wierd lighting hours

Wiz · Oct 24, 2015

I have a weird schedule And if I ran the lights during the normal hours I would not get to see the tank very much. So to accommodate this I run my lighting from 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. .I have a thick dark black cloth that I Velcro to the tank when the lights are not on. Does anybody else have a weird lighting schedule and do you think that it affects the aquarium at all

melypr1985 · Oct 24, 2015

I have my lights come on at noon and go off at 9pm. I dont think it effects the tank at all once the fish acclimate to the schedule. I dont go so far as to cover my tank during "night time" hours for them either. Never really thought about it.

josh.j.avila · Oct 25, 2015

I run my lights 9 pm to 9 am.

pugcrush · Oct 25, 2015

That lighting schedule isn't weird at all. I bet most hobbyist have theirs on around the same time. You want to enjoy your tank when your home and not at work. Mine come on at 1PM btw.

Fish do adapt to the lighting schedule. Think about wrasses that sleep in sandbeds. Heck, many fish in the hobby come from the other side of the world.

kschweer · Oct 25, 2015

I run my lights from 2:30pm to 11:30pm. I get home from work at different times everyday and often late, it's nice having the lights on so I can see the tank when I get home.

josh.j.avila · Oct 25, 2015

It's actually quite nice to have my schedule this way. I don't get much time to enjoy it but it's the coolest time is when the lights are on and hottest time is when they are off. Everything is searching actively for food when I feed so that's great.

Wiz · Oct 25, 2015

Awsome. Glad to know its common.

I use the velcro to be sure the microfauna is comfy coming out to clean. Plus I light to use a red like to see what comes out in the dark.

thanks for the input guys

chefjpaul · Oct 25, 2015

kschweer said:
I run my lights from 2:30pm to 11:30pm. I get home from work at different times everyday and often late, it's nice having the lights on so I can see the tank when I get home.

I'm same here, although I do adjust by an hour or so up or down seasonally as my tank is surrounded by windows.

Fall / Winter I add an hour for sunrise, spring / summer opposite to include the sunlight into my schedule.