Placement, Windows, Light And Dilemmas

[marlon]

Hi there,
 
I am terribly sorry that my second post here is already a question, but it is something that is holding me back at the moment, and all opinions I have gotten seem to conflict with each other.
 
I am new to all of this, and I actually just started cycling two days, so that's why I would rather get this tank move over with as soon as possible.
 
I placed the tank based on the light factor now, the darkest (the only dark area really in the house). It's a brickwall place, with wooden floors everywhere except for the bathrooms (which are too small), the bedrooms (which are too small, and carpeted) and an entertainment/barbeque type room.
 
The wooden floor that the tank is on now (an 87 liter boyu rounded tank) is fairly solid, I placed it across the beams (by looking where the nails were driven in). But there is a few problems with this:
1. It's a wooden floor... over time, warping, water damage, maybe even fatigue and collapse?
2. it is far from any doors and water sources, so filling it is hard
3. it is near tv and hifi equipment, so noise
4. it seems to vibrate and wobble when people walk past the tank within a metre or two. (floor planks  see sawing ?).
 
So I am considering our barbeque room. It is enclosed, gets warmish in summer, and coolish in winter, but it has solid floors.
 
The main issue here is, LIGHT. where the tank would be standing, it would be getting a fair amount of indirect light. No direct sunlight will hit the tank, but it's not a dark room by any means. In the mornings, sun would be coming through one side of the house, illuminating the room, but not so bright (intuition tells me, perfectly!). But in the afternoon, sun moves to that side of the house, and the room will have some indirect, but bright intrusion of light coming off a pool surface, and off other brightly painted walls. 
 
I am blabbing a lot now, so to keep it short, and hopefully ask it better than I did elsewhere:
  How much light is too much? How do I know, as an inexperienced guy if the room brightness will be too much? I still want to run my lamps at night so I can spend time with my fish friends after work, but I can't do it if it's "too bright" in there during the day. Also, algae.
 
I know it's a tough question to answer, abstract and all, but if I can get some clue on natural indirect light from outside, and how much is too much, the threshold, it would help me a lot, and then I can move the tank, relax and start enjoying it all!
 
I am adding some pics I took this morning, about 2 hours after sunrise, of the corner area I want to put it in. Do note, that I am planning to put shades/blinds on the main window, so that will add further darkness. The total room ambient light from other source is my issue.
 
Thanks everyone
Marlon
 
PS: photos are about 100kb each, for your info.

 

[ech0o]

My tank is DIRECTLY in front of a window, I live in Arizona, one of the brightest, hottest places in the United States.  That being said, closing the window blinds blocks more then enough light out, my algae in that tank is no more then it would be in a pitch black space.   I think people really over estimate when it comes to the darkness of the room, taking way to big of measures to totally black it out, you certainly won't want any direct sunlight.
 
When you figure out a good exposure time, you can kind of work it around the daylight, I know you are concerned about the sun lighting the tank for the day, then you not being able to watch your fish at night because they were lit all day.  What I do with my tank, is even though there is morning light, I generally don't turn the lights on until about noon or 1pm, even though there is ambient light, the tank looks pretty dark all day, it certainly is not enough light for algae to grow, then it stays on until about midnight, maybe a little earlier depending on when i go to sleep.   
 
I am sure you will get other opinions, but as far as the clarity of my water, it is always crystal clear with no green tinge, i think that is how you can tell if you are getting too much sun exposure, the water will start to green up if i am not mistaken.

 

[DrRob]

There are no right answers here, just lots of wrong ones.
 
You can put a tank in a sunny place. If you make the sides out of brick you could put it outside and call it a pond, it can still run without algae.
 
You just have to understand that the rules are different, you have to compensate for the environment the tank is in, sunny areas take on extra light, which needs to be accounted for in the whole planting/algae set up, they also have annual variations in light which most people don't have to worry about. The extra add on is that they can get hot at times, so it's worth having a plan for cooling if the weather goes crazy.
 
Otherwise I'd far rather place a tank on a stable floor than have it move when I walked past it. If nothing else these things are heavy if they fall on you. As for the weight itself, that tank probably weighs in at about 100kg, and I'm sure you know people who weigh that much and hadn't considered if your floor could take them standing on it. Movement though will destroy the seals on the tank over time, which doesn't end prettily.
 
I've put tanks in sunny rooms myself, and have struggled at times (generally summer) with algae, if I didn't get the planting fertilisers right, but there is a way through.

 

[ech0o]

The good thing about south america, is they don't get huge seasonal shifts, so once he figures out what will work good, it should always stay like that.

 

[marlon]

Thank you very much guys, the feedback is astoundingly refreshing.
It gives me hope, and I think, having the main window blinded up, that it should suffice. I agree that stability is no substitute for plant/fert compensation, which may or may not even be needed.
 
I will keep an eye on this thread in case anyone else comments, but the Arizona scenario you have, Echo0, is quite motivational. Thanks!
 
Also, you mentioned South America, I am based in South Africa (well, looking at the maps, it's pretty much on the same level as South America.) Our winters are rainy/cold (16-20 degrees C) and summers go between 25 and 30). I dont think it will be too critical.
 
*bow*

 

[ech0o]

DUR, not sure why i read south america that is stupid, it goes by country not region LOL....