Control Freaks

Carefully monitoring how much light your tank is exposed to on a regular basis should be a vital component of your on-going aquarium maintenance schedule; too much light can lead to the excessive growth of nuisance algae, and too little can lead to wilting and discolouration.

Now, although you’d love to sit by your tank all day, closely fiddling with your aquarium lighting on an hourly basis, you probably need a job to fund your unhealthy addiction (unless you’re lucky like us, in which case you get to do both). This means you’ll more than likely use timers to control your aquarium lighting, thus regulating how many hours of light your tank receives every day.

For the vast majority of aquarium lighting systems, standard or domestic timers (commonly found in DIY or electrical shops) are suitable for the job. If you’re using specific metal halide aquarium bulbs, however, you’re probably going to want to invest in a purpose-built timer, or risk some seriously expensive consequences in the long-run. In fact, most domestic timers aren’t even rated for the resistive load metal halide units will place on them. Standard mechanic timers are also highly prone to jamming altogether, obviously running the risk of over-saturating your aquarium with light whilst you’re out at work.

Time to Relax

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