When Is to much lighting too much?

[alvarado41]

By the way, how much lighting do you need for a fish only setup? I have twin tube 40w power glo and marine glo on my tank.
I set up the switches to just leave the marine glo on when it's bed time for my fish. Is that a good thing to keep a light on for them? or just turn off every light in the tank? I like the way the marine glo looks at night. Soft and blue. Any help or information will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Drekkyk]

I beleive fish do not like bright aquarium lights and are happy with just ambiant light. I just turn on the light when I'm enjoying the aquarium and it is off all other times. (So my light is usually on for about 4 hours in the eve.)

 

[Dale W.]

You should really have a light cycle that is close to nature. Of course this depends on the type ofish that you keep but in general it should be close.

A word on actinics.
Dont be miss lead by the blue light being nice and soothing. The blue spectrum is the deepest penitrating light in salt water. To fish, it is very bright so keeping it on all night is not a good idea. If you want a moon light, there are monn phase lights that you can add to your system. Some of them even go to the actual moon phase. A dark period is not a problem in tanks. We actually go fishing at night for Ulua and the best time for that is "no moon" pitch black.