Aquarium light timer as a necessity for fish tanks and lighting

Brief Description of the Aquarium Light Timer article

The purpose of an aquarium light timer and advantages of using timers for fish tank lights; Not only in terms of inhabitants of your aquarium, but also focusing on plants.

Of the many reasons to maintain an aquarium in your home, the office or in a public building, the most popular reason is for therapeutic purposes. People who are easily agitated can calm down and watch fish in an aquarium swinging around in their tank for hours on end with no major worries in life. People, who have worries, and some of them serious, can forget them for just a little while as they watch these fish swirl around in their tank.

Light in a Fish Tank

For those people outside the tank looking in it is very important that the aquarium have an efficient lighting system, and for this inside the tank but not necessarily looking out it is no less important, but for different reasons. Proper lighting in an aquarium is very important for all forms of life in the tank, especially in a tropical freshwater (and reef) aquarium. Proper lighting is very important to all these life forms that are in need of proper photosynthesis to balance the equilibrium in the tank. These plants and life forms will fade gradually without access to so many hours of light every day, and if the tanks are situated indoors, which most are, then a consistent supply of light needs to be provided.

These are facts that any aquarist is aware of, and today there is technology available that will provide lighting for aquariums to suit every application and size of tank. For example if coral reefs have been established in the tank, then certain manufacturers produce a form of "designer’s lighting" made to be installed as part of a miniature light show reflecting of living rocks and gravel, and glowing through ferns. The designer’s effect can be really pleasing to the eye and create a very warm impression in the home or in the office environment.

All in all, the controlled supply of light is one of the most important aspects in efficiently managing an aquarium, irrespective of its size. There are many forms of lighting available, from fluorescent to metal halide, with each of these options having their plus and minus features.

Having chosen which form of lighting best suits their particular application, the experienced aquarist will be well aware of a very important fact. That it is highly detrimental to their health for fish in an aquarium to be exposed to light twenty four hours a day. Another reason why light should be rationed, certainly less glamorous, is to prevent the spread of algae within the tank. The presence of Algae in the tank can be a real nightmare, and they thrive in a situation where light and heat is in plentiful supply.

Why use an aquarium light timer

For these reasons, it is really important that the tanks only be illuminated twelve hours every day, and again it depends on the individual application as to which hours the tank is lit up. For instance in a public building, such as a bank, or a government office where people may be sitting about waiting, the tank could be illuminated for a consecutive twelve hours, or in two lots of six hours with a break of three hours in the middle. If the tank is in a domestic setting it could be lit up in the evening and for the balance of the twelve hours be played out during the night or in the morning.

By now you will be asking, who is the lucky guy who gets to switch off and on the aquarium lights at these strange times of the day and night? And the answer is that there is no need for such a person, technology has made him or her redundant. Nowadays there are simple timer switches available that can do the job and they cost only a few dollars to purchase and readily available online, complete with installation and operating instructions. Not that the instruction are hard to follow, as well as being child’s play to install. Nowadays there are even digital timers available, which are gradually placing the older dial operated numbers.

Every aquarium can be set up to receive their daily dose of light when it will have its maximum viewing effect, be it morning, noon, day and night. The ideal combination is two sequences on, two sequences off, with the aquarist determining which is most suitable. One rule that is very important for the aquarist to adhere to is to make every effort not to fluctuate to dramatically form the regular lighting schedule too often as this is liable to upset the fish.

Once the aquarium light timer is in place, then life for the fish, the plant life and their audience will be as close as to what nature intended.