Solar tube lights?

[mscottring]

The tubes are still very bright, even with the lights on. Cool!

[aquawolf]

The piece of cardboard was a definite bonus. It allowed you to see, and show us, what is going on very well.

[jdhuyvetter]

Well, I had hope to take some update photos this weekend, but didn't. I had lighting and ballast cables hanging everywhere. So, I got all of that cleaned up, got my two part dosing system hooked up, cleaned my calcium reactor and the glass to the softie tank. But, did not get the canopy done

[jdhuyvetter]

OK, power bill update. Got the bill yesterday. It was $20 more than last month, but still $135 less than the month before. Not sure if the increase is due to redoing circulation pumps, supplemental lighting, frag tank lighting or having an extra person (mom) in the house for three weeks. Still a big improvement!

[jdhuyvetter]

Finally, we got the plywood up last night!. Next is the edge trim and block out the light around the canopy doors. Pic taken at 6 pm.

[aquawolf]

That looks very nice.

[Tyyrlym]

Any updates on how the tank is handling the change over? Any long term concerns with this kind of set up?

[jdhuyvetter]

Mixed so far. Although, I think most of my issues are related to the fact that I completely redid my circulation system, pulled out about 50 pounds of rock that was covered with palythoas (stinging my SPS), changed my dosing sytem and amounts and had a minor case of AEFW.

I lost the following corals
Acropora nana (was actually sick before I started the project)
A. suharsonoi - a deepwater coral that was high in the tank. I should have moved it, but didn't until it was too late (saved a couple of small frags).
Yellow tort (still have a couple of frags left that are doing well. Lost the main colony). No clue, just melted from the base up. I think this one suffered the most from the change of flow.


All of the other corals are doing the same or better. Colors shifted a little to the brown side, but overall, growths are faster. My clams opened up even more. I'm toying with getting a darker blue filter to see if I can get the color to shift back to what we like to see under MH. Right now, it is very "natural" looking.

Some surprises:
Blue tort - color just as good, growth rate really took off.
Green base w/orange polyp digitata - extremely slow grower that really took off too.
Chalices - all of them responded immediately (puffier and faster growth)
Idaho grape - still has the nice dark purple color, but now it has a few green highlights mixed in.
I had a light green A. carolinia that grew about 10% the first 6 months I had it. Since I installed solar tubes, it has tripled in size and color is better.
The orange color of my P. squamipinnis anthias is very intense under the natural light (clowns look better too)

My internet is down at home. Meeting comcast today to fix it. So, hopefully I can post some update pics this weekend.

[Kakalakasha]

Sounds like it's an economical and better route for a tank.
But judging by the $150 (rounded) decrease in power bill and the 18-19 month period it will take to get what you paid for back, sounds expensive.
Almost 3 grand if my math is correct. And that's far too much car money for a 15 year old.


Can't wait to see the tank as of right now.
You should also post a before/after post.
Post a picture of the tank just before the solatubes were installed and post a picture of it to date.