fishwanabe
Member
Hi, I had a dream that I installed solar tubes in my roof over the tank, anyone think it would work?
solar tubes
- Thread starter fishwanabe
- Start date
fishwanabe
Member
Im in sw florida, gee I thought i was going to be yelled/laughted at. This would cut cost for me. the tank will be 90g reef. do you think I would need one or two tubes?
reefkprz
Active Member
depends on the dimensions of the solar tubes, also keep in mind with the sun beating down on the tank heat will be an issue. it may cost you more to run a chiller to compensate than it would cost to run lights. also you would have to make sure the reflectors in the solar tubes are set for focused/directional lighting (pretty much a narrow column of light) instead of a brodcast style reflection. and of course the closer you can get the solar tubes to the top of the tank the better say 2 feet or less would be optimal IMO, if your going to install them it really wouldnt be that much more work to extend a soffit down from your ceiling and run the tubes most of the way down to your tank (this would also make the light more effective if the reflectors are designed for brodcast reflection) {brodcast reflection probably is not the correct terminology for that} I just build houses I'm not an engineer.
fishwanabe
Member
reef,thanks for your imput the house i live in is an old craker house and the ceiling is only 8-10 ft tall, then the tube would come down to the tank and I could custom a deflector to control the heat(I think) anyway, just trying to make a dream into a reality if possible. thanks agian.
fishwanabe
Member
I guess its not strange that Im having DREAMS about my tank, anyone else have them?
maxalmon
Active Member
It's an idea that I had worked on, but with the new home that we are living in any holes that are cut into the house (dog doors - vents etc) void the energy savings guarantee, go figure on a solar tube of all things.
.
.
I did a fair amount of reseach on these and they can work for a reef tank. There's lots of people who have had good growth and color results. search -- for solartubes and you'll find several memebers who have them installed, lots of into...Jim
.
.
I did a fair amount of reseach on these and they can work for a reef tank. There's lots of people who have had good growth and color results. search -- for solartubes and you'll find several memebers who have them installed, lots of into...Jim
fishwanabe
Member
thanks, even though i have been surfin this site for awhile now still very new, -- is an other SW website right?