in floor tank

[faust]

we are in the process of building our dream home. my wife as come up with the crazy idea of sinking a 4' wide x 8' long 2' deep tank in the floor. while this is do -able. cannot figure a way to light the tank other than from the sides which i dont think would let enough light for the corals.. any thoughts

[SubRosa]

Suspend a 1000W metal halide from the ceiling above the floor. Or possibly some sort of skylights/solar tubes.

[sambrinar]

It might depend on where in the house you put it, ie, center of room, by a window. skylight might be good, but the light might get too dispursed.

If you had a greenhouse type of room with it in there, that might get enough natural sunlight, or a whole wall of glass? Just a thought

[faust]

Originally Posted by sambrinar

It might depend on where in the house you put it, ie, center of room, by a window. skylight might be good, but the light might get too dispursed.

If you had a greenhouse type of room with it in there, that might get enough natural sunlight, or a whole wall of glass? Just a thought

the 2 walls will be structural glass block on opposite sides of the room 10' high, fire place on the end of the room but the ceiling height is 16'. vaulted
4, 24" x 48" sky lights are going in too

[erawling]

Well if your asking for opinions its too much of a hassle.I mean think of all the other things you would have to do too make this work,water changes,a sump setup and do you really want open water in the middle of you living room??
I don't want rain on your parade but for a tank that size lighting is going to be the least of your concerns.Thats just my two cents

[Midnight]

I have seen table top tanks that light from the sides that work good. Will the house have a basement that would make taking care of the tank easy??

[Midnight]

You could do like the tank here in Orlando at Sea world where they have sharks and stuff in it so it doesn't need strong lights. I know its not a reef but you still get the cool effect of walking over water with fish underneath you.

[chrome91]

someone told me once that you cannot light from the sides of the tank. fish try to balance themselves by making light hit both of their eyes equally, and i guess lighting from the sides screws up the equilibrium

[michael_cb_125]

Have you looked into the Japanese MH Spot Lights. They could be mounted directly on the ceiling and aimed down to the tank.

Check out Glassbox-Design for more info on these lights.
I have checked with Eric Michael about getting these lights, and he said that they would be available "sometime".
~Michael

[l3fty999]

Originally Posted by SubRosa

Suspend a 1000W metal halide from the ceiling above the floor. Or possibly some sort of skylights/solar tubes.

I think solar tubes, if properly done, could work. And if money isn't a real big deal, you might as well do it for other parts of your home, so you can save a little on the power bill and have a little more money to run your tank. And by the way, are you thinking of the fiber optic lighting? When you say solar tubes, that's what I'm thinking of. And some say the idea of a tank in your floor may be hard to maintain, but with a lot of thought, I think it could work. But you know, that's the cool thing about this hobby, it stimulates brain cells that may never get used for anything useful.

[funkpolice]

I can see maybe a FOLR, but a full blown reef would be a legistics nightmare. You wouldn't be able to really explore the tank and see all the cool stuff. I would do a cylandrical tank in the middle of the room, viewable from 360 degrees.
bill

[l3fty999]

Originally Posted by funkpolice

I can see maybe a FOLR, but a full blown reef would be a legistics nightmare. You wouldn't be able to really explore the tank and see all the cool stuff. I would do a cylandrical tank in the middle of the room, viewable from 360 degrees.
bill

THERE we go! Do that and then use the fiber optic lighting.

[Amnestia]

Have the tank itself several inches below the actual floor and have MH's that are built into the floor itself, with the actual mh enclosure jutting above the floor and angled down into the tank. Kind of like this...
mh floor mh
\--\_________/--/
_______________
top of tank

Have the mh's pointed at an angle into the middle, since it's a long tank have 4x 400w mh's with 2 on the periphery angled inwards and 2 in the middle pointing straight down. Build a casing for the mh's so you cant step on it and break it and you'll only lose a small bit of floor space to the light enclosure.

[funkpolice]

you wouldn't be able to see the tank through the lighing.

[SeahorseBT]

I would be cool if you could see it in floor and also go into the basement and view it from the sides.