Do the Aquarium Lights need to be on 24 hrs?

[WaveSurfer]

Hi all,

Newbie here. Wish to ask if the Aquarium Lights need to be on 24 hrs for the plants to be healthy? I'm using 2 florescence pink light tubes.

Thanks.

Nope, you do not have to and honestly, don't.

Plants need to rest like fishes and having 24 hour light cycles will cause stress to the plants.

Buy a timer (there are cheap and ok ones for around $10 or so) and set it to a photo period of around 10-12 hours.

-Calvin

maybe you can name what plants you trying to keep, and from there you need to plan the amount of light.

I recommend 8-9hrs is the best, long hrs of lighting will cause algea visiting your tank.

Ditch the pink light tubes and get white ones. Pink lights do nothing for plants.

[WaveSurfer]

Thanks for all your replies! Glad to see help all around

Here are the current two species I have:
Baby Tears
Dwarf Ambulia

My aquarium is in the living room but not near the windows. Moderate natural lighting in the day.

Though the recommended no. of hours of artificial lighting is 8 to 10 hours, will my following schedule work (due to lifestyle pattern)?

Switch On: 6.30pm (upon reaching home after work)
Switch Off: 7am (before going off for work)
Total hours: 11.5 hours

Since it's the night-time that the lights will be turned on, will the natural light in the day contribute to the no. of light hours too?

Any recommendations on a more suitable schedule (without automatic timer) will be much appreciated.

squee,
I was recommended by a salesman from Qian Hu to get pink florescence tubes (forgot the reason; less likely to be hit by algae?).

Could you enlighten me why I should replace it by white lights? What would be the pros and cons (I am planning to rear fishes too)? Thanks a lot!

[WaveSurfer]

Anyone willing to help? Thanks

Well, I don't advise it. If you have fishes in the tank they will be pretty stressed out by the apparent lack of a distinguishable day and night pattern. Perhaps going from 11am to 10pm might be ok. Timers are really cheap so why not? Are you against timers for any reasons? (you don't trust them?)

Go and get white tubes with a Kelvin rating between 6500K to 8000K, they are the best range for the plants. Others don't really cut it. I once had a link on this but lost it, I will go and try to dig it up.

-Calvin

I would not recommend switching it on throughout the night, as it'll constantly keep the plants & fish awake. For me, I set my timer to on 10 hours from 11am - 9pm, so I still can appreciate my tank a little after coming back from work.

The reason the lights to be changed to white light is that plants grow better under those conditions. To be exact, plants grows best under prefer lights that range from 6500k to 8000k. If you kept the pink lights most likely the plants will not grow, some may even die.

Originally Posted by RHX

I would not recommend switching it on throughout the night, as it'll constantly keep the plants & fish awake. For me, I set my timer to on 10 hours from 11am - 9pm, so I still can appreciate my tank a little after coming back from work.

The reason the lights to be changed to white light is that plants grow better under those conditions. To be exact, plants grows best under prefer lights that range from 6500k to 8000k. If you kept the pink lights most likely the plants will not grow, some may even die.

Yup.. actually..pink lights are for making the tank looks nicer..that is all..

[wilsonawt]

Originally Posted by WaveSurfer

Thanks for all your replies! Glad to see help all around

Here are the current two species I have:
Baby Tears
Dwarf Ambulia

My aquarium is in the living room but not near the windows. Moderate natural lighting in the day.

Though the recommended no. of hours of artificial lighting is 8 to 10 hours, will my following schedule work (due to lifestyle pattern)?

Switch On: 6.30pm (upon reaching home after work)
Switch Off: 7am (before going off for work)
Total hours: 11.5 hours

Since it's the night-time that the lights will be turned on, will the natural light in the day contribute to the no. of light hours too?

Any recommendations on a more suitable schedule (without automatic timer) will be much appreciated.

squee,
I was recommended by a salesman from Qian Hu to get pink florescence tubes (forgot the reason; less likely to be hit by algae?).

Could you enlighten me why I should replace it by white lights? What would be the pros and cons (I am planning to rear fishes too)? Thanks a lot!

I will actually do the reverse, turning it on before work and off before bed time ensuring that i give my plants at lest 10-12 hrs. But scientifically not proven which is better though maintaining a pattern will help plant growth.