SolaTubes for reef tanks

[LiquidShaneo]

OK, I'm obviously missing the logic on this one: adding a filter to filter sunlight to 10KK to make it more "natural"? Methinks the sun's light is pretty natural to me! Adding a filter would make it "artificial", no?

Shane

[PSYCHO]

Are you talking about covering your tank to keep out sunlight? If so, you have to do this. In the wild your livestock would normally be much further under the surface. At 6" from the top of the ocean (or your tank) the direct sunlight would be damaging your corals. "10k" is a strain of light that penetrates only deeper waters of about 100' deep!

[SAT]

If you've ever been diving you know that the colors look really strange, even in relatively shallow water. That's what I mean by "natural". For reference, 10K is the color you get when you put a white object in a spot lit by blue sky, shaded from the sun. That's equivalent to some depth of water lit by direct sun, but I believe it's a lot less than 100 feet.

I would consider filtering if (a) I thought I had more than enough light to begin with and (b) the filters weren't so bloody expensive.

[br1200]

Just as a side issue. Is it possible to see pic/s of the setup and the tank ?
Personally I think that the pics would speak for themselfs

Thanks

[tleip]

cuda,

Just in case you haven't seen this:

http://www.azsolarcenter.com/benefits/543.pdf

I think we could qualify for the 25% tax credit for the solar tubes (a tax credit for my hobby, hard to believe). I'm looking at doing the solar tube approach for my next tank, I've just got to see if I can hide them from view on the street and still get enough sun exposure.

Terry

[ShipMate]

C'mon Solatube users ! Let s see some pics!!

[mjsandbe]

A picture is worth a thousand words, also seeing is believing(assuming the pic is good enough to look for coral health)

[matt_rogers]

Cuda dropped off the face of the earth!

I am beginning to think he works for Solar Tubes !!!!



If anyone lives in Arizona, grab your digital camera and go track this guy down!

[Aquaman]

Finally decided to read this thread from start to finish. Now I'm interested, I own a moble home and the roof is not that high where the tank is at, the peak being maybe 4' at the most! and living in Florida I'm thinking I get plenty of light. Although I do have a tree that starts to shade the house after about 2pm or so. But during the first half of the day I get full sunlight.

I'm wondering how much I could save on my power bill. Peak summer I pay about $250 and during winter about $170 or so. If I could remove my 2 400watt 1 175 watt and the IceCap 660 man that would be some saving. This has really got me thinking....

Where are those pictures...

[ByTor]

Here's a thought.

Spectral aluminum sheet.
Take 2 pieces of 12"x72" ($42ea.) forum your own tube, pop rivet the seams, cut to length... Now as for the dome, I'm still working on that. I do have a few interesting ideas

I've always thought of using this method of lighting. Just the price was always the killer.

They are in my new tanks future! along with 2 6'x12' bow windows...

[SAT]

ByTor,

The tube materials used in the better tubular skylights supposedly reflect much better than polished aluminum. That's a selling point for SolaTube and SunPipe. What you describe would probably be fine for a short tube, but be prepared for considerable loss through a long one.

You might try purchasing extension tubes from a tubular skylight distributor. I don't think they're very expensive.

For a dome... good luck . That's probably the most expensive part. The trick is to come up with something you can seal from the weather. For myself, I would never put a DIY hole in my roof. It's much too easy to create leaks.

Also, you'll want to cover and seal the bottom opening. If you get warm humid air up there, it will rain inside during the winter.

Before you decide the price is a killer, you might try pricing them. Considering you get everything you need, a tubular skylight doesn't seem all that expensive. I'd tell you how much mine cost except that's between my builder & his supplier.

[wetgirl]

where are the pictures???? where are the pictures???? where are the pictures????

[taekim78]

where ar ethe pics????????????//

[ikan]

guess.... I'm gonna stick to my old big bulb.....and I think I had a feeling if this guy must be working with solatubs company....you know how the salesman works.....beside my landlord would kill me if wreck my roof for solatub

[SAT]

The tubes are finally going in... here's inside our great room. The bottom 3' of tubing isn't installed yet... they'll eventually extend down to the 2x4 near the bottom of the picture. That's about 18" above the top of the tank.

What you're seeing is a trio of 21" Sun Pipes.

The light meter in my camera indicates that a high percentage of the light hitting the top of each tube is coming out the bottom. Not a very precise measurement, but good enough to make me very happy.

[SAT]

And here they are on the roof.

[Rica]

Please post pics when all is done, thanks.

[matt_rogers]

Alright, somebody is doing it that will actually post pics! Thanks SAT!

Weren't you originally going with 13" tubes? Decided to super-size it, eh?

Are you still going with a 300 gallon tank? Are you waiting to see on the supplemental lighting? How much heat is coming out of those tubes?

Thanks again,

[SAT]

The pair of 13" tubes are going over the ATS... they're not in yet. The 300G gets the 21" tubes. I plan to supplement with a pair of 6' VHO's over the main tank, and I'm not sure yet about the ATS (maybe a 150W HQI).

I have no way to measure the heat, but it feels like sunlight, so I guess a lot of the infrared is coming through. It's better than a typical skylight, or even a window, because it's sealed top and bottom with a huge air space. So the main heat coming in will be radiation, not by conductivity or infiltration. I suspect it's an order of magnitude less heat than from equivalent MH lamps (it certainly won't burn me if I touch it ).

[matt_rogers]

That's great. I look forward to your updates Stuart ... please don't dissapear like Cudaman!

[LiquidShaneo]

Stuart,

I'd love to see some lux meter readings on that! Hrmm...I remember seeing something on RAMR about correlating camera settings w/ lux readings. Lemme see if I can find that...

Shane

[SAT]

The trouble with a camera is it's only accurate to 1/2 f-stop, or about 25%. The difference in light between outside and right under the tube seems to be less than that.

Another problem is the light exits the tube at the same angle that it entered. Mid-day, it will go right down into the tank, but early and late it goes out the side. For normal lighting applications, they fix that by putting a semi-opaque dome underneath the tube. That spreads out the light, but also absorbs about 60% of it. I figure the way to deal with this is to build a light box between the tank and the tubes using reflective mylar -- let it bounce until it hits the water. It's possible an egg-crate diffuser will also help.

[LiquidShaneo]

Any idea how you're going to keep a heavy snow off of those collectors Stuart? I notice you're from PA...

Shane

[SAT]

Shane,

Last winter we didn't get enough snow for it to be a problem. Next winter... who knows. My roof is flat and pretty easy to get up on (no ladder required), so one answer is I go clean it off if there's a heavy accumulation. Another answer is the tank can be dark for a few days without too much damage.

[Kenzy]

Very nice Stuart! Please keep us updated, they look very promising.