Fish and lighting- what do they require?

[fishtraderlau]

Well you might say, why am i asking such a simple question, but i am asking it because these days, the bulk of my fish are in a 40ft shipping container, where no natural light, absolutely zero, enters the container.

As for lighting, i have mainly cool white fluro tubes lighting the container and now i am wondering if the lack of natural lighting will cause any problems for the fish.

I have a 'natural sun' light, a big one that a mate gave me, lets just say he used to grow stuff in cupboards, anyway, it is meant to be as good as sun light but it is 400wt so expensive to run as far as lighting, and i only have the one so don't even know whether to use it in the container or not.

If anyone has any thoughts or experience that they can tell me as far as lighting i would appreciate it.

Cheers all,

Andrew.

[Savage_roo]

Hi andrew long time no see
Have u thought of a sky light or 2
That way u can get all u need
I have a normal fluro over the 6  and its grows elgie in the tank
How a bout a few industrial lights they give off 388w's and run on the power of a fluro there a bit tell but may be u can rig somthing up

Roo

[aquaholic99]

Andrew,
I try to keep out natural sunlight from my fishrom. I only use cool white fluros too but only the ceiling lights so I have cut out the polystyrene foam base under the tanks so the light reaches  down into the lower tank racks/levels (which saves on electricity and light fittings). New fish additions get slightly wrong depth perception initially but  they soon learn. I keep the room dim to save maintenance time and money. Dark means no algae or time consuming cleaning. I also use it as an indicator to fish of feeding time and have the lights automatically come on each day about 20 minutes before I start feeding. Fish like routine as I am sure you already know.

I have central filtration and do keep one tank outside in the sun. I keep this off the  system and allow it to go bright green. Periodically I flush this green water into my system and then turn it off again to grow green water again. The algae makes good live & natural food even for adults and helps promote rich colours. Occasionally I use it to grow daphnia or mosquitoe wrigglers (shhh) and feed my fish the same way.

Some fish appreciate real sunlight to spawn. Some tetras, rainbows and barbs but even an expensive synthetic light cant beat nature for this. I dont thnk you need natural light but do try to get good air circulation. Damp dark areas get smelly and mouldy fast.

Winston

[gasnitro]

Andrew in my fish room i leave the shed  and fish room door open in the mornings that allow,s natural light and by 11am it is dark again i get no direct light from the sun. but really i dont think it would matter great deal. less light less algea means less cleaning.

[Savage_roo]

I have a bath tub with gold fish in it
It gets a bit of sun so its got a lot of algy carn't even see the fish
I was wondering if it was save to put some of this water in my tanks
So ! told me the water might be toxic but the goldies R ok and a few rainblows in there to


Roo

[Chuckmeister]

I always found that natural light can give your fish better,brighter colours though I have never seen anything detrimental just using fleuros

Chuck :)