Sun light-with -Artificial light question ?

Hunter1876 · Jul 9, 2012

I am new at this
I am setting up a new 125 saltwater aquairium.
I can place it infront of a window to give it sunlight-or-
place it away from the window and rely on just my t5,s-
Any thoughts on this ?

SeahorseKeeper · Jul 9, 2012

I just saw a video where the tank was lit by sunlight and it looked pretty good. I do not know much about the system. I would suggest relying on T5's. Here is my thought process. The tank will be exposed to sunlight and this can cause horrific algae blooms. If you want corals, that might be difficult.

Trex · Jul 9, 2012

Remember that the sun's angle will change over the course of the year. My 75 will get direct sunlight from a window during Spring and Fall, but not summer (( too high )) nor winter (( too low )). The tank is at a right angle from the window, so the sun hits it after 1 PM or so -- would never put the tank directly infront of the window, as it would block the window too much. When the sun is hitting the tank it looks great, and I don't have any algae issues; the sun alone will not cause algae, only if you have excess nutrients will there be issues.

kingfisherfleshy · Jul 9, 2012

Ive heard the algae bloom thing a million times.

Algae isnt caused by light, its caused by having excess nutrients. You are getting more light from your artificial lighting than you are from daylighting I am willing to bet.

I have seen some people do reefs with 100% natural light - but you arent going to get "reef of the month" results with something like that.

Hunter1876 · Jul 9, 2012

I will rephrase the question--Are there advantages to having the tank in front of the window to get the sunlight (along with ) the T5 lights

Ace25 · Jul 9, 2012

It is free light, why not use it as long as you can stand the color spectrum (yellow). I have seen quite a few SPS tanks lit by Solatubes and they do just fine, and NO algae outbreaks. I agree with kingfisherfleshy, sunlight doesn't cause algae blooms, excess nutrients do.