Natural Lighting

[elithelion]

Hey guys, I have a couple of qu's and Im wanting to get some input on this My family is building a new cabin it blueridge and of course I want a new tank ! I actually want to do something a bit more audacious. I want to have a coral garden completely powered by natural sunlight. Im a firm believer in natural reef keeping and Im pretty sure I can do this! Id have the tanks in a green house and have them all running through one system. Im thinking like a 200 gallon tank for my coral and the filtration (Skimmer and LR) like a 300. I'd start off with only one tank, but add more with time. There is a lot more to think about, but hopefully I can get more input. Cheers!

 

[jamescook]

Natural lighting will work to a degree, but you'll still need a ton of blue electric light if you want any color other than brown. I had solar tubes over my DT with icecap overdriving 4 actinic T5s and it was still pretty dull... but natural.

 

[sewer urchin]

It's an interesting idea, I've thought about it more then once. i think that ther have been a few member that have used solar tubes (I think jamescook-a breeder out of Athens) has posted about it.

Reef Central has a forum for Coral Propagation and there a number outdoor systems shown there. It's a different world that tank raised stuff. It can be expensive and tricky to heat in the winter and cool in the summer. Also evaporation is in a completely different scale, because greenhouses used fans the keep cool. Managing and engineering a greenhouse is an art form. Can it be done-yes. Can it be done profitably-hard to say. But as inspiration research ORA-Oceans,Reefs and Aquariums.

 

[au alum]

There are some good build threads on RC that utilize natural sunlight. Go to the "large reef tanks forum".

Here is a link to one I found...

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2040499">http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2040499</a>

Good luck!

 

[stickx911]

solar powered blue LED system to supplement?

 

[elithelion]

Hmm...Yes, Ive seen that video. Have you seen Tidal gardens? They get amazing color with virtually no artificial lighting http://www.tidalgardens.com/">http://www.tidalgardens.com/</a> In my mind I would do somehting like their set up, just on a much smaller scale. Also, I'm def not thinking of it as a business just yet, just more of a pet project :)

Edit: Au, Ive looked around and found quite a few ppl using natural light with awesome results! Both on the large and smaller scale http://www.sareefkeeping.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15831 Stic, I imagine you could do that, but couldnt you use T5s/?