miwoodar
Likey the bikey
You can find anything on Google.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/printthread.php?s=&threadid=56125&perpage=1000
Natural sunlight?
- Thread starter B.C.theReefer
- Start date
You can find anything on Google.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/printthread.php?s=&threadid=56125&perpage=1000
Also had sunlit tank for 2 years 10-20g, no problems, other, than a rapid temperature rise in the sunny days and a need of air conditioning during a summer heat.
But tank became infected by turf algae and bryopsis, even with nitrates and phospates zero (or may be because of them
). These survived very well without sunlight - in the basement with 24W 50-50 PC.
The baby maximas looked brownish in the sun light - they bathed in the sunlight, extended mantle to a maximum and looked very healthy.
But tank became infected by turf algae and bryopsis, even with nitrates and phospates zero (or may be because of them
). These survived very well without sunlight - in the basement with 24W 50-50 PC.The baby maximas looked brownish in the sun light - they bathed in the sunlight, extended mantle to a maximum and looked very healthy.
UV, and light pipes, and stuff
UV, and light pipes, and stuff
Just a thought for discussion, my current 120gallon was originally concieved to use "light pipes" made by 3M, to bring in natural sunlight coming in from the roof to the tank. It is a deepish style tank and I put starfire on the front for both aesthetic and transmission reasons, as the tank gets AM sunshine While I never finished the light pipe aspect of my beutiful tank project, I am considering doing it again as it would save a lot of energy.
Rex
UV, and light pipes, and stuff
Correct. Most all light energy below 320 nM (near UV) will be significantly reduced by ordinary soda glass in windows and most tanks. The only glass that wont block this light is Quarzite optical glass.
Just a thought for discussion, my current 120gallon was originally concieved to use "light pipes" made by 3M, to bring in natural sunlight coming in from the roof to the tank. It is a deepish style tank and I put starfire on the front for both aesthetic and transmission reasons, as the tank gets AM sunshine While I never finished the light pipe aspect of my beutiful tank project, I am considering doing it again as it would save a lot of energy.
Rex
B.C.theReefer
New member
Well, it's been over a month now. And I have to say that moving my tank in front of my south facing window was a great idea. The growth and color of all my corals have increased quite a bit. I did keep all the lighting on the tank from before the move. Which includes a 48" Nova Extreme T5 HO 4 bulb fixture and two 150w 14,000K metal halides. The lights come on at 11:00AM for the T5s and noon for the halides. They stay on for quite a while after the sun goes down though. Sunset here is about 5:30PM, but the halides go off at 8:00 and the T5s at 9:00. For night lighting I use a one foot regular T12 flourecent that's 420nm. It's really purple and makes everything that is green look as if it is glowing from the inside. Most of my friends think it's a black light even though I keep telling them it isn't. So anyway, not all the light comes from sulight. But when the sun is shining directly on the tank I can't even tell the artificial lighting is on. I just bought a chiller but I havn't hooked it up yet because the temp. doesn't go up that much, yet. It's February now though. We'll see how it goes when it's June. Anyway, don't be misled into believing that sunlight is bad for your aquarium. The only way it will cause increased algea growth is if there is too much nutrient in the water. And that should never be a problem in a reef aquarium. Otherwise, it can only help.
FunkieReefJunkie
Member
If you have the nutrients to feed it natural light or not algae will grow. I think the algae associated with natural sun light is overstated boogyman mythology. And frankly, I think it serves bulb makers well.
tinyreef
New member
from my experience it's not so much that 'sunlight' itself makes algae but that the sunlight is more optimal for the algae than 'bulb light'.
imo, the 'supercharged algae' in turn simply outcompetes the bene bacteria for the ambient nutrients that always found in our systems even with a perfectly functioning biofilter. i.e. zero test readings do not mean there's nothing there, it only means the nutrients are processed so efficiently they can't be detected on our hobby kits. i mean, the fish/inverts still poo and pee.
the existing algae starts to proliferate more than under just 'bulb lighting'. people point to this and say that it's bad.
but otoh, it also points out (imo) that the symbiont algae in our corals would also be better served with sunlight as well. (if it 'overhelps' one type of algae, shouldn't it also 'overhelp' the symbiont kind?)
I remember reading somewhere that once sunlight passes through glass (and especially multiple panes or thick glass) it really changes or somehow scatters the wavelengths or spectrum or something like that, and makes the light actually very different than natural unfiltered sunlight. Perhaps the water in the ocean has a similar effect?
dettigers77
New member
I had a tank across the room from a window and it would receive two hours of natural light. During that time you could barelly tell it had other lights on it. The corals would also usually double in size.
nattarbox
New member
So a question for the original poster or anyone else who has been running with natural sunlight for some time.. Have you noticed and variation in growth forms relating to a majority of the light entering from the side instead of top down? I know if you tried this with a planted tank, all your fast growing plants would immediately start pushing towards the strong light source, and you'd get some 'different' looking formations.
tinyreef
New member
yes, that's very astute of you to pick that up! i didn't realize that until i was already underway with my tank. i set up that tank not realizing/forgetting the fact that lighting would be at an angle. *headsmack*
so as a result my aquascape wasn't really as optimal as i would've preferred to take advantage of the natural lighting. i was still thinking traditional overhead lighting setup. (it was also one of the reasons i decided to eventually strike the tank, as well as simple tank consolidation at the time)
you'll likely see some different reactions and growth patterns than what most of us are used to. this was one of the things i noticed quickly as corals/livestock changed their forms to gather in the side angle lighting.
this mushroom was obviously trumpeting towards the side sunlight. 'satellite dishing' if you will. :lol:
B.C.theReefer
New member
nattarbox-yes, my soft corals definately orient themselves towords the sun as it moves through the sky. But keep in mind I still have quite a bit of artificial light from my halides and T5s. One interesting thing I've noticed is that the coralline growing on the bottom(display is bare-bottom)started growing in on the shady side of the rocks first. As far as the SPS corals go, the sides that get the most sun are way more healthy. Not to say the sides that don't get the most sun are unhealthy by any means. The fish love the sunlight. But I would have to say that the over-all health of the aquarium in general has improved since placing it in a south facing window. It has been less than two months now and several acroporas and montiporas have shown accelerated growth and improved color. But I'm also curious to see what everything looks like in a year. Luckily I have a bench outside the window so I can sit outside and look at my aquarium. So when the corals really start growing towards that side of the tank the bench will be a great vantage point! I'm going to try to post updates as often as I can. That way everybody can be right along with me if there are any disasters. LOL! So far so good though!
JMBoehling
Premium Member
My LTA reaches out for the sun via my Solatubes. I can't wait for that great ball of fire to fill my tubes back up.. I hate the low angle of the winter sun 
Jim
Jim
B.C.theReefer
New member
I wish I could do solartubes. Unfortunately I rent, so that's out of the question. Those things are awesome! My dad put one tube in the bathroom at his house. During the day you never have to turn on the lights. No windows either. When I finally own my own place I'm definately going to put a couple over my aquarium. BTW, my friend ,who has had his aquarium in a south facing window longer than mine, has a crocea clam that spawned! It happened in the middle of the afternoon Feb. 29th. It's too bad that is the only clam he has though. But now he is going to get another crocea in hopes that it will happen again. Nothing has spawned in my tank yet. Even though I've come to realize that montipora digitata LOVES sunlight. I have four specimens in different colors and they have always been fast growers. But in the sunlight they seem to be bigger by the day. Also as the days are getting longer(and less cloudy days) growth in general seems to be increasing. I attribute some of this to the corals becoming RE-adjusted to natural sunlight. And different sunlight at that. Thanks to all that have contributed to this thread so far. I think this is a topic that has been overlooked. And it's great learning experience for me to hear about others who have tried this method.
B.C.theReefer
New member
Well, I managed to splash water on my T5s and shorted out one of the ballasts. Lucky for me I work for my LFS doing aquarium maintenance and my boss hooked me up with a 400w fixture bulb and ballast. I couldn't say no because he only charged me $100. The bulb is a Hamilton 14,000K which is the same as my 70w HQI lights. I really like the color of these bulbs. So now I have the 400w over the middle of the tank and the 70w lights over the ends. I would have preferred to have two 250w lights to spread the light more. But this set up spreads it fairly evenly. Of course I gave my corals a week long photo-acclimation period where the 400w only came on for four hours a day. Nothing seemed to be adversely affected by it. So now it's on for a full eight hours a day. This is only day two of having it on that long, but so far so good.
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