New SW tank Placement

[jonboyb]

My wife has decided to let me give a reef tank a shot and I'm trying to decide where to place it in the house. My house has an obscene number of windows (48 on the upper 2 floors) but they are all covered with blinds. While there is no direct sunlight, there is alot of ambient light and I do not want to place my tank in an environment that will promote lots of unwanted growth. Is direct sunlight the problem or will the ambient light through the blinds give me equally bad results? My only other option is to put it in the basement where it can't been seen as much. I don't think she'll let me board up windows to have an aquarium

 

[Innovator]

I have never had problems with indirect lighting creating excess algae, but direct could spur their growth along the back glass. You can buy thin acrylic from Home Depot or Lowes, paint one side black and the other blue (Krylon Fusion), and apply to the outside back glass (I use tape) so light cannot enter. Now if you get tired of the black background you can just flip your acrylic to display the blue...or not

 

[MCluett]

when you make those backgrounds ( or buy) do you just tape them on nor are their any out there that are self adhesive?

 

[jonboyb]

The tank will not be placed against a window, so a background shouldn't help. However, it'll be a 29 gallon Biocube or 34 gallon Red Sea Max that I am getting so it'll have a black rear surface to begin with.

 

[Innovator]

when you make those backgrounds ( or buy) do you just tape them on nor are their any out there that are self adhesive?

Scotch tape or electrical tape is what I use and doesn't show since you are taping the back of the acrylic sheet and the upper/lower plastic rim supports (your tank). You could also bevel the back of your stand so you could slide the acrylic in and out as you see fit...

The tank will not be placed against a window, so a background shouldn't help. However, it'll be a 29 gallon Biocube or 34 gallon Red Sea Max that I am getting so it'll have a black rear surface to begin with.

Ah ok, didn't know exactly what you were getting so...unless you are putting the tank right up against a window I don't think indirect lighting will affect the system, algae-wise. You can always just close the blinds that are within the vicinity if they prove to be causing excess algae growth on the glass because, well, I mean...you have 40+ more windows to let in light XD