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Proper lighting is essential for setting up a good aquarium. Every aquarium needs a
hood or glass canopy, and light in order to:
-Reduce water evaporation
-Help maintain a consistent water temperature
-Keep out normal household pollutants
-Keep the fish from jumping out (and the cat from jumping in)
-Provide necessary light needed for fish
-Enhance the colors of the fish and make the aquarium more attractive
-Allow for photosynthesis in live plants.
Types of Lighting
There are a number of different approaches
used for lighting your aquarium, including what type of lighting you decide to
use, and what the benefits of those lights are. There are a few types of
lighting that you may consider, including sunlight, incandescent, and fluorescent.
Each type produces a different effect and different benefits.
Sunlight
This is of course what fish and plants are used to, and it can hardly be argued
that this is anything less than the most natural. However, direct sunlight on
your aquarium is not recommended and can be problematical, causing excessive
algae and heat in your aquarium.
Incandescent Lights
Incandescent lights are the ubiquitous screw-in bulbs you most likely have
lighting your home. An Incandescent bulb consists of a glass bulb, with a
tungsten filament in a near vacuum; just a small amount of argon or krypton is
present. When current flows through the filament it heats up, and glows giving
off both heat and light.
Incandescent illumination, although inexpensive in initial setup cost is not
recommended for aquaria, unless used on smaller tanks, such as 1-5 gallon aquariums.
The heat generated by these light bulbs almost always adversely affects the
temperature stability of an aquarium. The cost to operate is fairly high, and
the quality of light is poor compared to every other lighting system. Not
only do fluorescent lights help to balance the spectrum, but it has a more
pleasant appearance. If you want to know what type of lighting would be best for
your aquarium click here.
 Using
a colored incandescent light on a small aquariums, such as the one pictured to
the right, can reduce the amount of algae that grows in the tank. A test we ran
with this aquarium was with a blue colored light, we left the light on for 6
months (and counting) straight, and still have no algae! Also colored
incandescent lights used in place of clear incandescent lights make the water
look crystal clear, even if it's not.
Fluorescent lights
Fluorescent lights are very common in our day to day lives. They are cheap to
operate as they emit about four times as much light per unit of electricity as
incandescent lights do. However they can be more expensive than incandescent
lights, but also come in many different types. You may be familiar with the
regular "cool white" and "warm white" tubes sold in hardware
stores but what you may not know is that fluorescent tubes come in several
shapes, sizes and spectral output.
Many small aquariums have a small plastic or metal hood that has one or two tube
shaped incandescent bulbs. For the bulbs to provide enough light to grow plants
they need to be of such high wattage that there will be a severe and deleterious
effect of the fish by the massive amount of heat being given off from the bulbs.
Fluorescent lights are the most economical way of lighting an aquarium in the
long run. Once the initial purchase of the fixture is made the low cost of
operation and long life of the tubes makes fluorescent light very attractive,
such as the ones pictured to the right. Bulbs for these are available from 2700K
to 5000K colour temperatures.
 For plant tanks
fluorescent lighting is best. There are even special bulbs for plant tanks,
which provide the proper lighting for your plants, as well as fish, such as the
ones pictures to the left.
Some species of fish do not like a lot of light and in the wild will hide under
cover to avoid intense light. In an aquarium with bright light and without some
cover to take refuge they will be as stressed as if they were forced in the wild
from their shady environ to an area on bright light. So make sure you have
places for your fish to hide in your aquarium. If you want to know what type of
lighting would be best for your aquarium click here.
Standard Light
Sizes and Types
Standard Fluorescent Bulb Sizes
A 10 gallon aquarium usually uses an 18" bulb.
A 20 gallon aquarium usually uses an 18" bulb.
A 29 gallon aquarium usually uses a 24" bulb.
A 50/55 gallon acrylic aquarium usually uses a 36" bulb.
A 50/55/75/80 gallon usually uses a 48" bulb.
Incandescent Light Bulbs
For most aquarium light fixtures that use this type of bulb, they will use one
or two 15W bulbs.
Make sure you check you light fixture for appropriate wattage.
Note: Your light fixture will usually have a label listing the maximum wattage
of any bulb to be used in it, to avoid damage to the fixture or other fire
hazards.
Fish
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