# Turning off light?



## SunshinePlaty (Mar 14, 2009)

Hi. Can shutting of the aquarium light at night distress the fish or do anything to the way an aquarium cycles? Just wondering.. 
I turned it off because both of my male platies seem to like the one female and won't leave her alone. I'm pretty sure she is preggo and I don't want them to cause her too much stress...They're completely ignoring the other two females and just bothering her. I wanted to give her a break, so I shut the light off hoping that they couldn't tell what female they were chasing. It's kinda working because I dont think they can really see in the dark, so they're all calming down. I'm thinking maybe they're just after her because the other females were recently added to the tank? Hopefully they'll all get along better when they're more used to each other...I may add another female just to make things a bit more even...


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Fish do need sleep, so lighting a tank 24/7 isn't good. I like to put my tank lights on a timer. After a few weeks, the fish will start waking up just before the lights go on and calm down before "nightfall". But using a timer can shorten the life of some starters/ballasts/bulbs.


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## BV77 (Jan 22, 2005)

I agree with giving the fish some dark time to sleep, and also with the timer. That, like emc says gives the fish a "regular" day/night cycle. If one has algae problems, you can shorten the daylight hours.


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

If you think about it, your fish (or hopefully their ancestors) once lived in the wild. Their light was provided by the sun, just like us humans. Therefore they had day and night, and more specifically dawn to day to dusk to night, etc. I have recently seen a lot of high-end lighting that is supposed to mimic natural sunlight.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

I have always used a timer and I use one with my goldfish as well. I have the lights come on around 6 a.m. and turn off around 7-9 p.m. depending on whether it's daylight savings time or standard time.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Ghost Knife-that's a long photoperiod, do you have an algae problems?


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

trashion said:


> Ghost Knife-that's a long photoperiod, do you have an algae problems?


It caused an algae bloom in my goldfish tank a few months ago, but I fixed that with a 25% water change over a couple days. None of the goldfish or any other fish in that tank were ever bothered by it though.


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## SunshinePlaty (Mar 14, 2009)

Thanks for all of the replies. That answers a lot of questions I had. I'll start turning it off when I got to bed and turning it on when I wake up (it's in my room). I was starting to wonder when fish slept. I never see them sitting still for long. Thanks again for all of the replies =)


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## Againsthecurent (Jan 22, 2009)

Ghost Knife said:


> It caused an algae bloom in my goldfish tank a few months ago, but I fixed that with a 25% water change over a couple days. None of the goldfish or any other fish in that tank were ever bothered by it though.


My lights are on for about the same time each day as GK, with little algae problems. If I didn't I would never see my fish. I turn them on in the morning at 6:45am before going to work and turn them off about 9pm.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Againsthecurent said:


> My lights are on for about the same time each day as GK, with little algae problems. If I didn't I would never see my fish. I turn them on in the morning at 6:45am before going to work and turn them off about 9pm.


Yeah same here and if I had the lights turn off at around 6 or so I would never get a chance to see them after work.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

I got a cheap light timer in the hardware section of Walmart for each of my tanks, and they work great. I set the lights to come on about an hour after sunrise, and have them go off again about an hour before sunset. That way they get a natural sunrise/sunset with no shock. Sometimes for specific breeding purposes I alter the photoperiod, but this system works just fine for normal maintenance.


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