Natural lighting

[medic29]

Anyone use natural lighting to provide light for their tanks? I was thinking this might be an option when building an in-wall tank and maybe using sun tunnels and have their output directly on the tank.

Anyone ever done this or thought about it?

 

[Jeff]

Hello from Chicago.
I have read threads from people that actually do it...of course they are in Arizona, California, etc...
We really dont get enough sunny days in Illinois
I guess natural sunlight could be used to suppliment lighting systems.

Same problem for people that want to setup greenhouse coral farms.


Jeff

 

[syrinx]

If it were for a frag tank or something I wasn`t going to view as much as display, I like the idea. I am a night person though- and I wouldn`t get much use from a display tank lit whilst I was out amongst the americans. There is a great long running thread on RC about this very subject. It is a viable option- but prob more for the experiment and fun of equipment than for any savings or quality of life for the aquarium.

 

[bpeugh]

I have actually set up my 40 gallon breeder so that the front faces north and it is below two high south facing windows so that it gets sun. It is not a huge amount that will grow corals but it quite enough to distinguish anything in the tank with full color. I plan on making a canopy that is sloped up towards the windows/wall and putting a reflective material on the inside to maximize the sun coming in. It is not alot but it is equal to having a 65 watt bulb hanging above the tank and it is full spectrum.

 

[GuySmilie]

Re: Natural lighting

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9344005#post9344005 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by medic29
Anyone use natural lighting to provide light for their tanks? I was thinking this might be an option when building an in-wall tank and maybe using sun tunnels and have their output directly on the tank.
Anyone ever done this or thought about it?

I used to do quite a bit of natural lighting back in the early 70s. Back then, it was the only was we could get enough reliable light. But you better have a way to control your photo period because ol King Sol don't play around. Algae will have a hey day with him
Guy

 

[epon]

Makes me miss Harbor Aquatics. The sun is plenty intense in Illinois. I've seen a few threads where people have used solatubes. Heres a link to their site http://www.solatube.com/res_products.php

I would try a search on RC for " solatubes "

Heres the secret search link you can only find while digging around on the home page:

http://reefcentral.com/search.php?menu=11