SolaTubes for reef tanks
- Thread starter 440cudaman
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Hef, there is much in this thread regarding skylights, including pictures and details of installation. I imagine this thread will still be going strong in 10 years. I have been doing extensive research on the future of the worlds energy supply and it ain't pretty. Things are changing fast right now and the majority of people on earth have no clue what is in store in the next 5-10 years. The US will probably suffer the most from steadily increasing energy costs. 1000 watt halides are a terrible investment if you care about your economic future. That said, I have 300 watts over my 25 gallon!!
Lordhelmet
Active member
Any slowed growth or any change now that the sun is dipping lower in the sky. pictures would be great as well
JMBoehling
Premium Member
Lordhelmet said:Any slowed growth or any change now that the sun is dipping lower in the sky. pictures would be great as well
The only thing that continues to slow the growth of my SPS is continually making bone head mistakes. For example, just 2 weeks ago a snail caused a mishap, causing my float valve to dump 5 gallons of Kalk into my setup.... To say the least, this will slow the growth of any SPS
I am looking forward to 6 straight months where nothing goes wrong with my reef.. Imean it's been a little bit of everything 1st High Nitrates, then High Salinity, then High Phosphates and now oversaturating of Kalk which made my Calcium, Alk and Mag all fall to extremely low levels...With all of this happening, I do have some SPS living... I wouldn't say they are lighting the world on fire with growth, but at least they are hanging in there. Here are some pics.. I hope some of you other Tubular Skylight users will chime in with your updates
If you look real close you'll see a Chips Acro I recently lost.. It was doing great until the Kalk issue.. UGHHHHH!
Can't forget to show off my favorite couple!
It is interesting that everyone is so concerned about light when for me it is just achieving some stability in my water parameters for my reef. I will keep updates posted as they seem fitting to do so...
Later,
Jim
hllywd
Premier World Traveler
I can't remember what that was about but the SolaTubes are basically a 10" hole using a reflective pipe to get light into the building. The dome on the roof has a reflector to help direct sunlight into the tube. The nice thing about these is they are on a scale where you can direct the light down the tube and into a tank. It would be harder to direct the light with a regular sky light but you might have a much larger hole in the roof to allow light in as well. I don't have a reason other than getting the light where you want it that a regular skylight wouldn't work.
Tim
Tim
For a skylight applicaton, IF you are near a wall, two 4' x 8' sheets for "opposite walls" of mirrored acrylic could be curved in a nearly parabolic curve, from 4' wide at the top, to whatever tank width that you desire, with flat sheets at the sides, to make your "collector-amplifier". If you are 4' square wiyh the skylight, for instance, and run this into a 48" x 18" tank, you have captured 16' sq. ft. of light.
A 10" Sola Tube only delivers .55 sq. ft. per tube, so even if the skylight method was only half as effecient as the Sola Tube, 4 Sola Tubes offer a total of 2.2 sq. ft. of area, whereas the skylight version, even when rated at 50% would effectively deliver 8 sq. ft. of sunlight.
This mirrored acrylic sheet is readily available in 1/8" thick sheets, and is not that expensive. I think the relative effeciency would actually be better than 50%. It would require a bit of "boxing" in the rafters, but it wouldn't be that bad.
I just happened to have some of this for a diy hood I've been designing, and the skylight questions here got me to thinking.
Just some food for thought, this is a great thread by the way. Thanks for all the pictures Jim, and the best of luck, with corraling "Murphy". :thumbsup:
> barryhc :beachbum:
A 10" Sola Tube only delivers .55 sq. ft. per tube, so even if the skylight method was only half as effecient as the Sola Tube, 4 Sola Tubes offer a total of 2.2 sq. ft. of area, whereas the skylight version, even when rated at 50% would effectively deliver 8 sq. ft. of sunlight.
This mirrored acrylic sheet is readily available in 1/8" thick sheets, and is not that expensive. I think the relative effeciency would actually be better than 50%. It would require a bit of "boxing" in the rafters, but it wouldn't be that bad.
I just happened to have some of this for a diy hood I've been designing, and the skylight questions here got me to thinking.
Just some food for thought, this is a great thread by the way. Thanks for all the pictures Jim, and the best of luck, with corraling "Murphy". :thumbsup:
> barryhc :beachbum:
Hef
Premium Member
Interesting thoughts. I've never heard of Mirrored Acrylic, I have worked with a lot of Mirrored Aluminum & Stainless. The Stainless is best, and this collector could be made with 1/32" thick material. I'm thinking a simple wooden frame could be constructed and a couple of screws would hold it in place.
Do you think you would need any type of special collector at the top, on the outside of the roof?
The numbers you are showing are staggering as far as amount of light that could be collected. I would like to hear others opinions on this.
Hef
Do you think you would need any type of special collector at the top, on the outside of the roof?
The numbers you are showing are staggering as far as amount of light that could be collected. I would like to hear others opinions on this.
Hef
Hef, I have had a 4 x 8' sheet of it for several years, and it is just as reflective as your bathroom mirror.
The curves of the sheets would be inside the house, and it takes almost nothing but gravity to put these gradual bends into the acrylic sheet. The stuff that I bought is specificaly heat resistant for close proximity to the light hood design that got put on hold for a couple of years.
As far as collecting ouside the house goes, I think you might be better off without it, just to keep things maintanence free on the roof. The numbers should be pretty accurate, but I haven't tried it.
The large tank that I will be putting in soon is going to be in the basement, so I may not get the chance to try this myself any time soon.
Four times as much light as (4) 10" Sola tubes, is certianly a lot of light, and it may be more that you need to sheild some of it in the summer, more than trying to get more at the surface of the roof.
The 16 sq. ft. collection area is already taking care of this I would think. Just my two cents.
Happy Reef Keeping! > barryhc :beachbum:
The curves of the sheets would be inside the house, and it takes almost nothing but gravity to put these gradual bends into the acrylic sheet. The stuff that I bought is specificaly heat resistant for close proximity to the light hood design that got put on hold for a couple of years.
As far as collecting ouside the house goes, I think you might be better off without it, just to keep things maintanence free on the roof. The numbers should be pretty accurate, but I haven't tried it.
The large tank that I will be putting in soon is going to be in the basement, so I may not get the chance to try this myself any time soon.
Four times as much light as (4) 10" Sola tubes, is certianly a lot of light, and it may be more that you need to sheild some of it in the summer, more than trying to get more at the surface of the roof.
The 16 sq. ft. collection area is already taking care of this I would think. Just my two cents.
Happy Reef Keeping! > barryhc :beachbum:
Chihuahua6
Premium Member
Hello again everyone. Sorry I haven't given an update but that's because nothing has changed. The 3 13" Suntunnels have been installed which I mentioned already. The hole for the inwall tank is done and trimmed out. I still need the tank! I will be placing my order soon but it will take up to 2 months to get it. You will hear from me as soon as the tank is here and running.
JMBoehling
Premium Member
Chihuahua6 said:
Thought you may have dropped the hobby and picked up something like GOLF instead
Look forwad to seeing your setup in the coming months.
Jim
gatohoser
New member
I don't have a solatube but I would say the procedure is the same as for strong halides or any other strong light. You have to slowly bring them up to a spot where you want them from a darker area or else cover the tank with layers of a light reducing material like bird netting or whatever they use (have never gone that far with it but have seen it done) and slowly remove layers over a week or 2.
I could be a little off here but I would recommend against using mirrored acrylic for any light reflectors. I know that standard glass mirror is terrible for this purpose because it has a black backing that actually absorbs light. A room filled with mirrors appears very dark. A room painted white is very bright. Mirrors are designed to show an accurate reflection and I think the acrylic mirror is made for the same purpose. Polished aluminum, silver oxide coated aluminum, or even white metal will much better I think.
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