one quick question

[marcah]

I have a friend that farms corals and has for about 30 years now.. he has a 700 gal 300 gal two 100 gal plus an assortment of smaller tanks.. anyway my question, he has not one light on any tank in his place, the corals thrive and grow at a great rate,he did take the roof off and replace with glass saying that no light is better for your tank then natural light.. not one issue with algae... he says that lighting isnt as important as water quality..the only thing is his corals dont have the great colors until you put them under our lighting.. ( dont get me wrong they have colors but not as bright)..guess I was wondering with such an emphasis that we put on our lighting I am curious if it has to be so stringent..

 

[BL1]

Don't underestimate natural lighting, you said he removed his roof and replaced it with glass? Well, that's why he doesn't need to supplement lighting. Think about this, corals are found in corals reefs at varying depths. In our tanks, corals are like what maybe 2-4 feet deep, think of the intensity of light hitting those corals.

All of the coral farms that I've been to here in NC are all actually in green houses to use the natural light and cut down on electricity costs by not using lighting.

 

[marcah]

and we are all told to keep the tanks away from natual lighting( due to algae issues), he told me ( i have two skylights) if I added a couple more my corals would love it and I could cut out running lights on the tank as much.. time to stop researching and reading and talk to the experts.. lol

 

[BL1]

I know everyone says that but, I'm not 100% sold on it. D2mini's tank has had natural light on it since day one and he doesnt have any problems. Plus I've seen a lot of larger tanks using solar tubes.

 

[bjohanson1234]

That is where the water quality comes into play.

If you keep the nutrients down, then the algea doesnt have anything to feed on so the intense sun light cant cause a bloom.

However, the light could possibly cause a heat issue. But there are ways to keep that from happening.

 

[marcah]

I have those two skylights 1 about 3 feet in front of the tank he was describing to me how much actual light the tank is getting from it.. only algae I have problems with is coraline ( so far) figured I should say that to try not to jinx myself ... I always kept my ph around 8 ( he laughed) saying I will only get slow growth until I get it up to around 8.4 then try and keep it there and watch the difference in growth..

 

[little_fish]

i think the problem with the skylights is that as the earth moves you arent going to get very good coverage over the whole day unless they were pretty huge

 

[marcah]

yeah i told him the same he said throw a few on the front and back so I told him you pay my electric bill in the winter and the cooling bill in the summer and no problem..:D

 

[little_fish]

hahahaha

I also think i wouldnt do because i want to see the pretty colors, my tank gets morning sun and its rather brown . . . .

 

[marcah]

oh i am keeping the lights on for sure I like the looks alot better.. he was the one that also convinced me to go powerheadless in my tank, came and helped me set it up.. do like the looks alot better without them in there.. ( see if I keep power long enough to really see how it goes.. not looking to good as this hurricane goes by.)

 

[AmberSunrise]

I like for my tank to get natural light but not to the point where it beams directly on it because it makes it over heat. East and west windows are going to obviously be worse.

I purposely got T5 bulbs because I like playing with the color hues for the corals. My tank is my art in a way.

 

[Mr.Diggler]

My 37 gallon is near a window and I crack the shade in the evening to give it a little bit of natural light. My Palythoa grandis seem to like going au natural a few days a week. :D