gone solar
- Thread starter hobogato
- Start date
David - Miami
Aquanot!
I just finished reading the entire thread as well. I wish I lived in a house and not a condo because it seems like a no brainer. It is rare that an experiment seems so positive and was not done years and years ago. I realize that you are not the first, but the excellent detailed pictures and progression are a real benefit to all.
Congratulations on saving on electricity (Chiller and Light) as well as improving the overall look in a socially concious way.
I have subscribed to my first thread.
PS - I bet that Marc will be implementing this soon.
Congratulations on saving on electricity (Chiller and Light) as well as improving the overall look in a socially concious way.
I have subscribed to my first thread.
PS - I bet that Marc will be implementing this soon.
sfsuphysics
Active member
Alright Ace, next project, upgrade to Vortechs and external return pumps 
melev
Well-known member
It is definitely tempting, but I'm also very happy with the way my reef looks right now. I don't know... if the economy really tumbles badly, I may have to do this, but for now my lighting isn't that expensive.
3 MH bulbs - 900w x 6 hrs per day or $20.15 per month
2 VHO bulbs - 187w x 11 hrs per day or $7.68 per month
So for $28 a month, I don't have to think about anything other than if the bulbs came on. $241 in electricity alone, plus the price of new bulbs or ballasts as the need arises.
ClownReef®
Bubbletrousing
I saw Ace's tank and its pretty incredible! These solar tubes look amazing..
widmer
Drug Enthusiast
Came across this comment when randomly flipping pages. Reminded me that I've always wondered if there's some way you could filter natural sunlight to remove a lot of the yellow, and direct the resultant light into the tank? Maybe some sort of film as opposed to putting it through a 10 foot column of water?
Also, years ago just before the demise of the overgrow.com forums (read about it on wikipedia), the hot topic was using one of those huge oldschool 8 foot wide satellite dishes, coated with specular reflective material, tracking the sun to route a LOT of light through a fiber optic bundle into your home....Wonder if anyone wants to try this next?
ReefingBuddha
New member
There are 2 main companies that I know of that are using the fiber optic technology. One use a large dish and the other uses a array of small dishes to "feed" the fibers and light interiors. I believe that both track the sun via GPS. Pretty cool. Both are also able to supply fixtures that will compensate for a fall in natural light intensity due to time of year or cloud cover with a fully dimmable traditional light source in each fixture.
jdhuyvetter
SWFMAS Event Coordinator
Somewhere on this site (RC), I saw a link to a plastic company that allowed you to pick a color and they would mold whatever color you like. I plan on having 3 x 14" installed in December. I was thinking about having some very light blue filters made to remove some of the yellow tint. If anybody knows where that link was, please post or send me a pm.
Jeff
Jeff
you could find them here http://www.sjmediasystem.com/rx00.html
hllywd
Premier World Traveler
Just an opinion here but I don't think I'd use any kind of color gel or filter. I'm not sure about hobogato, but most of the people I've read about doing this even get rid of the clear diffusers in the name of transferring more intensity to the tank.
Maybe you could somehow suspend a small gel in the center of the tube to blue the light a little without affecting the intensity too much but anything you put in the light's path will increase the need for supplemental lighting....
Tim
Maybe you could somehow suspend a small gel in the center of the tube to blue the light a little without affecting the intensity too much but anything you put in the light's path will increase the need for supplemental lighting....
Tim
cymbiline
New member
WOW Ace just finished and am now on my way to HD. I thought of doing this a year ago but didn't see any real info on it. Now there's enough good evidece to go on. The install looks great and the tank looks fantastic. Thanks for taking the time to post your finding on this matter.
Bob
Bob
sfsuphysics
Active member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13501545#post13501545 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hllywd
Just an opinion here but I don't think I'd use any kind of color gel or filter. I'm not sure about hobogato, but most of the people I've read about doing this even get rid of the clear diffusers in the name of transferring more intensity to the tank.
Maybe you could somehow suspend a small gel in the center of the tube to blue the light a little without affecting the intensity too much but anything you put in the light's path will increase the need for supplemental lighting....
Tim
Look at the spectrum of sunlight, nice bell shaped curve that shows a peak in the yellow region. If you put some filter on it what it does is it reduces all other colors but the color of that filter, if you put a blue gel, or filter, or anything else that makes the light look more blue you're doing it at the expense of intensity at other wavelengths any way you cut it.
dochou
Member
Awesome job. I am jealous.
Just curious, what happens when you are home at night and you want to see the tank?
I have my lights go on when I get home from work and they go off when I go to bed. If I had your setup I would not be able to see it fully lit, unless it is on the weekends.
Just curious, what happens when you are home at night and you want to see the tank?
I have my lights go on when I get home from work and they go off when I go to bed. If I had your setup I would not be able to see it fully lit, unless it is on the weekends.
hobogato
New member
ok, small update. i lost a few colonies over the last month, not certain why. could be all the changes over the last two months: kalk reactor issue followed by calcium reactor issue, change in lighting, tear down to catch sps munching damsels
all of the corals that are still with us are doing great....
here are a few comparison pics (the ones that are missing here are mostly because i had a hard time taking pics today - i did lose the large blue slimer, paletta lovelli, uf best stag ever and the A. florida tho
)
you will notice a different orientation in the pics - that is because the tank was rearranged when reassembling after catching the damsels
texreefer blue tip stag 8/7/08
ora blue tip stag 8/7/08
atl tulip mille 8/7/08
bigbird toxic table 8/7/08
greenmako A. meridiana 8/7/08
texreefer A. chesterfieldensis 8/7/08
texreefer blue tip green stag 8/7/08
A. valida 8/7/08
there is also a larger update on my build thread (little red house)
all of the corals that are still with us are doing great....
here are a few comparison pics (the ones that are missing here are mostly because i had a hard time taking pics today - i did lose the large blue slimer, paletta lovelli, uf best stag ever and the A. florida tho
)you will notice a different orientation in the pics - that is because the tank was rearranged when reassembling after catching the damsels
texreefer blue tip stag 8/7/08
ora blue tip stag 8/7/08
atl tulip mille 8/7/08
bigbird toxic table 8/7/08
greenmako A. meridiana 8/7/08
texreefer A. chesterfieldensis 8/7/08
texreefer blue tip green stag 8/7/08
A. valida 8/7/08
there is also a larger update on my build thread (little red house)
