SolaTubes for reef tanks
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BeanAnimal
Premium Member
yeah my brother and a few other couples went to "the melting pot" and the whole deal ended up costing over $100 per person. Thats a lot fo cheese and chocolate. I ate at Mo's in Indy not long ago and spend less than that on a ribeye the size of Rhode Island and a baked tater to match.
Bean
Bean
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6530348#post6530348 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hllywd
I don't particularly object to the 100 bucks - just not for fondue tried it... wasn't too impressed...
For 100 beans I better leave with my fill of sushi and tanked on hot saki!!!:celeb3:
15 years ago, It was the "Fondue Stube", about $35 a pop.
I loved it, and haven't been back since. I got my daughter a "chocolate foutain" for Christmas, I can't wait until "she" fills it up, and gives me "the front row". :dance:
I'll take my Ribeye "pink not red" thank you very much ! ! ! :wave:
> Barry
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
Then you want to eat at Mo's in Indianapolis.... About $60 a steak if I remember... but well worth every penny. Then again you could go to HOSS's and pretend.
JMBoehling
Premium Member
Nice hijack guys... Is this still the Solatube thread???
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
nope were talking about steaks...
though with a solotube and a magnifier or parabolic dish you could likely use the solotube to cook the one of the fine ribeyes were are discussing.
Bean
though with a solotube and a magnifier or parabolic dish you could likely use the solotube to cook the one of the fine ribeyes were are discussing.
Bean
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
No seriously,
Lighten up and realize your post is inflamatory; wasting as much bandwidth as ours; is as off topic as ours and makes you look kind of silly on your high horse. I contribute to hundreds of threads here, as does barry (including this one). 3 or 4 good natured posts surely are acceptable to most folks, but maybe you should still use the "report link" button and get a mod to keep things on track. And your last (only?) contribution to the thread was? Ohhh yeah telling me to shut up.... kind off topic in it's own right. Would it not have been easier and less hypocrytical if you just said nothing
Have a nice evening.
Lighten up and realize your post is inflamatory; wasting as much bandwidth as ours; is as off topic as ours and makes you look kind of silly on your high horse. I contribute to hundreds of threads here, as does barry (including this one). 3 or 4 good natured posts surely are acceptable to most folks, but maybe you should still use the "report link" button and get a mod to keep things on track. And your last (only?) contribution to the thread was? Ohhh yeah telling me to shut up.... kind off topic in it's own right. Would it not have been easier and less hypocrytical if you just said nothing
Have a nice evening.
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
I think the distinction here needs to be made between a "skylight" and a "light pipe".
Lets say the LIGHT PIPE has only 50% transmitance of the actual outside light it collects. Lets say tht a skylight has 95%. The problem (as mentioned here a few times) is that the skylight will not be focusing that light on the tank. As the sun moves, so will the bright portion of the light. The skylight will also not collect the same amount of light as the sun moves. The lightpipe keeps the light focused over the tank, and has a wider range of input angles that transfer a useable amount of light to the tank.
I hope that is on topic enough, I sure would hate to get sent to the office again.
Bean
Lets say the LIGHT PIPE has only 50% transmitance of the actual outside light it collects. Lets say tht a skylight has 95%. The problem (as mentioned here a few times) is that the skylight will not be focusing that light on the tank. As the sun moves, so will the bright portion of the light. The skylight will also not collect the same amount of light as the sun moves. The lightpipe keeps the light focused over the tank, and has a wider range of input angles that transfer a useable amount of light to the tank.
I hope that is on topic enough, I sure would hate to get sent to the office again.
Bean
Light reflects off of ocean water, in a continually graduated way, from morning to noon, and back again toward dusk, very similar to what reflectivity losses occur with a flat skylight. This isn't that much of a problem you see.
The skylight's big advantage, is that it simply has a much larger "collection area" to start with. Four 10" Sola-tubes ( or light pipes ) have at total area of 2.18 sq. ft. One 4' sq. skylight has 16 sq. ft. of collection area. That is 7.3 times as much area, so guess how much light might get to the tank.
> Barry
The skylight's big advantage, is that it simply has a much larger "collection area" to start with. Four 10" Sola-tubes ( or light pipes ) have at total area of 2.18 sq. ft. One 4' sq. skylight has 16 sq. ft. of collection area. That is 7.3 times as much area, so guess how much light might get to the tank.
> Barry
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
How much of that light spills over and misses the tank? How much of that light never hits the tank due to the suns angle and the way it reflects off of the frame?
I don't know the answers, but some simple drawings, and or experiments could be done I suppose.
I don't know the answers, but some simple drawings, and or experiments could be done I suppose.
hllywd
Premier World Traveler
With your drawing Barry, I'm confused about how much actual light will make it to the tank even with the large opening. As the shaft or pipe or what ever we wish to call it narrows the light reflects more often, As we discussed before there is a loss with each reflection then you get some portion reflecting the wrong way from what you want, as your drawing shows, due to the angles. I don't mean to be argumentative but I'll bet you still end up with not enough intensity where you need it and still need to suppliment.
Barry, I understand you would use only high quality skylights, I think the very nature of this thread is aimed at DIYers. I'm simply asserting the DIYer can't go off half cocked with a project like either yours or a Sola Tube for that matter. I think my point is that yours involves a lot more than going to HD and asking the new 17yo employee what to cover the new hole in the roof with.
BTW - Bean, I'm the Union President at work, getting sent to the office is often fun! Don't talk about it like it's such a bad thing!!!
Barry, I understand you would use only high quality skylights, I think the very nature of this thread is aimed at DIYers. I'm simply asserting the DIYer can't go off half cocked with a project like either yours or a Sola Tube for that matter. I think my point is that yours involves a lot more than going to HD and asking the new 17yo employee what to cover the new hole in the roof with.
BTW - Bean, I'm the Union President at work, getting sent to the office is often fun! Don't talk about it like it's such a bad thing!!!
I haven't done this yet, but I doubt it, as far as "not enough".
Do you think this is not happening in a Sola-Tube as well ?
I agree, and now they know better.
If it was done "properly" and brought down to a 1 sq. ft. area, "WE" could get some of that "pink not red" that I prefer so much, but to stay on topic however, at the 7 to 1 collection area ratio, a skylight is going to outperform Sola Tubes considerably.
> Barry
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