Indirect Sunlight And Algae

[Dave Spencer]

I was looking at the hair algae in my tank and wondered about this:

The lights in my tank come on at midday for 10 hours. During the morning period most of my Hygrophilia and Ludwigia look as if they are curling up the outer edges of their upper most leaves, suggesting to me that they are currently inactive due to the low light levels. The indirect sunlight does not seem to trigger them in to any kind of activity. However, is the indirect sunlight my tank receives during the morning hours sufficient to trigger any algae growth during my plants` dormant period?

Just trying to keep my mind active during my battle with algae.

 

[lljdma06]

I was looking at the hair algae in my tank and wondered about this:

The lights in my tank come on at midday for 10 hours. During the morning period most of my Hygrophilia and Ludwigia look as if they are curling up the outer edges of their upper most leaves, suggesting to me that they are currently inactive due to the low light levels. The indirect sunlight does not seem to trigger them in to any kind of activity. However, is the indirect sunlight my tank receives during the morning hours sufficient to trigger any algae growth during my plants` dormant period?

Just trying to keep my mind active during my battle with algae.

Depends on the exposure of your window. If it faces East, West, or South, chances are you are getting enough light to trigger algae, especially if the window is not blocked in any way. If you are facing North, then no, IMO, it's just not enough light to make a difference, unless sunlight is hitting it directly or if the tank is right next to the window.

Just my experience. When my 8g and 20g were near my North-facing window and they were hit from direct sun from the West (the exposure is more Northwest than strictly North, I got algae on the glass, now that they are in opposite corners of the room, no algae. My 36g faces a Southern window on the opposite wall, and gets quite a bit of Sunlight in the morning and evening on a few spots. Those spots have a little green glass algae and diatoms, but the otos make short work on that and the light is filtered by a curtain. What a difference a change in direction makes! Even a Southern window filtered by a curtain will still produce enough light to grow algae, yet a North-facing window will not.

Good luck with your algae problems. It eventually does go away.

 

[Dave Spencer]

Thanks for the reply.

My tank sits at the back of a north facing room, so it receives absolutely no direct sunlight.