# Can a north facing window be used as an only light source?



## Jeanine (Apr 4, 2009)

I have an empty 33 gallon fish tank that I would like to set up. However, my husband doth protest. His argument is I already have 3 aquariums ( a 13 gallon, a 55 gallon, a 20 gallon), 2 "vases" (no heater or filters) and a 1 gallon experiment (no heat, filter, or lights just a north facing window) the running of main 3 is too expensive with the filters, lights, and heaters. 
So what I need to do is convince him that setting up the 33 wont cost much at all. I already have two 22lb bags of gravel, a heater, and a filter. I figure I can use plant clippings from my other tanks. 
One of his problems is all the lights. He's always complaining about them. So what I'm wondering is, can I set this tank up in a North facing window as my only source of light. I figure during the summer I can unplug the heater. I'm looking to go Low Low Low Tech here if at all possible.

Oh, and I should mention that about 3 years ago I treated some fish for ich in this tank. At the end of the treatment there was major flooding where I lived I had to evacuate and leave for 4 weeks. The medication was left in the tank. There was no power and almost all the fish were dead when I returned. Except for 1 cory, and 4 phantom tetras (I was shocked!). I ended up taking apart the tank, gave away the survivors, and put the tank under a tree where it stayed for over 2 years. I tested for leaks and now I've brought the tank in and it has green stained silicone. Would it be safe for shrimp?


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

The tank sounds fine in terms of the medication left in it. Just rinse it out well.

You can use natural light, but this usually ends up with algae. Look into "El Natural" planted tanks.

Why is your husband so concerned about the lights? A 33 gallon bulb would only need a 55 watt power compact bulb to have medium light. Running it 8 hours a day isn't that expensive. Probably around 2 bucks a month, which is less than an average slushy at Dunkin Donuts.


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## Dustymac (Apr 26, 2008)

Hi Jeanine,
North facing window? British Columbia? What does your 1 gallon experiment tell you? I don't have a tank in a north facing window but we have lots of regular house plants which seem to do quite well. However, water absorbs lots of light so it's unreasonable to expect submerged plants to keep up with terrestrial or emersed plants where light is an issue. In the end, your experiment will likely provide your best answer.

But let's assume you do need some additional lighting. It doesn't have to be much and you can approach your husband with a proposition to reduce energy consumption somewhere else, sort of a domestic cap and trade mechanism. If you add one watt per gallon - roughly a 30 watt fluorescent fixture - and run it for 10 hours, that's only 300 watts per day. This additional amount of energy usage can easily be accounted for by swapping out incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescents, wrapping your water heater in an insulating blanket, or using the microwave more often instead of the oven.

About the tank, I guess you're thinking the silicone was stained by the copper used to treat the ich? I would be very surprised if this were sufficient quantity to hurt shrimp years later. After all, your cory and tetras survived and they had direct exposure. Although I'm not a chemist, my guess is the already oxidized copper in the silicone poses no risk today and a bigger danger is copper from your water pipes.

Good luck!!
Jim


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

I agree with DustyMac that the tank would probably be safe for shrimp. Use an aquarium water conditioner that neutralizes heavy metals for protecting shrimp. 

A North-facing window doesn't provide much light. Then, there's winter with a much shorter daylength to think about?

You won't get much plant growth, so your options are limited. Rooted plants won't grow well enough to survive. Therefore, I would only grow non-rooted, low light plants-- Java fern, Java moss, Bolbitis fern, Anubia, and possibly Hornwort. You could tie these to rocks and driftwood and put a shallow (1/4") gravel layer on the glass. No soil.


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## Jeanine (Apr 4, 2009)

Ha! Ha! Ok, Now I feel, really dumb!!!!.... I should have said South facing. Not sure what I was thinking when I typed that. Maybe I was thinking if I stood in front of the house... The sun basically shines into the windows all day. 

My little experiment is a one gallon hex. I have aquatic soil in the bottom, covered in fine local river gravel with just a couple plants. Being, some local lake weeds, 1 very small Anubia, some sort of grass, I don't remember planting (only a couple blades), a algae ball. The whole thing has a pane of glass on top. I haven't touched it since not even to add water. The lake plants did alright in the summer, but are dying back now (the leaves have gone clearish, not sure if they do this in the wild when the lake freezes.) The Algae ball floats up and down depending on how sunny it is. Plant growth is a little slow. The water did turn a little murky and green during the height of summer, but has since cleared up. There are little tiny white bugs jerking around acrylic and very very tiny white worms (not sure what they are) that I see slowly moving on the side of the tank(I've also noticed these in my shrimp tank). Anyways that's my experiment.

Thanks for letting me know about the medication. I had read that it goes right in to the silicone.

If I do set this up, do I have to add fish? I live in a really rural location where, I don't have vehicle access in the winter and need to pack things home. It can get very cold and I don't want to expose fish to that.


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## LVKSPlantlady (Oct 4, 2009)

A tank with no fish only plants would quickly use up all the original nutrients present at set up, adding fish food and occasional water changes helps replace these nutrients. 

IDK if you can just add fish food with no fish to eat it and make fish mulm, I think you need fish to break it down so the plants can access the nutrients. You should be able to add snails or shrimp to do this too, I don't think it has to be FISH per se as long as your adding a high quality fish food and there is something to process the food, the white worms eat fish food too. You could always take a few fish you already have from one tank and put them into the new one!


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