Sunlight?

[fishman12]

Okay. I have a ten gallon tank, and only one betta. I have three live plants. My room has two windows, so it is well light when the windows are open. Every morning, I open the blinds for the sunlight to come in. My tank has no algae that I can see, so is it okay to have that lighting situation?

[Alex09]

Does the sunlight directly hit the tank?

[fishman12]

I think it bounces off the wall first. Either I'm at school or not home when it would. But I'm pretty sure it bounces off the wall first.

[Oldfishlady]

Indirect sunlight is okay- but it can still cause algae problems-what direction is the window facing, how close is the tank to the window and how big is the tank-even with indirect sun small tanks can over heat so watch for that.

[fishman12]

The tank is ten gallons, and stays at a 78-80 range. It's about 8.5, maybe farther, from the nearest window. One faces east and one faces south.

[Oldfishlady]

It should be fine...sorry didn't catch the 10g part...lol your plants should do well.......what kind are they? if you start to see algae you may want to add more plants.

I have my 25g sitting about 1 foot in front of an east window for the direct sunlight-its a NPT soil based-I don't have any problems with over heating or algae but this is due to the balance, size etc.....and part of the method of the NPT's (natural planted tank)

I also have some 1g in an east window without any fish-just plants and snail for infusoria culture and they have never overheated or I should say- no problems.... because I never check the temp...lol...but I would never put any fish in them....

[fishman12]

They are from the petco tubes. An Argentine sword, a n Aqua fern, and an Umbrella Fern, i think. Thanks for all the help.

[Alex09]

Ouch. Argentine sword is aquatic but the others are not. They will eventually die on you. Do you still have the tubes? They contain the scientific name so you could tell us just to be 100% sure. Or post pics. OF the tubes the only aquatics I have seen are compacta (Hygrophila), Wisteria, tropica fern (java fern), amazon sword, and argentine sword.

[fishman12]

Well, that's a dissapointment. I would think Aqua means water plant. No, I don't have the tubes anymore. The first one is argentine sword, 2nd is "aqua" fern, and 3rd is umbrella fern. Is "tropica fern" really java fern? Where can I find Java moss? Can plant food help the two non-aquatic plants?
Those pics where just taken by the way. the tank hes been setup with the plants for a month-month and a half.

[Hadouken441]

Get this light. I use it on my planted tank. Perfect color spectrum too

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ef=oss_product

Its excellent for 5-10 gallon tanks. Sunlight is too strong and gets your tank hot.