Hours of Light Per Day?

I have heard a few different opinions about how long my lights should be on per day. I have 4 48" T5 bulbs, 2 Actinic, and 1 18,000K, and 1 10,000K. My job has me working until 9PM every night, but I like to come home and enjoy my tank, but the room the tank is in does get some light from the sun (not direct and the shades are pulled but there is definately still light). How long can I have my lights on per day? What is healthy? I would like to have them on at least til 11PM but am unsure if I should do this. Any suggetions? What do you run them at?

 

My suggestion would be to get a timer. Run the lights from 1:00PM to 11:00pm.
Keep the shades closed in the room of the tank if you can. I dont think fish are tied to a lunar cycle in an aquarium, so what ever you make daylight should be fine with them. as long as it work out to a day and night cycle, I dont think they will care.

I got the digital timer that allows for different settings for the bright, blue and LED lighting schedules.

Hope this helps.

\Cheers

 

Thanks much! I have a timer running the lights. I also just read about someone that has the actinics on for 16 hours and the other (daylight) lights on for 10-12 hours. Thanks for the advice! I am new to this and don't want to stress the fish any more than I have to.

 

I think the fish will be fine, dont forget in nature, the sun is out for quite some time during the summer months. Your problems would be with algae over growth. But keep in check with you Phosphate levels as it will feed it as much as the light. Keep up with the scrubbing of the glass as well.

Mine are on 8am to 9pm, with LED over night. Everyone seemes fine and I have some algae, but mostly from my high Phosphates that I cant seem to get down belwo 1.0.

\Good luck

 

Thank you much! That make me feel good glad to hear your tank is running well, good luck with the algae. I'll just have to closely monitor mine. I'll keep you posted!