Tank placement

[phil9t]

I have a 36gl corner tank and the only place that I can position it is by by window in the living room. Is it ok to place it near a window or will that be to much light? I bought acoralife compact fluorescent with 2-65 watt lamp one actinic 03 blue and one 65 watt 10,000k daylight (130 watt) IS THIS ENOUGH light for my softies, as I keep reading threads about metal hylide being the suitable light scource.
thanks for any help

 

[simike]

i have asked the same ? about the tank near window few days ago. the consenus was it was alright, but direct sun may heat the tank a little. 130 watts is a little low for corals , and even worse for a corner tank where the tend to be deeper than a reg 30. the actinic is usually for looks and adds to coral health and growth only a little, so that leaves you with only one 65 watt 10k plus a little from the actinic to to keep the corals healthy, MAY be okay for some softies but problaly not since the tank is deep

 

[LivinThaLyfe33]

yes...IF the tank is more than id say 20"...it may be hard to keep some corals but you should be fine with most...as long as your tank isnt getting direct sunlight for a long time you should be fine...some sunlight is ok but not for a prolonged period of time

 

[phil9t]

So how many watts would be good for my 36 corner? Spent about 200 for the light I have now LPS said it would be ok, I guss not. So thanks for your reply to my thread. If you can let me know how much light is enough and round about price than i would appriciate it

 

[LivinThaLyfe33]

how deep is the tank?

 

[gabegmonkey]

well you could certainly use the light you have now on your tank as long as you attach your softies to the glass or rockwork so that they're closer to the top of the tank...

as people have implied the depth is the most important thing. If you use only the top couple of inches (say 6-12") then you could basically imagine that you have 130 watts on say a 10-20 Gallon Tank... which should be plenty of light for Softies... Roughly speaking... I think you'll be fine if you set it up right... that way you can put off buying a new light for a while...

 

[phil9t]

my tank is 20" deep

 

[Safir]

the biggest thing with direct sunlight is algae growth - a lot more algae grows where the afternoon sun shines on my tank than where it just gets light from my halide

 

[phil9t]

how much does a halide light go for, for a tank like mines