Sunlight

[sandy]

Now that it's cooling off in Tucson (90s hee hee...)
My tank is in my bedroom. Upstairs apartment - West facing window. The tank is NOT next to the window -- but along a wall. In the late afternoons I open the window and sunlight shines through the tank. I've even put a mirror on the other side to reflect sunlight to the back of the rocks.
Is there anything wrong with this? Tank temp stays constant.

 

[wamp]

You will get a little more algea growing but other than that, nothing really. The glass will, however, block out most of the useful spectrum leaving only the unused.

 

[sandy]

Darn. The glass blockes out the good stuff? What about the lighting I put on the tank... it sits on a glass cover.
Algae -- so far -- has never been much of a problem in my tank.
Does it do any good at all? Keep the window open anyway for my lovebirds. Just curious.

 

[wamp]

The glass on the top also cut out some light. Some say as much as 20%.
only brighteness the tank a little, other than that, nothing.

 

[sandy]

I took the cover off the tank for today. Some sunlight is going to penetrate from above. Guess might me a futile thing to do... dunno. Glad to know that it won't hurt.
After I get a sump w/ decent skimming, I will invest in a light canopy. But the $$$ seem a loooonnnngggg way off. Until then... critters seem happy. Lots of corraline growth, etc.
I did however just do something VERY STUPID... I usually dose the B-Ionic on one side of the tank away from inverts, fish, etc. where there is also good water flow. This time I tossed it in the top and my poor cleaner shrimps were ammassed in a cloud of that crap. Only took a second or so to fade... but now I'm smacking my head and fretting over my cleaners. They are acting fine.
Just when I think I'm doing stuff well... I do something stupid. Hope my shrimps are going to be okay. Grrrrrrrr. Stupid newbie.
I love this hobby and am no longer in a "hurry" to build a reef with corals. I figure - I'm learning. Won't start the hard stuff until I have the proper set up to do it and $$$ to keep it up.
Thanks All.
Sandy (who's feeling mighty dumb)

 

[clarkiiboi]

Just another thought, IF the mirror is close to the tank, a tankmate that doesnt like another of his/her kind may try to attack him/herself, not knowing any better. Thats only IF he/she can see the reflection. Just a thought

 

[sandy]

The fish were interested in their reflection, but didn't see any aggression. I think I'm chucking the mirror idea anyway. Is "good" rays won't go in... why bother just growing algae.
The tank gets sunlight anyway when I open the window for the birds.
Thanks for the thoughts.

 

[shadow678]

As beautiful, friendly, and overall wonderful as birds are, you will need to be careful that your birds do not contaminate your tank(i.e. feathers flying into the open top of the tank). Birds, love them though I do, are actually rather dirty critters, even though they usually look pristine. Just thought I would mention this, just in case.

 

[sandy]

Hmmm. Yeah, every once in awhile there is a small feather in the tank. Very rare though. I keep my room quite clean, but I have two lovebirds, two tanks and three cats! (We actually have a large two bedroom, but I keep the tank and birds in my room). So there is cat hair all over too.
The tank is well covered and I'm careful to keep bird cleaning and fish tank cleaning quite separate. Thanks.