Aquarium light

Aquarium lighting is often the last item a person is thinking about when buying an aquarium. The lighting of an aquarium, however, is very important.

There are 4 different kinds of aquarium setups that may require different kinds of aquariumlighting:

• Freshwater - fish only.
• Freshwater - fish and plants.
• Salt water - fish only.
• Saltwater - fish and corals.

The most light-sensitive aquarium set up is the aquarium with saltwater fish and corals. Corals are categorized as animals, not plants, and therefore they are feeding from the light. So the proper aquarium lighting is very crucial and will make the difference between growing beautiful and lustrous corals and having them die in your reef tank.

Light is very important for all forms of life. It is no different for all the different forms of life in your aquarium. Corals and fresh water plants are especially in need of proper light conditions. When growing corals, it is of great importance to change light bulbs regularly. To have proper aquariumlighting, it is recommended to change light bulbs about every 8 months. It may at times not be so apparent to you, but you need to keep in mind that corals are highly sensitive to light.

Today there is an extensive variety of aquarium lighting available. So if you are owning a reef tank for example, you do have to be especially careful to provide the right lighting to have success in growing corals. Corals are strongly photosynthesizing which means they are using light as energy and if there is not enough energy (light) provided, corals will not grow and can even die.

Aquarium lighting is provided by short and long wavelength, blue and yellow light. You need a smaller amount of short wavelength light (actinic) and a larger amount of long wave light (yellow), depending on the type of aquarium life you are trying to promote.

The amount of light that you need does not necessarily depend on how big your aquarium is, but on how many corals you have got to feed daily.

When you use aquarium lighting you want to mimic the natural light. This means you need to have at least 8 to 10 hours of light provided to keep your aquarium with fish and plants healthy.

A timer will help you here to keep up with the light automatically. With the aid of a timer you can enjoy your aquarium without having to keep up with the on and off switching of your aquariumlight.

But you do need to keep up with the changing out of light bulbs about every 8 months and you need to do it regularly. A freshwater aquarium also needs proper aquarium lighting. For most of the freshwater tanks, fluorescent light bulbs are common. The strength of your fluorescent light bulb will depend again on how many freshwater plants you want to grow. Here, too, it may depend on how many plants you are growing in your tank.

Just like there are corals that need more light than others, there are also fresh water plants that may require more light than others. Your aquarium lighting may often be the reason why you are not able to grow healthy plants. So to keep your aquarium looking great and have beautiful growths of plants or corals make aquarium lighting an important priority!

Proper aquarium lighting is also important for all your fish and any other aquatic animal, and if you don't know the type of light they need, check with your pet store or aquarium store to find out what is optimal for them. - By Jon Arnold (Aquarium light)

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Aquarium Light

Aquarium plants are as important to aquariums as water is to fish. Aquarium plants add more life to aquarium and make it to look beautiful while completing the aquarium community structure.

The most important thing to bear in mind with plants is to form an attractive background, leaving ample space so the fish can swim undisturbed and be seen. The tall, grassy type is best planted at intervals in rows, while the feathery ones look better when they are bunched into small clumps, which makes them to appear like branching bushes.

When planting rooted plants, hold the tips of the bunch of roots between the thumb and second finger and rest them on the sand. Now with the first finger push the upper part of the roots (where they join the stem) about 2cm into the sand. Without moving this finger scrape with the thumb and second finger some sand over any uncovered portion of the root.

When putting in rootless plants in bunches, the method explained above is repeated, but this time the lower ends of the stems are placed together and treated exactly as if they were roots.

It is important that the water surface should be right up to the lower edge of the top angle iron of the tank, so that looking from the front the water surface can not be seen and the viewer gets the impression that there is no water in the aquarium. If the level is allowed to fall below the top angle iron the tank looks like a container holding water.

Aquarium Lighting is also important for aquarium plants

This depends greatly on whether you intend to successfully grow plants or not. Lack of light causes colorful fish to fade and clanch-reds to pink, green to white. The two main methods of lighting aquarium are by the INCADESCENT and FLOURESCENT.

The total amount of light required is a matter of trial and error. Too much light will turn the water green; too little will stunt plant growth.

The lighting can be natural or artificial or a combination of both. The best position is near a north facing window. This should provide the ideal amount of indirect lights which an be supplemented by artificial light.

The lighting should be housed in wood constructed stylishly with the furniture and placed above the tank. if there is no natural day light, the lights should be left on for approximately eight hours per day.

If the water turns green, you cut down on the light.

The best light for showing off an aquarium comes from behind. - by Nathan Miller

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For more great aquarium related articles and resources check out http://www.aquariumspot.com