Natural Light

[waltj11]

I was curious about the effects of natural light on reef aquariums. I've heard both bad and good things. Anyone know anything?

[MaxxedMan]

Too much Natural Light caused most of my best and worst college memories.

http://stonesofphilly.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/natural_light_beer_logo__907831.jpg

[kriv4o]

Holly Molly!
That's my beer of choice as well although I live on Maryland's eastern shore. Small world:)
P.S same effects from natty here lol

[MaxxedMan]

The tank of the month from May or April was a natural light tank with a lot of info in that thread. If you were expecting a serious answer :)

Corals natural light are in places where it warm and sunny 360 days a year. Connecticut is probably not a good canidate.

[waltj11]

I if the tank was positioned near a large window, would this effect anything.

[tkeracer619]

Regular window glass filters out some of the light that the corals use while letting light through that algae likes.

The par from the sun is roughly 2000. You need at minimum 100 to grow sps. Coral is protected from the sun by the oceans depth so it will never see the full strength. This is why coral holding facilities have shades over top of them.

Unless you are prepared to spend a lot on solotubes I wouldn't bother and would try to minimize the natural sunlight that does hit the tank as it will not be the optimal spectrum.

[MaxxedMan]

the direct sunlight into a tank tend to cause algea blooms

[jake koppen]

i have allot of natural sunlight hitting my tank. i keep my parameters in check and have good filtration and allot of mexican turbo snails that keep things really tidy. if things get out of whack you can block the sun from coming in.

[alton]

I have seen this tank in person and it looks great. He started a thread here on RC
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2062633&page=4

But the following is updated from our local club

http://www.maast.org/showthread.php?65792-250-gallon-solar-reef/page41

[beachbreak]

I get full east sunrise sun into my tank for 1.5-2 hours a day (interior of my house is all glass). I don't experience any algae blooms or anything out of the ordinary.

One odd thing is that fish love it. They will congregate in the highly lit areas and get really frisky. They look really nice in that color of light as well