SolaTubes for reef tanks

[bulldogfish]

Herpervet

How's your project coming along? I just read 16 pages of this thread adn nothing posted since 2/16/05. How bout a few more pictures of you project?

 

[Herpervet]

The tank is scheduled to be here in 7 to 10 days. Not a lot has changed but the stand is in place.

The drywall is now up and they are running the electric circuits and the roof penetrations for vent fans and skylights are being done this week.

This pic is a couple of weeks old. I will post more when the tank arrives.

 

[Herpervet]

I will be sure to post photo's of the skylight installation. I'm still waiting on the light filters.

 

[chindapol]

looks great keep us updated!

I'm planing to turn the maid room into a fish room. However, installing this kind of tube will need to drill a few hole in the 2nd floor + roof. However, comparing to a long term cost is quite favourable since we've LOT of sun here.

 

[chask]

Herpervet,

Just how big is this tank? Obviously those are children playing on the stand but there is that arm in the foreground. I am kind of curious as to the height too. Will you have supplemental lighting or are you hoping to depend upon solar?

Charles

 

[Herpervet]

The stand is about 55.5 inches tall. Tank is 96 X 48 X 30in tall. about 600 gallons.

I have plans for at least some metal halide supplement (20K)

Here is the other thread:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=408084&perpage=25&pagenumber=4

Here is a pic of how I plan on supplementing light.

 

[chask]

Herpervet,

Checked out your other thread. Really nice looking setup. Seems very well thought out. I cannot wait for you to get it running . . . but guess I'll have too.

Guess you picked the solar tubes over a skylight for the active sun tracking. Sorry but I do not have the time to do more than just skim the post right now. I am really curious about the natural lighting and the sun tracking in particular. Now if you could only hurry up and get it done. Mine hopefully will be about the same dimensions as yours only a little longer. I'm working on the design for my big one now but it looks like I will be committed before you can show me the way. I really would like to go the natural lighting with supplemental route but I wonder about it being enough. It's really nice to see you doing this as it raises my comfort level on my project a whole lot.

Thanks
Charles

 

[Herpervet]

Skylights in place. Active tracking units and lightwells pending.

 

[chask]

Herpervet,

Since you do not mention your location near your avatar I can assume that you want to keep that private. I am curious though, for evaluating the skylight, how far north you are. Any way to divulge that without giving away too much? If it has been mentioned before (seem to recall that maybe you did) sorry for the redundancy. I would look for it to check but I'm trying to get through tax time, a major house remodel and plan a huge tank for that. I barely have time to do this RC thing at all right now.

Thanks
Charles

 

[Herpervet]

I'm just lazy and haven't put in the details on my location. El Paso Tx.

I have not really done any detailed evaluations regarding pitch of the skylights and angle of the sun to be honest.

I figure the active tracking will help out enough so I decided to keep it simple.

 

[chask]

Thanks. I had thought you had said it was somewhere in TX but was thinking Austin or San Antonio. You are a little bit south of me but fairly close.

It looks like you have a flat roof. I like the lighting solution you are pursuing - solar tracking skylights with reflective light well(s). Seems like it should work very well.

My roof is pitched, fortunately to the south, and most of the tank is south of the ridge. It should work well with what you are doing. Really can't wait until you get it up and running to see how well it does. Just hope you are not as lazy with the rest of this as you are with the avatar location. D) (bad humor attempt)

BTW - Looks very, very nice. Great job!

Thanks again
Charles

 

[Scuba_Dave]

I haven't even started my addition for a big tank. I did install a 14" suntube on my 2nd floor. I'm hoping to borrow a light meter & do some testing before I setup the next tank

 

[mborn]

I installed 4 X 14" Solatubes to light a new 300 gallon sps reef I finished setting up. I moved all the corals from my previous tank into this new one 11 days ago. So far so good. The corals are responding well to the natural light and are displaying really great polyp extension. The light enters the tank at slightly different angles throughout the day so the corals are getting light from slightly different angles throughout the day, not just from the same angle all day long as with metal halides. The corals look pretty colorful too. The blue, purple, pink and red all look good. Fluorescent green doesn't show up well and looks tan in some corals and yellow in others. So far none of the acropora have lost their color and browned out, but it's only been 11 days so far. If they do start to lose their colors I may have to add some supplemental actinics. The tank hasn't been set up long enough to observe growth rates yet either but the light is pretty bright and is high PAR so growth rates should be good. But we'll see.

 

[Herpervet]

Pics please.

 

[chask]

I would second Herpervet's request for pics.

mborn wrote:
The light enters the tank at slightly different angles throughout the day so the corals are getting light from slightly different angles throughout the day, not just from the same angle all day long as with metal halides.

I realize that the light bounces around as it comes down the tubes but still they are just a 14" tube (in your case) source. Not quite a point source but I would not think it to be that different than MH. Can you take a couple of pics that show the difference?

Thanks
Charles

 

[Herpervet]

Actually there is quite a big difference. Based on my tubular skylights at home anyway.


What you have is multiple point sources of light and very odd shapes. Many of the "beams of light" are semicircles.

They change continually as the sun moves so each hour the light comes in from a slightly different angle.

The effects are most dramatic when there is no diffusion lens but simply a clear acrylic lens.

If a prismatic diffusor is used then the effect would be muted quite a lot.

 

[Herpervet]

and most of the light comes from the terminal rim of the light tube and at very acute angles. Some of the light wants to hit the front (and back) viewing panels.

Does that make sense?

 

[Hef]

I'm very interested in this. I'm building a new fish room with a southeast facing roof. The morning sun is intense.
Is there a chart somewhere that shows light intesity levels related to our lights. Something that I can understand.

I will need to light a 6 or 7 foot tank. I already have two MH Pendants and VHO Actinics on a 4 foot tank.
I suppose you can use Solatubes to Supplement lighting or go all out.

I just picked up this thread and will go back and see whats been written.

Thanks
Hef

 

[mborn]

I don't get off work until after sunset and the tank is dark when I get home so I'll take a few pics this weekend and try to post early next week.

I'm not using any diffusers on the tubes and you can see differences in the angle of the light as the sun moves across the sky.

 

[Fursphere]

and most of the light comes from the terminal rim of the light tube and at very acute angles. Some of the light wants to hit the front (and back) viewing panels.

Does that make sense?

Isn't there a potential problem with this and acrylic tanks?

Doesn't he UV rays of the sun weaken / cause acrylic to become brittle over time?

Make that piece of glass being used is UV protection?