100% Natural sunlight..

[Dark~Euphoria]

Hi, does anyone have a reef using 100% natural sunlight? I plan on setting up a 200+ gallon tank in the future and plan on building some sort of skylight system into my house, so the aquarium gets direct sunlight (well maybe not direct but a lot of sunlight nonetheless).

I don't buy into the horrible algae problems thing too much, in fact, I actually prefer some growths of macro algae in the aquarium, I think it makes it look MUCH more natural.

Also provide links to tanks using natural sunlight if you have any. I just don't understand while more people don't do something like this. Saves money and everything looks better with it IMO. Perhaps people don't want to have to build the system to deliver the sunlight, (skylight etc).

Post away!

 

[SALT WATER CRAZ]

Hears a thread with natural sun light tanks.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1456867

 

[DesertBandits]

look in the SPS section. There is a guy who went from MH to sunlight on his 240g tank by way of solatubes. It sound like what you want to do is very similar to his project.

 

[Hodori]

sounds like something that could be a necessity for reefers sometime in the near future. Very cost effective and seemingly great results.

 

[yrema]

here's another

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1095596&highlight=vitor+pestana

sunlight tanks are awesome. I'm planning to have one in the near future.

 

[BeanAnimal]

There is a lot to think about when planning such a system, but if done correctly the results can be very pleasing. Here in western PA, a sunlight would prove problematic in the winter months due to the suns position and possible snow covering the aperature. Nonetheless, If I ever build another house, I will certainly consider a partial glass roof for the fish room.

 

[Steven Pro]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13228411#post13228411 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
There is a lot to think about when planning such a system, but if done correctly the results can be very pleasing. Here in western PA, a sunlight would prove problematic in the winter months due to the suns position and possible snow covering the aperature. Nonetheless, If I ever build another house, I will certainly consider a partial glass roof for the fish room.

You would be surprised Bill. Even on the cloudiest days here with 1/2" to 1" of snow on the greenhouse, I still got around 70 micromols/m2/sec at noon.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I don't think the warden would allow me to have the same square footage of "skylight" that you have... Yet, I am still amazed at how bright (and warm) your setup is even in the winter. I think my goal would be to have a well designed sun porch with an aquarium as the centerpiece and natural light as the source. We both know that I will not get that wish anytime soon

 

[Dark~Euphoria]

I would think even if it is cloudy outside, the light the corals would be getting still would outdo artificial lighting.... and if I went the natural sunlight, i wouldnt necessarily want 100% SPS corals, mabe 25% max. Im sure softies and zoo's would be fine.

Do you guys think natural sunlight would be sufficient for a ritteri anemone in southern indiana providing flow and water quality were good?

 

[BeanAnimal]

Check out the natural sunlight thread in the "thread of the month" nomination thread. Read that a few times, it makes perfect sense.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Dark,

Steven's greenhouse has to be covered with shade cloth to block part of the sunlight, as it is just too intense during most of the day. Not only is he using shade cloth, but he has talked about further shading some of the individual tanks!

 

[g3ka4]

And another.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1205844

 

[atvdave]

Well... Not 100% but close.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1457056&referrerid=50210

 

[parkpark]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13234461#post13234461 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
Check out the natural sunlight thread in the "thread of the month" nomination thread. Read that a few times, it makes perfect sense.

do you have a link to this? can't find it

 

[atvdave]

It's on my link above.

 

[parkpark]

oh, already saw that. It looks amazing!!

 

[reef_only]

I think if not 100% sun light it would be lots of cost saving if one has supplement sun light; however, somehow I don't see it's being popular yet for people to take advantage of natural sun light for reefs. (I'm not talking about solar panels kind of lighting)

 

[hahnmeister]

Yeah, we should really start putting halides over the Great Barrier Reef in Australia...lol.

 

[EnderG60]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13285216#post13285216 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hahnmeister
Yeah, we should really start putting halides over the Great Barrier Reef in Australia...lol.

we should, sunlight makes coral look like poo!

 

[Dark~Euphoria]

I personally think corals look healthier under natural sunlight, thats why I would prefer to use it. Especially over a very large aquarium where artificial sunlight would be costly