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Lighting for my tank2007-11-24 23:38:02

Other fish, like goldfish, really don't care.

I wouldn't leave lights on all the time (because you waste electricity, risk heating the tank and will have more problems with algea). But depending on the fish, you might be able to just turn them on and off when you want.

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They need to have about 12 hours on - 12 hours off. Just like almost every other organism (that doesn't live in the deep ocean) on Earth.

We turn ours on in the evening and off in the morning. That way we can enjoy them while we are home and they can sleep while we're at work.

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Most people run into an alge problem when they leave their lights on, because they have florecent lights, if you have lcd or another kind then alge is not a problem. But yes. your fish do care. They relax when the tank is dark and their stress level goes down, overall its good for them to turn it off at night.

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I would not leave it on I only turn mine on when it gets dark out side and I only have it on for about 3-4 hrs

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I learned the hard way that if you do not turn the light off for your tank (even if it's only about a 40watt bulb) that you will wind up with an Algae bloom. I would recommend just going to the hardware store, and picking up a simple timer for the light. Program it to run between 8 and 12 hours a day with a blackout period of at least 8 to 12 hours (if not longer).

If you leave it on all of the time (and provided your Nitrogen cycle has already completed - which it should be otherwise your fish should not be in the tank) you might find a burnt Orange looking like smudge appear on the walls of your aquarium. It's a kind of brown algae, but has a different name and is a living organism that is light sensitive - in other words - it will bloom like made if the light is left on all the time.

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I usually turn it off at night to give the fish some sense of normalcy.