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Who shields their tank from natural light?

Niall

Member
Joined
1 Jun 2019
Messages
117
Location
Dublin, Ireland
I am thinking of making a shield of sorts may be out of a black out blind to keep natural light out of my tank during the day when lights are off in a bid to control algae. Does anyone do the same?
 
I think that unless your tank receives direct sunlight there is little need to shield it. Ideally it should really be positioned out of direct sunlight to start with.
Ambient light shouldn't be a problem. Algal outbreaks are usually the result of inadequate fertz dosing, poor CO2 flow and distribution, and high organic load, etc.
 
I'm trying to get to the bottom of my algae outbreak, one of the things that was mentioned to me was this. My tank gets no direct sunlight just daylight. Maybe this would be overboard I might leave it for the moment and sort a few other things first!
 
I'm trying to get to the bottom of my algae outbreak

What kind of algae does it grow? I have an aquarium standing under a sky-light and it receives filtered daylight all day long. It grows quite some BBA on the hardscape and substrate.

It corresponds with this data.
https://www.researchgate.net/public...etic_characteristics_of_freshwater_Rhodophyta

It thrives in environments with long periods of low light.

Currently, since last summer i'm also experimenting with this and it receives some direct sun some hours of the day.
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This picture yet the only one showing the window is a few months old and instead of shielding this tank from natural light, i want it. :) And i already upgraded the artificial lights above it twice to stronger versions to give it more. :) Yet not suffered any algae outbreak and grows 0 bba. Tho must say it grows some Clado sp. i have to keep an eye on. But yet can't consider it a pest. I expect this to be controlled on its own after all is matured.
 
I have to admit that my tank also gets some direct sunlight as well, but it's never really been a problem, especially now the scape is very heavily planted and biologically mature and stable. So I guess all this experience kind of answers the op.
 
zozos tank is permanently a garden feature and must have have in summer long periods of daylight as did containers I used.Strangly after doing well generally in the greenhouse as just occasion fertiliser and water top ups when some went back to the aquarium around August some of the ferns suffered with melt?seemed to have settled a little noew though
 
My tank gets masses of direct sun in the summer as it's in a south west facing window (but slightly to the side so it's ambient light until mid afternoon and then direct till sunset). I did it because my fish love the sunlight and they look so much nicer than under artificial led. The tank is low tech but very densely planted with emerged foliage and this is the key I think, you need to let the tank mature and really grow in before its able to cope with such a situation. I literally get no algae apart from some cyano under the substrate line where the sun hits.
I don't think blocking the excess light will do any harm and it will at least tick off one variable.
 
Currently, since last summer i'm also experimenting with this and it receives some direct sun some hours of the day.
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.
@zozo That is a classy light fixture. What is the actual heatsink made out of? Are you still using simple strip lighting? Thanks!
 
In an unplanted or newly planted tank, direct sunlight can cause green water and algae, and should be shielded. In a balanced planted tank, direct sunlight has only positive effect. My two planted tanks receive window sunlight in mid morning during winter and I see more lush growth in plants hit by the sunlight. Before I had plants, I struggled with bba and gda in the areas hit by direct sunlight, and had to lower the window curtain. Once with plants and balanced out, the algae never return and I open up the curtain to welcome more sunlight in. I am curious whether the algae disappearance is due to more algae eaters I introduced or plant competition.

I was curious on the PAR level between direct sunlight and artificial light. Based on my measurement with a lumen meter, I estimated that PAR at direct hit area jumped from 50 to 400 even though the window is 10 ft away and my eye perception of light intensity is about the same.
 
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