Aquarium Lighting

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Putting an aquarium together isn’t just as simple as buying a few parts and adding water. One area that is often overlooked is aquarium lighting. There is a lot more to lighting that just the bulbs. You have to learn about how it works and how to recognize when something is off. This is especially important if you have more sensitive aquarium pets than just simply gold fish that are able to withstand a wide range of conditions.

If you are looking after coral and other saltwater organisms you will require much different lighting compared to the needs of guppies and turtles. However, another important fact is the aquariums temperature. Some people do not understand that cold water fish and not live in warm water, therefore you cannot have those fish in the same tank. It could mean the life or death of them. This brings me to how aquarium lighting affects the heat inside your tank.

Almost everyone knows that a hot light bulb will burn hand but what they don’t know is that these lights give off a tremendous amount of heat in to the aquarium because they are so close to the water’s surface. If you have a light bulb burn out, there is the chance that the aquarium will become too cold and your marine life will become stressed. So it is extremely important to have extra replacement bulbs and a proper aquarium heater.

Depending on your marine pets you will have to figure out what their specific requirements are. Some will require intense lighting that requires 300w T5 or Halide lighting while others can get by just fine on regular $2 25w bulbs from Wal-Mart. Some of the more intense lighting will require fans to cool them off and perhaps even the surface of the water. When I setup my first salt water aquarium I killed some of its inhabitants because the water temperature rose over 10 degrees in an hour.

But having too much light isn’t the only problem, having too little can be devastating as well. Many salt water plants and corals require intense light 10 to 12 hours per day and any less will kill them. These plants feed off of the light and cannot function without it. Even some fish require intense light but it must vary over the course of the day or they will become stressed and sick very quickly.

Some things you should consider are:
- Are the bulbs old and not functioning like they should?
- Is your aquarium getting too hot? Is the cooling setup working?
- Is everything inside your tank healthy? Or do they look dull and not quite the way they should?

I can’t say it enough, but monitoring your aquarium lighting is just as important as feeding your fish. The small amount of time you spend monitoring your setup will ensure you don’t run in to serious complications in the future.