Aquarium Lighting

Ins and Outs of Aquarium Lighting

Aquarium lighting, in most cases, is not an essential thing. As far as the fish are concerned, the light in the room is more than enough. They come from a dark, wet environment, remember, where the sun often has little impact. But what is the point in buying an aquarium, filling it full of beautiful fish, and then not being able to see them? None, of course, and this is why you see most aquarium lighting sources directly over the water.
 
Reef aquariums are a bit different, and do require several hours of bright light, daily. These are the exception, however, and not the rule.
 
In many settings, constant bright aquarium lighting can encourage things that may not necessarily be considered good. I had an entire thirty gallon with three fish inside. They were guppies. I also had live plants inside, and kept the light on all the time. Within a month, the guppies had bred about sixty more of each other (this has little to do with the lighting, I'm assured, other than the fact that it may well have confused the fish into constantly exerting day-time activity.) The plants trebled in size, and were covered, incurably, with snails. The water quickly became an evil shade of green. This, I was told, was directly encouraged by constant lighting.
 
My horror stories aside, there are two different kinds of aquarium lighting systems, and they don't differ all that much from any other type of electrical light. There are fluorescent lights and incandescent lights. Incandescent lights are cheap, but burn out quickly and waste a lot of electricity, while incandescent lights are a bit pricier, initially, but last for years and use electricity in a conservative manner.
 
While incandescent lights do give off significant heat, they should never be depended upon as a central source of same. An adequate heating system is a necessity for any aquarium, especially ones containing tropical fish.
 
Finally, always ensure that your aquarium lighting system is electrically safe. Over-powered bulbs can explode and harm you and your fish, and bare cords are an especially bad idea near such a vast source of water. An old, or unsafe lighting system that falls into your aquarium is a sure-fire way to assassinate all of your fish.