Going green forum group

[Fat Tony]

Nice find. Before you know it Tom will be installing something like this on his tank

[jschulzpt]

Thanks for the link, that is awesome, especially with the pics. Very well set up thread. Looks like I've got to join RC to ask him 1-2 follow up ?s.

[fihsboy]

Theres a lot of info there. I was reading that during the winter he uses 10k T5HO bulbs....because he has to. not enough light in the winter. Thats what I was saying originally. Your going to have to supplement it. BUT, at noon the intensity is more then the 5 250 watt bulbs he was using. and its FREE. and NO bulb replacements. If I knew i was going to live in a house for at least 4-5 years.....it would pay for itself easy. its pretty awesome. And if you were doing say.....anything over 200 gallons. It would be MORE than worth it. think of the halides you would have to use to cover a 72 inch tank...or even a cube....like a 60x60 pop four solar tubes over it and your done......period.

[jschulzpt]

I will have to do a lot more research on what solar tubes may do in Wisconsin. I think it may be "iffy" as far as if the tubes may pay off here.

[fihsboy]

Well if you can find a neighbor that has one....see if you can get a par reading or something along those lines from theres. That will give you an idea. And try to do it in october or november. Then you will get what your least amount of light would be. Then you can always plan your supplemental lighting to that, and when its more no biggie but your corals wont suffer. I think the biggest part of green reefing is being aware of your energy consumption and trying to minimize it. Like mikeatjax said, just the thought that our reef tanks are hurting our reefs more then we realize is a scarry thought. prop powerheads are the only way to go anymore...they draw the least amount of power for the output, IE. Vortech. 28 watts gets you 3200gph. Thats awesome. Thats 115gph per watt. while my rio 1700 pulling 50ish watts only pumps 300 gph. 6 gph per watt. thats a BIG difference. There are ways to pull a lot less power you just have to watch your energy consumption on each product. Another big energy consumer is your heater/chiller. There are ways to vent your tank without a chiller, it IS possible. Ive seen a 250 halide on a 10 gallon tank. no heating or cooling issues. just fans and an aquacontroller. I personally dont think you should skimp on your lighting......I know that some people will shorten there photoperiod with no ill affect....but personally thats not for me. I do have cloudy days....aka no halides for the day. But they always get there 8 hours when the lights are on. This post has gotton long, I have a lot more ideas, but ill wait for some feedback.

[Siberman]

*Wondering if some sort of mirror (stainless ?) mounted near the tube could redirect light down the tube and thereby increase the par during the winter.*

[fihsboy]

Yes, suntracker or a mini heliostat. They use these in a city in spain. Its one of a kind...........if we were to put these units all over the United states.......we could export electricity to other countries. We would be the new powerhouse for energy. electric that is.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...num=4&ct=image

[jschulzpt]

Nice link with video Fishboy.

Couple questions:
1. Is a PAR meter something that I can buy at Mendards/HD/Lowes?
2. I thought that all powerheads used a prop... what kinds don't?

[Fat Tony]

Originally Posted by jschulzpt

Nice link with video Fishboy.

Couple questions:
1. Is a PAR meter something that I can buy at Mendards/HD/Lowes? Nope, it's a specialty deviceand will cost ya $300+
2. I thought that all powerheads used a prop... what kinds don't? maxijets, aquaclears, rios... all sorts

[fihsboy]

Thats why I suggested borrowing one. 300 bucks is a LOT. haha. The one thing I would like to see is a return pump that pumps over 20gph per watt. the best I can find right now is 12gph per watt. theres something for the big pump companies to work on. I think our return pumps are the least effiecient things on our tanks.

[jschulzpt]

Great ideas guys, opened up my eyes to a lot of things. Thanks

[jdhuyvetter]

I put in solar tubes this past February. Documented most of it here:

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6...ht=solar+tubes

FYI, Hobogato is now out of the hobby (guy on RC). Not sure why. Reefcast has a good download this month. Also links to a couple of other threads on RC (one of them mine)

[jschulzpt]

Thanks for the link, that is a good thread.