Help with lights/amount of time

[prettyvacant]

Recently, I added 3 live plants to my 29 gal...so I know I will have to leave the lights on for longer now. Usually, I would turn them on when I got home from school, at around 4:15pm, and I turn them off before bed, usually 10:30- 11 pm. I see that that is only about 6-7 hours... and that the reccomended is 12 hours. Can anyone please suggest at what time I should be turning the lights on so that theyre on for a good amount of time....rather than just 6 hours?

I leave for school in the morning at around 8:05am. I was thinking that if I turned them on at that time, I would have to turn them off at 8pm that night, since it would be 12 hours...which will leave the fish in the dark for the rest of the night... But does that seem like a good idea, or are there any better suggestions please?

 

[shannen]

Turn the lights on before you leave in the morn and off when you go to bed. As long as the fish have a good 6-7 hrs of darkness they will be fine.

If you want you can get a timer. Your grocery store will have it for about 6-8 bucks. Set it to come on around 11 AM and to turn off at your bed time.

 

[prettyvacant]

thankyou for the quick reply and the info

 

[SittingDuck]

A timer works great. I picked one up recently and it comes on at 7:30AM and turns off at 7:30PM. Exactly 12 hours. I don't have to worry about being a little over or under any longer, the only rush is to get the fish fed before the lights go off! They're pretty cheap, you can get a digital one for under $20 but it pays for itself in the first week. With the particular one I have I can program weekdays to turn off at 7:30AM and weekends to turn off at 9:00PM or later so I can get a little more time enjoying the fish.