A solar operated reef aquarium

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Do we have any members who are operating their tank on solar energy?

I spied a member of our FB group who was running his entire tank off of solar energy during the day and by battery at night.

Pretty cool and said it cost between $1-2K to set up.

Image via Musicaly Declined

Image via Musicaly Declined

 

[Michael Hughes]

Great idea!

I've also seen "solar-powered" tanks where they use a skylight with a reflective tube running from the roof to provide natural sun to light the tank... does that count?

 

[Boehmtown]

I'm heavily considering trying that with my air conditioning for the summer and the tank and battery backup during the winter

 

[vcnt]

Can you link the post?

Id be interested to read it

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Can you link the post?

Id be interested to read it

Let me find it and I'll also invite them over!

 

[Ernie Mccracken]

Only $2k? Every time I do the math on solar, the breakeven is 20 years out. Maybe it's better now.

 

[vcnt]

Only $2k? Every time I do the math on solar, the breakeven is 20 years out. Maybe it's better now.

I found the post, and im pretty sure the dude just has it hooked up to his tank.

Could be wrong though

 

[UncommonSense]

I’ve been on solar for over 20 years…

“Back in the day”, the local utility company didn’t have any system worked out to credit a residential customer whom produced more energy than they consumed, and simply recommended that the customer convert more appliances to electric…

— I got my first aquarium shortly thereafter!

 

[overhead]

Wouldn't a simple plug in solar system that can produce 1200 watts cover most tanks? Depending on weather, I suppose. Batteries would add to the cost, but it would not be difficult to do. Plug in solar will not be "legal" in my state until January. At my cabin I have 3 100 watt panels and a couple of batteries, I assume it would run a moderately sized tank.

 

[strich]

Yeah I've just dished out AUD$28k for a solar/battery system as running this new tank and my home office is no cheap affair. For us in Australia the ROI can be around 4-8 years. And of course having peace of mind with black out backup is nice.

 

[Boehmtown]

Only $2k? Every time I do the math on solar, the breakeven is 20 years out. Maybe it's better now.

Those are probably full roof systems installed by a solar company. You can get used panels on eBay, and build it out yourself with just enough to offset your tank. Which probably doesn't use a lot especially over night. So you don't need a ton of battery.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I think it would be pretty neat to do a fully solar-powered reef tank!

 

[BryanM]

Running, no. But battery backup via solar, yes.

 

[Laith]

I have about 4.3Kw of solar panels that I installed when I set up my current tank.

Not specifically for the tank but it does provide enough power to run pretty much everything in the house (on sunny days). We also installed aircon units in the house (the one in the living room cools the tank on hot days!).

We had the option of installing a battery as well but the return was not worth the cost.

 

[Chris_from_SoCal]

I did similar with a fully solar pond build. Everything worked great except I didn't use the right guys to build it and it leaked like crazy so I had to drain it. I have since bought everything I need except the wood to build it larger with more above ground but I got side tract building a salt water tank instead. At some point I will finish getting it built.

Solar and batteries. Every pump, light, etc is 12V. Two large RV batteries so it could run 24/7.

If it could be done with a large pond a salt water tank should be easy.

 

[PharmrJohn]

I had considered this as a possible modality a few years ago but didn't have any info to theoretically proceed (when I reboot). Thanks for starting the thread!