SolaTubes for reef tanks

[zeusfc]

Originally posted by herostar
Has anyone done tests with light meters to see how much intensity is lost from the roof to the outlet of the tube?

Yup, It's all in here somewhere... you've only got 38 pages to troll through!

[corbett_n]

Does an eco-wheel not harbor nitrates

[corbett_n]

Doe an eco-wheel not harbor nitrates

[zeusfc]

yes eco-wheels will generate nitrates... but isn't this ever so slightly irrelevant in a thread about sola-tubes???

[Mohamed]

I have read this thread and now I am planning to building a 3m * 1m * 1m (118.11 * 39.37 * 39.37 inch) reef tank using skylight tube and holding 3000L (659G).

The biggest skylight is 450mm (+-18 inch), I am thinking of using 3 and removing the diffuser and replacing it with a .5mm (0.20inch) acrylic or less.

I have a few questions for those that have done this.

Would 3 tubes be fine?

Would the height of the tank be okay and can I go lower if need be to maybe 85cm (33.46 inch)?

Very important to me how was the coral acclimatise to the sunlight without bleaching?

How low from the surface of the water must the tube be I am thinking 40cm (15.74 inch)?

Reading the thread some of you have removed the dome on the top, to what benefit was this?

The diffuser was also removed I can understand why but was there any damage to the tube and has anyone replace the diffuser with a thin acrylic?

Another question the tank will be out of concrete. Can someone please point me to a thread or site that has the explanation on how to do this?

thanks

[hahnmeister]

3 22" tubes would cut it. You would still want to add some supplimental light, for blue... like a few rows of T5s... and that would fill in as well as bring up the whole tank to the light levels you need.

[Mohamed]

Hahnmeister, thanks for responding.

My understanding is that the blues are just to see the florescent colours so I am looking at LED lights or some PC lights which are quite bright and low watts.

[hahnmeister]

No, the blues have a peak at the 450nm range (blue light). Actinics have a spike at 420nm (purple), but purple is much harder to make than blue, so as a consequence, the blues are often 50-100% brighter (in fact, the blue+ style bulbs rival many daylight T5s in output and longevity... they are great bulbs).

You can get the same bulb in PC (they make blue/7100K/450nm bulbs as they are labelled, but the output of PC's is about 1/3 that of T5s per watt because T5s are about 50% more efficient, but also allow for individual parabolic reflectors that are very effective.

LED's are also not very efficient at all, and I wouldnt consider them either.

There are 20,000K halides you could use a backup, but as halides, even with a huge blue spike, the bluest of halides will still put out lots of daylight, and so the effect isnt very effective.

The T5s are the best bet really. On a tank in Chicago, 1500g, 8x8x3' high, we used 4 bulb banks of T5s to suppliment the daylight of a 4x4 skylight. It worked out very well.

[Mohamed]

Thanks for the explanation, hahnmeister, I appreciate it.

[hahnmeister]

Sure, glad to help.

[Jimsreef]

What size tube do I need to light a 4 foot by 18 inch by 12 inch deep tank. Is the sun tunnel brand a good one to by they have 10 inch 14 inch and 22 inch sizes available. Jim

[hahnmeister]

A couple of the 10" ones should be plenty.

[Reefski's]

i would use the 14". as many as you can get over the tank, and even beyond the edge. standard framing is 16" between joists so the 14" fit without any reframing except to cut the holes.

Hanmeister, any pics of the 1500 gallon. that would be great to see how it turned out. how long ago was it set up? i would love to see more info.

Carl

[Lordhelmet]

any updated pics from the people with sun powered tanks? I love this thread.

[hahnmeister]

Gosh, I havent been down to Chigago recently to take pics... I should. FWIW, Bill Wann's old tank should be about the same. Its in the same city/area, same gallonage, and about the same skylight even. FWIW, they are nearly identical applications. His tank was TOTM a while back. The only thing different would be that Bill supplimented his skylight with an automated halide array that would swing down and turn on with the flick of a switch. My design was to have a 8'x8' tank with a 6'x6' area of skylights, and then line the 12" parimeter with blue T5 bulbs. As of right now, there are 48 T5 bulbs in use (36 are blue+, the rest are actinic). The owner says he loves it, but I havent been down there in a while. Ill have to go see I suppose.

I was kind of putting it off in hopes that Bill Wann's setup would be completed some time soon, and maybe I could go down and see them both at the same time.

[glassbox-design]

hahn, who set up the 1500g?

[Reefski's]

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic70159-13-1.aspx is a link to my tank i am starting.

700 gallon with skylight over the tank.

you can see the skylight here.



the skylight shaft is the same footprint as the tank and has been lined with anolux.com highly reflective material. 87% refective and good reflection in the UV. the skylight itself is opening single glazed acrylic which will pass 94% light and i think about 50-60% UV.



the tank is only on the stand now and i will start plumbing soon to let it run with sand and rock while the house is completed around the tank. next year it will get the livestock. PAR values will be measured as time passes. right now sunny days at what will be the water surface are about 1450 with some higher values occasionally.

PAR is measured with an Apogee PAR light meter.

you can see a few more photos on the other thread.

Carl

[hahnmeister]

1450 is very high... but I take it that thats the peak level... so the rest of the day is most likely less... then its actually pretty natural. Cool. One thing though... you may want to carry the 'grid' aluminum, as in the large cross-pieces inside the shaft, all the way from the top to the bottom of the shaft. Thats how I ended up doing it.

Jimsreef, the reason I say 10" is because larger ones are pretty much equal to 400 watt halides in output, which you dont need. You need spread for such a low tank... a frag style tank. So thats why I said perhaps a couple or few smaller tubes rather than the larger ones... but with come creative diffuser work, or simply ending the light shaft farther up above the tank, you could get a good spread with just using a larger tube or two.

As for the 1500g in Chi-town... its a CEO buddy of the woman's folks. Not a member here or any other club. I designed the tank and its systems, and a chicago contractor handled the actual installation. I was present at the tank construction and plumbing (I actually did the plumbing myself for the most part).

[token]

I am very interested in applying this to a third tank that I intend to add the first part of next year. I am currently remodeling so now is the time to plan this addition to the roof.

I wonder how much supplemental light I would need and came across this link for Manila's weather. I was really surprised how much average daylight Manila receives. Dallas seems to be at least equal in amount even if that light is more seasonally variable due to its distance from the equator.

Am I reading this info incorrectly? Do the tropics really "enjoy" that much cloud cover? If so, how might it alter the application of natural sunlight to our captive reefs?

I notice that the results from using natural sunlight are obvious and tremendous but I do note that many have opted for supplemental lighting. I begin to wonder, so that I can plan appropriately, what the break point is.

TIA!

And kudos to those that have already trod this path!

[hahnmeister]

Keep in mind that most corals come from 5-30m deep...these areas have hardly the peak intensity of the surface, so unless you are keeping shallow water species (very rare in the hobby), the sunlight in even the northern states is enough because its not going through the same water depths.

The idea for supplimental lighting is because sunlight will be very yellow unless you have 10' or so of water to filter it through to get it bluer. So to suppliment all the yellow, red, green, etc... adding blue and actinic bulbs is what I did with T5s. Others have used 20,000K halides in the past, but watt for watt, the T5s generate more blue light without creating even more daylight which isnt needed.

[token]

hahnmeister: Thank you for that clarification on the reasons behind the supplementation.

I have been considering how to incorporate spotlight MH's, similar to invicible's. I would need to go into the particulars of the remodel but it suffices to say that I can "skirt" the perimeter of the tank at ceiling level and hide the enclosure for the spots in that skirt. My assessment is that the height of the skirt above the perimeter of the tank would allow the loss of area to compensated by light spread as it comes through the skylight, allowing total coverage of the tank's surface.

My immediate concern is that I am getting enough blue into the system. I had thought to use spots on the three visible sides but I could do spots on the two short sides (the ends, if you will) and T5's on the long sides.

The tank will be somewhere in the range of 60-72"w x 24-32"t x 32-36"d. At the moment, I would prefer that it be four-sided but I may clip the corners and make it six-sided to facilitate ingress to a doorway and allowing the larger dimensions.

Thoughts?

[Reefski's]

yes, the 1450 PAR was in the middle of the day. but because of the reflected light those values stay high for hours during the day.

when the sun was directly down the shaft at the summer solstice coupled with the reflected light it was actually more than 2000 PAR, i don't know how much more as the meter stops at 2000 PAR.

however it is cool the way the sun moves around the shaft and lights the tank. should get a more natural growth than the point source of MH.

i am not going to decide how much additional lighting to add until i can measure the natural light over a few months. i definitely will have additional lighting if only for winter and evening viewing.

the tropics is tropical because it rains a lot which means that there is cloud cover a lot. sometimes for weeks at a time.

here in Los Angeles we have a lot of sunny days. near the beach where i am we do have more days that have at least morning clouds but that means we don't have the extremes of heat and cold too, even compared to other parts of SoCal.

Carl

[glassbox-design]

sorry ot- hahn did he happen to have a fowlr and reef in his office years back...the reef powered by a huge aerofoamer? (if you cant tell i forgot his name)

any pics? i'm guessing he's out in the burbs?

carlos- 1400+ par is impressive. you may want to look into blue g12 spot halides used for stage lighting...

[hahnmeister]

Flint&Eric, Yeah... like 500-800 gallons if I remember correctly. Dont know about the Aerofoamer though. You never know. Thanks to the shedd, aquariums are a thriving industry in Chi-town, and always will be most likely. He's actually not in in the burbs.

As for supplimental blue... I would still strongly suggest T5s over halides. blue+ style T5s can make blue, and little to nothing else. Even the bluest 20,000Ks still add alot of daylight.

[glassbox-design]

the shedd?.... ehhh, perhaps

hahn, have you seen the blue mh's running for stage lighting or the like? they are far from 20k and make xm's and radiums looks white in comparison. even with that i'd still suggest t5's too. with such a large area it would take a lot spots...