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Do you have one or more for your lighting system.
If you do have them do you think they are worth having and for how many hrs/and or times do you have them set up for the lights.
Mine are set 7am - 7pm for both tanks

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

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Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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Mostly yes. On my tanks with plants, the refugium, and main lights to the marine tank I have timers. On the little 10g with very few plants and the extra single bulb fluorescent strip on the marine tank I don't. I just turn those on when I wake up and off when I go to bed. These lights are too small to actually have much impact aside from allowing you to see inside the tank or help balance the spectrum of the main lights. Timers are extremely useful and I probably have 5 running with multiple ones on some tanks. If I didn't use them then the lights would be on for varying hours and turned on and off several hours different from day to day. Occasionally I also forget to turn them off all night or turn them on for the day. Lighting time depends on the tank and which light strip. Most tanks have 12 hours on 12hours off of light but different amounts of light throughout the day.

Having my lights on timers is one of the best things I have done in this hobby. I am running 5 tanks right now and 4 of them are on timers.

High tech 40G planted tank runs for about 10 hours.
Planted low tech 55G runs for 12 hours.
(both of the above tanks have moon lights that are also on a timer)
29G planted low tech is on for 5, off for 2 and on for 5.
I have another 55G that runs with the 40G.

The only tank that is not on a timer is my 2G hex that is on my desk. This one I turn on when I get up and off when I go to bed. The guppy grass and java moss don't seem to mind.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

No on the light timer. I didn't even know they existed till they were mentioned on this site.......... probably by Keith. But then I only have one tank & it's not a planted tank. I do have three easy grow plants in there I'm trying to keep alive. In a 55 gal. with reg. lighting, they 're just barely making it. With just one tank, I don't forget to turn the light on & off.

Yes. Main tank yes Fry tank no, and only because i have not purchased one yet. Best $3.99 i have every spent at Target.

"No whammy, No whammy, No whammy, STOP!!"

1984-Michael Larsen On Press Your Luck

Come on people......... lets hear it! I'm thinking most people don't have timers, especially when they have only one tank??

Lets hear it from the non-timer people!

Hi,
My tanks have always used timers. My current one, a 30G
tank, has two because the hood has two 65 watt,
Power Compact fluorescent bulbs in it.
One timer controls the light and fan and is on
10 hours/day. The second timer turns on the second
bulb at 10am and off at 2pm simulating the tropical noon
day sun.

I use two of these timers:
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1968319535.1166740780@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccddaddjjjmgkijcgelceffdfgidgml.0&CNTTYPE=PROD_meta&CNTKEY=misc/searchResults.jsp&MID=9876&N=2984+3004&pos=n04

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

All of my 5 tanks have them, it's really helpfull when you travel or you are not at home in the same hours, they just turn on at 10:30am and go off at 10 pm

Now, no, but i'm going to get a few for my animals. I'm home increasingly less and need to pick up a few and rely on others less for their scheduling. It'll be for lights on my fish and snakes.

Ok.............. so what's goin' on

Are all the non timer people out shopping for timers now?!

Yes, having lights on a timer is one of the best things ya can do.
It puts the lights on and off regularly, the fish get used to the cycle. Also, I used them when I had live plants,
and since I work an off shift I'm not always there to on and off the lights regularly.
Rather disliked coming home around 1:00 am to fine the lights on, or left on overnight or even not on at all.

I love them and cant see why I lived without them. I havem on all of my tanks and even my moon lights. and have had them for at least 9months, maybe longer.

I have 2 of my tanks set up to be on from 11am to 9:30pm. that late because the tank gets some natural light between 8 and 10. and my moon light kits are on from 5am to 7am (winter time) and then again at 9:25pm to 11pm.

and i highly agree with divertran, if you work odd hours that can throw off the fish to if the lights are on and off at various times everyday.

The ones I am currently using, has these pins you can set to the times you want, but I'm about to replace them with ones that have these little switchs and are alot easier to use, and offer a more accurate time schedule. I'll post pics when I can


Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

yup, digial ones as the other ones were bloody useless.

It lets me set standard cycles as with my sleep rhythms they could be all over the place otherwise!

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I have them for all of my tanks, as my schedule does not always allow for a regular on and off period each day.

I don't really know how anyone could say that they can turn on/off their lights at the same time everyday.

Jim

---

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

"I don't really know how anyone could say that they can turn on/off their lights at the same time everyday."

I'm not saying that I turn my lights on & off at the same time everyday. THAT, I think is a good point on this thread though. Are you guys trying to tell me that it IS important to do the lights on a time schedule? Cause I didn't think fish needed to be on a tight schedule. If I stay up late at night, the fish & dogs & cats sort of stay up too. I like to look at the fish before I go to bed. Then if I went to bed late I turn the tank lights on late in the am. to sort of let the fish sleep in since I kept them up late.

Of all the ways I treat my fish & my tank, I would think that some irregularity with the lighting would be the least harmful thing I could do. I have never read or heard that a strict time schedule should be kept with fish as far as lighting went. I know that common sense says that the lights should go off sometime during the night, like when I go to bed & then back on sometime in the morning. But I never heard that it was so critical that I should have a timer!?

I have one tank with a couple plants in it. I work at home & we don't travel, so I'm always here in the am. to turn the lights on, just whenever & I tun them off when I go to bed, whenever. Is this bad for the fish? Or in my situation, since my schedule is nothing drastic, am I doing ok?

I can see why you guys have them with an erratic schedule, but do I really need a timer??

Everything benefits from a steady day/night schedule. Something you learn quickly if you have insomnia... Some animals do withstand a more relaxed schedule than others but everything does better with a similar sleep and wake time every day. I don't know exactly how it effects fish but I would especially have a timer for planted tanks. They go through more changes from day to night than you realize and grow better with a stricter schedule. If nothing else having the same hours of light a day helps and usually even if you are around the same time every morning and evening you will be off by a half hour to an hour shortening or lengthening the amount of light from day to day. You can get cheap light timers from a hardware store or even most grocery stores at this time of year so there isn't really a good reason not to have one on most of your tanks. The more expensive ones sold specifically for tanks do have their benefits but definitely aren't necessary.

Sorry fish patty no joy here I have a timer on my tanks too.
Makes things much easier. I work odd hours and mostly leave home when it's still dark, I figure that just because I have to be up, it's no reason to freak out the fish by turning their lights on too.

I didn't like it when someone did that to me (the joys of sharing a room as a kid).

At least with the timer I know the plants are getting enough light.

I don't have one on any of my tanks but I'm going to have to get one for the 55 in the office since its planted and I'm not here on the weekends.

---

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

I'm mostly hearing here......... planted tanks...... odd schedules......multi tanks.

I can see why you guys have timers on your tanks & if I was in your place I probably would have them too (now that I know about timers for tanks)

But in my homebound situation I still don't think I want one. I go to bed at different times & feed sinking pellets before I do & then turn the lights out. The lights going off at a certain time every night would bother me. I don't want them off till I go to bed.

And another reason I'm not interested in a timer right now is because my plug strip in that corner of the room is already full up!

But I thank everybody for their opinions & advice & if I ever have a planted tank I see the value of regular lighting. Maybe by that time we will have moved & I will have more options as far as my plug ins are concerned.