Question about how long to leave lights on

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

Hey cichlid pals! I wanted to know how long it's safe to leave the lights on in the tank.. I have the LED lights that have the white and blue modes.. I wanted to know how long It's safe to leave them on for the day time and night time..

thanks,,

 

[Convict2161]

Hey cichlid pals! I wanted to know how long it's safe to leave the lights on in the tank.. I have the LED lights that have the white and blue modes.. I wanted to know how long It's safe to leave them on for the day time and night time..

thanks,,

Hello! I leave my lights on for about 5-6 hours when I'm home after work as I have some Anubias plants. Also I have a 4 bulb setup Solarmax extreme 2 daylight 10k and 2 blues plus 8 LED moonlight.

Sometimes I'll leave the moonlights on all night. I don't think it will hurt the fish. The lights are just for your pleasure, the fish do night require the lights. The natural light in the house is enough. I limit my lights being on to avoid algae problems as I went overboard with the lighting. But I love my lighting system.

I do sometimes however leave the lights off for days. They are all on a digital timer built into the light but sometimes I over ride it.

Hope this helped!



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You can see the difference with the blue and whites on at the same time and the one with just the whites on.

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

thanks nice tank! love the setup.. I currently am using the marineland single bright.. I'm trying to upgrade because i'm not happy with how it looks at night.. it's not bright enough imo and I spent $150 to buy them at Petsmart :/ .. Do you have any ideas of what I could get? It's I believe the 18-24 x's 2.. I was thinking of the double brights?

 

[Convict2161]

thanks nice tank! love the setup.. I currently am using the marineland single bright.. I'm trying to upgrade because i'm not happy with how it looks at night.. it's not bright enough imo and I spent $150 to buy them at Petsmart :/ .. Do you have any ideas of what I could get? It's I believe the 18-24 x's 2.. I was thinking of the double brights?

I had double brights and I loved them for my 55g but when I went to my 75g I no longer thought it was bright enough and wasn't doing the tank or my Africans justice. You can look into the aquaticLife or Solarmax 2 buld.

http://www.petsolutions.com/C/Aquarium-T-5-Fixture/I/AquaticLife-T5-2-Lamp-Fixtures.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003I5ZOR8

Again this is just my opinion and what I happened to like. For me I happen to like the blue/white together and the option to switch either off and have the moonlight.



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And the moonlights


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[Lady_Alia]

I turn my lights on when I get up (usually around 9am) and off when I go to bed (usually 1-2am) I do this with all my tanks, and have no algae issues.
I've got common plecos in all my tanks. The largest one is about 9" and I've had it over 3 years. I figure when/if they get to big I'll trade them in, no biggie.

 

[NyteGTI]

my lights are on for 15 hours/day. 9am-12am everyday. no moonlights, just on & off.

 

[kay-bee19]

My cichlid tanks receive indirect natural light during the day. I turn on the aquarium lights at dusk and turn them off when I go to sleep, so usually they're on for about 4-6hrs a day.

 

[kelbaker79]

Mine are on from approx 12pm-11pm ish...no algae problems ever, but I have plecos in all the tanks too...

 

[Jmedic25]

I notice my fish are calmer with lights off. So sometimes I leave them off to reduce stress...

 

[Megacichlid]

I have my lights on a timer, my day lights come on at 5pm and go off at 10pm,at 9:59pm my blue night lights come on untill 12am,i like this routine and my fish are active when im home and feed at the same time each evening

 

[joel618]

My cichlid tanks receive indirect natural light during the day. I turn on the aquarium lights at dusk and turn them off when I go to sleep, so usually they're on for about 4-6hrs a day.

Pretty much the same here. I work durring the day so I veil im the evening.