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While you could use sunlight to grow aquarium plants, the growth of the plants will be much less predictable due to the variations in sunlight (ie. cloudy or rainy days, no or very little light), so the plants will not grow well during those times. On the other-hand, there can be too much light if the days are very sunny, so algae starts to establish and take over. All these fluctuations create an unstable system which is more difficult to control. In addition, placing a tank near the window with exposure to sunlight also increases the tank water temperature too, sometimes it can get surprisingly high during hot days.Originally Posted by swee17hp
So unless you are willing to handle those environmental variations and potential issues, its still better to just use a proper aquarium light and put it on a plug timer to get a regular consistent light schedule, the plants will grow much better and it'll be easier to control algae.
The amount of substrate would depend on the plants you plan to use in the tank. If you are adding plants which don't need to be rooted into substrate (ie. those that are tied to objects), then a very thin layer of substrate is only needed for aesthetics. If you plan to add rooted plants, then a deeper substrate would need to be used, especially if you add heavy root feeders like cryptocorynes or echinodorus (those typically grow huge root systems).
Do note that if you want to keep rooted plants, its best to use good quality active aquasoil that contains ample nutrients to support plant growth (ie. ADA Amazonia aquasoil).
Tanks size classification tends to differ between aquarists in different countries... locally most of us would consider 1ft - 1.5ft tanks (10-30 liters) as nano tanks, while 2ft tanks are usually considered normal tanks, and 3ft tanks and above as large tanks.
But in other countries like the USA and Europe, 3ft tanks are usually considered normal tanks (by default thats seen as an ideal "starter" tank)... anything smaller (ie even 2ft tank) are often labelled as nano tanks. I guess aquarists in most other countries tend to live in larger homes... unlike the majority of us singaporeans who have to contend with "compact" living spaces.
Either way, its always best to get the largest tank size you can afford and which can fit in your intended space. Larger tank volumes can maintain more stable parameters for a longer period of time with much less fluctuations compared to smaller tank volumes.
Weekly water changes are recommended for most tanks... water changes help to remove and reduce any toxic buildups in parameters. As you gain more experience about aquarium management, you can then gradually adjust the water change frequency and amount depending on the tank's condition.
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