Sunlight & saltwater tanks

[William Dennis Lang]

I have my saltwater tank in front of a window. Sometimes I open the blinds for an hour or two to let some real sunlight in the tank. I had a friend of mine tell me that this was a bad thing. Is this true?

[Reefing Madness]

I do the same thing with mine inthe morning. Just gotta watch for that nasty algae growth. But, natural sunlight is the best thing for Reefs, why not your tank? I don't have any problems dong it with mine.

[kevinpo]

Hello,
The reason you often hear that is because unwanted algae growth often occurs. Marine hobbyists don't realize it's not the sun that is the source of the algae but rather excess nutrients in the water. Marine algae requires three things to grow, light, water, and food. Without any one of those you will have very little algae. The downside to using natural sunlight is that it also contains infrared spectrum that can raise the tank water temperature beyond target levels.

Regards,
Kevin

[William Dennis Lang]

Thanks for the info ya'll.