Does anybody use natural sunlight?
- Thread starter Carpentersreef
- Start date
Mitch,
If you ever find yourself in Detroit you have to pay a visit to Tropicorium.com. Their setup is basically a greenhouse where the bulk of their lighting is sunlight (supplemented by, I think, 400W Iwasakis). It really is a neat setup. Once you see this place in the flesh no LFS you ever visit again will ever impress you anymore.
Living in Calgary the sunlight here is darn near horizontal coming in from the south this time of year. My tank is on the north side of my south-facing family room, and so this time of year my tank is lit from the side, literally, at midday, by the sun. And everything in there goes absolutely nuts over it. ("Nuts" in a good way, that is.) It's one reason I look forward to this time of year (it's a nice plus to counter the many not-so-pluses of our winters) because everything in my tanks looks at their best. When I move my tank into my basement I will be losing this, and I'm a little sorry to do so, but it's a necessity after this summer we had, I will lose that and gain a little better temperature control. I hope the tradeoff is worth it.
Bottom line I think a tank lit, or at least partially lit, by sunlight is a very good idea. I think the only thing you need to watch out for is keeping heat in check.
And of course as already mentioned there is a pretty neat article in Marine Fish 2002 about a tank like this. If you haven't picked up a copy yet go pick one up. I picked up mine at Indigo haven't been able to find it anywhere else locally yet. I fully expect that the next time I pay you a visit you will have a setup equivalent to this, okay?
If you ever find yourself in Detroit you have to pay a visit to Tropicorium.com. Their setup is basically a greenhouse where the bulk of their lighting is sunlight (supplemented by, I think, 400W Iwasakis). It really is a neat setup. Once you see this place in the flesh no LFS you ever visit again will ever impress you anymore.
Living in Calgary the sunlight here is darn near horizontal coming in from the south this time of year. My tank is on the north side of my south-facing family room, and so this time of year my tank is lit from the side, literally, at midday, by the sun. And everything in there goes absolutely nuts over it. ("Nuts" in a good way, that is.) It's one reason I look forward to this time of year (it's a nice plus to counter the many not-so-pluses of our winters) because everything in my tanks looks at their best. When I move my tank into my basement I will be losing this, and I'm a little sorry to do so, but it's a necessity after this summer we had, I will lose that and gain a little better temperature control. I hope the tradeoff is worth it.
Bottom line I think a tank lit, or at least partially lit, by sunlight is a very good idea. I think the only thing you need to watch out for is keeping heat in check.
And of course as already mentioned there is a pretty neat article in Marine Fish 2002 about a tank like this. If you haven't picked up a copy yet go pick one up. I picked up mine at Indigo haven't been able to find it anywhere else locally yet. I fully expect that the next time I pay you a visit you will have a setup equivalent to this, okay?
I live in South Floirda and am working on a design for a system utilizing sun almost exclusively. It will either be outside in a greenhouse type enclosure or inside similar to a solarium typically off of a kitchen. I have heard of it working the past and don't wee why I cannot make it work... IMHO.
On this subject...
Does anyone have experience or know about optical lighting from a central source? I always thought it would be nice to be able to pick up sunlight, via optical fiber, and route it to a display area. From what I have learned about optical fiber in the past, turns in the fiber have a way of limiting how much "light" gets through. But that is older info and I don't know if it still applies. I have seen examples of people using this for lighting a whole house, of course spectrums are not a concern. Just wondering if you could use natural sunlight to do the same thing. I would guess that you would at least have to know what spectrums would pass and which would be filtered. But, it would be nice to use the sun to do this,,,lots of factors to consider?
[ December 14, 2001: Message edited by: bradwent ]</p>
Does anyone have experience or know about optical lighting from a central source? I always thought it would be nice to be able to pick up sunlight, via optical fiber, and route it to a display area. From what I have learned about optical fiber in the past, turns in the fiber have a way of limiting how much "light" gets through. But that is older info and I don't know if it still applies. I have seen examples of people using this for lighting a whole house, of course spectrums are not a concern. Just wondering if you could use natural sunlight to do the same thing. I would guess that you would at least have to know what spectrums would pass and which would be filtered. But, it would be nice to use the sun to do this,,,lots of factors to consider?
[ December 14, 2001: Message edited by: bradwent ]</p>
I have two tanks that get about four hours of morning sun. I do get extra algae growth on one side of one tank that gets the most sun, but whatever, it scrapes off. IMO, the corals seem to enjoy it, the sun comes in before the lights come on, and they corals quickly open up nicely.
I have my tank next to a window and the coralline grows very fast on the side closest to the window. I only have 3watts/gal PC and NO light and have a few frags of SPS and LPS and softies and a BTA. No problems except with temperature in the summer. I was told by some people from another message board that I was headed for disaster(algaes) but I proved them wrong, been over 2 years.
That's my idea and thinking.... algae will only grow in the presence of excess nutrients, not because of the presence of sunlight,...yahdayahda...
and I want to use sunlight to reduce my electricity bill and help my photosynthetic animals, just as much as I want to use the excess heat from my HQI's to heat the aquarium, instead of having my heaters turn on. For cooling, I want to either open a window over my sump, or have a LARGE volume of water plumbed beside an outside basement wall to take away excess heat!
Call me either cheap, or environmentally friendly
Mitch
Hey Carpenter,
I am doing the same thing. I have a Westward facing window, overlooking the Bay Area (from the hills of Oakland) that I put my 135 in.
I'm still setting it up, but I like the natural light.
I can't believe some dummies tell you to get a tank completely away from sunlight, then try to re-create the sun with complex and expensive lighting systems, dimmers, etc.
WTF ?!?!?
Corals grow in sunlight. And many grow very close to the water surface. To help simulate deeper water a small bit of blue light supplemented may help, but otherwise I say
GO SOLAR
You have to scrape algae anyway.
I hope we're both successful.
I am doing the same thing. I have a Westward facing window, overlooking the Bay Area (from the hills of Oakland) that I put my 135 in.
I'm still setting it up, but I like the natural light.
I can't believe some dummies tell you to get a tank completely away from sunlight, then try to re-create the sun with complex and expensive lighting systems, dimmers, etc.
WTF ?!?!?
Corals grow in sunlight. And many grow very close to the water surface. To help simulate deeper water a small bit of blue light supplemented may help, but otherwise I say
GO SOLAR
You have to scrape algae anyway.
I hope we're both successful.
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