Solar Tubes...

[tmgrash]

Neokid posted his 90gal reef and in that post he said he uses solar tubes for lighting. This sounds like an awesome idea! For those of you that might know, and for you Neokid since you are using them, what are some of the downfalls and drawbacks of this lighting? What happens when you have a week of cloudy weather, etc?

Thanks Travis

[Matt Rogers]

Travis most solar tube aquarium setups I've seen are using them as a supplement to their normal lighting. I don't think I've seen one that is just Solar Tubes. I recall a long solar tube thread on RC and the guy mentioned that one bonus was that he was getting natural moonlight in his tank from time to time. That would be cool.

[Tangster]

at a Commercial coral aqua culturing center i work at we have them over a 180 as a see what it does type deal.. Its like 250 w on average and higher in the summer and on real sunny days But even on a little cloudy days it hard to look into them.. But yes you have to have light that you can control.. But they would save you on power somewhat..

[leslie hempel]

any one got a pic?

[tmgrash]

Thanks guys, this sounds like a good idea for my future "large scale" project for supplemental lighting.


Travis

[Tangster]

Originally Posted by leslie hempel

any one got a pic?

Not much to see really and even less to take a pic of. Just a 14inch Diameter highly polished liner in what looks to be a metal double walled chimney like is used on a wood stove or laundry chute . These just hang into the room from the roof with a clear plastic dome and no stove at the base. Sun come out its really bright sun goes in and it darken. It supplies plenty of light when it's sunny.