I thouhgt Dave (fatoldsun) might be interested in this one:
http://reefbuilders.com/2012/02/06/adees-reef-sunlight/
http://reefbuilders.com/2012/02/06/adees-reef-sunlight/
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Natural Sunlight Tank
- Thread starter downbeach
- Start date
This may answer that question
Thats bigger than my tank!! lol. The numbers on this are just mind blowing. 1100lbs of live rock, 500 lbs of sand....wow.
That tank is just amazing though. All I can really say is Wow.
My question would be how he keeps the tank cool. All that sun has to heat that baby up. I also need to remember this quote, “uses Aiptasia as a natural filtration in his refugium,” and use it to explain my aiptasia.
Wow, that is pretty cool. Only problem with doing this is that we don't have sunlight as strong as S. Africa here in NJ. We're probably twice the distance from the equator as "Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa" is.
Still, it's definitely a good idea to do that if you can. You can save a ton on electric.
Still, it's definitely a good idea to do that if you can. You can save a ton on electric.
Its an interesting idea for sure.Many yrs ago a fellow reefer and I had an idea to do an addition on the end of the house and light the tank with skylights and then use supplemental lighting for at nght and viewing off daylight hrs.We also at that time wanted to run the plumbing and sump into the basement to counter act the heat.But back then we had the ideas,but didnt have the tech we do now of course.We did have a chiller idea where we were just going to run copper line encased in plastic tubing for the chiller.(the internal parts from an ac unit)We also gave thght that it didnt matter we werent in a tropical area,due in part of the idea that we cant replicate the power of the sun no matter where we are or what lighting we had.We were so close but so far.Im sure glad tech has come along way.
fatoldsun
NJRC Member
Thanks Jim. Very cool. I'm not quite there. I'll take what George said and blame it on our global position relative to the equator. Well that and I have a MUCH smaller algae magnet
Thanks Jim. Very cool. I'm not quite there. I'll take what George said and blame it on our global position relative to the equator. Well that and I have a MUCH smaller algae magnet
Possibly, but it can be done.
fatoldsun
NJRC Member
The light in my situation is less desirable than it would seem - a lot of nuisance algae and I will likely need a chiller even if/when I make the switch to LEDs and I'm quite sure with all of the layers of "film or tint" on the glass - especially the ceiling/roof I don't know how much of the beneficial spectrum eeks its way through. Also I've noticed in the morning when the natural sun is the strongest based on my room's orientation, the coral looks washed out - I imagine if we really looked to mimic "natural sunlight" with our lighting we'd be pretty disappointed. All of that said, I still would like to try solar tubes in another situation - if I was to have a different setup down the road - I think there would be less spectral-loss with the little dome up on the roof and maybe it could be placed to maximize the light it catches
I agree. When i open the living room shade n let the sun hit my tank, the corals loose all colors and look horrible. However it might b beneficial to them. I think that if u had a skylight over the tank so when the sun passes over for a few hrs it would spill into the tank, it might b a good setup. I think u would still need lighting and especially actinic/blue for when the sun is in the tank