Room Light

[christian1971]

My tank is in a small room with no windows. The room is lit with a 75 watt bulb. Can this type of lighting be used if I am not showing my tank?

[Hsunami]

if you don't have plants and just using it for light you should be fine. Or you may be able to get away with low light plants.

[Larry Bugg]

The lighting you put on the tank is way more for your benefit than the discus. They actually may be happier and healthier with just the room light. I know a lot of people that have gone that route.

[Jhhnn]

The lighting you put on the tank is way more for your benefit than the discus. They actually may be happier and healthier with just the room light. I know a lot of people that have gone that route.

My fishroom/study has windows w/ miniblinds that are generally closed & an over head fixture w/ two 60W equivalent CF bulbs. The overhead light comes on when I get up in the morning, stays on all day while I work. The basic fluorescent strip tank lights stay off until I'm home, and may not come on even then until it's time to change water. The discus thrive, and I don't spend money to grow algae that I don't want in my BB tanks.

[Darrell Ward]

I don't see the point of having discus if they are always in the dark, and you can't see and enjoy them.

[Hsunami]

indeed. For lightening wise, my top is divided into 3 sections. So i'll cover the 2 outer sections and leave the middle open and it works perfect for them. Not to bright for them but enough light for me to enjoy them. Plus the more environment little stresses they get use to, the calmer they will be in the future.

[moon_knight1971]

I don't even have lights or hoods on my tank. I just use a single clamp on lamp with a 100 watt florescent most of the time to illuminate my 5 tanks in my dining room. When I have company I use the ceiling light in the dining room which has 6 75 watt adjustable spotlight bulbs to show off the fish colors better.

Joey!

[Jhhnn]

I don't see the point of having discus if they are always in the dark, and you can't see and enjoy them.

True. Most evenings and weekends at home, the tank lights are on at my house. During the day, when we're at work, it's just the room light. The discus don't seem to care at all. They're "my" discus, with my wife & teenage sons not caring much about them one way or another.

The "soft-on" feature of CF bulbs seems a good thing in the room light. In winter, it's still dark when I get up & go to work. When I had incandescent bulbs, I needed to turn on a small lamp first, then the room light some minutes later so the fish wouldn't panic. They don't do that with the CF's. It never gets really really dark in our very urban neighborhood, anyway, and I suspect that bringing the lights up gradually would be even more desirable in rooms where it does...

[strawberryblonde]

I put my lights on a timer so that they come on in the morning for a few hours (to make the sword plants happy) and then flip off during the day when the skylights provide most of the indirect lighting for the tank. Back on at night so I can enjoy them. My husband isn't "into" fish unless they are swimming in a river and he has a fishing pole and some bait. So the lights are just for me and I likes it that way.

Christian, you don't have to use official tank lights if you don't want to. I have a couple of smaller tanks and just put a clip on desk lamp ($20 at walmart) over them since they don't have plants and don't need strong lighting. The standard bulbs in them (I use the smaller, candle shaped, 25watt, clear ones) make gorgeous shimmering light effects! You could try using 2 clip on lights to spread the light more evenly across your 75. Probably would want to use 40 watt clear bulbs instead of the 25's.

[christian1971]

I decided to buy a couple colormax lights. Unfortunately I bought the wrong size!!!!! So I am using the marineland lights that came with my light fixtures. They seem to do a good job.

[Bud Smith]

I decided to buy a couple colormax lights. Unfortunately I bought the wrong size!!!!! So I am using the marineland lights that came with my light fixtures. They seem to do a good job.

When first starting with discus keep it simple and as you read and learn and your budget increases you can for example change lighting and so on
Looks like you have put a alot of thought in your desire to keep discus - good job and keep asking questions - I think everybody enjoys your threads