lighting schedules

[kaihonu82]

What's everyones opinion on lighting schedules?

I just have a 20W flourescent on my tank right now, which I have on for a few hours in the morning, and a few hours in the evening. During the day, my fish don't seem to care if the light is on or off.

I'm planning on upgrading to MH sometime within the next month. Is there a stricter schedule for lighting I should follow?

Thanks!*SUNSMILE*

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

i dont think a constant schedule is really needed for FOWLR, but somewhat of one is probably good. if you have corals, since they are light dependant, i would say yes, a stricter schedule would be best.

 

[Mushroomman]

Yep, well, for fish, at least a day/night cycle, wether its from tank lights or just simple daylight in the room, is usually appriciated and helps the fish out by having the regular day/night.

They say the minimum length of time you need halides on is 5 hours, but most people have the lights on longer (when they wake up and when they go to bed etc). For example my halides are set on a timer, they kick on at noon and turn off at 8pm. As Yahoo said, corals do need more light exposure, for obvious reasons.