How bad is natural sunlight?

[scottyh]

Is it possible to have a successful reef tank in a room with A LOT of natural sunlight? If so, any tips?

Thanks

[spineshank385]

if natural sunlight was bad, how would the corals survive in the wild?

natural sunlight is the best (and cheapest) way to raise coral. Keep your nutrients down and you shouldnt have a problem

[Freed]

corals on the reef have never seen natural sunlight. They use MH and VHO on the reefs, especially in Australia.

[Freed]

[welcome]

[druce]

I've read natural sunlight helps "make" algae blooms - I guess that maybe where you got the impression it's bad

I have a "ray" of sunlight that always sweeps into my tank from 8am to about 11am, the corals that live in the ray's path love it, and sometimes I think the fish "bask in the sun"

so in my expience I have't seen any bad effects

but with anything in this hobby the experiences and opinions will vary wildly ;)

hope this helps

[scottyh]

THANKS! Does it cause the temp to rise? I am having a hard time keeping the temp below 84.

[BMcCoy]

I imagine that most people will say it's bad because of the algae blooms that can happen. BUT, like spineshank said, just keep the nutrients down and you probably won't have any problem.

Ben

[directional]

Algae blooms will happen and I am sure the heat will go up a little.. Thats why if you have a dog or a cat they sit to where the sun ray is coming through the windows... It warms them up.. !

[druce]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7975136#post7975136 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scottyh
THANKS! Does it cause the temp to rise? I am having a hard time keeping the temp below 84.

i'd suggest you turn off your tank lights during the time you get the most sunlight (if you get allot) and see if your temps drop.

Obviously you need to watch your livestock to see how they like this rolling blackout.

Have you tried to put a fan blowing across the top or sump at all, IME you can loose about 2 degrees that way

[scottyh]

I will try the fan, Thanks! I took the 3 glass pannels off the top of the tank and it seems to cooler. The only prolem is I may loose fish when I get them.

[druce]

many people run with no tops and are fine

if you have fish that are known jumpers you can get the plastic light diffusing pannels (they are the plastic grids for flourescent lights) at lowes for about 3 dollars a piece and cut them to fit.

that allows for evaporation and air movement (cooling tank) and keeps the little jailbreakers in

[ACBlinky]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7975045#post7975045 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Freed
corals on the reef have never seen natural sunlight. They use MH and VHO on the reefs, especially in Australia. ROTFL :lmao:

As long as it's not overheating the tank, I can see no problem at all with natural sunlight. My 21g is fairly close to a window and gets a little indirect sun every afternoon, everything seems to love it.

[druce]

could you imagaine the electric bill for the great barrier reef?

[everl0ng]

yeah, i was running an open top on my tank, but when i brought home my lawnmower blenny he decided he was going to head for the floor, so i went to lowes and got some eggcrate (what druce stated) and haven't had a problem with him getting out. it's very nice because it is still basically an open top, but with a very wide screening grid to keep fish in.

[Andrew]

Direct sunlight can also cause green slime. I had to put blinds on my window by my tank or the one end of the tank would get green slime like crazy.

[ACBlinky]

Not to be argumentative, but nutrients cause algae and cyano problems, not light.

[Andrew]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7976799#post7976799 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ACBlinky
Not to be argumentative, but nutrients cause algae and cyano problems, not light.

I know it was the direct sunlight since it was just where the sun was hitting the tank, back right corner and once I put the blind up, it went away. Never had it since.

[spineshank385]

if your nutrients are low, you wont get green slime. The extra light just highlights the nutrient issue

[kimbertent]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7975045#post7975045 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Freed
corals on the reef have never seen natural sunlight. They use MH and VHO on the reefs, especially in Australia.

haha that was funny!!! :lol:

[Karl H]

Could natural sunlight cause a problem due to it being full spectrum light? Corals in the ocean get sunlight filtered through some amount of water, causing a blue shift. Thats why we use 10k, 14k, etc bulbs. I know a lot of corals also live near the surface. I'm not sure which types those are...

[philagothos]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7975045#post7975045 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Freed
corals on the reef have never seen natural sunlight. They use MH and VHO on the reefs, especially in Australia.

I heard they are switching to T5. ;)

[thor32766]

differant corals, live at all kinds of differant levels of light

[MCary]

Not to be argumentative, but nutrients cause algae and cyano problems, not light.



Algae need light and nutrients. If you shut off the lights in a high nutrient tank the algae will die, if you elliminate all nutirents in a high light tank, algae will die.

It doesn't take much nutrients to cause algae problems. If your tank is in direct sunlight, expect to have to be more diligent in your maintenance and watch your feeding, amount and frequency or you'll have green glass every where the light hits.

Mike

[theatrus]

To add another point, most coal farming operation use shaded natural sunlight.

It really cuts down on the electric bills :)

[ericwebster]

I've herd that the sun produces 3.86 billion billion megawats per seconds of power. Can't even fathom what that number looks like, nevermind how much light that is.

I've got 65w in my tank! w00t.

[Mr31415]

You forget that the sun is 150 million km away from the earth.... Diminishing that 3.86 bil. bil. megawatts to 1350 watts per m^2... So you are getting closer ;)