Matt's 700 Gallon Natural Sunlight System

[Ziggy953]

Beautiful! Great way to post an update!!

[Gregcoyote]

The perfect setup. When I build my new house I defiantly want to incorporate the light tube technology in with my LED system. Great seeing it work so beautifully for you.

[FTMMWS]

I wonder if it would work with reflecting light?
Like if you made tubes that had mirrors in them so you could bend them to the tank..

[Gregcoyote]

Originally Posted by FTMMWS

I wonder if it would work with reflecting light?
Like if you made tubes that had mirrors in them so you could bend them to the tank..

I am pretty certain that would work. The light tubes basically do the same thing with a mirrored surface on the inside of the tube. They usually use a passive collector on the roof, but it wouldn't be that hard to rig up a sun collector with a motorized mirror that really concentrated the direct sunlight into the system. Using iris's and diffusers, you could do just about anything you wanted.

[HalfMoon B]

How is your new Achilles holding up?

[Ausfish]

Mate if I ever get up to the gold coast I'll invite myself for a coffee. I've gotta see this with my own two eyes absolutely stunning pictures and videos, good on ya!

[SwimsWithFish]

Man I was just up there in Queensland a few months ago.

[StripesTheEel]

Achilles is doing great. People tell me it is the healthiest specimen they have ever seen!

There is one fish that gets the attention over it though and that's the big Sohal.

I'll let you decide!

Some pics I took today whilst bored.

After uploading them I had realised I didn't clean the glass, oh well!

[StripesTheEel]

[Gregcoyote]

I have been at this a long time and I can tell you, I really like the way the natural light works for you. I guess I need to build a new house so I can pull this off myself. Excellent.

[bootz]

this is really an amazing idea.

[Ricksreef]

Looking at the pictures of your tank make me sick,with pure envy,LOL.
Absolutely amazing.

[Gregcoyote]

You can't beat mother nature when growing coral. Look at every coral cultivation facility in the world and they are in the open or in greenhouses.
And the power savings is huge.

[Gti_Leo]

<3 an achillies tang

you sir are a lucky man

[Gregcoyote]

It was noted you use some supplemental lighting. Is this to enhance the corals coloration, or do you have it to enhance something you aren't getting in the natural light?

[huma-huma]

I hate to throw myself into this question bombardment but im interested in a few thugs. 1) was this a venture that you had built up a savings for and then executed all at once or did you pick up parts here and there till it was together? And 2) I hate asking but how much do you think your spend in food alone from month to month.
And lastly I don't remember seeing any heaters listed... I know you live in australia but does that negate the need for heaters all together?
This is an absolutely stunning tank and truly is a symbol of hope for us that would give anything to own such a tank

[StripesTheEel]

Originally Posted by Gti_Leo

<3 an achillies tang

you sir are a lucky man

Yeah especially given their high mortality rate and even higher price here in Australia!!

Anywhere from $500-$1000. I got lucky with a healthy specimen!

Originally Posted by Gregcoyote

It was noted you use some supplemental lighting. Is this to enhance the corals coloration, or do you have it to enhance something you aren't getting in the natural light?

Colouration and supplementing days where the sun isn't so.... sunny!

I wouldn't run a tank solely on Sunlight.

Originally Posted by huma-huma

I hate to throw myself into this question bombardment but im interested in a few thugs. 1) was this a venture that you had built up a savings for and then executed all at once or did you pick up parts here and there till it was together? And 2) I hate asking but how much do you think your spend in food alone from month to month.
And lastly I don't remember seeing any heaters listed... I know you live in australia but does that negate the need for heaters all together?
This is an absolutely stunning tank and truly is a symbol of hope for us that would give anything to own such a tank

1) I saved up the majority of it and have also upgraded certain aspects of the tank with better equipment as time goes on. (Eg; Skimmer was upgraded, Computer Controller upgraded etc)

2) Roughly $40 per month in foods

3) I have heaters, 1800w of Schego Titanium. They are rarely on as the volume of water helps with temperature stability. Same goes for the chiller, rarely turns on.

Hope that helps!

[huma-huma]

Wow 40 bucks in food lol you weren't kidding about them being little fatties

[StripesTheEel]

I'm well regarded here in Australia for having extremely healthy specimens of fish! My corals on the other hand lol....

[greaver83]

One of the most amazing tanks i have ever seen, do you have any mold problems from evaporation or anything i was reading about large tanks and a lot of people have issues with mold from evaporation and what not