What about Sunlight?

[celamb89]

Im thinking about moving my DT to an area of the house where there is a clear glass dome with a curtain. I was wondering if the sunlight would be good for my LTA.
I believe that nothing would be better than some good old sunlight but want to know what the experts say. I havent seen a thread or anything about actual sunlight working for a reef, nem, SW tank etc...

Im definitley moving the DT but do I keep the curtain closed or let some shiny sun come in? I was thinking of using my T5's and some sun during the midday or some combination of both or just plain sun...


Thanks!

 

[celamb89]

Anyone out there have a tank that gets some sun during the day?

Has anyone actually tried it?

Thanks for the post everyone!

 

[BonsaiNut]

I've kept tanks in sunlight before. In one case it was supplemental, in another case, the tank was a temporary tank that was set up while I was taking one system down and replacing it with an upgrade. This was years ago, so I only remember general reactions. I thought both tanks looked great and in my opinion benefited from the sun. The biggest issue for me was excess heat - it was hard to keep the aquariums cool with the sunlight pouring down. I did not experience any bad algae growth that other reefkeepers have reported with sunlit tanks.

 

[Toddrtrex]

While this anemone is no in a different tank, it would get sunlight from a skylight for about a month each Spring and Fall. It looked great when the sun was hitting it. As long as you don't get any heat issues, IMO, it can only be good.

 

[celamb89]

sounds great!

I shouldnt have any trouble with the temperature since the weather is nice and the house is cool, if i do have problems Ill just close the curtain..

thanks ill give it a try!

 

[slchurch]

I have seen on the net where people have used the solar tubes to light their tanks, other then using supplemental light on days of darkness such as stormy days. From the threads I've seen they looked awesome and got great growth.

 

[garygb]

You can't improve on mother nature. I have seen the benefits of direct sun in my tanks. Wish I could have it stream in year around.

 

[celamb89]

Sounds great Ill keep the curtains open. I also believe that nothing would be better than some good natural sun!

Ill also take some pics of my LTA before sunlight and after and show them to you, maybe the LTA will become darker or something....

Thanks for the posts!