Sunlight for anemone?

[maxberter]

New to the hobby...
I was wondering if the amount of sunlight my tank receives could possibly support an anemone? It gets a few hours of direct sun (through a frosted window) in the morning (portion of the tank) and indirect sun light the rest of the day. The direct sun may shift through the year, I'm not sure yet.
I dont have any artificial lights besides the room light.
Thoughts?
Direct:

Indirect:

 

[blaxsun]

Hard to say.

 

[James M]

Probably not.

 

[jda]

Sunlight is great. That is probably not enough, but only a light meter can tell. Need to get at least 200ish PAR for 6-8 hours to have a chance.

 

[CasperOe]

I sat up a cold water tank with cold-water anemones local to the waters around the UK. It was a fun experience and I got on allright just by keeping the tank close to a window with lots of natual light.

As the anemones I kept are native to the UK and accustomed to that sort of lighting, it went rather well! :)

Think about where the anemones that you want to keep live. That is the conditions you are trying to replicate in a glass box.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

probably not, the sunlight will be degraded by the time it gets to the anemone

 

[maxberter]

Thanks everyone. If I give it a try I will report back...

 

[bluemon]

I remember a reef tank with a dedicated sunlight set up on RC many years ago.

If you have the right set up, and live in the right part of the world, it would beat any artificial light.

But not through that small frosted window

 

[Satanoperca Jurupari]

Aiptasia might be cool, and not a pest if there isn’t any corals for them to sting. They would be able to create a ton of movement too.

 

[Futuretotm]

Any luck with this?

 

[D-Nak]

I don't think any indirect sunlight, especially filtered light (through frosted or tinted glass) will ever work, no matter what species of anemone. Sunlight directed through solar tubes sitting directly over a tank could work, but for most light-loving species I'd feel more comfortable having supplemental lighting on the tank to ensure the anemones are constantly and consistently getting the light that they need.

 

[Dom]

New to the hobby...
I was wondering if the amount of sunlight my tank receives could possibly support an anemone? It gets a few hours of direct sun (through a frosted window) in the morning (portion of the tank) and indirect sun light the rest of the day. The direct sun may shift through the year, I'm not sure yet.
I dont have any artificial lights besides the room light.
Thoughts?
Direct:

Indirect:

It "feels" like there is enough light. It is the duration of light that concerns me.

 

[D-Nak]

Something else to consider is the kind of light the anemone will receive. Some windows filter a portion of UV light as do coatings applied to the window itself. Rather than guess, its much easier to just add a light to the tank to make sure that all inhabitants are getting what they need.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Something else to consider is the kind of light the anemone will receive. Some windows filter a portion of UV light as do coatings applied to the window itself. Rather than guess, its much easier to just add a light to the tank to make sure that all inhabitants are getting what they need.

Have you seen any info on whether the anemones we keep are visibly/apparently impacted by UVA or very short wavelength visible? That question bears on the lighting since some methods provide a significant amount of it and some do not.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

For example, whether having part of the lighting be an led bar with a spectrum like this for the mitras lightbar 3 coral pop color (not as the main light source, but an addition to full sprectrum lights).

 

[D-Nak]

Have you seen any info on whether the anemones we keep are visibly/apparently impacted by UVA or very short wavelength visible? That question bears on the lighting since some methods provide a significant amount of it and some do not.

Unfortunately I haven't seen any info on the direct correlation between anemones and the affect of UVA light. That said, there are a couple of tertiary ways to look at it. First, is in terms of what the zooxanthellae need to thrive, which basically comes down to chlorophyll production. Second, is in terms of how the anemone will look, especially common anemones like BTAs that have more color pop under blue light. Under normal sunlight, many will look drab.

 

[BetteMidler]

You can try a PPFD Meter app on your phone to get some sort of a reference. You'll know real quick if it is even possible.

 

[Poshangcun]

You can try a PPFD Meter app on your phone to get some sort of a reference. You'll know real quick if it is even possible.

This is a good idea :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Unfortunately I haven't seen any info on the direct correlation between anemones and the affect of UVA light. That said, there are a couple of tertiary ways to look at it. First, is in terms of what the zooxanthellae need to thrive, which basically comes down to chlorophyll production. Second, is in terms of how the anemone will look, especially common anemones like BTAs that have more color pop under blue light. Under normal sunlight, many will look drab.

Thanks.. :)

 

[D-Nak]

Thanks.. :)

You really did get me thinking about this. Obviously with zooxanthellae and in turn chlorophyll production there is are bumps in wavelength, blue (420-450nm) and red (620-680nm), but now I'm wondering if there are specific ranges for specific species of anemones.