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RE: Light "Pipes"




(Charlie Bay wants to make light pipes to funnel sunlight into his tank. 
 Charlie, don't waste your money, the thing has already been invented! 
  Check out the next Home Show in your neighborhood and look in the 
newspaper for Australian tube skylights.  I forget the exact name - I can 
look on the paperwork to get mailing address, etc. if you want.  These tubes 
are made in revolving sections so it will fit against any roof and ceiling 
combination.  You MUST have a crawl space or something because they are 
several feet long.  I.E.  If your ceiling is also the roof, don't bother. 
 The inside of the tube has a mirror finish, the roof part has a tiltable 
mirror, and the ceiling end has a light diffuser.  The cost is approximately 
$250 each and anyone who is slightly handy around the house can install it. 
 We have 2 in our formerly dark living room, and now have shadows at night 
from moonlight :-)    They work WONDERFULLY!  Since the diffuser is in the 
ceiling, you may want to experiment without it to get a bright shaft of 
light into the tank.

I also heard of Japanese technology used to bring natural daylight from the 
outside, thru pipes or something, into buildings.  Saw this on TV.   There 
was a lot of equipment and looked complicated.

Overall, it may be cheaper to buy/build a florescent light hood for the 
tank.

Rochelle Williams
williaro at ftmcphsn-emh1_army.mil