinced he is a rasbora and schools with them. She loves that little fish more than any others. Best 99 cents we ever spent! LOL

Both the kids LOVE having tanks in their room. My son does the maintence on his 10 gallon (supervised of course). I think it's fantastic for the kids. How relaxing it must be to fall asleep with the last thoughts of the day being these wonderful finned creatures. I would rather watch my tanks than anything else.

It's cool how your son named the goldfish. You have a budding math genius on your hands! LOL

 

[Roan Art]

Roan,
She is 6 and our 12 year old son has a ten gallon tank.

I can't wait until my 8 year old is a little more "responsible". She's not quite ready for a fish tank, but she has a ball python. They're easier to look after.

Isn't it funny the names they can come up with?? My daughter named her betta-Clyde, the albino corys are Pinky and the Brain, our farlowella she named "Sneaky" because he sneaks up on the algae wafers, and her favorite is a tiny little wild male guppy-she calls him Apple Dumpling. Apple Dumpling is convinced he is a rasbora and schools with them. She loves that little fish more than any others. Best 99 cents we ever spent! LOL

Yes! Those are awesome names! Connor calls his lobster "Mr. Cleaner", but he never did name the silver dollars. He says he likes the one with spots the best (2 have spots, 1 does not). I've promised him that when his fish are downstairs he can still help me with them -- I'd never get rid of Mr. Cleaner -- and we'll get a few more dollars and maybe some tetras to go with them.

Both the kids LOVE having tanks in their room. My son does the maintence on his 10 gallon (supervised of course). I think it's fantastic for the kids. How relaxing it must be to fall asleep with the last thoughts of the day being these wonderful finned creatures. I would rather watch my tanks than anything else.

Couldn't agree more. I just wish Deirdre was a little more responsible because I know she really wants her own tank. I've told her that she can have one as soon as she's been looking after Susan (the snake) properly for a few months.

It's cool how your son named the goldfish. You have a budding math genius on your hands! LOL

Actually, you're not far from the truth and we don't know where he gets it. We really didn't teach him anything. He can count to 1,000, do simple math, knows all upper and lower case letters in any order, he can spell 4 letter words, sounds out phonetically and reads more complex ones. He's just a little boy who loves letters and numbers so much that everything fell into place.

Sometimes Deirdre and I pull up a chair each in front of my 36g and just sit there watching the fish. It's better than television.

Roan

 

[z71silverado98]

Roan,
How relaxing it must be to fall asleep with the last thoughts of the day being these wonderful finned creatures. I would rather watch my tanks than anything else.

Ha, im 22 and use my tank as a night light. I couldnt find any headboards i liked for my bed so i decided i would use my tank, its awesome. the 3-45w are a little too bright for sleeping so ive got them on from lunch to 12am then ive got 2 blue led lights diffused over the surface from 12am to 4am. the filter overflow puts me to sleep all the time, and i have to say im guilty of leaving my tank about 1" low just to have the waterfall effect. Way better than anything on TV.

 

[indiginess]

Roan,

give him a copy of "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carol (sp), and if he reads it before christmas... a chess board. be prepared to get whipped unless you know/wanna learn. but theres a real respect that grows in boys when you (a mother, right?) say, 'you can beat me, but how?' makes a nice rebuttale (sp) for 'because i said so'.

... street smarts are tough on the smart ones.

just an idea, i was 19 when i read that book for the first time, and i was p1ssed...why did i have to discover it on my own? especially with an affinity for spacial coordinates that comes with early math skills.

 

[indiginess]

sry, on task... the timer is the best option for the reasons others suggested. i've found light schedual of no consequence in most situations as long as there are no plants and the schedual is regular.