Our 300gal DT is installed on an inside wall with all filtration located in the fish room in the stairwell behind. The opposite wall is an exterior wall & recieves morning sunlight for 60 - 90 minutes. Previous generations of our reef tank were located on the outside wall, & it was always interesting to watch corals respond when direct sunlight would shine into the tank.
Over the last few days, I have started experimenting with reflecting sunlight onto the reef from across the room. The LPS & Zoa's tend to respond w/n 10 minutes, opening to their fullest extent. Here's a few images to describe the thinking...
Here's the full tank with reflected light:
Please disregard the awful aquascape as we had a tank crash in Dec & are slowly rebuilding.
The mirror casting the reflection is 44" x 32" (mind the mess...everyone is home right now):
This is a PoV from the mirror to the display tank as positioned on the floor:
This is view of a few of the SPS colonies in direct sunlight:
And some bubble-tip love:
Green/Brown Polyps after 10 min in direct sunlight:
Trumpet after 10 min in direct sunlight:
Orange Zoa's after 10 min in direct sunlight:
And finally, the concept design:
So the question is, has anyone tried using reflection to augment their lighting system? I appreciate that I won't be able to remove the LEDs from the canopy, but it seems to me that by harnessing the sun, I could save a little energy & give the corals a small portion of near-perfect lighting while having to account for adjustments in the morning. I work from home so having to make adjustments to the position & angles of the mirror(s) won't be an issue.
What are your thoughts?
Over the last few days, I have started experimenting with reflecting sunlight onto the reef from across the room. The LPS & Zoa's tend to respond w/n 10 minutes, opening to their fullest extent. Here's a few images to describe the thinking...
Here's the full tank with reflected light:
Please disregard the awful aquascape as we had a tank crash in Dec & are slowly rebuilding.
The mirror casting the reflection is 44" x 32" (mind the mess...everyone is home right now):
This is a PoV from the mirror to the display tank as positioned on the floor:
This is view of a few of the SPS colonies in direct sunlight:
And some bubble-tip love:
Green/Brown Polyps after 10 min in direct sunlight:
Trumpet after 10 min in direct sunlight:
Orange Zoa's after 10 min in direct sunlight:
And finally, the concept design:
So the question is, has anyone tried using reflection to augment their lighting system? I appreciate that I won't be able to remove the LEDs from the canopy, but it seems to me that by harnessing the sun, I could save a little energy & give the corals a small portion of near-perfect lighting while having to account for adjustments in the morning. I work from home so having to make adjustments to the position & angles of the mirror(s) won't be an issue.
What are your thoughts?