Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

A freind of mine is thinking of using a solar tube for their new reef tank. I have some concerns that this may be a bad idea. Although, he has been told that with a tube coming almost directly over the tank with a cap that defuses the light that it is strong enough for hard corals. Although, everything I have been told and that I have experienced says that direct sunlight is a bad thing.

Has anyone here had any experiance with this or has heard anyone using this type of lighting method with any success?

Thanks,
Travis

Hey Troutsters, long time no see.

There has been a lot of talk about the light tubes on reef central. You can see all the discussions by going to www.reefcentral.com and using the search link to search for "sola tubes".

This seems to be the main thread: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthrea ... sola+tubes


I had thought about it myself, but there are two things that bother me about it. 1. the pictures I have seen where someone is using this type of light are not visually appealing, they have a serious yellowish cast to the light and the corals all appeared to be browned out. 2. Most any modern glass has some uv filtering to it. Corals need some uv, how much would they get through the two pieces of glass on this arrangement?



Example pics:
(this is with halides also, I believe)
http://home.iprimus.com.au/jmfaz/index.htm
http://home.iprimus.com.au/aurorabridal/Doc1.htm
http://home.iprimus.com.au/aurorabridal/massa.htm

Hey Brandon...yeah, I moved to a new house that has dial-up only. I have been on DSL/Cablem modems for so long I can't stand to get on the internet anymore.

Anywho, I will definately check out the links you provided.

Thanks,
Travis