Solar shades and fish tanks

by **grammy22** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 5:52 pm

I want to put solar shades in our sunroom. The windows face west and we only get a couple hours of direct sunlight in the morning as there are hills to the west. My question is...will solar shades be enough protection for my fish tank? Right now we have blinds that we keep closed at the end of the room where the fish tank is. Have not had any algae problems thus far with the blinds. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Diane in SD

by **dream2reef** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:58 am

I would say yes. I've never tried it before but anything to redirect sunlight. Algae is it's friend yes. I'd through a black background on it too. good luck!

by **grammy22** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 4:01 am

Thanks for the reply dream2reef. This will be our second try with this tank. I got the tank for my husband for Christmas. Returned the first tank as I did not like the bowed front. It was about a 40 gal. tank I believe. The store had a special on a 60 gal. tank with a table so got that one. Seems like every one you talk to has different advice on how to get started and what you have to do to get the tank ready. We spent a fortune on chemicals to supposedly get the tank ready for the goldfish. It took 3 weeks to do what we were supposed to do. Started out with 3 goldfish. All of a sudden the tank got cloudy. Again, different adivice from everyone. Mostly followed the advice of the sales person at Petsmart, but am beginning to wonder if that was smart. She gave us advice like we had to take at least 3 of the same type of goldfish. We could not mix them. We kept testing the water which always tested good. Bought more and more things to add to the water to see if the cloudiness would go away. Bought 2 more fish...one I just loved. A beautiful little Oranda with what looked like a moustache. Sadly, all the fish ended up dying even though the water always tested OK for everything. We did not use a tank heater as we read that goldfish were cold water fish and that it was better for the water to be cooler rather than warmer. So I don't know if we killed the poor little guys or if it was the water. I have a feeling we might have overfed them. So we decided to completely start over. We are painting the room the tank is in so it seemed like the right time since we no longer had any fish. Now I'm not sure how to start up again. Should we put all that stress zyme and stress coat stuff or should we just put in a water conditioner. We have a Eheim ECCO filter that is good for up to 80 gallons. Sorry this got so long...I am just confused at this point. I felt so sorry about losing the little guys. They were really getting to know us and would come when it was time to eat. Again...thanks for listening.

by **Okiimiru** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:57 pm

I put my fish tanks as close to windows and sunlight as I can. The live plants love it. Current picture of my tank: http://gallery.nanfa.org/v/members/Eric ... e.jpg.html I don't think that had anything to with your fish dying. It was probably because the tank wasn't cycled (as shown by the water getting cloudy, a classic symptom of an uncycled tank).

What were the concentrations of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in the water? New tanks are prone to having non zero ammonia and nitrite concentrations in mg/L or ppm because their nitrogen converting bacteria don't yet have a high enough population. Ammonia and nitrite are poisonous to fish in any noticable concentration, so that's not a good thing. Have you tested the water?

Those people at Petsmart like to sell people chemicals for their fish tanks that aren't necessary. The only thing I own is dechlorinating drops so I can remove the chlorine from tap water before adding it to my tank. The bit of advice about your needing to buy at least three of a kind and all that was rubbish. Stupid pet store employees.

by **dream2reef** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 2:13 am

Well first off You've learned rule #1 never listen to the LFS sales jerks. They will sell you anything and everything you don't need. I started this hobby the same way ended up with 12 fish that weren't compatible. I only have one left now 9 months later. Google anything first then go there knowing what you're looking for. Some of those place are strictly commission no joke. All of your and my problem would never have happened had we been told about one thing...Cycling a tank. Google that and you're golden. Water parameters are important. But if you stay on regular water changes then you're always good, unless you have a spike of something in the tap. Learn to cycle your tank and you will be fine. There are many ways to do it. Stresscoat is really the only chemical I use. Many ppl on this forum use none. I swear by it's ability to heal fins in half the time. Follow those directions thoroughly. Again google anything before you go to the LFS. You can bounce ideas off them but that's it. Don't let them talk you into another chemical. Like a doctor trying to get you on anything. All sales. Google. Happy cycling!

by **dream2reef** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 2:16 am

Wow that's a super old pic of brain. He's a fancy tail I love his dumbness. He's in a 55 with guppy's lol I was told you can't do that. Baby's every so often. That fish will find a spot on his tail in the plants and suspend motionless straight up sleeping. He get's lazy and just lays on them alot too.

Solar shades and fish tanks

6 posts