Too much sunlight a bad thing for a tank?

[theclemsonkid]

I'm currently in the process of trying to start a new 90-120 gallon reef tank that I want to keep on the wall of the dining area of my bakery. I'm starting to get concerned about the prospect however, due to the amount of natural sunlight the room gets. The room basically has four 10'x4' windows facing the south, which means the room gets direct sunlight from pretty much 10am till 6pm on days when it's sunny out. I know that with my old tank, I remember getting some bad algae blooms when sunlight hit the tank directly, or the water got a little warm. However, with that tank I didn't have good filtration, CUC, or a protein skimmer.

So, assuming I have good filtration, a sump, CUC, and a protein skimmer this time around, would the excess sunlight be something that would be a deal breaker for this tank because of algea blooms?

 

[jay0705]

If u have the cuc to eat it as fast as it grows the only issue would b temp. Is it overly warm in your bakery?

 

[beth]

Does the tank actually get hit by direct sunlight?

I would worry about getting too warm, if so, unless you have pretty good ac going in that room.

 

[flower]

Hi,

Direct sunlight means algae big time. I have a colored presentation board that I attached to one side of the 56g in my bedroom, because of direct sunlight hitting the tank. I have plenty of light in the living room around the 90g, but no direct light hitting the tank...I don't have any problems with algae. Having a brightly lit room is different then a direct hit from the windows light.

 

[jay0705]

Now I have a ? I recently saw a few blennys I like but alot feed only on microalage. Would the added sunlight help grow said alage? Then in turn would the blenny then help control it?

 

[bang guy]

In my opinion Sunlight doesn't cause algae, excess nutrients grow algae. I'm with Beth - heat can be an issue due to the amount of energy in Sunlight but if you have no heat issues you should be fine. Most tanks will have an issue with that much energy though.