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BDerron 
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 Topic: solar tubes
Posted: February 19 2010 at 9:58pm |
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im curious if any one has tried or is currently using solar tubes to light there tank, and what kind of results you see or have seen from them
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tcfab
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Posted: February 19 2010 at 10:13pm |
I don't know how well they would work here in utah, in the winter they would be useless with the snow but I guess they would work all summer for you. I like them, I think they look cool. 
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downhill_biker
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Posted: February 19 2010 at 10:49pm |
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I have to agree. In Utah they are hard to use as the only lighting for your tank. In the summer they would be great, but you have to supplement with blue spectrum, since the sun is very yellow for our likings. You probably would get great growth and cost would be low. I would incorporate both and use tubes in the summer and MH in the winter, and actinics year round.
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Aquarium Creations
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Posted: February 19 2010 at 10:54pm |
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I know of a few people in cali and Florida who use them and supplement with actinics
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BDerron
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Posted: February 19 2010 at 10:55pm |
thats kind of the system i was thinking to shoot for
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Spbeyond
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Posted: February 20 2010 at 2:52pm |
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My brother has those in his house and it is AMAZING the amount of light transfered. Of course this is in Texas.
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90 Gallon Reef w/4 bulb 54W t5
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bfessler
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Posted: February 20 2010 at 5:15pm |
I have been thinking about the same thing ever since mark suggested using sunlight to light the tank. When he suggested putting the tank in front of a window I thought it might be good for the tank but not so great for viewing or interior design. If you could channel sunlight through the tube to the tank it would be great. The only problem I see is you would probably have to build the tank under a soffit or into the wall to get the light close to the tank and still look right.
I think you would still get some benefit in the winter although with the low angle of the sun and amount of clouds you would really need to supplement with T5 or MH in the winter months. Then placing the supplementation fixtures so that they don't block the sunlight would also be an issue. If I was building a home and could design the tank and solar tube into the design it might be worth a try but it seems like a lot of effort to retrofit one.
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Burt
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BDerron
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Posted: February 20 2010 at 6:29pm |
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well the beautiful thing about the solar tube brand solar tubes is the increadibly wide angle the dome has to capture sunlight and channel it into the house, but i could still see having to do some sort of supplement all year honestly.
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Deluxe247
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Posted: March 19 2010 at 5:03pm |
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I wish I'd seen this thread earlier! Let me know if you actuallay do solar tubes. I ran across them in architecture school and they're pretty cool. Sounds like quite a project to install them into your house. You'd probably want to put your tank under south-facing portion of your roof to maximize solar access. Some tube designs come with internal lamps located near the aperture. They can come on at night or when light entering the aperture isn't enough. I don't know what it would take to get a "reef worthy" lamp in there but it might be worth looking into. Anyway, very cool idea!
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BDerron
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Posted: March 21 2010 at 12:21am |
yeah its still an avenue i want to pursue. if i do this it will more than likely be going in my garage were im not restricted on placement. ill update here if and when it happens 
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Corey Price
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Posted: March 22 2010 at 10:54pm |
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I don't know many who've tried the solatubes on this board, but Mark P. is a believer in natural sunlight. Solatube-lit tanks are out there.
I personally don't like the color of unfiltered sunlight in a reef tank.
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Deluxe247
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Posted: March 22 2010 at 11:36pm |
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not to hijack the thread, but does anyone know of any articles or stuff on the web regarding solatube tanks?
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90G Mixed Reef
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tcfab
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Posted: March 23 2010 at 12:00am |
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Do a search on Reef Central there are alot of them.
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BDerron
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Posted: March 23 2010 at 7:04am |
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Yeah reef central has tons, also corey I don't know how much it changes them but there are different color filters for the solartube brand
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Pete Moss
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Posted: April 01 2010 at 4:47pm |
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I have a room in my upstairs that is lit with two windows very similar to the "solar tube" idea. Natural sunlight haven. I should set up a tank in there and document the differences in growth and such.
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AquariumGuy
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Posted: April 01 2010 at 7:35pm |
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