Question: Tank lights, no lights?

[Roxxy]

So I'm soon to get my first axolotl, very excited as I've been waiting for about a year. So I went out an bought a top fin 55 gallon tank from petsmarts which unfortunately came with leds, which I've read are too harsh for axolotl eyes. However this shouldn't be a problem as I had the though to save our old lights/hood (which are compact fluorescent 15w) from our old 55 koi tank. (Unfortunately the tank broke in storage) So very long winded way to ask, are lights bad to have on at all? Because I been reading all I can get my hands on so I can be a good owner but I've been seeing some conflicting information. Some posts say to have the lights on for 3-6 hrs to establish a sleep/active cycle and some say never because it's just mean considering they have no eyelids. So now I'm confused, should I have the light on? I'm going to have a few axie safe live plants in the tank so some light would surely be helpful to them but I don't want to be mean to my axie. Sorry if this post is so long I just wanted to clearly explain my dilemma.
Extra info: they'll be 2 different hides in the tank one partial cover and one cave full cover. I'll be cycling my tank for a month so I shouldn't be purchasing my axie till June.
Thank you

 

[saints78]

hi i have my tank lights on for a few hours a day all tho i have blue led i use

 

[Axy239]

If you're planning on cycling the tank, why not get some Java Moss, Frogbit, Duckweed, Red Root, Hornwort... Those all do well for blocking light from above, if you get a thick enough canopy it should diffuse plenty of light. Cycle them in the tank with some guppies and then you have sushi for the axy. I've also found LED lights on ebay in the blue spectrum that show off GFP really well. They don't seem to bother them NEARLY as much as the blacklight does.

 

[Axy239]

Also you can look into breeder mops. You can make them out of yarn and if you attach it to cork you could float them on the top of the water column. I use them often in larger tanks to divide up the space a little.

 

[JordynG45]

The blue LED light are okay. They are great at growing your plants as well! They aren't very harsh on the axie but just make sure it isn't on all day long. Just an hour or two is fine. ?


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[Roxxy]

If you're planning on cycling the tank, why not get some Java Moss, Frogbit, Duckweed, Red Root, Hornwort... Those all do well for blocking light from above, if you get a thick enough canopy it should diffuse plenty of light. Cycle them in the tank with some guppies and then you have sushi for the axy. I've also found LED lights on ebay in the blue spectrum that show off GFP really well. They don't seem to bother them NEARLY as much as the blacklight does.

Thank you for your input I'll have to look into to some of these.

 

[AxolotlChris]

I have a 15w fluorescent tube that I have on up to 8 hours a day. I have floating plants and dense areas of planted plants.

My Axolotl swims about happily during the day

 

[ohaxies]

I have an led on my axolotl tank, but I blocked out 1/3 of the lights. They're always out even though they have multiple places to hide.

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