Does anyone have systems lit by sunlight in BC?

[Ryan7]

Looking for experienced info on tanks that are lit by our natural sunlight in BC, how much sun the tank gets per day, and how different corals react to it?

[imisky]

from having thought about this before, and doing a bit of research, BC/ most of the northern/ southern hemisphere isnt suitable for natural sunlight tanks without some form of artifical lighting suppliment especially in the fall/winter/spring seasons.

In BC as far as I see it we only have 2 seasons, summer, winter. once winter hits we get 90% cloudy days vs 10% which is a mix of barely any sun + clouds. Add that with the super short daylight hour and you have yourself a very unhappy reef system that doesnt receive enough light to keep the corals growing/ coloring up properly. The issue doesnt end there, during the summer time we get sun pretty much from 6am to 8-10pm which ends up photo inhibiting the corals and would have a pretty high chance of algae blooms once that happens due to the spectrum of the sun (could be avoided with the use of a few filters). It becomes quite tough to light a tank up here with the climate the way it is imo. hope that helps

[dsaundry]

Living in Vancouver or for that matter just about anywhere in BC is probably not going to happen consistently enough for a sw tank. I suppose you could supplement regular lighting and maybe keep costs down a bit, or spend the big bucks on a high end led system . If we had sun hours like Mexico, Arizona, Spain...maybe, I have seen a few outdoor set ups in Europe, but an indoor set up with natural sunlight as the only set up in BC..don't think it would work.

[Ryan7]

Thanks for your reply's, however, I think I should be more specific.

I am an advanced aquarist and I currently and purposely have set up a 220G reef under solarium style skylights with 2x 100w led eco cannons, I get natural sunlight across the tank for about 7-8 hours per day. I have no concern over algae, the purpose of the post is to gather others experience with our bc sunlight and different types of corals ect..

My experience with our summer sunlight is some corals are finding it too bright, as I expected. I would like to know what others with similar lighting setups have found? What corals love it, what corals may be finding it too much?

I know someone here has setup a greenhouse aquarium, hopefully this post find you.

Thanks,

[LeeR]

get some shade cloth if its to bright.. i think you can even get it in blue.

oh and picture or its not real

[imisky]

how long has this tank been running? would be interested to see pictures as well . Ive never heard of anyone attempting a sky light lite tank in the northern hemisphere due to the climate we get here. you have suppliment lighting so I think your fine and can see some benefit during summer times in that you wont really need the LEDs to be on at all. Im assuming during the other 3 seasons the LED is on as the main? and whatever light comes through the skylight is additional light.

In regards to what you are finding about our summer daytime hours, this is what i mean by photo inhibition, once the corals get enough light they literally stop utilizing it. Anything after that pretty much stresses them out and either causes them to bleach or turn brown (usually bleach). Some corals dont mind it at all, they'll soak up all the light you throw at them (figuratively). though there is a point in which all corals will stop utilizing the light available to them. and this is what i mean by algae could take hold, not always but there's a higher chance than compared to other sw lights we use.

Show us some pictures, I'd be really interested to see this project as it was something i was looking into.

EDIT: as for filters, you can grab blue filters from places like industrial plastics and or other plastic shops they would be able to get them in any gradient you want.

[phi delt reefer]

green house supply/building companies sell the shade cloth you are looking for.

[MKLKT]

My tank is essentially back-lit with natural sunlight for a few hours during the day. Doesn't contribute nuisance algae, but it hasn't had an appreciable effect on coral growth that I can tell. You'd need the light to probably come from straight above to be most effective/not passing through glass if possible to avoid it filtering.

[TimT]

I've had tanks in a Greenhouse from 2000 to 2005, then in 2005 I moved into a large shop with 4'w x 5'h south facing windows. Half of the tank now gets direct sunlight all day. I supplement the tank with 800watt of 20k radium. When the sun is shining it totally eliminates the halides. Even a cloudy day overpowers the halides. SPS grows fast but not too colourful. Zoos and Paly's do well, I have Fungia, Echinophyllia, Trachyphyllia, Duncanopsammia in the sunlit area as well.

Do be concerned about macro algae as it grows so fast it strips the CO2 out of the water.

[Ryan7]

I will get some pics soon for those interested.