Does “Natural Sun Light” ever strike your tank?

[Joe's Coral Reef]

I have one tank upstairs that’s about 20 feet from the windows. We don’t use window shades, so it gets sun light but not directly. Depending what part of the global your in, the intensity can vary greatly through the year.

 

[Pntbll687]

Moonlight too? Very cool!!! Nice Euphillia.

The moonlight happens so far twice a year. Comes through a skylight and shines in the end of the tank

That hammer is my favorite coral! It started as a 4in piece of walling hammer, and now is a foot across with multiple junctions coming out. Probably over 2ft of wall all together

 

[Koh23]

During summer no, but else, everyday....

Didnt notice any problems...

 

[jfoahs04]

I get direct sun in December and January and I love it. So does the coral.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Back in 2015, when we renovated the Toledo Zoo Aquarium, I had them install Sola Tubes on the two reef exhibits. We augmented that with MH (switched to LEDs now). Worked fine, but at the time, there was this vague argument that natural sunlight was "dirty". I suspect that opinion was derived from sunlight only being 5000 K and reefers more used to 10,000 K or higher, combined with vastly increased intensity.

Jay

 

[reaper93]

Mine gets a bunch of sunlight early afternoon and morning through the kitchen windows

 

[bnord]

Have a 90 and 180 which receive 0 sunlight

have a 15 WB peninsula on a office desk that gets 1-2 hours of direct afternoon exposure

the 15 is all softies and LPS and the corals on the sun side of the scape are some of the most robust corals I have in all the gallons - makes me want to get a new tank with SPS to repeat the experiment

but then again lots of things make me want to get a new tank

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

I had a few morning sunbeams on my nano. The result? 4 inch strands of hair algae on the back. Once I figured it out, I closed the blinds and all of the algae disappeared. It was pretty, but it didn't work out for me.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Have a 90 and 180 which receive 0 sunlight

have a 15 WB peninsula on a office desk that gets 1-2 hours of direct afternoon exposure

the 15 is all softies and LPS and the corals on the sun side of the scape are some of the most robust corals I have in all the gallons - makes me want to get a new tank with SPS to repeat the experiment

but then again lots of things make me want to get a new tank

Agreed!!! Like driving slow on the freeway or mowing lawn? “A new TANK”!!!!

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Back in 2015, when we renovated the Toledo Zoo Aquarium, I had them install Sola Tubes on the two reef exhibits. We augmented that with MH (switched to LEDs now). Worked fine, but at the time, there was this vague argument that natural sunlight was "dirty". I suspect that opinion was derived from sunlight only being 5000 K and reefers more used to 10,000 K or higher, combined with vastly increased intensity.

Jay

Is the Toledo Zoo using the tubes to light or grow things? If just a swim tank maybe that’s why the “dirty light”?

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

In the morning the sun sweeps across my four tanks, if we are not having "June Gloom" that day. At just before sunset it hits my QT tanks and the intense sun really helps with visual inspection. On a side note my 10g AIO is next to the window so I get indirect sun combined with a AI prime. It’s a true mixed reef with everything exploding! SPS, LPS, Softies, Two RBTA's in a 10g.... Talk about careful flow placement. LOL It is just technically a holding tank until the 40 cube is up and running , but now I am thinking, should I take them out of there? Doesn’t matter anyway, because they are growing so fast. But to be real... probably doesn’t have anything to do with the light, but my awesome reef keeping skills...

 

[steveschuerger]

The sunlight slides across the tank late afternoon around 6pm until about 7:30pm. Doesn’t seem to affect anything adversely.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Is the Toledo Zoo using the tubes to light or grow things? If just a swim tank maybe that’s why the “dirty light”?

The sola tubes are on our two live coral exhibits.
Jay

 

[hunterallen40]

I have a skylight above my frag system, and it sits next to a window. My acro frags get several hours of direct sunlight.

When the sun hits them, they look very different from the artificial lights, other than the obvious coloration. PAR meter shows 600+ micromoles.

Keeping up nutrients is a struggle, so I have to dose nitrates (and less frequently phosphates).

 

[Glenner’sreef]

The sola tubes are on our two live coral exhibits.
Jay

Nice! Quite the project! Congrats.

 

[Freddy0144]

Yep, I get a little light for a couple of hours on the side of the tank in the morning. I love the way it looks while I enjoy a cup of coffee.

 

[Reefing102]

Sunlight will hit my tank from the massive dining room window usually right as my halides shut off. It definitely is a different view all together

 

[nereefpat]

Nope. Basement tank.

 

[i cant think]

I get direct sun in December and January and I love it. So does the coral.

If mine looked like this I would be more than pleased! My nano gets this amount of sunlight but… The film algae fights back and takes the glass. I never get photos of it under natural sun because of this.

My 4’ gets a lot of natural sun and it really gives the tank a whole new look and meaning. I do look forward to when it’s rescaped and got a thicker sand bed (There’s one last fish I would like… I swear it’s the last!).

 

[TwinTurboSnail]

My 40 breeder in the family room doesn't get any sun. My 82 billion gallon tank 10 minutes away only gets natural sun.

Here's an old thread on RC where the reefkeeper added solatubes over their tank to capture natural sunlight.

Holy crap! Firstly, that house looked like a museum (nice paintings). Second, that’s a sick idea.