What type of light does my aquarium need?

What type of light does my aquarium need?

Marc Grover (Professional Aquarist) gives expert video advice on: Where should I put the aquarium?; What type of light does my aquarium need?; Should I use gravel or sand in my aquarium? and more...

When you're talking about lighting up an aquarium, or you're asking a question of "what kind of light would I need," you have to consider some things. First of all, fish do not have eyelids; they cannot close their eyes in a lit room to go to sleep. They absolutely have to have daylight and pure darkness to sleep and to go through their regular routine. Now, daylight doesn't necessarily have to be from an aquarium light. If you have ambient light in your room and can see your hand in front of you, your fish can see too. If it's pitch black, they can't see; they can sleep. The light, for most purposes, is for you. So, you want to get a simple, full-spectrum light that makes your fish look good, for all intents and purposes. Now, that will change if you're getting something that's photosynthetic. If you have a plant, live plants, freshwater tank or a living coral saltwater tank, they have specific requirements and you have to meet a certain wattage and a certain color temperature, and that's a lot more involved. But for a basic start-up tank, any kind of full-spectrum, high-quality fish light will be perfectly fine.