gone solar
- Thread starter hobogato
- Start date
does anyone know how many equivalent halide watts these put out?
Jojoyojimbi
New member
i am totally subscribing to this thread to see how things develop, keep us posted man
Ewan
Premium Member
Excellent thread.
The colors are really improving. Congrats on the awesome setup. Very inspiring. No more halide replacement costs for you!!! Not to mention the electrical consumption cut.
Kudos on the hourly shots. Very helpful. Seems like your tank is much more dynamic with the varying intensities throughout the day.... something that most of us lack.
The colors are really improving. Congrats on the awesome setup. Very inspiring. No more halide replacement costs for you!!! Not to mention the electrical consumption cut.
Kudos on the hourly shots. Very helpful. Seems like your tank is much more dynamic with the varying intensities throughout the day.... something that most of us lack.
hobogato
New member
thanks for the comments all...
unfortunately, this has taken a not so scientific turn....
just before the posting pics last Sunday i realized my kalk reactor wasnt functioning properly (and probably hadnt been for a few days). once fixed, my pH and alkalinity came back up to where they should be, but i think it was a bit too fast. lost a few small mille frags and burned the tips off of quite a few other corals.
it is tough to know if it was all bc of the alk change or if the brighter light had something to do with it. i am inclined to think the light had nothing to do with it since i have seen no bleaching, and most of the corals get more and more color daily. i am looking forward to taking/posting new pics on Sunday.
Bryopsis still has not returned to my tank, so i think it is gone for good (thank you sun!!!)
unfortunately, this has taken a not so scientific turn....
just before the posting pics last Sunday i realized my kalk reactor wasnt functioning properly (and probably hadnt been for a few days). once fixed, my pH and alkalinity came back up to where they should be, but i think it was a bit too fast. lost a few small mille frags and burned the tips off of quite a few other corals.
it is tough to know if it was all bc of the alk change or if the brighter light had something to do with it. i am inclined to think the light had nothing to do with it since i have seen no bleaching, and most of the corals get more and more color daily. i am looking forward to taking/posting new pics on Sunday.
Bryopsis still has not returned to my tank, so i think it is gone for good (thank you sun!!!)
hobogato
New member
no, it typically causes recession at the base of the coral. the pH ran low during the three days of darkness while i was installing the solar tubes, and never really recovered. any time my alk increases too fast i notice browning and even burned tips if it is extreme enough. since the calcium reactor was still running, it drove my pH down without the correct amount of kalk dripping in.
this time, i saw no browning from the alk increase, but a few tips did burn - on small frags, that was enough to do them in
typically my alk runs aroun 11 dKh and my calcium runs 450 to 500. my pH normally ranges 8.2 to 8.4 (well it did before the change) it was running as low as 7.8 when i finally realized what was going on. now, it has become stable again, but the range is a little wider (8.2 to 8.5) on really sunny days.
Im not sure how low the alkalinity was, i was afraid to test it
i should clarify - i dont think the light had anything to do with the tips burning and the frag death.... i am a little amazed that the color continued to improve thru the alk/pH instability.
this time, i saw no browning from the alk increase, but a few tips did burn - on small frags, that was enough to do them in
typically my alk runs aroun 11 dKh and my calcium runs 450 to 500. my pH normally ranges 8.2 to 8.4 (well it did before the change) it was running as low as 7.8 when i finally realized what was going on. now, it has become stable again, but the range is a little wider (8.2 to 8.5) on really sunny days.
Im not sure how low the alkalinity was, i was afraid to test it
i should clarify - i dont think the light had anything to do with the tips burning and the frag death.... i am a little amazed that the color continued to improve thru the alk/pH instability.
8BALL_99
New member
IMO I would get a par meter. I'm going to try to just use my skylight with a few T5s for color. The day I ordered the skylight I also ordered a par meter lol. There are a few threads floating around with skylights and solartubes. You might be surprised at how much light your getting.. If you look in the advanced reef topics there is a huge thread over there on solar tubes and skylights.. One guy was getting 1500par on the bottom of is tank at the peak of the day.. If I remember right it was a 36" deep tank lol. Not saying that's what caused your problem.. But It might have added to it. Besides it would be a good idea to keep an eye on par levels over the months to see if you need to shade the tank in the summer or add supplement lighting in the winter.
hobogato
New member
i agree 8ball - working on getting one right now....
i think you are probably right about the light compounding the issue with the pH burned tips. usually, one change in a tank is enough to stress some of the animals, any additional changes just magnify the effects of that stress in my experience.
i think you are probably right about the light compounding the issue with the pH burned tips. usually, one change in a tank is enough to stress some of the animals, any additional changes just magnify the effects of that stress in my experience.
Jgoal55
Active member
this is amazing..great job!! I was wondering you said you thought the skylight with the same footprint of the house would be the way to go if you had a one story house?
But I was wondering how the light coming into the tank would compare. Here is seems like you get a more focused, therefore stronger, better reflected light. The skylight seems like it diffuses the light more, however his par reading are crazy so I amy be wrong.
I will be building a house in the next two years and I am definitely looking at natural sun lighting for the tank. I wonder which of these two options would be best?? Also, I really like the more "blueish" tint that you get from artificial lighting. with the way the sum moves I guess you dont get that blue hue all day loong right? But i guess thats more natural.
But I was wondering how the light coming into the tank would compare. Here is seems like you get a more focused, therefore stronger, better reflected light. The skylight seems like it diffuses the light more, however his par reading are crazy so I amy be wrong.
I will be building a house in the next two years and I am definitely looking at natural sun lighting for the tank. I wonder which of these two options would be best?? Also, I really like the more "blueish" tint that you get from artificial lighting. with the way the sum moves I guess you dont get that blue hue all day loong right? But i guess thats more natural.
hobogato
New member
i think the advantage to the tubular lights is you could (i didnt) add dimming capabilities in the tubes to control the amount of light coming in. the blue lights are on from 7 am to 10 pm, but in the middle 2-3 hours of the day, the tank looks like it has white lights over it. the rest of the day has varying amounts of a blue appearance.
the tubes do focus the light, when assembling them the night before installing, i held a 4' section up to my plasma tv and there was a spot of light on the opposite wall - looked like i was shining a colorful flashlight on the wall.
the tubes do focus the light, when assembling them the night before installing, i held a 4' section up to my plasma tv and there was a spot of light on the opposite wall - looked like i was shining a colorful flashlight on the wall.
8BALL_99
New member
I think a skylight the same size as the footprint of the tank is not the way to go.. Just think about it.. I went with a smaller skylight and plan to flare the shaft down to the tank with reflective metal on the shaft.. If you built a MH reflector the same size as a tank with the sides straight up and down I dont think it would direct the light down in the tank. But take that same source and build a reflector that is flared with the source of light in the middle then you get much more light directed down and into the tank. Anyway hope that makes since.. I thought about it for a while before I decided on mine. I have no idea if this is true or not.. Just makes since to me.. If the sun stayed directly above the tank all day then of course it wouldn't matter. But a lot of the time the light will enter at an angle and rely on the reflective walls to direct the light. Straight walls lined up with the rim of the tank would seem to me to not direct the light in the tank but just bounce it all over the shaft..
psteeleb
Team RC
great addition and nice install - I was considering going with these (or some other version) but never found out how long the tubes could be and still be affective. You may have it posted but how long are your runs in he attic and did you ever find any information on how far the runs can go or some sort of chart that shows light loss per ft of tube?
