gone solar
- Thread starter hobogato
- Start date
Ladipyg
New member
Thanks for this thread....my husband has always gripped a little about this hobby....especially the cost of electric. ( I envy those hobbyist that have spouses that share their interests) Now we are having our retirement home built in sunny Arkansas and I was already planning for my dream tank there. I called the builder after seeing this thread and since my tank is going to be a 6' x 6' cube, only 30" inches deep it looks like 5 tubes will get the job done. The only change I am making is that instead of being in the basement, the tank will move up to the main floor. It will be built in, exposed on 3 sides with the fourth side adjoining a 8' x 6' room that will hold all the skimmers, tops offs, large refugium, quarantine tanks, etc. It will have an unfinished concrete floor with a floor drain, 2 large utility sinks and a very large dehumidifier that will drain into a rain barrel kept in the adjacent greenhouse. Your timing on this article was perfect for me....thanks!
Reefski's
Active member
since you are starting from scratch something like i did may be cost effective for you. i have zero bill so far. for lighting anyway.
maybe less than 5-6 soar tubes. and more light.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1154644&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
Carl
maybe less than 5-6 soar tubes. and more light.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1154644&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
Carl
Is this an SPS tank?
I was thinking of using solatubes when I moved back to Phoenix (>300 perfectly sunny days a year, averaging ~90% sunshine for all daylight hours)... but if this works in MI, it could work in most parts of the US and not just the southwest.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13333058#post13333058 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hobogato
yep, this has me thinking of all kinds of ways to go green when i am ready to have our next house built (even tho that is 12 years or so down the road). of course, who knows where technology will be at that time
Cost-prohibitive now, but something like these will be more mainstream:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4212740.html
http://pesn.com/2005/07/27/9600139_Fiber_Optics_Bring_Sun_Indoors/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ5MiLqb5VE
Pretty amazing technology with GPS, tracking the sun, automated supplemental lightening, and fiber optics for up to 50,000 lumens of transmitted light...
Lowredranger
New member
Wow that is awesome, if the price ever came down on the fiber optic lighting i could see a ton of people using that for their tanks, especially for people who do not have the access to installing the actual solar tubes. What would be awesome is you would still get the weather patterns as far as light goes even the moon i would think and lightning in a storm. Very cool.
Ladipyg
New member
DrBegalke....great links...thanks for the info. I have a friend that installed this in her home here, in Chicago and seems to have no problems, even with snow. They are angled off of the roof a little for that reason. She uses hers to light up the area where she keeps her parrots...very healthy, colorful birds, especially since she added the solatube. She has the diffuser panel on her tube since she wanted the light to cover a larger area and she is able to close hers off so there is no light entering if she wishes. She also had them installed in her retirement home in Arizona.
UnderwaterMike
New member
That link sent for the hybrid optics was from 2006 and pricing was for 07. does anyone know if it's gone down since?
prugs
Moving Out
Re: gone solar
Outstanding work my friend, You are the Ace!!!
The difference in the look & the cost savings is phenominal. I'll be moving to AZ soon, & can't wait to use natural sun light.
Cheers to you:beer:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13212347#post13212347 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hobogato
back
here is what it used to look like inside the "canopy"
now, here is what it looks like
front
back
from above (i have covered the T5 lights with acrylic covers since this pic)
Outstanding work my friend, You are the Ace!!!
The difference in the look & the cost savings is phenominal. I'll be moving to AZ soon, & can't wait to use natural sun light.
Cheers to you:beer:
johnnybravo234
New member
That is awesome. Great work.
GoBigOrGoHome
New member
Great looking tank. I really appreciate when people share their DIY projects with the other people on the forum... it plants ideas in all of our heads! Now that I know it works in michigan, it must be feasible to make it work in Wisconsin.
I assume you get a great "shimmer effect" out of these sun lights. However, do you think that you would experience an increase in par value if the ends of the tubes were actually underwater? Of course, you would probably need more tubes, or a slightly deeper tank to distribute the light correctly, but I imagine all the shimmering is probably depleting at least a small portion of the light output.
Edit:
Another question: I didn't read through the entire thread, so sorry if someone else already asked this, but what do the tubes look like/ consist of on the inside? Also, are the lenses over the tops of the tubes on the outside of your house solely to shelter the tubes from debris, or do they curve light to push it through the tubes more efficiently as well??
I assume you get a great "shimmer effect" out of these sun lights. However, do you think that you would experience an increase in par value if the ends of the tubes were actually underwater? Of course, you would probably need more tubes, or a slightly deeper tank to distribute the light correctly, but I imagine all the shimmering is probably depleting at least a small portion of the light output.
Edit:
Another question: I didn't read through the entire thread, so sorry if someone else already asked this, but what do the tubes look like/ consist of on the inside? Also, are the lenses over the tops of the tubes on the outside of your house solely to shelter the tubes from debris, or do they curve light to push it through the tubes more efficiently as well??
Last edited:
GoBigOrGoHome
New member
Okay, so I read the whole thing now. My question remains: Does anyone think that you could have an increase in par value by extending the tubes into the water (a plastic extension, as guillo pointed out, I don't think we want aluminum constantly ionizing in our tanks, although i dont think it would hurt much, and aluminum is pretty resistant to oxidation). Also, these focus covers: do they serve to "amplify" light or just redirect, filter, and keep debris out of the tubes?? Again, could anyone post what these look like on the inside? 
I realize that that can be irritating that when someone won't take the time to read the whole thread, but still wants all the information, but I did read pages 1-8, and 12, and then it was time to hit the books:reading: . If anyone could reply to my post, I'd appreciate it.
I realize that that can be irritating that when someone won't take the time to read the whole thread, but still wants all the information, but I did read pages 1-8, and 12, and then it was time to hit the books:reading: . If anyone could reply to my post, I'd appreciate it.
