Leaving for a few days light question

[thegameksk]

I am going away for 4 days. Should I leave my light on while I am gone? I have 2 live plants along with 4 catfish a betta and a king betta. Also will the fish be ok with not eating while I am gone? Thanks.

[Adastra]

The fish will be fine with no food for four days--however, I would rather leave the light off than have it on, but this isn't good for your plants. You should consider going to the hardware store and picking up a simple outlet timer, they are only a few dollars but this will make it so the light turns on and off automatically at certain times a day. I use these on all my tanks even when I'm here--they're particularly good for plants since it's important for them to have a steady photoperiod. It's a good investment whether you're going out of town or not. :)

[thegameksk]

Im not going to have time to pick one up before I have to leave. So if I have the light off while im gone, can it kill my plants?

[Adastra]

They sure won't be happy when you get back. They probably won't be all the way dead, though.

[thegameksk]

How exactly does the outlet timer work? Like will it totally shuts the electric socket off? What if you have it plugged into a serge protector? Thanks