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Natural sunlight ?’s


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I think the answer is, wait and see.

my tanks in the last year get almost 0% natural sunlight. I have black out curtains and had window blocked with finished plywood. I’ve opened the curtain up and want to use natural light for my house plants. This is south facing with direct light from sun up to about 80% of day.9C4697AB-110E-45BE-A608-DBBFAF8A03B5.jpeg.0d4458c89287c39df8d5a197abc74463.jpeg

i will be adding a side panel and a shelf for sure.(Red)551E1466-CC8C-4F90-A689-4DC424A7689A.jpeg.a506916dc6e7a546e0cfe10568443206.jpeg

shelf will hold more plants ect.

1) the tank directly in front of window is full of vallisneria, am I asking for algae? Could I only use sun light to grow val? Even removing background to allow more light if needed.

2) Ambient light kinda fills the room if I allow it too. I don’t want to change lighting schedule for every tank most are all n a siesta light cycle and doing very well. 
 

Even tho I wouldn’t mind some algae growth of its yo much I could cut light to vallisneria tank area easily by adding plywood behind background and making a removable/ hinged back panel. (Yellow)67B44C70-70D7-4273-95BF-E87E24A96B54.jpeg.f0a705bdacbf0f98ff56a2cb4dac382c.jpeg

and even adding some blackout curtains to block a lot of ambient light (Blue)F2DD64F6-6F72-4CEF-B7CF-31846617FAAB.jpeg.11908ebd34d0620af95ab3e6c8299360.jpeg

don’t really want to add curtains but I think I could make it look good they would only be closed during daytime hours and I do most viewing/ work in evenings.

Let me know what you think I’ve never used sunlight, always have avoided as much as possible. 

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All my tanks get a few hours a day direct sunlight the rest of the day indirect. Only ones I ever grow excess algae sit a foot in front of the window with no backing ie..Snailtopia. Fish seem to love it plants do great. I hope you love the sunlight tank. It adds a great dimension 🥰

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I have a few tanks with the only light source being sunlight. The tanks in the south facing window that are packed with hornwort and duckweed get no algae.

The east facing window tanks with a lot less plants get morning sun for a few hours and only minimal algae.

I did have a south facing tank with few plants for a while and the algae took over. 

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On 4/11/2022 at 10:26 AM, modified lung said:

I have a few tanks with the only light source being sunlight. The tanks in the south facing window that are packed with hornwort and duckweed get no algae.

The east facing window tanks with a lot less plants get morning sun for a few hours and only minimal algae.

I did have a south facing tank with few plants for a while and the algae took over. 

this is a good point, if you have plants that can out compete algae, you will suffer less algae.

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I had one right in front of a window for a year. It was a 10 gallon fairly well planted tank. The window was West facing and received a great deal of afternoon sun. The room is also my office and I like to have the curtains open during the day, sometimes even the window itself if the weather is nice. The tank would need a slight scraping on one side about once a week.  I had 1 female betta in there solo. 

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Thanks everyone, that is about what I figured some will some wont be as bad.

On 4/11/2022 at 12:10 PM, lefty o said:

this is a good point, if you have plants that can out compete algae, you will suffer less algae.

This is what’s kinda interesting to me about this set up It’s basically a wall and a roof of vallisneria at this end of tankD134021F-AD9D-47F7-AF14-9572BEF81A94.jpeg.7596e2b7f67b0d1423cd1a32e86fe819.jpeg

View looking up towards window ⬆️
front view ⬇️C1DC25DC-EC7C-4AE9-A0CF-A585E8E09A5B.jpeg.3ca5676a93b8fd4853d3a1d672d8c5cc.jpeg

im sure I will get algae at a high rate on top glass But that’s fairly easy to scrape once a week-ish. I’m wondering if this will be enough to out compete algae and shade enough to help maintain temps as I’m sure this will cause swings especially throughout summer.

I will probably build panels with a easy insert (probably magnets) backing and use if needed. And figure (probably curtains) to shade some of the ambient light.

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