Fish With No Natural Sunlight

[MermaidMel]

Is this acceptible? I want to set up a tank in my utility room that has no windows... would this be unacceptable to the fishies health? Especially as it would be used for growing fry?

 

[5teady_2012]

I hope not cos i got one of my fish tanks in the cupbaord...

Also one in the garage, and most of my other tanks are in corners of rooms so only light they really get is tank light and house light.

 

[FeroX]

With NO natural sunlight? Yes, it's acceptable, it's actually preferable.

 

[Snooks1!]

With NO natural sunlight? Yes, it's acceptable, it's actually preferable.

How do you figure?

 

[ShoC]

it's prefered because sunlight can encourage the growth of algae,
using lights to replicate the sunlight gives much more control over the levels of light that reach the tank,
so its possible to manage algae within a tank that has plants..
or for many other reasons.

 

[MermaidMel]

it's prefered because sunlight can encourage the growth of algae,
using lights to replicate the sunlight gives much more control over the levels of light that reach the tank,
so its possible to manage algae within a tank that has plants..
or for many other reasons.

I know it does encourage algae but what about the actual fish, is it good for them to have no sunlight?

 

[Colin_T]

Most fish will develop better colour if they are out in the sun. They also develop stronger bones and have fewer deformities due the sunlight creating vitamin D in their bodies. If the lights above the tank have a good colour spectrum there shouldn't be any problems. Also if you are breeding from good stock and provide the fish with a varied and balanced diet they will get pretty much all their nutritional requirements met by the food and suffer no ill effects.

 

[FeroX]

With NO natural sunlight? Yes, it's acceptable, it's actually preferable.

How do you figure?

Because not only does it create uncontrollable algae breakouts in most situations, it can jack up the temp in your tank extremely fast, thus making it stressful and possibly dangerous to your fish.

That's how I figure.

 

[5teady_2012]

In that case why does every single fish book (setup) say not to have fish tank near windows or in direct sunlight? i know about algae but surely it cant make much diffrence on the fish to not have much sun.

 

[FeroX]

Who did you direct that post at? It doesn't make much sense.

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

It should be fine. I herd about a goldfish that got no light what so ever and it turned white.
LOL

Tom

 

[Snooks1!]

Because not only does it create uncontrollable algae breakouts in most situations, it can jack up the temp in your tank extremely fast, thus making it stressful and possibly dangerous to your fish.

That's how I figure.

A- Algae is not harmful to fish, in fact, many species will eat algae. Algae is only unwanted because it inhibits out view into the tank...Thus defeating the purpose of keeping fish.

B- Sunlight, both indirect and to a lesser extent direct - even if given prolonged amounts of time - cannot sufficiently raise the temperature of a tank to cause problems. A tank would need to be in a window during the hottest part of a day for any detrimental effects to the temperature to occur. 1-5 degrees fluctuation in temperature can be tolerable to most fish, especially when it's a gradual increase and decrease.




Though, to answer mel's question: Not having any natural sunlight should not be a problem, especially if your lighting has a sufficient spectrum.

 

[three-fingers]

Even in rooms with windows most aquariums receive very little natural light, and what natural light they do receive has been filtered thought he glass of the window, the aquarium glass and then the water.

It's fine for them not to receive any natural light, as they will be receiving deceptively little of it anyway .

Most fish will develop better colour if they are out in the sun. They also develop stronger bones and have fewer deformities due the sunlight creating vitamin D in their bodies. If the lights above the tank have a good colour spectrum there shouldn't be any problems. Also if you are breeding from good stock and provide the fish with a varied and balanced diet they will get pretty much all their nutritional requirements met by the food and suffer no ill effects.

Sunlight from a window really does show of the fishes colours, but it isn't going to bring many other benefits.
These only really apply to outdoor fish that frequently venture near the surface of the water to actually receive the short wave UVB radiation to synthesise vitamin D3. As you say, most fish get enough of this from their diet, so no special lighting is needed, it's just really whatever looks best to us (or let's plants grow).

 

[FeroX]

Because not only does it create uncontrollable algae breakouts in most situations, it can jack up the temp in your tank extremely fast, thus making it stressful and possibly dangerous to your fish.

That's how I figure.

A- Algae is not harmful to fish, in fact, many species will eat algae. Algae is only unwanted because it inhibits out view into the tank...Thus defeating the purpose of keeping fish.

B- Sunlight, both indirect and to a lesser extent direct - even if given prolonged amounts of time - cannot sufficiently raise the temperature of a tank to cause problems. A tank would need to be in a window during the hottest part of a day for any detrimental effects to the temperature to occur. 1-5 degrees fluctuation in temperature can be tolerable to most fish, especially when it's a gradual increase and decrease.




Though, to answer mel's question: Not having any natural sunlight should not be a problem, especially if your lighting has a sufficient spectrum.

Very good, not only have you somehow got out of my post me saying algae is harmful, you've just repeated what's been said 9 times. Nowhere did I say algae was harmful, but let's face it, not many people like it.

My little 10g used to be on my dresser beside my window, years and years ago, my first tank, and the sun would raise the temperate dramatically, sometimes upwards of 8 degrees in a couple of hours, coupled with my heater and all. It all depends on the size of tank and how close to a window etc it's placed. Is it a good idea to go looking for natural sunlight for your tank? No. Keep it simple, it's not. Although it may not have detrimental effects, it generally shouldn't be done.

 

[lil.guppy]

I was reading this CRAZY scientific website that talked about the effects of the light bulbs on the fish. They even said that they took into account of the ripples that the filters or bubbles make and how it breaks the beams of light. It was really interesting and wish I could find it again to share with ya'll.