gone solar

[Gondore]

Wow, I am pumped to see how this is going to work out for you. I am on the same boat as serpentman wondering if this will work in Indiana.

[salty316]

Originally posted by hobogato
it actually isnt very visible from the front of the house - you would really have to be looking for it.....

electricity bill was $170 lower this month with only three of the four weeks affected by the change to solar. we made a couple of other efficiency improvements as well tho, so all of the savings cant be attributed to the change.

Awesome! Not only are you saving on lighting costs, but your air conditioning isn't fighting the heat from your halides either. We are working on house plans currently, Solars are a definite modification.

[hobogato]

this week's update

valida 8-10-08


ultimate frag's best stag ever 8-10-08


tyree lime in the sky 8-10-08


texreefer green with blue tip stag 8-10-08


texreefer A. chesterfieldensis 8-10-08


texreefer blue tip stag 8-10-08


seaworld sa blue tip teal stag 8-10-08

[hobogato]

B&B A. efflorescens 8-10-08


ATL tulip A. millepora 8-10-08

same from back of tank 8-10-08


AKM yellow A. sp. table 8-10-08


GM A. meridiana 8-10-08


cpreefguy A. florida 8-10-08


pink jade 8-10-08


B&B Shiny A. sp 8-10-08



ORA blue tip stag 8-10-08

[Vegas RN]

Wow the tank/corals look awsome congrats. This post has got me very excited since im going to be building an inwall tank once I move into a new house. I live in Las Vegas and with the amount of sun we get out here and the expence of electricity this is by far the most logical thing to do. My only question is how do the tubes not transfer any heat?

[PaintGuru]

Great idea for southern reefers. Not sure it would fly up nort' here, especially in the winter time.

[volcom69]

Very nice idea so what happens on a rainy cloudy day how much light comes through then. Great job corals look great.

[Kreeger1]

Just becasue its cold up north doens't mean the sun isn't as bright. We might have a smaller photo period in the winter months though that might effect us. Not sure.
My wheels are spinning now
Erik

[ReefingBuddha]

looks like color is significantly improved in a number of those corals, very nice results thus far.

Congrats

Now about that light spread....
How many inches of a tank for SPS do you think can be lit with one solar tube and at what high are your solar tubes now?

[hobogato]

the tubes end about 16" above the water. they are 13" tubes with 14" collection domes. each tube is responsible for lighting roughly a 2'x2' section of the tank. a friend of mine installed one 18" tube for his 3'x4' footprint tank - he hasnt quite finished setting the tank up tho.

[ReefingBuddha]

don't what to bother you to much with these questions so just one more. What kind of a spread do you think you could get from a 21" tube at the same height? And do you feel that if it was higher then 16" you would get insufficient light strength, how did you determine that 16" was the correct height?

[hobogato]

well, it is 16' from the collection dome to the opening above the tank. when you put your hand under the tube, even at the brightest part of the day, you can not feel any heat - no like when you put your hand under a halide. im sure some heat is transferred to the water in the light, but it is negligible.

Originally posted by chrishei
My only question is how do the tubes not transfer any heat?

the shimmer effect is diminished to non existent, but quite a bit of light still gets to the tank.

Originally posted by volcom69
Very nice idea so what happens on a rainy cloudy day how much light comes through then. Great job corals look great.

[volcom69]

I take it you dont get much snow there then either that would be the only thing in the northern areas and where i live if we would get a blizard or some kind of big snow storm i would have to climb on the roof and make sure they are not covered with snow.

[hobogato]

nope, no snow. of course now that i said that, we will have a blizzard this winter

[cato]

WoW! Sick. Very cool.

[tangdiver]

When I worked in public aquarium we lit some reefs this way and some were only on half the tank. You can guess which side looked better.

Always thought of it, but never did it due to the sun up here in South Dakota.

All I can say is job well done.

Grant

[hobogato]

no bother at first, i ended the tubes at the ceiling and covered the ends with diffusers

the diffusers cut out too much light, and when i took them off, lots of light escaped over the top edge of the tank and out onto the floor. i just happened to have two 2' extension tubes left, so i decided to try 1' on each because i did my best measuring to see where the tank would have to be in relation to the tube to prevent the escape of light. even with the 1'

a small amount of light bounced over the edge, but the reflective bell shape on the end of the tubes works perfectly to focus that into the tank as well. my friend's 18" tube ends about 2' abouve his tank (3'x4') and it light the tank and all the way around it, but he is using a prismatic diffuser.

Originally posted by thirschmann
don't what to bother you to much with these questions so just one more. What kind of a spread do you think you could get from a 21" tube at the same height? And do you feel that if it was higher then 16" you would get insufficient light strength, how did you determine that 16" was the correct height?

[scaryperson27]

Yeah, it definitely was a good idea to go in the direction you did. The light looks great going into your tank,

[dodgerblew]

what a great idea!! Tank is a beauty. I want to tag along.

I installed one solartube in an office built off my master bedroom just for lighting the area which is approx 8'x8'. I have a diffuser on it and the diffuser plate is 10" across, and the light output is the equivalent of a 150w bulb and no heat issues.

[PasadenaReefer]

im amazed! i havent seen any of these kind of tanks yet! since theres no heat issues im curious is there any downfall to this kind of set up? i understand that you rely on weather now. but if you live in cali its not that bad, but im not too sure how the weather in texas is. GOOD LUCK will be taggingg along

[george21]

That is awesome, never seen that before.

[hobogato]

yep, the output of the 14" light is equivalent to 300watts or 500watts depending on who you talk to. the three tubes i have are considerable brighter than the 1250 watts of halide lights i was running for at least 3 hours a day.

Originally posted by dodgerblew
I installed one solartube in an office built off my master bedroom just for lighting the area which is approx 8'x8'. I have a diffuser on it and the diffuser plate is 10" across, and the light output is the equivalent of a 150w bulb and no heat issues.

there are quite a few people doing this, but many have halides for suppliment as well. here in south central texas, we have no clouds most days, so i think there will be plenty of light year round

Originally posted by PasadenaReefer
im amazed! i havent seen any of these kind of tanks yet! since theres no heat issues im curious is there any downfall to this kind of set up? i understand that you rely on weather now. but if you live in cali its not that bad, but im not too sure how the weather in texas is. GOOD LUCK will be taggingg along

[euphoricgear]

nice tank setup and nice colors. been trying to convince my parents to go solar powered and do solor tubes like these too. we'll see what happens. :-)

[crmjacks]

is there a thread somewhere that documented how you put the solar tubes in? would be nice to see a walkthrough/DIY.

[Rakie]

Im interested to see the color change. They look like they're on their way to a nice recovery from the brown-out.

But I wonder if it will look as good as it did before. Every time I see sun-lit tanks the color is a big letdown. But since you have a lot of nice actinic lighting im hopeful for you.

Good luck ! Looks great.