SolaTubes for reef tanks
- Thread starter 440cudaman
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EdKruzel
Premium Member
Hey L,
No actinics were used. The water had a clear white look, and the corals had great colors, but not quite that florescent shine/glow.
It was a very unique project that I wish I could have used in my present home. The tank location makes that impossible for my use.
I'm designing a new home and will build a fish room into the back.
2000+ gallons and natural lighting. I plan on using many of the ideas I read about from Richard Harker in the reef annual, minus all the really bad ideas he kept.
The idea of natural lighting was driven to me by Albert Thiel, of Thiel Aquatec.
Albert Thiel was a neighbor of mine and a friend. We discussed lighting issues on many occasions. One theory he had was to use fiber optics. Something I plan on pursuing. He left Las Cruses for Georgia and reefers here in the desert lost a friend and a great source of information.
Good Luck
No actinics were used. The water had a clear white look, and the corals had great colors, but not quite that florescent shine/glow.
It was a very unique project that I wish I could have used in my present home. The tank location makes that impossible for my use.
I'm designing a new home and will build a fish room into the back.
2000+ gallons and natural lighting. I plan on using many of the ideas I read about from Richard Harker in the reef annual, minus all the really bad ideas he kept.
The idea of natural lighting was driven to me by Albert Thiel, of Thiel Aquatec.
Albert Thiel was a neighbor of mine and a friend. We discussed lighting issues on many occasions. One theory he had was to use fiber optics. Something I plan on pursuing. He left Las Cruses for Georgia and reefers here in the desert lost a friend and a great source of information.
Good Luck
salt lick
Member
The Best Sun Sim Ever
The Best Sun Sim Ever
HiCudaman,
I am very interested in Solatubes, and was concerned about a couple of things. Is the bottom open on your installation? Is there any corrosion on the silver lining? Does moisture condensate inside the top dome?
".... so I removed the U.V. protector that was on the tubes ......"
I contacted Solatube customer service, and the guy told me the UV protection is built into the top acrylic dome. What did you remove? The bottom diffuser?
We would love to see a picture.
Bob
The Best Sun Sim Ever
HiCudaman,
I am very interested in Solatubes, and was concerned about a couple of things. Is the bottom open on your installation? Is there any corrosion on the silver lining? Does moisture condensate inside the top dome?
".... so I removed the U.V. protector that was on the tubes ......"
I contacted Solatube customer service, and the guy told me the UV protection is built into the top acrylic dome. What did you remove? The bottom diffuser?
We would love to see a picture.
Bob
EdKruzel said:
HMMMMMM..... Fiber Optics, I think that might just deserve a thread of it's own.
I have some experience with Fiber Optic accent lighting. If this system can deliver the intensity we want, just think of the benefits of "no heat" lighting........
chapman_jim
New member
Fiber expensive, yes
Fiber expensive, yes
Yes, I've started to look into using fiber for transmitting light from the roof down to the tank, but my preliminary inquiries suggest that the cost would be very high compared to the solar tubes. Also, there are issues of full spectrum transmission. Most fiber, and certainly not the more affordable stuff I'm told, is not designed to transmit white light so while the overall attenuation may not be too bad, you would suffer greater attenuation of certain frequencies meaning you would lose that "full natural sunlight" benefit.
I think cost is the reason that companies like Solatube and the others stay in business even though the use of fiber in lighting systems is getting pretty well established for specialty applications.
I'm still researching, though. I'm not an optical technician so I have to rely on what the various sales people tell me. Frisco should weigh in on this (if he posts on this board, I forget).
[duh, just noticed Frisco is a mod, sorry]
-Jim
Fiber expensive, yes
Yes, I've started to look into using fiber for transmitting light from the roof down to the tank, but my preliminary inquiries suggest that the cost would be very high compared to the solar tubes. Also, there are issues of full spectrum transmission. Most fiber, and certainly not the more affordable stuff I'm told, is not designed to transmit white light so while the overall attenuation may not be too bad, you would suffer greater attenuation of certain frequencies meaning you would lose that "full natural sunlight" benefit.
I think cost is the reason that companies like Solatube and the others stay in business even though the use of fiber in lighting systems is getting pretty well established for specialty applications.
I'm still researching, though. I'm not an optical technician so I have to rely on what the various sales people tell me. Frisco should weigh in on this (if he posts on this board, I forget).
[duh, just noticed Frisco is a mod, sorry]
-Jim
Last edited:
chapman_jim
New member
440cudaman & SAT
440cudaman & SAT
I was wondering why each of you chose the vendor you did for your tubes (SAT, I understand you haven't bought yet)? 440cudaman, why SolaTube? And SAT, why Sun Pipe? I looked at both products and the specs seem pretty competitive. I like SolaTubes 14" option a little better than Sun Pipes 13" just 'cause it's a little bigger, and should offer about 20 sq. in. more pipe for the light to come through. That's only about 15% though.
Your reasons?
-Jim
440cudaman & SAT
I was wondering why each of you chose the vendor you did for your tubes (SAT, I understand you haven't bought yet)? 440cudaman, why SolaTube? And SAT, why Sun Pipe? I looked at both products and the specs seem pretty competitive. I like SolaTubes 14" option a little better than Sun Pipes 13" just 'cause it's a little bigger, and should offer about 20 sq. in. more pipe for the light to come through. That's only about 15% though.
Your reasons?
-Jim
SAT
Premium Member
Re: 440cudaman & SAT
Re: 440cudaman & SAT
Jim,
I actually have purchased... but the house isn't finished yet, so no useful experience.
My reading of the web sites convinced me that Sun Pipe would deliver more light than an equivalent from SolaTube and others. That's based partly on their language... they're clearly competing on that basis. The other brands compete mainly on their installation flexibility and other options. Sun Pipe also claims 97% reflectance, which is the highest of anyone. SolaTube claims 92-95%.
A few percent might not seem like much until you realized that light entering the center of the tube at 45 degress will reflect L/D times, where L is the length and D is the diameter. Light going down a 10' x 21" tube will reflect ~6 times. At 95% reflectance you get a yield of 73%. At 97% reflectance you get 83%. Light hitting off center will reflect more, so the difference could actually be greater than that.
Your best efficiency is for a tube that goes straight down, which is all Sun Pipe will do. In my installation that's no problem. If you need more flexibility in your installation you should choose a different brand. SolaTube has a way to "jog" their rigid tube. Sun Tunnel is actually a corrogated flexible tube (not very efficient but very easy to install).
My choice was made primarily for the 21" tubes going over the main tank. The 13" tubes are sort of an afterthought and we just went with the same brand. Whether the 14" SolaTube will yield more light would be an interesting experiment.
Re: 440cudaman & SAT
chapman_jim said:
Jim,
I actually have purchased... but the house isn't finished yet, so no useful experience.
My reading of the web sites convinced me that Sun Pipe would deliver more light than an equivalent from SolaTube and others. That's based partly on their language... they're clearly competing on that basis. The other brands compete mainly on their installation flexibility and other options. Sun Pipe also claims 97% reflectance, which is the highest of anyone. SolaTube claims 92-95%.
A few percent might not seem like much until you realized that light entering the center of the tube at 45 degress will reflect L/D times, where L is the length and D is the diameter. Light going down a 10' x 21" tube will reflect ~6 times. At 95% reflectance you get a yield of 73%. At 97% reflectance you get 83%. Light hitting off center will reflect more, so the difference could actually be greater than that.
Your best efficiency is for a tube that goes straight down, which is all Sun Pipe will do. In my installation that's no problem. If you need more flexibility in your installation you should choose a different brand. SolaTube has a way to "jog" their rigid tube. Sun Tunnel is actually a corrogated flexible tube (not very efficient but very easy to install).
My choice was made primarily for the 21" tubes going over the main tank. The 13" tubes are sort of an afterthought and we just went with the same brand. Whether the 14" SolaTube will yield more light would be an interesting experiment.
SAT
Premium Member
I thought about changing it to 10K. The reason would be to make the colors look more natural, which means removing the reds & oranges, not just adding monochromatic blue. An 80C photographic filter would do the job. Kodak makes a gel filter in a 9x14 size. The trouble is they cost $236 each (at B&H) and I would need a whole bunch of them. Yes, you lose about 1/2 the light when you do that... but you would get true 10K light w. a CRI of nearly 100... which would be awesome. No artifical light comes close.
LiquidShaneo
Reefer
OK, I'm obviously missing the logic on this one: adding a filter to filter sunlight to 10KK to make it more "natural"? Methinks the sun's light is pretty natural to me! 
Adding a filter would make it "artificial", no? 
Shane
Adding a filter would make it "artificial", no? Shane
Are you talking about covering your tank to keep out sunlight? If so, you have to do this. In the wild your livestock would normally be much further under the surface. At 6" from the top of the ocean (or your tank) the direct sunlight would be damaging your corals. "10k" is a strain of light that penetrates only deeper waters of about 100' deep!
SAT
Premium Member
If you've ever been diving you know that the colors look really strange, even in relatively shallow water. That's what I mean by "natural". For reference, 10K is the color you get when you put a white object in a spot lit by blue sky, shaded from the sun. That's equivalent to some depth of water lit by direct sun, but I believe it's a lot less than 100 feet.
I would consider filtering if (a) I thought I had more than enough light to begin with and (b) the filters weren't so bloody expensive.
I would consider filtering if (a) I thought I had more than enough light to begin with and (b) the filters weren't so bloody expensive.
tleip
New member
cuda,
Just in case you haven't seen this:
http://www.azsolarcenter.com/benefits/543.pdf
I think we could qualify for the 25% tax credit for the solar tubes (a tax credit for my hobby, hard to believe). I'm looking at doing the solar tube approach for my next tank, I've just got to see if I can hide them from view on the street and still get enough sun exposure.
Terry
Just in case you haven't seen this:
http://www.azsolarcenter.com/benefits/543.pdf
I think we could qualify for the 25% tax credit for the solar tubes (a tax credit for my hobby, hard to believe). I'm looking at doing the solar tube approach for my next tank, I've just got to see if I can hide them from view on the street and still get enough sun exposure.
Terry
matt_rogers
New member
Cuda dropped off the face of the earth!
I am beginning to think he works for Solar Tubes !!!!
If anyone lives in Arizona, grab your digital camera and go track this guy down!
I am beginning to think he works for Solar Tubes !!!!
If anyone lives in Arizona, grab your digital camera and go track this guy down!
Finally decided to read this thread from start to finish. Now I'm interested, I own a moble home and the roof is not that high where the tank is at, the peak being maybe 4' at the most! and living in Florida I'm thinking I get plenty of light. Although I do have a tree that starts to shade the house after about 2pm or so. But during the first half of the day I get full sunlight.
I'm wondering how much I could save on my power bill. Peak summer I pay about $250 and during winter about $170 or so. If I could remove my 2 400watt 1 175 watt and the IceCap 660 man that would be some saving. This has really got me thinking....
Where are those pictures...
I'm wondering how much I could save on my power bill. Peak summer I pay about $250 and during winter about $170 or so. If I could remove my 2 400watt 1 175 watt and the IceCap 660 man that would be some saving. This has really got me thinking....
Where are those pictures...
ByTor
Premium Member
Here's a thought.
Spectral aluminum sheet.
Take 2 pieces of 12"x72" ($42ea.) forum your own tube, pop rivet the seams, cut to length... Now as for the dome, I'm still working on that. I do have a few interesting ideas
I've always thought of using this method of lighting. Just the price was always the killer.
They are in my new tanks future! along with 2 6'x12' bow windows...
Spectral aluminum sheet.
Take 2 pieces of 12"x72" ($42ea.) forum your own tube, pop rivet the seams, cut to length... Now as for the dome, I'm still working on that. I do have a few interesting ideas
I've always thought of using this method of lighting. Just the price was always the killer.
They are in my new tanks future! along with 2 6'x12' bow windows...
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