Fish light cycle

[Anna94]

I have the Beamswork FSpec light. Is it ok to leave the blue lights on all day or should I have a cycle of white lights on for a few hours and then the blue lights on for another few hours and then the lights go off for the night. That brings me to my next question. How many hours should the lights be on?

 

[Delapool]

I can't recall - did you have any plants here?

 

[BBradbury]

Ann...

Your fish just need equal periods of light and dark or dusk, if they're to breed normally. I have my tank lights on a timer set for 12 hours on and 12 off. This seems to work well for the fish and plants.

B

 

[Anna94]

What about the blue and white lights? Should the whites be on as well or just the blue is fine?

 

[Fresh2o]

The duration is dependent on the intensity of the lighting. If those are medium to high, then I would limit them to 6-8 hours. Low light and you can extend that.
Are the blues and whites in separate timers? If so, then you can program the blues to stay of for a bit after the whites go off. That will allow some after hours viewing.

 

[Anna94]

The duration is dependent on the intensity of the lighting. If those are medium to high, then I would limit them to 6-8 hours. Low light and you can extend that.
Are the blues and whites in separate timers? If so, then you can program the blues to stay of for a bit after the whites go off. That will allow some after hours viewing.

This is how bright the light is with all the lights on.

And with just the blue lights.

Are they medium to high or low?

 

[Fresh2o]

Light rating by the naked eye is difficult and inaccurate at best.
It's best done with a PAR meter. Someone somewhere has performed measurements on that light fixture. The trick is finding it. I'll try to dig that up.
But visually it looks quite bright.

 

[BBradbury]

Ann...

If the lights can work independently of one another, have the brighter of the two on during the day and the dimer one on at night. The fish don't care about the shade of the light, they simply need daylight and dusk.

B