Need advice for coral greenhouse build

[N.Sreefer]

Does anybody know a light that can withstand corrosion in a greenhouse and light a large footprint? Im putting together a 20 x 30 heated greenhouse with a fiberglass growout tank. My goal is to experiment with sexual propagation with coral and mabey some tang species (anything that uses moonlight as a spawning trigger). The one issue I'm running into is how to light the greenhouse without a fire hazard.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Also if it was your greenhouse which of the following tanks would you choose for the main tank? Just trying to get other peoples thoughts on this

 

[hds4216]

Is this primarily a growout/frag system?

 

[N.Sreefer]

Growout I'm planning one tank to grow frags out to colonys then another to place colonys in so I can attempt triggering spawning. Im thinking the growout tank could be small and I likely need a rather large tank for the colonys. Depth of the larger tank is one thing im debating 2' or 3'. Only purchase so far is the greenhouse so no solid plans on the layout yet.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Also does anyone know how long/well fiberglass tanks hold up to uv exposure and saltwater?

 

[Redox]

Does anybody know a light that can withstand corrosion in a greenhouse and light a large footprint? Im putting together a 20 x 30 heated greenhouse with a fiberglass growout tank. My goal is to experiment with sexual propagation with coral and mabey some tang species (anything that uses moonlight as a spawning trigger). The one issue I'm running into is how to light the greenhouse without a fire hazard.

 

[Redox]

The million dollar question. I happen to know about this

 

[Redox]

I would be happy to discuss my findings . Message me and I will try to help you. I have had coral in a greenhouse for 20 years

 

[Redox]

Also does anyone know how long/well fiberglass tanks hold up to uv exposure and saltwater?

Mine have lasted over 20 years. White gel coat vats. Coraline grows so fast

 

[Redox]

Vats in greenhouse

 

[krash7172]

My head is about to explode. I'm planning a greenhouse. Never thought of this. Any saltwater aquaponics?

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

The greenhouse i visited 10yrs ago had 1 or 2 led fixtures in the middle of the 40' greenhouse. He only used it to supplement the sps and clams. Everything else was grown under sunlight.
D

 

[Blue Meg]

I was tempted to do one with natural sunlight instead of LEDs. I’d have to use acrylic or something other than regular glass for the full sun spectrum though.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Thanks for your responses! I'm planning to use natural sunlight for alot of the lighting but I need something to extend the photoperiod because I'm in canada and during the winter we have some pretty short days. I got a cheap ansom hoophouse so I'm Mig welding extra supports and bracing the corners, adding a 6mil layer possibly 10 on top of the existing cover and setting up 2 500 watt greenhouse heaters so it can hopefully stay up the whole year. My biggest worry with the lighting is the expense of replacing led fixtures the humidity will be high and with the large amount of saltwater I can imagine the fixtures burning out quick and possibly becoming a fire hazard.

 

[Cory]

I wouldnt even use any artificial lighting. Use a lux app and measure the lux durring the day. Ill bet you'll get 10k to 50k minimum. Your weather is better than mine with an average low of -8c in the winter. Id be worried your heaters wont keep up. Is the 6mil poly double layered?