# Using Sunlight for planted tanks



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Have you ever used mainly sunlight to grow plants in your tank? I am considering doing this, and I'd like to know about other people's experiences.


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

I haven't tried sunlight directly per say...

But indirect sunlight was great for growing algae in my tank lol.


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

I tried that before with some asian ambulia, it turned white and died after 2 days in sunlight


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

coldmantis said:


> I tried that before with some asian ambulia, it turned white and died after 2 days in sunlight


I'm not familiar with that plant. Did it die because there was too much light, or not enough? How long was it exposed to direct sunlight?


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

I have a number of small tanks in front of a north-east facing window. They get mostly daylight, rather than sunlight, but mosses and java fern grow very well in them. I've got a jar in another window that gets perhaps an hour of direct sun daily except in winter. I have a few stems of Rotala indica in it. They grew out of the water this summer and bloomed!

A problem with light from a window is that plants will grow towards it rather than straight up. Also, it varies so much over the year in intensity and duration.

Btw, sunlight has a lot of UV in it which will kill plants that aren't used to it. Glass stops most of the UV, but if you want to put plants outdoors after they've grown indoors, you have to expose them to sunlight gradually so they can adjust to it.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

bae said:


> Btw, sunlight has a lot of UV in it which will kill plants that aren't used to it. Glass stops most of the UV, but if you want to put plants outdoors after they've grown indoors, you have to expose them to sunlight gradually so they can adjust to it.


No wonder! I've been trying to grow some of my tank plants on the balcony, and they almost died the first day. This explains a lot, thanks!

I've got a glass vase that I'm using to hold a few fries, and I've transferred a good bit of plants into it. The vase sits in front of a southeast facing window, so it gets a few hours of direct sunlight in the morning, and good daylight the rest of the day.

The plants are doing well so far, but I don't know how they'd fare over a couple of rainy days in a row, or how well they'd fare in winter...


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

solarz said:


> I've got a glass vase that I'm using to hold a few fries, and I've transferred a good bit of plants into it. The vase sits in front of a southeast facing window, so it gets a few hours of direct sunlight in the morning, and good daylight the rest of the day.
> 
> The plants are doing well so far, but I don't know how they'd fare over a couple of rainy days in a row, or how well they'd fare in winter...


You have to be careful about direct sunlight, especially in a small container, because it can cause dangerous overheating. Also, in winter, it can get quite cold right near the windows, even in well heated rooms. A few rainy days are no problem, but the wide variation in hours and intensity of sunlight and daylight between winter and summer is significant. The moss and ferns in my window tanks grew slowly over the winter, but boomed over the summer. While it doesn't much matter for them, it would be a problem if you wanted a nice aquascape.

This sort of thing is worth experimenting with. The quart jar on the windowsill with rotala growing itself emersed and blooming was quite interesting to me.

If you want to experiment with micro tanks, see if delis still get pickles and such in gallon glass jars. I have a number of them and they are a convenient size to work with.


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