Our 400 Gallon In Wall Natural Sun-Lit Reef"

In Other Fun Fish News. I was recently part of the production of an episode of Tanked, my role as an install team member should win an Oscar :D *The episode will air on April 14th.
 
I'm so glad you've kept this tank going. I love the natural colours you achieve instead of those ridiculous blue monstrosities. Congrats!

Dave.M
 
I have read this whole thread and have been waiting patiently to hear from you again. I am so glad to see you continuing this beautiful creation. It is inspirational in my build after being out of the game for 8 years. My prayers are with you!! Keep it up!
 
I'm so glad you've kept this tank going. I love the natural colours you achieve instead of those ridiculous blue monstrosities. Congrats!

Dave.M

There are still days I wonder why I'm still shoulder deep and standing on a six foot ladder, guess I must really love it. I agree I don't like the look of the blue lighting either

I have read this whole thread and have been waiting patiently to hear from you again. I am so glad to see you continuing this beautiful creation. It is inspirational in my build after being out of the game for 8 years. My prayers are with you!! Keep it up!

Thank you so much, glad to see you back at it!
 
Joe, I love the update. thank you for posting pictues! so many beautiful fish. are the b&w damsels terrors? What is the dark green coral? it is lovely.
 
There are still days I wonder why I'm still shoulder deep and standing on a six foot ladder, guess I must really love it. I agree I don't like the look of the blue lighting either

I agree with Dave, and your tank is part of the reason my tank has really shifted in spectrum to more of a natural color with less blue, it really feels like a nice pool of water the ocean left behind.
 
Awesome update. I love the natural look as well. Though I am not going to lie - I've always thought the best of both worlds would be great. Natural light most of the day and then perhaps a couple of hours of crazy blues just to see those crazy neons. lol

Joe, I'm about to have my tank tilt as well and am currently building a house and I am really considering the tubes. I would love to swing by and see these in person one day if that's an option.
 
Joe, I love the update. thank you for posting pictues! so many beautiful fish. are the b&w damsels terrors? What is the dark green coral? it is lovely.

Hi Mrs. Music, They can be sometimes they like going after my hand when I'm moving stuff around. Those are green mushrooms, how many do you want :)

This looks terrific. I really would love if I could light my tank using the sun. Very cool!

Thank you, one big advantage to living in sunny Florida.

I agree with Dave, and your tank is part of the reason my tank has really shifted in spectrum to more of a natural color with less blue, it really feels like a nice pool of water the ocean left behind.

The natural look is where it's at, I feel as though I'm snorkeling in my living room.

Awesome update. I love the natural look as well. Though I am not going to lie - I've always thought the best of both worlds would be great. Natural light most of the day and then perhaps a couple of hours of crazy blues just to see those crazy neons. lol

Thank you!

Joe, I'm about to have my tank tilt as well and am currently building a house and I am really considering the tubes. I would love to swing by and see these in person one day if that's an option.

I'll think about it, I'm still getting back to life here and I can go into hiding at times. Oh sun-dome is down by you so you can go pick them up and save the shipping.

Love the natural light, reminds of when I do diving on a shallow reef. Awesome work!!

Thank you! That's why we did it, always feels like were snorkeling on the reef.
 
one more vote of support for the great color in that tank. I get tired of looking at all the painfully blue pics when I'm trying to look at tanks.
 
Any algae problems with solar tubes

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When I first set up the system I had a very diligent maintenance schedule of daily 1-2% water changes, regular 25 micron filter sock changing, carbon dosing and a protein skimmer that was always working at peak performance. With a good handle on nutrient export I had little to no algae.

Fast forward a few years, after the passing of my wife I really had a hard time with day to day care of the system it was enough to just get out of bed let alone care for the tank. I did develop algae, I don't blame that on the natural sunlight, it was my fault.

Now that I'm finally getting back on track the algae has stopped its development and the corals are starting to grow well again.

Every tank whether you are using LED, metal halide, T5 bulbs or like me natural sunlight will develop algae if you cannot control nutrient export. Yes the wider light spectrum of natural sunlight can cause the algae to grow a bit easier, but with proper care it can be controlled. PO4 - .02 NO3 "“ currently undetectable.

Hope that helps.
 
I just stumbled on this thread,. I was a member years ago and am getting back into the hobby. I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your tank and story with us.
 
I'll think about it, I'm still getting back to life here and I can go into hiding at times. Oh sun-dome is down by you so you can go pick them up and save the shipping.

Understood and thanks for even considering it. Also, thanks for the info on Sun-dome. I am so very tempted to give this a shot. I really have the perfect opportunity to do it.

On another note, have you ever heard of a way to automatically control how many hours of sun the tubes let in? In other words, if I wanted to do x number of sunlight hours per day, and then do artificial lighting rest of the day, would that work, is there an automated way to close the tubes?
 
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