Solar powered reef experiment.

[BCreefmaker]

from everything i read it makes natural sunlight out to be the "holy grail" to reef keepers, but finding effective methods of harnessing it into our everyday lives is quest short lived, or forgotten. i was looking into moving my 20G to a 90G, and when i was researching what types of lighting fixture i was going to be getting next and stumbled across something called "Sola-Tubes" they are super high performance skylights. every other fixture i wanted cost 1600$ or more just for the base model, then another 1000$ or more for the computer controls so it could have sunrise/sunset functions and cloud cover ect... but then i thought, if i were to use a skylight, the weather effects would be free, along with the power. it will be nice only paying for the water movement, heat, and skimming . plus there would only be a single major cost, no replacement or usage costs ever. these are really some of the most versatile skylights iv ever seen because i have been looking into this idea for a while, i just never found a skylight i was able to install into my basement . a 14" skylight in sunny midday will pipe in 800W natural light and a 90 degree bend only degrades your light 25%. they can be extended up to 40 feet with very little light loss. my questions are, first off has anyone tired this or something similar? then secondly how much light should i get for my 90G i have room for 2 14" skylights, but to come into my basement i would have to have 1 -90 degree bend so that would be about 1200W of natural sunlight at midday... is that too much? should i plan on installing some sort of dimmer? and does this idea seem crazy or cool or good for the enviroment to you? what do you think?

[geekreef_05]

awesome idea, i like it.

There are reefers around using sola-tubes, although I dont think they are ONLY using sola-tubes; they suppliment the reef with other lighting as well.

Too much light? never. Dont even consider that.

["Umm, fish?"]

You're in B.C. What are you going to do in the winter?

[BCreefmaker]

well thats why im considering 2 so i can shut one off during the summer and run 2 on during the winter. otherwise yeah we get 12 hours or light in the summer and only 7 in the depths of winter. the only reason i suggested only solatubes is because i live in a semi desert, so i get tonnes of sun year round. Plus i thought 1200W of Natural sun light for 3-4 hours is enough to horribly burn corals and fish?

[wooden_reefer]

Actually I have dreamt of using sunlight directly as light source, no MH or T5, not as a source of electric energy.

In theory, a few mirrors set at certain degrees might work, but the whole thing has to rotate to track the sun's ray.

I hope someone would try and report back.

[BCreefmaker]

this solatube system has that ability to a degree, it has a reflective dome that takes in way more dawn and dusk light then any other system. what you are thinking about is called solar rebroadcasting, it uses a mirrored parabolic dish aimed at the sun all day and at the focal point it has fiber optic cables that can deliver the light to wherever.... its just a hell of alot more pricey for good quality fiber optic cables. the system i looked at was 1000$ for less then 100 watts of power. im not really worried about if there will be enough light in the summer, im just thinking about the winter. alot of people say the more light the better, but they have never used the sun befor , its very powerful coral farmers must shade their corals from direct sun for fear of sun burnt corals. a cloudy day is perfect for most corals.

[wooden_reefer]

Yes, large strands of fiber optic cables not for communication but for energy transfer.

[salty joe]

There is a thread about Sola Tubes that started in 2002 in advanced topics. People are having great success with sunlight.

[thriceanangel]

Has anybody thought about the photoperiod in the northern climates being only about 8 hours and FAR less direct in the wintertime? In fact I'd say that even at my latitude, (NYS) that out of the 8 hours that the sun is above the horizon, even if you had 100% efficiency in getting it into your home, it still would only be usable for more than supplemental lighting for about 2 hours. I really hope that I am wrong, but I am sure that you'd need to use some sort of electrical lighting for about half the year. It'd sure save on electricity, but a total solar powered tank at our latitudes isn't really feasible IMO.

Unless... You could have a really LONG solatube that goes to the southern hemisphere. That might work

[danceswithfish]

Which desert? I live in kamloops!

[dendro982]

Has anybody thought about the photoperiod in the northern climates being only about 8 hours and FAR less direct in the wintertime? In fact I'd say that even at my latitude, (NYS) that out of the 8 hours that the sun is above the horizon, even if you had 100% efficiency in getting it into your home, it still would only be usable for more than supplemental lighting for about 2 hours.

For Toronto:
South-South-East orientation of the window, tank in 1ft(30cm) from the glass (no Sola tube, only window sunlight). October-February: direct sunlight reaches tank, in clear winter days blazing bright, sweeping from one corner to another in 5-6 hrs, but during April-August the angle of sun light is more steep, no direct sun reaches tank at all, only bright indirect.

Plus cloudy weeks in the winter - have to keep PC lights as well (12" deep tank).

[BCreefmaker]

haha danceswithfish it is kamloops! we get about 4.48 peak hours of sun in the summer and 1.46 in the winter, but its not just about the peak, the peak is over 1200 watts. so im thinking having that for anything more then 5 hours would be bad anyways and yes i realize i might have to supplement with a t5 system in the winter, but using just natural sun for 1/2 of the year aint bad. it will cut down on heating, electical, and bulb replacement costs. long story short the equator gets about 4400 hours of sun per year if its sunny every single day. on average we get about 2000+ with clouds ect, and only during the winter does they intensity really drop to a point where you really need to give the corals additional light.