Here we have our solar tube. As you can see from this picture it is highly reflective. The edges of the tube are very sharp metal. I recommend using some safe leather gloves as you work with the tube.

Here we are starting to install the tube. The tube will have a natural direction it will want to roll due to the coiling process for shipment. If you have the presence of mind to pay attention to this you can make your life much easier to coil the same direction it is rolled naturally.

Every 8 inches of the coiled tube I used a bit of hot glue to hold it in place. The nice thing about hot glue on metal is how fast it cures and solidifies. This makes the process of coiling the tube very easy overall.

Here we have the finished main winding of algae reactor. We have stopped at this point 3 inches from the bottom of the tube and cut the tube and then continued the coil in the rector tube. The reason for the cut is to make it easy to attach the “T” fitting in the tube in a later step.

Without cutting the tube we will then run it up to the top of the reactor with any extra hose extending out the top. Secure this tube to the side of the reactor walls using hot glue. This will be the return hose from our tank to the bottom of the reactor.