Mixing sunlight with artificial

[acook]

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I have a 120 gallon reef tank I believe its 24x24x48. It currently sits in front of two huge windows that pump in a ton of light in the morning hours. My tank has the standard black paper behind hit to block this light out. I am wondering if allowing the real sunlight to enter the tank for few hours of the day would be a good idea or not. Any forseeable problems with doing this. Of course I would cut the amount of time the artificial lights would be on. Wondering if this would save power and or be beneficial the reef life. Feel free to post your opinion. I figured this would be an interesting topic non the less.

Thanks

 

[Henry Bowman]

Some may state that the increased sunlight could cause increased algea.

Then there have been a few threads where folks installed Solar Tubes above their tanks to light them naturally and supplement with actinics etc.. They are reporting better colors and growth.

If I were you, I'd definitely try it. The black back on the tank is already absorbing the heat that is coming in, so if temp has not been a problem, you should be good.

If you have a problem with the sunlight, you can always re-cover the back of the tank or shut the blinds.

 

[acook]

The only thing that concerns me would be the color spectrum that the glass could possibly produce. Its not tented, how ever you never know how the glass will reflect the light. Heat is not an issue as the tank is on a concrete floor. This has me ondering the idea. Algea can be just as much an issue with longer photo periods too. I'm running 20k on my metal bulbs I wonder if this earling morning sun light would increase growth while the 20k maintains color?

 

[woody283]

I have late afternoon sun on mine for about 4 hrs asnd it has made my hair algea go nuts. but i also have high nitrates. i think youl be fine but keep an eye on it if you notice any changes cover it bak up

 

[Henry Bowman]

"IF" the water quality is not an issue, you shouldn't have an algea explosion.....

 

[MSX-Jeff]

Algae is a matter of light AND nutrients...no nutrients = no algae.

We run our aquaculture facility in a greenhouse with natural sunlight as the only form of light for coral growth. We have to have more herbivores in our softie system to keep the algae under control because the softies like higher nutrient water. Our SPS system doesn't have algae problems as we run larger skimmers and keep the water really clean like SPS need.

If you have the proper filtration for your tank, using the sun is a good way to get better growth while decreasing your electrical consumption by having to run the lights less