Sunlit Bowl

[Poet]

After downgrading I decided I wanted to keep a small amount of water in the house, so I eventually settled on an acrylic dome/bowl.

The system averages about 70L or ~18gal.

Solatube 14" installed on an incredibly overcast day

Transferred things over last night and then earlier this morning I have this:

Let things settle from the move, then perhaps a perc or two. Still not 100% sure on what to stock it with.

[JR!]

best tank ive seen in a while. well done.

[ajmckay]

Cool concept... With so much surface area I'm guessing evaporation is pretty significant!

 

Neat use of the Solartube. I've seen these installed over reefs before.

[Poet]

Cheers guys, I'm pretty happy with it. Been wanting to employ solatube(s) for about 2 years now. I have a Genesis Reef ATO/AWC and it even automatically fills my Ro-Di for me so evaporation is stress-free!

[jbb]

Solar tubes are sick , I was just talking to jediben last night about wanting to do the same thing . A halo of blue LEDs around the trim of the tube would be awesome.

[1.0reef]

Awesome! Where'd you get the bowl?

[JR!]

you have it plumed into a sump?

[Poet]

Solar tubes are sick , I was just talking to jediben last night about wanting to do the same thing . A halo of blue LEDs around the trim of the tube would be awesome.

I'm really enjoying it! I have 40 LEDs + storm controller ready to go from my old nano, just no real good idea on how to mount them around the tube. I've ordered 40 1" individual heatsinks so could try that but still no idea how I'm going to fix them up there.

 

Awesome! Where'd you get the bowl?

Just a local acrylic fabrication company. I'd asked other companies for quotes on an acrylic cylinder and the price was just rediculous. This was pre-fab and cheap as chips!

 

you have it plumed into a sump?

Yeah hidden around the back corner. It's a 12" acrylic cube AIO that I got as a freebie when I sold someone stuff from breaking down the large tank.

[Arce]

Wow this is cool and very unique. Solar tubes are awesome.

[reefist]

We need a full tank shot now!

[hinnenkm]

Such a neat concept - fun to see something different and it will be fun to follow the progress!

[brandon429]

that's awesome 100%

 

don't forget about the magnifying glass focal effect coming from the window light. a large reefbowl has caused home fires before from the side lighting being focused on a wall as a pinpoint dot. likely wont apply here, but I read the article about 06 and never forgot that.

[jack1978]

Very cool!

I want one........

[Poet]

that's awesome 100%

 

don't forget about the magnifying glass focal effect coming from the window light. a large reefbowl has caused home fires before from the side lighting being focused on a wall as a pinpoint dot. likely wont apply here, but I read the article about 06 and never forgot that.

Ok you have me worried. Would the Solatube directly above be anything to worry about? That window has a block out blind, shade blind and there's also trees blocking a bit from that side so that can be taken care of.

[nano_MC_reef]

nice dome there buddy.

[brandon429]

I hated to cause any alarm, that's a tank of the month in the making. I even tried to google it real quick while at work, black Friday lol not much time and it didn't come up but I give you my word its searchable with a few more mins digging. its from about 04-06 ish on one of the major blogs.

 

If you aren't getting piercing points of light right now on the walls from the solar tube when the window is blocked, then its not ever going to be that way at least from the tube and merely tilting the input tube can change it if that's happening.

 

The changing seasons shooting light in the side window is the hidden risk per that article Ill soon find

 

one season its a perfect illumination point, but slow as the universe does what it does one day that light shoots hard at the bowl and if that focus hasn't been evaluated, risk happens. You have the ideal shape aquarium of any tank I could want, and that lighting from the window is the only issue IMO. if its blocked and just side lights that's awesome, my tank does better with sunlight not worse, and algae invasion is independent of the light source anyway. any light shined on my tank wouldn't cause algae.

You have a great tank.

 

been googling a while now and that's hard to find article. I guarantee if the staff at reefbuilders was contacted they'd know it was their article or advancedaquarist, one of those. about 2004-6 ish

 

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/bb/ea/f7/bbeaf7d177078d981677d8e9c7aee477.jpg

 

that's the image from the article, that bowl is amazingly like yours. google is picking up snippets of key term searches but the writing is still some searching to find. that's certainly the image tho, that's the bowl that reflected light onto the wall

 

cool note, look at the lid~ that could be a total game changer in photodynamics. even having one or not having one might make the difference, these are rube Goldberg beam focusing tanks, one of a kind, rare to have the variables that cause the condition but a true consideration of this shape. if your window is blocked its no big risk imo.

[Poet]

Awesome cheers for that Brandon, appreciate you looking into it. I did look over Dave Lackland's bowl after deciding to move away from a cylinder tank (due to cost.) it seems like sunlight hitting it sideways through a window is where the most magnification comes from, hitting both rounded edges. The tube just hits downwards and the rounded bottom I think would disperse that light more than focus it. Either way I'll keep an eye on it, thank you so much for bringing it to my attention!

Cheers for all the nice comments everyone, this is easily my favourite set up so far!

[Poet]

Update time, I added a pair of clowns that made the kids very happy

Got them a golden hammer to perhaps host them, hasn't happened!

And then this;

Turned to this,

In to this:

Very blue but by the time I had finished it and tested it out there was no sun left, I'll try sync it with daylight as much as possible.

Lastly I got hold of this for my next project

Its a 5gal bowl I want to use as a refugium, gravity draining into the display. Really interested in getting a/pipefish so this is the drive behind that.

 

Cheers

Ben.

[jack1978]

Love this thing!

Great job on the leds....love to see a daytime picture.

[TJ_Burton]

Great project! Following along

[brandon429]

tank of the month coming up here

[Poet]

Here's a couple 10am daylight coral pictures, bit overcast today but still overpowers the LEDs. Can really tell when clouds go overhead now as opposed to before though.

[aquarium]

This tank is really innovative and beautiful. Is there any sand or is it just live rock?

[coralsalive]

Super cool! But the evaporation will be a pain!

[Poet]

This tank is really innovative and beautiful. Is there any sand or is it just live rock?

Thanks! Just live rock and the detritus that settles at the bottom. Cheers for reminding me I need to clean it.

 

Super cool! But the evaporation will be a pain!

I don't really notice my Genesis system tops off evaporation and even automatically fills my RODI reservoir when it gets low! Makes life a lot easier, I just have nowhere to store the auto water change part of it so that's been done manually. Tough, I know!