jwokmuba2

i have a 29 gallon tank still in the stocking process. 1 clown plec, and 3 black phantom tetras. i was wondering , do i need to follow the regular daily light process, or can i go with a different schedual. for example, on at 8am and off around 7-8pm, or on at 11am and off at 11pm.

what time of the day can i have my tank light on? how long can it be on? does it matter to the fish

Red1313

The tank lighting is mostly for our enjoyment unless you have live plants. However 12 hours is a long time and you'll have alot of algae growth to stay on top of. I'd say 8 hours would be better. Or else if you don't have live plants just turn the lights on when you're home.

However a bit of a day night cycle is good as well. So don't turn the lights on, turn them off, turn on turn off etc.

aquarist48

Good morning. My aquarium lights are on for 11 hours a day. My tank is very well established and I don't have algae problems. (my diatom filters eliminated that problem) I have my lights on timers. 6am to 11am then they turn off during the hottest part of the day. Back on at 4pm to 10pm. The fish don't seem to mind the break from the lights during the day. Now, I don't have live plants in my tanks either. Just thought I'd share.
Ken

wooza

Good advise guys,

Ken, how does a diatom filter work?

aquarist48

Wooza I absolutely love it. I use it every 10 days with my water changes on my 155g tank. It usually runs for about 7 hours. I've only had 1 algae bloom in 10 years and that was prior to getting my diatom. My water stays crystal clear and free of disease. (granted I haven't added fish to my tank in many years) The diatom states that it filters to the micron, even filters out some parasites and in very small amounts, ammonia. (not enough to be a concern for the cycle). It uses Diatomacious Earth (DE) to filter through trapping a lot more fine particles than a normal fitler. You can actually watch the DE turn colors as it filters out all the little cooties that I don't want in my tank lol
What I use is the Diatom XL by Vortex. I believe it filters 400gph. The only draw back is I usually have to replace it every few years. In my opinion...it's well worth the $. As long as I'm an aquarist and these filters are in production, I will have two (one as a spare). Links below.
Ken
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/205477/product.web
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/205458/product.web (DE)

I use this site to order my filter. I buy the DE from Lowe's in the pool supply section. At Lowes you can get a 25lb box of DE for the same price as the 5lb on the site above in the link.

Sorry Jwok..didn't mean to high jack your thread!
Ken

Red1313

hmmm... Now that is a neat filter...

jwokmuba2

well since i have a clown plec, do i need to have moon lighting?