[Tropical Trav]

I am leaving out of town from Friday night until Sunday night. I have a bunch of live plants and a fully stocked 29 gallon tank. Should I leave the light on or off for the 48 hours?

 

[Tracy Bird]

I would purchase an inexpensive timer and maintain your current light schedule.

 

[Tropical Trav]

i will look into them if they are cheap.

 

[JDM]

If you don't go with a timer, I would say off. No dark period apparently can stress the fish... they can't close their eyes to block it out.

Timer is the best option though.

Jeff.

 

[BarbH]

Agree with the above, a timer is s great investment. You can pick up a digital timer at home depot for abouf $15. If you do not pick up the timer before going than leave the lights off for the couple of days that you are out of town. Leaving the lights on for that amount of time could set you up for having problems with an algae outbreak.

 

[ZivaD]

You can get cheap timers for around $5

 

[Tropical Trav]

i just bought the only one that Petco had. It was $20, not digital. We'll see how it goes.

 

[ZivaD]

Glad you found one - though I will say that I try to avoid shopping at pet stores for anything other than food and livestock, because you can generally find everything else you need at other stores and without the "pet" label on them the price is generally way lower (as in 50-75% less) - things like electrical, bulbs, timers, substrate, rock/wood decor pieces, materiel for building stands, etc.

 

[Austin]

The timer is a good idea! Or leave them off. I think algae that will grow covering all the plants would be worse than giving them 48 hours of light!

 

[NewFishFiend]

Timers are the way to go. Makes one less thing you hafta worry about daily. Hate you paid so much for it though. I got one off amazon for $6.

 

[Tropical Trav]

Bad news. Although i tested the timer, when i came home my lights were still on so basically the timer failed me. Fish went 56 without a dark period. I have shade and a hollow wood piece that the glass cats hang out in so i think they had enough shade and they didnt seem stressed or acting weird. Hopefully everything will be ok. I dont see any algae and i hope it stays that way. I will be getting a better timer today and start using it daily.

 

[JDM]

That's one trouble with buying new stuff and relying on it before it's actually been tested and proven to work.

Jeff.

 

[NewFishFiend]

Bad news. Although i tested the timer, when i came home my lights were still on so basically the timer failed me. Fish went 56 without a dark period. I have shade and a hollow wood piece that the glass cats hang out in so i think they had enough shade and they didnt seem stressed or acting weird. Hopefully everything will be ok. I dont see any algae and i hope it stays that way. I will be getting a better timer today and start using it daily.

could POSSIBLY have just been on the opposite schedule u thought. They seem pretty simple but I've more than one time set my timers to come on at 8pm instead of 8am lol.