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Re: Natural light intensity
>From: Stephen Pushak
>
>I'll try my question again. Didn't get much response last time.
>
>How feasible is it to use natural light (no sunlight) to light an
>aquatic plant tank? I have a hunch that its important to get about a
>half an hour to an hour of sunlight.
>
>Can anyone help me correlate the lux intensity of tropical daylight (no
>direct sunshine) with the typical lux intensity we desire in planted
>aquaria? We'd be looking at a percentage of the arc of blue sky.
>Also, how much does this light intensity vary according to a cloudy day
>and a rainy, overcast day?
I don't have the values in lux, but I remember that sunlight is 8,000 to
9,000 foot candles and that shade on a sunny day with about half the blue
sky contributing light and the other half occupied by a building is around
500 FC. Perhaps full sun all day is a bit too much, but sun 1/2 to 1/4 of
the day has got to be better than only shade. I got some of my best growth
ever of Crypts when I had my 55 gallon and 75 gallon tanks right up next
to south-facing windows that got sunlight most of the day during fall,
winter, and spring.
Paul Krombholz in sunny, bright, Jackson, Mississippi,