Solar Tube

[Thunderkat]

Alton was talking about these for lighting your tank and I thought it was pretty cool so made a new thread with a link so you can check them out.

http://www.solatube.com/res_edu.php

[blueboy]

there was a big thread about those on RC a couple of years ago. some guy in arizona had a tank lit with several of them.

[Thunderkat]

How many would you need to light a 200 gallon aquarium?

[blueboy]

that would probably take a little testing, but i would think they would cover about 2feet each(similar to a MH). they are relatively easy to install, if you have some basic woodworking skills, as they are designed for retrofits. i have installed a few, usually in bathrooms, over the years. these could cut the power bills associated with a large tank significantly, as they wouldn't contribute nearly as much heat to the tank. just supliment with some VHO's or T5's.

[pickle311]

that would probably take a little testing, but i would think they would cover about 2feet each(similar to a MH). they are relatively easy to install, if you have some basic woodworking skills, as they are designed for retrofits. i have installed a few, usually in bathrooms, over the years. these could cut the power bills associated with a large tank significantly, as they wouldn't contribute nearly as much heat to the tank. just supliment with some VHO's or T5's.

don't forget to mention the benifit of natural moonlight and the natural lighting cycles of the seasons. It's a cool concept, but I could only see it as a benifit on very large tanks that would normally take several metal halides to light. Maybe one day I'll get a tank large enough to try the tubes.

[mathias]

big pain in the but for two story homes though...