Question regarding sunlight

[Xielos]

My 72 bow-front is just sitting empty with gravel at the moment, and I hadn't planeed on putting in any live plants, CO2, lighting and all that. But the thing is, the tank is positioned across the room opposite of a large glass sliding door, so there is constant sunlight on the tank. Theres really no where else to put the tank, so I thought, could I use this to my advantage? Would I need all that fancy lighting if there constant sunlight on the tank? Will algea be a huge problem?

[newbeestl]

Excellent question.

I have a similar situation and I'm anxiously awaiting answers from the experts on here. Hopefully someone will post that is already set up and using the natural sun to their advantage.

[slipknottin]

sunlight doesnt cause algae, excess nutrients cause algae, the amount of light just determines which algae species grow.

You can certainly use sunlight, though I dont think you would want to depend on it entirely. You could perhaps get away with something like 50% of the usual light recommendations. But that all depends on how much light the tank is getting from the sun, wether it varies throughout the year, wether its direct or indirect, etc. etc.

[newbeestl]

Just did a search and found some good info. Check it out.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/search.php?searchid=364601

[midiamin]

Needs 12 -16 hours of natural light per day for optimum growth and health plants.

thePlantMan cometh..................