Lights on

[Alistriwen]

If the tanks have access to natural light you can leave the curtains open in the evening and let the early morning light wake your fish up. Works for me and then we just turn on the tank lights when we feed. The problem of course is if you don't have this option or if your tank would get too much natural light in that situation, it's just really convenient hehe.

 

[davo]

Another thing that seems to work for me is a timer. They are very in-expensive and help a ton when it comes to the morning "freak-out"

I set the lights to come on shortly after sun-rise, so the sun does the natural, gradual "wake-up" period. I have them shut off about 8 pm every night and that doesn't seem to bother them. I realize that sunrise changes daily, so I make it a point to adjust the timer when I do my monthly water change.

I do this to good effect.

 

[ccdoido38]

crazy question but are there any lighting that gradually turn on, say in a course of 5minutes?
like those lamps that turn on/off with a natural sunrise/down effect

 

[dexman1349]

I don't believe you will find any gradual lighting for flourescents. They way the bulbs are designed to function they are either on or off, unlike incandescents (sp?).

You could always go with a salt-water set-up. They use a moon-light, and a different type of bulb for daylight, but those too need a timer to operate properly. The big down-side to this is the $$ typically needed for the fixtures.

 

[Jkoziatek]

i had a similar problem but then i got lunar lights... i turn those on first as a warning... then my reg lights... and the fish aren't to skittish anymore