Lighting?

[TylerG]

I am still really new to the hobby and thought I would get some opinions on lighting for a bottom dwellers tank. Is it best to have consistent night and day lighting for a tank? Or is it better to have it on a timer to simulate night and day?

[Burbot]

I use simple T5s on a timer for 14 hours. Fish still need a night to sleep and rest just like in the wild. Using a light full time will stress them out by keeping them awake all the time. Once stressed fish will become sick easily or susceptible to disease and die.

Cheers

:beer:

[TylerG]

Thanks for the quick reply. Had my timer on 12 on 12 off but may switch to the 14 hour.

[Sprucegruve]

if you have live plants 14 hours is usually too much light.

youll have a algae breakout or somthing

[jvision]

Most of our fish are from close to the equator which has a 12hr cycle. Some of us hce lights on a bit longer so that we can see our fish while we're still up at night. When I want to make plants flower, I'll typically change from a 12 to 14hr cycle or back. The change usually simulates plants to reproduce, but may also aid intriggerin some fish as well.

[Sprucegruve]

i see,thanks thats helps me jason

i knew changing from a 12 to a 14 schedule helped plants bloom

but i diddent know that changing back to 12 after a long period can facilitate flowering

[jvision]

A lot of times it's just the change that triggers it - doesn't matter if it's longer or shorter photoperiod.

[Sprucegruve]

sorry for stealing the post..

i think for bottom dwellers like rays and such they would be happyer on a schedule with more dark than light.

something like 6-10 hours of light a day would be good for a ray/pleco because they prefer to eat at night

but i dont own rays, i own plecos. i have just dont some reading about rays and this is just what i learned.

i dont think you need any kind of fancy lighting like high output or anything

just a couple T8 or T5's would be fine

Edited October 17, 2011 by Sprucegruve

[TylerG]

Thanks for all the responses,

Has anyone noticed that their tanks temperature fluctuates more when they are using lighting? I have noticed that my temperature rises a few degrees when the lights are on and then drops when the lights are off. Is this pretty normal?

Tyler

[jvision]

That is normal with pretty much every kind of lighting except LED.

I have a 75gal pleco tank that doesnt have any lighting on it - it just receives the ambient light from the tanks next to it.

[fishclubgirl]

Here's a thought; get some teeny tiny miners hats with the lights on them and strap them on your cories and plecos. Rays may be kind of difficult.Presto, your fish no longer need night lights... There is rumours that our reknown catfish expert, Syno, uses these with great success. Perhaps you could ask him what kind of batteries he uses. Also we have heard that there's an electric eel recharging station in his tank. And you thought only the fishclubgirl has innovative problem solving skills!!!

[laurensdad]

With the 400 plus wats of t5ho on my Tanks 6 4 ft tubes on my big tank and 4 18' on my small one my entire apartment gets hot lol