Fish Tank Lighting
One of the most important components of owning a home aquarium is the lighting. Not having enough light or the wrong kind of lighting can cause stress for the fish you have and that can be potentially fatal. Making the right decision in fish tank lighting can make a big difference.
For starters, understand that you are recreating a natural habitat within a small space. Without the proper lighting, your fish will experience stress that will lead to poor health and activity. In an aquarium, it is necessary to create eight to twelve hour cycles of daylight to recreate day and night for your fish; not doing so will throw off their normal behavioral patterns, such as feeding and spawning.
For fish tank lighting, there are a number of bulbs you can use: Normal Output (NO) fluorescent bulbs, Very High Output (VHO) fluorescent bulbs, Power Compact (PC) fluorescent bulbs, T5 High Output (T5HO) fluorescent bulbs, and Metal Halide (MH) light fixtures. NO fluorescents give off the least amount of light while MH bulbs give the most. Which to use depends on what kind of fish and plant life you have in your tank.
Matching the right light output is important when setting up your fish tank lighting. NO light fixtures are popular because they are the least expensive to install and replace. This is ideal if you only have fish in your tank. If you have a mix of live plants and fish in your tank, then you will need lighting fixtures that will not only help the fish maintain their behavior but also maintain the plants' photosynthesis cycle also. In this case, go with a high output fish tank lighting set up like with VHO, PC, T5HO bulbs or create an MH system. Again, this is totally dependent on what you have in your aquarium. Another point to consider when deciding on fish tank lighting is the replacement costs. As stated before, NO light fixtures are the least expensive to maintain and replace while MH are the most expensive to replace and purchase. As a rule of thumb, you should always have replacements at the ready to prevent stressing your fish and maintain the environment they've grown accustomed to.
A helpful tool to use with your
is a timer. You can set the timer to the light system on and off so that your fish can easily adjust to their new home and maintain their habits. Timers are very important parts of fish tank lighting in many large aquariums.