SolaTubes for reef tanks

[saltykelly]

Do the tubes create much shimmer like halides?
Would a 10" homedepot tube and (6) 3w royal blue LED's on an 18" cube be:
A) Enough light living in Northern CA
B) Blue enough to create a 12k+ look?

 

[davidwillson]

Carl I tried www.anolux.com and it didn't work.

I have really loved this idea in the past. Your tanks look sweet guys. Just saving money every month is a big plus. I am building an 8 foot tank and really thinking about getting 2 of the tubes from home depot and run 2 MH and see how it works. I am just not sure how the other half will react when I tell her now I am cutting into our new roof. hahahahahh Great job guys..

Julie over there is terrific and really helped me out. i got 4x8 sheets which they do not list on their website but are available and at a cost savings over the 2x4 sheets.

They are in Canada and so there was the added cost of shipping internationally. all told, <$2000 to do my whole skylight shaft and to have a couple sheets left over to build a reflector above the skylight and a reflective BBQ. i will save that much the first year.

 

[bowfinger]

I am drooling at all these projects! When I get a house, I am going natural for sure.

I have done skylight installation (probably a few thousand under my belt) and I can say the 4' x 8' will give more light than a bunch of tubes any day. The best thing is to go large at top. Leave the framing in place and line with reflective or paint white gloss. Go down to size needed at tank and use foam board with reflective side from home depot as your shaft. Bind this with reflective foil tape and your set. With this size, no need to buy the special coated material as needed in tube lighting. Make everything visual look nice though. Also using prismatic reflectors at top in dome or set on your curb and another prismatic just above tank helps distribute light evenly and stop heat transfer. You can place an electric switch / binds system if too bright and you can tie in a light sensor that will kick on your electric lights on cloudy days and/or as clouds pass by. I have done this for gymnasiums where light is really essential and its consistency very important.
Anyways, great work guys, keep the pictures coming with all the growth!

 

[dots]

the 4' x 8' will give more light than a bunch of tubes any day.

A skylights performance is largely dependent on the lens material, tint, pattern, number, and shape of the lens. A blanket statement about the quality of the light and the quantity of PAR at the coral can vary greatly with those factors. Each needs to be measured.

Tube type skylights and traditional skylights have different applications based on the construction of the structure. For instance, how well does a skylight do for the ground floor of a two story building? Not well.

The best thing is to go large at top. Leave the framing in place

Light always obeys the inverse square law. A 30 degree slope, getting larger as it enters the room without interference creates the best situation for limiting the light loss. However, it is covering more area and less intense per square inch than originally.

line with reflective or paint white gloss. Go down to size needed at tank and use foam board with reflective side from home depot as your shaft. Bind this with reflective foil tape and your set. With this size, no need to buy the special coated material as needed in tube lighting.

I am sorry, but you are mistaken here. Tubular skylights try to "channel" the light into the room the same way fiber optic cable works. Signals within fiber optics are "bounced" through a property called "Total Internal Reflection". This is achieved through the densities of the material and creating a situation where it reflects without diffusion or refraction.

To achieve this in tubular skylights, aluminum sheet has a number of thin film layers applied to it. The differences in density of the materials creates this situation. Even so, this isn't perfect and any oil canning or irregularity due to seam, rivet, etc...compound the issue further.

When light interacts with a surface, some of it is absorbed by the surface, reflected in all directions and is diffused at the same time. The light "bounced" from white paint or foil would be useful in heat transfer, the quality and quantity of light from one bounce is worthless for reading, much less PAR for a coral. And I haven't even mentioned destructive interference of waves yet......

Also using prismatic reflectors at top in dome or set on your curb and another prismatic just above tank helps distribute light evenly and stop heat transfer.

Quality and Quantity of light is the issue, and if it is found in sufficient levels for corals to thrive. They evolved to use the energy direct, not diffused and shielded. No glazing is the best solution, a clear lens would be the second. Opaque prismatic lighting is great from human aesthetics and comfort....remember we are trying to supply up to 90% of the energy needs to sustain life, rather than conserve energy by not needing to turn on lights, which would be your traditional application of daylighting.

 

[bowfinger]

And a tube light will never get much PAR to the ground floor, this is through many PAR meter tests even with multiple tubes compared to one 4'x8' or even a 4x2. The statement of best to go large would be to stick with standard size for cost and reduce to needs of tank area. Going smaller on dome/curb and many times at the same cost or more up top would be pointless unless concerned about the size of the footprint visually.
Again, for cost effectiveness, the skylight uses the simpler design because it brings in way more light than a tube and outputs way more PAR. To stop heat, it uses trapped air as an insulator, much different than a tube. Our company actually competed with tubes on a job and our cost effectiveness and much higher PAR readings won us many more government jobs and later jobs at NASA. I can understand using the technology to get an exact spectrum for corals, but if the light is only good enough for 2-3 hours a day its not exactly efficient. It would be better to get more PAR than needed and control it, than to get exactly what you need at mid day and turn electricity on the rest of the day.
The idea of the prismatic is to capture and redistribute light evenly. When in the wild, the sun entry is 100% but while in a tank, you have a small hole several feet above this tank. You have to disperse this light evenly and harvest the most sun. Since a skylight is not working like a tube, with a "well" that gains hotspots (on one or two sides) most of the day. A built in curved prismatic under the clear dome is even better at capturing the sun while not in mid-day.
As far as what the prismatic removes needed by the corals, that is a different story. I know there is the technology to remove u.v. as standard. So a big ? on that, but as PAR goes, a standard skylight harvest's more light and distributes more PAR if using standard clear domes (not those crappy fiberglass yellow things) with standard prismatics.

I understand the tube lighting technology is way more complex than I understand and is the most efficient at dispersing the light it harvests. But, if we are not at any shortage of roofspace and we are for sure not at any shortage of sunlight we can capture at no additional costs, I have found large skylights can out compete tubes in the commercial sector, and only the residential if roof space and visual is not a factor. This should transfer into the natural reef lighting in my opinion if the roof space is available. If you have to run a tube 20-30 feet and have no space for a skylight curb, forget it, there is no way of getting your PAR unless technology greatly increased from a few years ago.

 

[bowfinger]

dots, by the way we did a few skylight jobs up in Sacramento. Can not remember the College, but we used skylights on all the building above one story (Gymnasium, theatre etc.) and solatube did the hallways. They where not bright enough for our use, and we where too bright for the small areas. We also did many of the new schools up that way.

 

[jdpiii3]

Hi guys I’m in the process of building my new 400 gal 72x36x36 in wall tank. I’m set on going the solar tube route but I’m wondering if I should go with Solatubes or use one of the other tube systems, is there much difference in the brands and the reflective properties? How many tubes would you use? I will also use 4 6’ Reef Brite actinic led’s
From what I’ve seen online
Model Size Coverage Area Wattage Output Equivalent Max Tube Light Length
10” up to 150 sq. ft. up to 300 watts 18’
13” up to 300 sq. ft. up to 500 watts 20’
18” up to 500 sq. ft. up to 1000 watts 20’
21” up to 700 sq. ft. up to 1450 watts 20’

My roof where I will be installing the tubes have a full southwest exposure and here in Florida I get lots of free sunlight.

 

[GUILLO1]

Hi guys I'm in the process of building my new 400 gal 72x36x36 in wall tank. I'm set on going the solar tube route but I'm wondering if I should go with Solatubes or use one of the other tube systems, is there much difference in the brands and the reflective properties? How many tubes would you use? I will also use 4 6' Reef Brite actinic led's
From what I've seen online
Model Size Coverage Area Wattage Output Equivalent Max Tube Light Length
10" up to 150 sq. ft. up to 300 watts 18'
13" up to 300 sq. ft. up to 500 watts 20'
18" up to 500 sq. ft. up to 1000 watts 20'
21" up to 700 sq. ft. up to 1450 watts 20'

My roof where I will be installing the tubes have a full southwest exposure and here in Florida I get lots of free sunlight.

I hate to burst your bubble but I would recommend that you go a different route than the tubes. I've had some for a little over 2 years and they have become oxidized. I've lost about half the PAR I used to get when I first installed them. If I was to do it over again I would go all LEDS. Unless your going to be doing softies then the tubes should be ok for 5-6 years.

 

[jdpiii3]

I hate to burst your bubble but I would recommend that you go a different route than the tubes. I've had some for a little over 2 years and they have become oxidized. I've lost about half the PAR I used to get when I first installed them. If I was to do it over again I would go all LEDS. Unless your going to be doing softies then the tubes should be ok for 5-6 years.

Guillo you do know that they come with a 10 year warranty.
Even if the tubes needed to be replaced at my cost every 5 or so year's new tubes only cost $500-600.
I'm still not sold on the led systems, and the good ones cost a fortune. Metal halides are out of the question I'm spending $110-120 a month now lighting and then cooling my 150. Not to mention the amount of heat it adds to the house. My A/C is on 12 month of the year, avg electric bills hover around $490. a month. Got to love those hot summer Florida days.
The total cost to run my 400 will be around $50, a month.

 

[wonrib00]

Any updates to this thread?

 

[SERVO]

On my new 800 gallon build I am going with four sola tubes over it. I'm not planing on using them as primary light.
I didnt know about the tubes oxidizing. Ugh.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[ace_92101]

On my new 800 gallon build I am going with four sola tubes over it. I'm not planing on using them as primary light.
I didnt know about the tubes oxidizing. Ugh.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

What size tubes are you planning to use?

 

[Fishbulb2]

I am resurrecting this fairly old thread. I'm really considering installs some solatubes for my reef and supplementing them with LEDs. The only discouraging thing that I read was that the PAR drops quickly over the years. I saw this in another thread that I just can't find at the morning. How are people that have had these for a longtime still liking them? Are these still a good long term solution when supplemented?

FB

 

[WDLV]

There is a reason that public aquariums use expensive artificial light on their reef tanks.
1. It is costly to maintain their water at levels that will not permit overgrowth of algae. This does not necessarily apply to the home aquarist, who has a much greater spending budget per gallon of water. It is important to note why they don't typically use it.
2. Sunlight is less predictable. You want to make sure you have a well lit tank when the biggest crowds are coming through... often that's on a rainy day.

I'm all for a sunlit reef... in fact, I'm keeping one right now, but I'm only keeping one anemone at the moment and algae is definately an issue I need to keep up with.

 

[Fishbulb2]

There is a reason that public aquariums use expensive artificial light on their reef tanks.
1. It is costly to maintain their water at levels that will not permit overgrowth of algae. This does not necessarily apply to the home aquarist, who has a much greater spending budget per gallon of water. It is important to note why they don't typically use it.
2. Sunlight is less predictable. You want to make sure you have a well lit tank when the biggest crowds are coming through... often that's on a rainy day.

I'm all for a sunlit reef... in fact, I'm keeping one right now, but I'm only keeping one anemone at the moment and algae is definately an issue I need to keep up with.

Nice to see someone from my neck of the woods! I wouldn't consider it without supplementing with LEDs. I have a Kessil light now and I would want to incorporate it with the solatubes. But if both can be combined, then why not? My concern is the statements that the tubes oxidize and all benefit quickly erodes. It would be easy enough for me to incorporate, but would not be willing to replace them every few years.

 

[ace_92101]

I recall reading that solatube does warranty for aquarium use. They do have information on their site regarding aquarium use. You might want to google Mike Paletta's natural light tank. There's a YouTube video. I know that the Georgia Aquarium has sky lights to supplement their reef tank.

 

[WDLV]

Nice to see someone from my neck of the woods! I wouldn't consider it without supplementing with LEDs. I have a Kessil light now and I would want to incorporate it with the solatubes. But if both can be combined, then why not? My concern is the statements that the tubes oxidize and all benefit quickly erodes. It would be easy enough for me to incorporate, but would not be willing to replace them every few years.

Howdy, neighbor!

My thought is that Solatubes would certainly be subject to oxidation. My fix would be to silicone them at the seam and seal them with a lens. Preferable low-iron glass. I don't like acrylic because it will scratch and mar much faster.

My reason for liking natural sunlight is the intensity (if you can capture the full effect) as well as the dawn/dusk effect and perfect moonlighting cycle. Given where we live, there will be shorter/longer days where the intensity will change. So, I think running those LEDs maybe four months out of the year will be helpful, though I'm not certain they'd be necessary. There was a fellow in NoVA (I think) who was keeping a sunlit reef with Solatubes and showed the intensity with the MH going at night versus during the day. You couldn't even tell that the MH were on. It was the difference between a candle and a stadium light.

 

[Fishbulb2]

You couldn't even tell that the MH were on. It was the difference between a candle and a stadium light.

No that's selling it. I think at our house, it would be a pretty easy install. I also like that nowadays, it's easy enough to have a PAR meter to check their performance and oxidation. I also agree with sealing the tubes. I think I'll look into it more. I really like this idea.

Cheers,
FB

 

[WDLV]

Yeah, if you have the fabrication knowledge or the means to pay someone else to do it, I don't think there's much to it, really. If you don't like it, you can shorten the tube and make it a skylight or simply re-seal the roof/ceiling.

 

[vikinglord13]

Thanks to everyone who posted in the original thread and this new thread. I'm definitely sold on going the natural lit path with a blue LED supplement, or perhaps blue checkerboard filter for my dream tank once I buy a house.

We'll see how things go. I definitely enjoyed seeing the results on some of your tanks!