# Window lighting



## queijoman (Jun 23, 2008)

Hello, 

I have a tank with very low light conditions (30 gal tank with 20 watt fluorescent plant light).

The tank is well stocked with fish (2 guppies, 4 ottos, 3 corys, 4 tetras, 1 small pleco, 3 khuli loaches, 1 dwarf frog, 1 swordtail, 3 rainbowfish (medium), and two danios.)

The tank is well stocked with small plants including java ferns(4+), crypt wendtii (15+), amazon sword (1), needle leaf java fern (2+), ludwigia repens (2+) ++

I am going to be moving, and would like to put the aquarium in front of a window at my new residence to finally give my plants some decent light-- without buying a new fixture. 

I was wondering - is this a good idea or bad? Will I still be able to control algae?


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

IMO, it will work, but you may have to put some more fast growers in the tank, and some floaters as well.

-Dave


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Having your tank if front of a window will help. I don't know if you've ever read through the El Natural forum, but sunlight is a basis for setting up those tanks. 

If you have blinds on the window you can use them to control how much light gets into the tank. During the summer I angle the blinds so the tank in front of the window gets only bright indirect light. During the winter I do the opposite to get as much light as possible. If you live someplace where the winters are dark and dreary your plants may just hang on until the light improves in the spring.

The only time I've had sunlight cause problems is when it was hitting the soil underlayer in my substrate causing a clado outbreak on the sunny side of the tank. I don't know if it would cause trouble with any other substrate.


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## queijoman (Jun 23, 2008)

cs_gardener said:


> Having your tank if front of a window will help. I don't know if you've ever read through the El Natural forum, but sunlight is a basis for setting up those tanks.
> 
> If you have blinds on the window you can use them to control how much light gets into the tank. During the summer I angle the blinds so the tank in front of the window gets only bright indirect light. During the winter I do the opposite to get as much light as possible. If you live someplace where the winters are dark and dreary your plants may just hang on until the light improves in the spring.
> 
> The only time I've had sunlight cause problems is when it was hitting the soil underlayer in my substrate causing a clado outbreak on the sunny side of the tank. I don't know if it would cause trouble with any other substrate.


Thanks for the replies. I am actually wanting to do an El Natural setup. The only thing that has stopped me is the fact that I have a well stocked tank and I'm very afraid of most of my fish dieing during the early stages of an el natural setup. Does anyone know, can an el natural tank support a bio-load of ~1.5 inches of fish per gallon?


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

If you start with a heavily planted tank, the plants will take care of the bio-load for you. You'll need fast growing stems and some floaters, and make sure you are HEAVILY planted. 

-Dave


Where are you moving to? There may be an aquatic club near you and you could get stocked up with an endless supply of great plants for what you need.


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## queijoman (Jun 23, 2008)

davemonkey said:


> If you start with a heavily planted tank, the plants will take care of the bio-load for you. You'll need fast growing stems and some floaters, and make sure you are HEAVILY planted.
> 
> -Dave
> 
> Where are you moving to? There may be an aquatic club near you and you could get stocked up with an endless supply of great plants for what you need.


Thanks for the tip Dave. I'm living in, and moving to, Las Vegas, NV. It would be great to find an aquatic club here, though I don't know of any. I'll plan on getting some nice stem plants to put in after the move. Do you have any suggestions?


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