I want to keep my inks not in my drawer, but on my desk. I usually use Private Reserve, and the ink looks much better when it's out of the white cardboard box. But this then exposes it to light. There is no direct sunlight, but there is flourscent light. The Private Reserve ink bottles are clear glass.

Do I need to be concerned with ink fading over a long period of time?

Hello,

all Anilin-based colours fade within several years of exposure to bright sunlight,but this is certainly not the thing going to happen to Your ink bottle....
Most manufactorers recommend to use up their ink anyway within 1 year because of the relative instabilitiy of detergents used,5 years should be alright too,but then better get a new bottle.

Document proof inks(many black and blue-black ones) contain certain amounts of drawing ink,a problem for many pens,but it gives them almost perfect colour-durability to sunlight.

In Your case,You need bot bother.

regards,
lutz

I have always been told that it is best to keep ink in a dark, cool place with the cap screwed on as tightly as possible. I don't know how long it would take or how much sun light would be on the ink but I have heard of people saying their ink faded. It is important to close the bottle as tightly as possible to prevent the water in the ink from evaporating leaving you with an unusable colored slush. Taking all of the possible precautions, the ink should be able to last quite a while. I know of people who use ink that is 40 or more years old. If some ink has evaporated, it is sometimes possible to add water and get back useable ink.

If you use the ink quickly (finish the bottle within a year) it probably doesn't matter, but if you want to use the bottle for a long time you might want to put the ink out of sunlight to be safe.

Sadly none of this is actual facts but only things that I have been advised of through others.
-Jesse