Sunlight or No Sunlight

[Hookup]

random-thought/comment:

I believe that algae is very present in the natural reef... just there are so many "critters" that consume it a balance is achieved... this is not possible in our tanks, so we try to eliminate the source (phosphates/silicates) and watch any lighting that promotes the growth as well. Old bulbs are often a suspect, due to shift in the spectrum/output.

 

[huig]

My livingroom has a lean on greenhouse, only 1 time in more than 8 years there were nuisance algae but that was my own fault.
sunlight does not promote nuisance algae, sloppy husbandry does!
herbivores are the key inhabitants in a tank.

This is my 1200 l tank only has 1 36 watt fluorescent tube to extend daylight in winter soI can feed my fish. Nothing fancy but its my pride and joy especially as it only uses 300 € of electricity per year!

unfortunately I' m not a good photographer...

 

[tmz]

random-thought/comment:

I believe that algae is very present in the natural reef... just there are so many "critters" that consume it a balance is achieved... this is not possible in our tanks, so we try to eliminate the source (phosphates/silicates) and watch any lighting that promotes the growth as well. Old bulbs are often a suspect, due to shift in the spectrum/output.

Green algae is limited by low phosphate 0.03 ppm or less. Natural reefs have less PO4 than that and ear 0ppm nitrate, so there isn't much green algae.

 

[Aqua_boy]

Reefs grow best in sunny, shallow and clear water...

Water must be clear and shallow so that reef can get lots of sunlight...

Best temperature is 25 &310

 

[TonyV]

I can tell when my wife opens the curtains during they day when I am at work. My tank walls begin to get that green haze right before it turns into algae. She now knows how to handle the mag scraper.

 

[ReefiusMaxiumus]

I've got a great big window, facing to the east, right next to my 180. It gets tons of sun in the morning, and I've never had an algae problem. As long as you keep nutrient levels under control, you should never have an algae problem.

+1

Algae problems start with nutrients, not light.

 

[Colione]

that's what I always thought, that algae will grow because of nutrients not the light you add.

There's light in there already, if it's gonna grow, it's gonna grow.

For me I had a few beams that would come through my window and hit the tank. It was significantly brighter than my tank lighting, I liked it coming in ... more par!

coincidentally the corals that got a few hours of sunlight each day seemed to take off pretty good.

 

[Takara]

+1

Algae problems start with nutrients, not light.

very true!!

 

[Stuart60611]

Yes, nutrients cause algae and not light, but I think this is not a very practical and realistic view of the issue. Many of our tanks are not always perfectly balanced in terms of nutrients. However, even tanks with too many nutrients cannot grow algae without light. I think you will be hard pressed to find a system which at some point did not get a bit out of whack in terms of excessive nutrients through overfeeding, lack of maintainence, etc. Under these circumstances, if your tank has a lot of light, algae can take hold and then take months and a lot of work to eliminate. Therefore, if it were me, I would not want any light in my system that I could not control both in terms of the amount and time the light shines on my system. As such, whenever my tank may be a bit high on the nutrients, I could limit and/or reduce the light to minimize algae problems. As many of us have experienced, it is a lot easier to prevent algae taking hold then it is to eliminate it once it infests a system.

 

[genomik]

I have had many freashwater tanks and a couple salties near windows, in fact rarely every had a tank without sunlight. My tanks are pretty rough around the edges in general but some thoughts. I am planning on moving a 29 gal tank right in front of a big window with lots of indirect light so I will find out. But I have noticed there is not one answer, I might have had two similar tanks next to each other in light and one had an algae prob and other did not. I thin algae has lots of subtleties to it.

My plan here is to have some plants on window side in one part of tank acting as in tank refugium. This will hopefully draw out extra nutes and out compete algae. Its a glass aqurium so I can scrub off the algae without scraping glass.

Anybody have experience with refugiums as light and nute sump in sunlight aquarium?

I philosophically believe light has to work. My experience with hobbies like this is that the people who tell ya to buy light selll them as well! I like tweaking my hobbies to simplicity and minimalist design.

also for me, heat issues from electric lights have caused me lots of problems. LOTS! On hot days the water gets too hot and can kill stuff easily. I get tons of indirect light which is great, lots of photons but little heat. To get that kinda electric photons I need to evacuate lots of heat.

Lastly, when direct light hits a tank for a short period the Brownian motion of light traveliing thru water is beautiful.

 

[jtrasap]

Yes, nutrients cause algae and not light, but I think this is not a very practical and realistic view of the issue. Many of our tanks are not always perfectly balanced in terms of nutrients. However, even tanks with too many nutrients cannot grow algae without light. I think you will be hard pressed to find a system which at some point did not get a bit out of whack in terms of excessive nutrients through overfeeding, lack of maintainence, etc. Under these circumstances, if your tank has a lot of light, algae can take hold and then take months and a lot of work to eliminate. Therefore, if it were me, I would not want any light in my system that I could not control both in terms of the amount and time the light shines on my system. As such, whenever my tank may be a bit high on the nutrients, I could limit and/or reduce the light to minimize algae problems. As many of us have experienced, it is a lot easier to prevent algae taking hold then it is to eliminate it once it infests a system.

That's why you install curtains and blinds like mother nature intended...

 

[Stuart60611]

Curtains and blinds can work if they block out most of the light. However, many curtains and blinds still let quite a bit of light through them.

 

[jtrasap]

Curtains and blinds can work if they block out most of the light. However, many curtains and blinds still let quite a bit of light through them.

^^^----subjectively moot point----^^^

I guess a person needs to shop wisely when purchasing blinds or curtains for such a purpose as to block out light.....

 

[huig]

My tank parameters (nor do any) don' t resemble those on a natural reef. Far from! I' m out of the country often due my job and other hobbies so I chose 'hardy' corals. My tank is in FULL sunlight in the lean-on greenhouse and I don' t have any nuisance algae, but if I would remove my Siganus and C tominiensis (pair) I' d be in trouble.

Do not forget the symbionts in corals do need light, why block out the same thing as they are accustomed to in nature and try to replicate it?


How do I get my pics appear in the post?

 

[huig]

Painting the windows of your house black seems like the way to go!

 

[Stuart60611]

^^^----subjectively moot point----^^^

I guess a person needs to shop wisely when purchasing blinds or curtains for such a purpose as to block out light.....

There is nothing subjective about it. Some curtains and blinds do not block out much of the natural sunlight while others do. This is an objectively measurable fact. Moreover, most people buy their window finishes before they buy their fish tanks and therefore do not have the option of purchasing window coverings for the purpose of blocking light efficiently for their fish tank. In my home, I have blinds that block out perhaps 50% of the natural sunlight. Like most people, my blinds for my windows were purchased long before I purchased my fish tank.

When I lived in a highrise in Chicago facing South, I had a 55 gallon situated directly in front of my bay window in my condo. Despite keeping the blinds closed as much as possible, I always had major algae problems in the tank. Plenty of light still went through the blinds and my parameters for the most part were fairly in line most of the time. After this experience, I never set up a tank right in front of windows again.

 

[jtrasap]

It's absolutely subjective to ones ability to purchase and install a different set of blinds. Regardless, nutrients drive the algae growth. If you have an algae issue, you have a nutrient issue. If you get rid of the algae by getting rid of the light, and not dealing with the nutrient issue what's going to happen when you bring back the light as you obviously will have to do at some point? The algae is going to grow back. Keep nutrients in check, and you will keep algae in check. Your parameters being "for the most part", "fairly in line most of the time", is probably why you had an algae problem. This entire debate is subject to a persons ability to control nutrients, and light.

 

[leptons]

The TOTM from last year incorporated a sunlit display tank, check it out it's amazing: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-12/totm/index.php

 

[NeveroddoreveN]

Sunlight coming into your tank is going to be filtered by the glass. There would be little benefit, if any at all. You would more than likely get brown crap and nuisance algae in your tank.

That is what I've experienced, myself. Once I moved all my tanks away from any windows. The problem stopped. I also do not put anything between my bulbs and the water because of the filtration of the light, including any kind of shield. I prefer retros.

How do you combat salt spray? I have this problem on my T5 retro.

 

[jtrasap]

Sunlight coming into your tank is going to be filtered by the glass. There would be little benefit, if any at all. You would more than likely get brown crap and nuisance algae in your tank.

That is what I've experienced, myself. Once I moved all my tanks away from any windows. The problem stopped. I also do not put anything between my bulbs and the water because of the filtration of the light, including any kind of shield. I prefer retros.

You only have to look at a greenhouse or consider the fact that our bulbs themselves have a built in glass shield, to realize that our corals still receive beneficial light through the glass.