lighting questions

[spstimie]

i was reading last months tropical fish hobiest and there was a article about gradualy turning lights on and off to simulate dawn and dusk. it is suposed to be less stressful on fish and be better for breeding. it said fluctuations in the cycle can even spur on breeding like the seasonal shifts. does anyone have a light setup that does this? how did you do it, and would you be willing to let me check it out? the article listed how monteray aquarium did this on one of their large tanks by slowly turning on and off the lights in sequence, but they have a bunch of lights.thx

[Madman133]

I do this but its nothing special...first my actinics come on then my right halide then my left halide then my right halide goes off then my right halide goes off and fnially the actnincs...Kind of creates a dawn/dask thing. I think alot of people just do what i do turning their lights on one at a time.

[bmwardo]

spstime, what is your lighting setup like? Does the entire system have to be either completely on or completely off? If that is the case, you may not have much of a choice without adding additional lights if you really want this effect.

As far as my setup goes. I have a Current USA metal halide system which allows me to turn on 6 blue LEDs, then 6 white LEDs, then the MH bulb. As they turn off it will just be the reverse order.

[scaast]

BOOM...my 250w HQI is on...click...it's off. No problems.

[The Grim Reefer]

There are some dimmable ballasts for fluorescent lamps but most people turn on different lamps in sequence,

There are some dimmable metal halide ballasts comming out too.

[spstimie]

bmw, i have all fish tanks(live rocks and mushrooms) so no complex lighting, just pcs that kick up at once. my tanks are all in one room and the lights dont come on till 1030 so outside light starts it off and they go off at 8 so i have the room light on and turn that off after all the tanks shut off. mostly i was just curious about how many people do this and looking for ideas as i do more improvements to my tanks.

[spstimie]

grim, do the adjustable ballasts turn themselves up and down and who makes them?

[roguemonk]

I believe he's talking about electronic ballasts that can be dimmed externally: you put them on a dimmer or controller that changes voltage by increments instead of full on or full off, and they can bring up the lamp part way. So you will still need some means of doing that (fancy aquarium controllers, x-10 modules, whatever).

Try a search on Google for dimmable electronic ballast and see what you find.

Brad

[The Grim Reefer]

Sylvania makes a dimmable T5 ballast that you need an external controller for. Not sure about the type of controller that you have to use.

VHO lamps can be dimmed if they are ran using an Ice Cap 660 ballast. There is a controller designed specifically for that application.