jadams7 Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 So this past weekend I decided to take on a new little project. I have wanted to play around with using natural light on reef tanks for a while now, and just got around to taking the next step. I bought a new 13" Tubular Skylight (brand is Crystalight, made locally I think) off of craigslist a couple months ago. Also I bought a white 'grow tray' from Garrett (courtesy of Sunlight Supply) that measures 3' x 3' that I will be setting under the skylight. After reading a couple hundred pages of threads on people doing this on RC, and having success I wanted in. First off here is what my messy garage looked like in the spot I wanted to put the light: I reorganized my 'shelf o' fish stuff' in order to give me some room to work with: In a few hours I took on the installation of the skylight. Sorry I did not get many pictures showing the process, I was already up in the attic and forgot to grab my camera. It went along just fine, had one minor setback when the tube of caulking I had ended up being dry and I had to run to the store for a new tube, but that was about it. Here are a few pictures of the newly installed light: Its not very noticeable from the street, which is nice... And here is the light installed as it comes in the box... And then I added an extension tube to it, to increase the amount of light hitting the tank. And that is how it sits today. I sat my sunlight supply tank there to see how the light will hit, and so far I am very pleased with the amount of light that is coming through. Next up I will be plumbing the tank and filling it with water. I am going to start out with some real basic things and see how they react to the sunlight; some chaeto and other plant, softies, zoas, etc. I will try to keep this updated and post some pictures of the system as it continues to develop! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 That's impressive. Looking forward to hearing about the growth of the corals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fpd4308 Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 That is pretty cool. I will have to keep up on this thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barelycuda Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Very nice setup. It will be interesting to see how things respond to the light and see how much output you get on cloudy days vs. sunny days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Looks awesome!!! This will be some cheap lighting. How much was the skylight? Will definatly be following along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnkrcklives Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 That is way cool. Will be following along... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePremiumAquarium Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Very nice! Glad you got it all setup. You may end up needing to instal a bit of blue shade cloth from what I have read on other similar builds. It will help cut down on the lower kelvin spectrum and if done right should give you more light then you could get running a few 400wers over it lol. Look forward to checking this out in person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mohaynow Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Jase gave me a nice rundown of it when I went to pick up my box o crap. It looks like a really cool project and I too am very intrigued about the results that will be achieved. I went when it was dusk and there was still a good deal of light coming through. Should crank out some serious par on a sunny day. Keep us updated Jase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted April 26, 2011 Author Share Posted April 26, 2011 Thanks guys. Yea I am very interested to see how much light comes through on cloudy days, and in the winter months. There are lots of people popping up doing these in warmer areas (cali, texas, arizona, etc) but I have only seen a few in areas with less than ideal weather. If anyone knows of someone with a PAR meter they wouldnt mind loaning me I would be VERY interested to see the differences between a sunny day and cloudy rainy one, and also what my rating is compared to some halides. Does anyone have any experience drilling anything like the sunlight supply tub that I have? I have drilled glass before, and have the glass drilling bits, just wasnt sure if I should use something with a few more teeth to get it started or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted April 26, 2011 Author Share Posted April 26, 2011 Looks awesome!!! This will be some cheap lighting. How much was the skylight? Will definatly be following along. Thanks, that is the plan! I love the idea of extra tanks running in the same loop as my display, but didnt want to always be paying to run another halide, so this might end up being the perfect option for me. Fingers crossed haha. I got the skylight from a former installer of them on CL, and I think I got it for somewhere in the $125-150 range, and it is a 13" one. The extension I got was from Lowes, it was around $40, has the same reflective material (98% reflective I think) and gave me another 2' of extension on the tube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted April 26, 2011 Author Share Posted April 26, 2011 Very nice! Glad you got it all setup. You may end up needing to instal a bit of blue shade cloth from what I have read on other similar builds. It will help cut down on the lower kelvin spectrum and if done right should give you more light then you could get running a few 400wers over it lol. Look forward to checking this out in person. Thanks Garrett! Yea I had read something about people using the blue shade cloths. If I remember right one guy had it work well, the other guy said it killed his light output. Do you remember the thread or the name of the shade cloth? And you are more than welcome to come check it out whenever ya want, same goes to everyone else. Once this thing gets up and running it might be more exciting, but for anyone that is close and wants to check out the thing feel free to shoot me a PM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteRock Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Very cool idea, Can't wait to see how it performs. Keep us updated please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Very cool would be nice if this works in our area with the weather. I hope you can track down a par meter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkBirkett Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Gonna work for three month out of a year, but you're starting this at a perfect time as the sun will eventually shine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted May 5, 2011 Author Share Posted May 5, 2011 Bit of an update... I got a sweet deal on a full tank setup, so I have decided to set that up in the garage instead of the grow tray. I wasnt liking the way the light was hitting the tray at certain parts, and the tank should be a smaller footprint and get lit more consistently throughout the day. So I am in the process of cleaning and getting that new setup ready. Pics once the cleaning is done and setup begins. One cool thing I have noticed, on very cloudy nasty rainy days there seems to be just as much light coming through the tube as nice days. Great news for us Oregonians. Getting the par readings will be the ultimate test, but its good to know that it at least looks to be close on nasty days. I have seen people run these in Michigan and other less than ideal weathered areas and not have all that much of a problem in the off season. Time will tell though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Would be really cool if it still gave enough light when its cloudy/rainy. I mean its cloudy and rainy over natural reefs, maybe not as much as here. But for example Hawaii i bet its pretty close given all the vog they deal with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 Ok I have an update... I have had the new setup running for a little while now, transferred over my corals, cleanup crew, and 2 fish (clown and yellow wrasse) and everything is doing great. The past week has had pretty crappy, cloudy weather, but the light coming through has everything open and happy. The main problem I am running into is the coloration of the corals, basically what was bright popping almost neon colors under 70w and 150w sunpods, is now fat, happy, and relatively ugly brownish corals. Now I was not expecting to get the same 'pop' from natural sunlight, and the main idea is for growth, but as of right now the lack of coloration is driving me crazy (it looks like a 6500k)! I added a 2 bulb t5 setup to the front of the tank(1 actinic, 1 10k), and that helped a bit with coloration, but I think using natural sunlight, in oregon for a display tank is something that I am going to be putting on hold for the near future. I just received a job offer, and we will be moving within 3 months, so that has a huge part of my decision to go away from the natural lighting for now. I just wont be able to test the long-term results of running a tank like this. Good news is we will be keeping the house, so this is something I could very well come back to in the future and re-explore. From my short (2 week) experiment using the light with corals, I think it would be great for a grow tank, frag tank, etc as I think all of the corals are doing great, looking fat and healthy, my worry is doing it over a display and trying to get coloration out of some corals. Problem is I have only seen a very short sample of which to make my opinion, and have not seen enough to comment on things like growth and long term benefits. What I have noticed is that some very unhappy corals from my old setup (receding favia colony, a few unhappy zoas, and an angry green polyp toadstool) all look to be coming back around after being under the sunlight. The favia is expanding further than I have seen it open in months, the zoas are fully open for the first time in a while, and the toadstool is starting to come out more than it has in a solid few months, just from being under the cloudy sunlight the past week or so. I will attach a few pictures here in a little bit, nothing too nice as they are cell phone pics (as usual), but it will give you an idea as to what setup I have. Also, I just had my first LED light shipped to me yesterday! I am going to run this over the same setup. When I will be in and out of town for training for the next couple of months for the job, I need to know everything is doing OK, have lighting on a timer, and make the system as easy as feeding and topping off water for the wife. I plan on starting a thread for my new light, probably in the 'equipment' section. Check it out ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 Here is the setup dry, I threw my DIY foam rock wall in there just for the heck of it (originally made it for my 3x3 cube). Picture taken at 9am this morning, just sunlight. It usually gets brighter than this in a few hours. sorry the corals are not showing up all that well...they all look pretty brown anyways haha. And here is a teaser pic of the same setup right after i put my new LED light on it (120w setup, 55 3w LEDs). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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