Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Other animals

Fish tank lighting: 7 great tips

By

Lots of people like fish and the attractiveness that a well-maintained fish tank can add to a home. However, not everyone knows what they need to make a fish tank all that it should be.

Proper lighting adds a certain appeal to a fish tank, but it’s not just about the aesthetics. Having the correct color of fish tank lighting is vital to the health and well-being of the fish, other creatures, and plants that call your aquarium home.

Recommended Videos

To take care of your tank inhabitants in the best way possible, you must remember that each of them lives in specific natural conditions in the wild. You’ll want to try to replicate that environment to the best of your ability.

For example, if you have a tank with tropical fish or fish that live in streams where light easily penetrates the water, you’ll want to invest in fish tank lighting with a color temperature that simulates the sun’s warm rays.

Related

On the other hand, if your fish come from an environment filled with lots of plants and shade, your lighting system will probably need a different color temperature altogether.

In this article, we’ll run down seven great tips that can make it easier to choose the best lighting for your fish tank.

Blue Betta Fish in Fish Tank
Photo by Tim Mossholder/Pexels

Consider your fish tank hood

Do you know what kind of hood your fish tank has? Knowing this will help determine what kind of lightbulb you can use to illuminate your aquarium (check with your pet store if you’re not quite sure). You’ll also need to consider the power of the lightbulbs you want to use.

Regular fish tanks need about three watts of lighting power for every gallon of water in the tank. Again, depending on the kind of fish you have, you’ll want to think about color temperature. But in general, the lighting shouldn’t be too bright for a regular tank since it could stress the fish. Too-bright lighting can also lead to algae growth.

Choose incandescent or fluorescent lighting

Two common lighting options are fluorescent and incandescent.

The first is more expensive and is available in both bulbs and tubes. Fluorescents can also be used with any type of aquarium. Although they give off a white light that’s brighter than that of incandescent bulbs, many fish tank owners prefer them because they’re perfect for any live plants in the aquarium.

Incandescent bulbs are cheaper and dimmer. They illuminate a fish tank with a yellow-tinted light. They’re great for smaller tanks and better when your plants are plastic.

LED lighting

A third option is LED lighting. LED lights might cost a bit more upfront because they’re newer technology, but they’ll save you money over time since you won’t have to change out the lights nearly as often.

A great benefit of these types of light is that, unlike incandescent bulbs, they don’t produce any heat. Remember that excess heat from a lighting source can raise the temperature of the fish tank’s water, which might be hazardous to your fish.

Another thing to like about LED lights is their ease of installation.

Two Goldfish Looking Out
Photo by Chait Goli/Pexels

Don’t leave your lights on constantly

Many new aquarium owners make the well-meaning mistake of leaving their fish tank’s light on all the time. This wastes electricity and isn’t great for the fish. In general, you should light your fish tank on a schedule that mimics day and night.

Experts recommend turning your lights on and off in a 12-hour cycle. In other words, give your fish 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness.

Control algae growth

Algae growth is encouraged by bright lights and the nutrients in your fish tank’s water. This is almost always worse when you first set up the tank, but it can occur later, too. If you have an algae problem, the first thing you’ll want to consider is whether it’s due to your lights’ brightness.

Invest in a light timer

You don’t want to have to worry about your fish tank’s lighting when you’re not home. A light timer is a great investment in peace of mind. Your fish can get the light cycle they need even if you’re busy or not around.

Think about the kind of aquarium you’re creating

As you can see from these tips, getting the right fish tank lighting isn’t that hard; you just need to think about what kind of fish tank you want to create and what color light will make your tank inhabitants feel most at home.

Editors’ Recommendations

Will Blesch
Will Blesch
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Will Blesch is a copywriter, content writer, and someone passionate about anything that lets him discover more about this…
How to clear cloudy aquarium water in a few easy steps and make your fish happy
When your aquarium water is cloudy, you'll have to do some sleuthing to find the cause
Hand cleaning tank with sponge

No matter how talented an aquarist or fish parent you are, you'll probably run into cloudy aquarium water at some point. Maybe your filter breaks unexpectedly or one of your fish has tummy problems, and you wind up with a tank so murky you can't see through it.

If you walk in to feed your fish and stumble on cloudy aquarium water, don't panic. While a good tank cleaning will probably be necessary, it's even more important to discover the underlying problem. We're here to show you how to clear cloudy aquarium water and keep your fish safe from filth.

Read more
Are bubbles in a fish tank a problem? They just might be
5 reasons bubbles in a fish tank might be there (and what to do)
Fish tank with healthy bubbles coming out of filter

Where there's water, there are bubbles. It's unavoidable and you'll be chasing an impossible dream if you try to eliminate them from your aquarium entirely. For starters, the filter produces a continuous stream, and that's a good thing! It means the system works. But some bubbles may reveal underlying problems with your water or with your inhabitants. So, why are there bubbles in your fish tank, and how do you know if those little oxygen sacks indicate an issue or a healthy ecosystem? Here's how to tell where they're coming from and figure out what to do about it.
Why are there bubbles on plants?
Like we said, bubbles are often totally normal — no action required. This will especially hold true if you have live plants, which produce oxygen naturally and sometimes hold on to it in the form of bubbles. Of course, those eventually dissipate, at which point the gas inside seeps into the water. That's good! Fish need to breathe just like the rest of us and do so through their gills by pulling oxygen from the water in the tank. These types of bubbles go on the good to neutral list.

Why are there bubbles covering the surface?
So, what happens when there's not enough oxygen for your fish to function happily? When they can't get it from the water, they'll make their way to the surface and breathe the air. Some fish do this frequently, as do aquatic frogs and other non-fish aquarium dwellers, so don't take that act alone as an immediate cause for concern.

Read more
Add rainbowfish to your tank – these beauties will brighten up any aquarium
There are a few things you need to know before you get a rainbowfish
A colorful rainbowfish swims in front of plants in an aquarium

You might know of rainbowfish from the beloved children's book, but these are real animals that you can keep in your own home. As the name suggests, this group of swimmers is well regarded for being beautiful to behold. Many also get along nicely with other fish and can be handled by beginners. This is what you need to know before bringing home a rainbowfish.
What are rainbow fish?
It's a bit of a catch-all term because there are at least 50 species that all fall under the rainbowfish umbrella. Some work better as pets than others, and you'll probably be looking at boesemani rainbowfish, turquoise rainbowfish, featherfin rainbowfish, or red neon rainbowfish. If you're adding to an existing tank, research carefully to ensure you only get ones that will make friends with your current animals.
What conditions do they need to live in?
These are all freshwater fish, but their exact temperature and pH balance needs vary depending on which species you bring home. You can use your existing tank specs to narrow it down or do the opposite — pick the prettiest fish and then build your ecosystem around it. One thing to note right away is that you shouldn't keep males together and no rainbowfish wants to live on its own because they like to school. Consider keeping a group of six females if you want to prevent expansion.

Why should you add them to your tank?
Here are four excellent reasons to keep rainbowfish as pets.
They look beautiful
You can find just about any gradient you want in a rainbowfish. Some incorporate many colors, more like a traditional rainbow, while others skew toward blue, such as the turquoise rainbowfish, or red, such as the aptly named red rainbowfish.
They get along with other fish
While you want them to have friends of their own species, they'll also do great with others. Female rainbowfish can sometimes live with female bettas if you want to create a color explosion. Otherwise consider catfish, gouramis, and loaches as tank mates.
They're good beginner fish
The care level of most rainbowfish sits at about the same as a neon tetra (in fact, they can live together). Make sure your tank stays clean and that you change and test the water frequently, but they don't have any specialty needs.
They live a long time
Many tank dwellers have short life spans, and rainbowfish won't be any different if not properly cared for. However, boesemani rainbowfish, in the right environment, regularly make it to 5 years and sometimes even t10 years!

Read more