scorpiocasper
New member
Sorry you have had so many problems, but happy to see you are continuing on. Our next house, solar tubes all the way!! Thank you for sharing!
gone solar
- Thread starter hobogato
- Start date
SoulFish
New member
Is there a height required to stay within when doing this type of lighting? I'm seriously thinking of doing this, but I'd have 2.5 floors to drill through. It could be straight up no bends, but is there height limit to getting enough PARS? I was thinking 3 x 14"ers like you on a standard 180 gallon (72" long x 24" H x 24" W)
Will this be alright?
Will this be alright?
hobogato
New member
mine are 16' from top to bottom. the manufacturer i used said that was pretty much the limit for them to be effective for my application. some companies advertise 25' while others say less. in the summer, it is brighter than my tank was with 5 @ 250 watt mh lights.
yeah, i wish we could use them more to light the rooms of our house, but since it is 2 floors all of the daytime living areas are downstairs, we cant. our next house will be 1 story and we will be using solar tubes throughout.
yeah, i wish we could use them more to light the rooms of our house, but since it is 2 floors all of the daytime living areas are downstairs, we cant. our next house will be 1 story and we will be using solar tubes throughout.
SoulFish
New member
Ace,
what were some other brands you found to be similar? The reason being is I contacted them into pricing general info etc, and I mentioned to them that their site wasn't very useful b/c I couldn't find a product lineup, or pricing etc.
There response rather than how can we help you was more like aggressive posturing and belittling. They even went so far as to say that their coral cultivators would not use the 13" dome that it's insufficent.. bla bla bla.
So I'd really like to not give this company my hard earned money with this kind of customer service. So who else would you recomend as a second follow up product?
what were some other brands you found to be similar? The reason being is I contacted them into pricing general info etc, and I mentioned to them that their site wasn't very useful b/c I couldn't find a product lineup, or pricing etc.
There response rather than how can we help you was more like aggressive posturing and belittling. They even went so far as to say that their coral cultivators would not use the 13" dome that it's insufficent.. bla bla bla.
So I'd really like to not give this company my hard earned money with this kind of customer service. So who else would you recomend as a second follow up product?
jdhuyvetter
SWFMAS Event Coordinator
Well, did my taxes last night and ordered my tubes today. Between your tank and one about 30 miles from my house that has 2 tubes, I've decided to take the plunge (and hopefully stick it to the power company!!!)
Jeff
Jeff
jdhuyvetter
SWFMAS Event Coordinator
I'm getting 4, for my 300 gallon. I saw another tank with 2. It is 125 gallon with live rock and a few softies.
I am setting up a 245gal with 3 14" SolaTubes. I was inspired by Hobogato to follow in his footsteps. Here is my thread...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1561945
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1561945
strayvoltage
New member
Thanks to hobogato I am using four 10" tubes over my new 300. I am making something to go on the end of the tubes. Have tried a couple of ways so far and the second one is what I will end up using I think. Using something on the end of the tubes does for sure get more of the light down into the tank and not on the wall and out over the front. The tank is filling right now and is only half full. Still have to finish the stand. The tank is a 300 wide, 96x30x25 with starphire front. The stand is DIY
klondike4001
New member
the white one (I'm guessing flower pot) looks best imo.
strayvoltage
New member
klondike4001 thanks for the opinion, I have to agree with you. The other one would be painted white but the shape of the flower pot is better. I will also be using a 6x96w pc fixture on the tank and the bigger one will be in the way of that. I already have the fixture from my 125. Again thanks.
Looks good! My wife and I was looking to build a new house when the market crashed, if it ever comes back up this lighting technic is something I'm definitely going to have to look in to.<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14260152#post14260152 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by strayvoltage
Thanks to hobogato I am using four 10" tubes over my new 300. I am making something to go on the end of the tubes. Have tried a couple of ways so far and the second one is what I will end up using I think. Using something on the end of the tubes does for sure get more of the light down into the tank and not on the wall and out over the front. The tank is filling right now and is only half full. Still have to finish the stand. The tank is a 300 wide, 96x30x25 with starphire front. The stand is DIY
sfsuphysics
Active member
Looks good! The more I see this, the more I'm tempted to swing that way, especially as the local power company looks to be pushing a time of use plan some what convertly down our throats.
strayvoltage
New member
Thanks to all. Thnks most of all to hobogato for starting this thread and sharing with all of us. I hadn't thought about doing this at all until I seen this thread. I think it is catching on and more and more are going this way.
hobogato
New member
well, i am now officially not a 'legal' sps keeper. i hope you all dont mind if i still post here from time to time - eventually, down the road i will try a couple of pieces of sps. for now, the sps i had were not thriving, but everything else was. instead of changing things to suit them, i found new homes for the sps colonies.
yesterday, icky (the eel) decided i needed to tweak the rockwork a little, so he knocked down the center island and tried to knock down the small island on the left end. here it is all redone - i like it much better now! thanks for the nudge icky (that is not exactly what i was saying to the eel yesterday)
also, the long tentacle and sebae anemones decided to travel to the center of the tank (from their prospective ends) - i think they were preparing to have war! i moved them each back to their own end of the tank and added the carbon reactor to the sump to try to keep the toxins in the water to a minimum.
here is the tank now
left island
center island
right side (from last week - have added a couple of things since then)
fts - front
back (also from last week)
yesterday, icky (the eel) decided i needed to tweak the rockwork a little, so he knocked down the center island and tried to knock down the small island on the left end. here it is all redone - i like it much better now! thanks for the nudge icky (that is not exactly what i was saying to the eel yesterday)
also, the long tentacle and sebae anemones decided to travel to the center of the tank (from their prospective ends) - i think they were preparing to have war! i moved them each back to their own end of the tank and added the carbon reactor to the sump to try to keep the toxins in the water to a minimum.
here is the tank now
left island
center island
right side (from last week - have added a couple of things since then)
fts - front
back (also from last week)
jdhuyvetter
SWFMAS Event Coordinator
Please tell me this is a result of the "anemone incident" and not a result of the solar tubes. I'd hate to make that drastic of a change only to see it not work!!!
