Light mover over 8' tank

[badbones]

I am really concidering using a light mover over the new tank. I will be using 3 or 4 luminac 3's with 400hqi SE bulbs.

What I would like to know is who does this and what unint to look into to support the reflectors.

In theory, the moving light back and forth should get light to areas that would normally not receive it. It would be nice to use only 3 400watters over the tank instead of 4.

Any ideas appreciated

Thanks
Tony

[mobert]

Henry at T&T in San Jose has a light mover on his new display tank. Oh, sorry...I thought I was at my local forum. Couldn't delete my post.

[delusions]

Tony,
Doesnt a light mover have a track that is about 6' long? The Luminars are close to 20" across, so by having 3/4 (60"or 80" end to end) that would almost cover the fuller 96" of tank that you have. I think that you may be able to use 2 instead of 3/4. HTH

[Trickman2]

What happened with this Idea?

[badbones]

I was thinking of using 3 and just have the track move only 2-3 feet which should cover the area of a forth reflector. I just need to know whats out there and will it support the weight of the luminarcs.

I know someone out there has to have done this...so lets see/hear what ya'll have to say

[Alfalfameister]

Do a search on hydroponic suppliers and the like... a local pothead would know where to look...

[merlock116]

u can check out sunlight supply's website. or bghydro is another good site. the best would be to look up hydroponics or gardening supplies in yahoo yellow pages and check out a local place

[badbones]

I have seen a couple on the websites, but what I am looking for is someone who has or is doing it right now. I want to get the pros and cons as it is kinda a big investment if its not going to work.

[laverda]

I have done it and am in Irvine if your would like to see my set up. My tank is 96" long, but I only use one 250Watt DE MH light along with some T5s and PCs. I am still trying to sort out how I want all my other lights mounted. A 6 foot track will be long enough if you are using 2 or 3 lights. I do have a little extra light track, if you want. I thought I would need it as long as my canopy. I am happy with my set up so far. I got the faster motor (6RPM) at the manufacturers recomondation. They said the 1RPM motor would brake things if something went wrong. I would probably get the 1RPM set up if I was doing it again.
Steve

[Trickman2]

Steve you got some pictures that we can see
Thanks

[badbones]

Steve, I drive up the 405 everday to work so I would like to stop by if possible one night on my way home if you are available.

I also think 6' should cover an 8' tank if I center mount the luminarc 3 at one end point which should extend 10" past the stop point. this should only leave 2" of the sides of the tank not passed over. I hope this makes sense

Thanks
Tony

[Alfalfameister]

badbones:

In case Steve can't post pics, please take pics when you go see his setup and share those pics with us.

Thanks!

[Kent E]

I want to resurrect this thread so that we can get more responses by those running these. I am seriosly considering a light mover, Which brand do you have and do you like it?

[moonpod]

I don't have experience with it as yet, but I am considering it on my new setup. 10' long, I am going to try to light it with 3 pendants. I am still trying to hash out exactly how many movers I need and how to 'set it up'. I think I have established that a single rail can hold for sure 2 pendants. I am wondering if the rails are only 6' long or if I can get 'em to run the whole 10'.

[Trickman2]

I think you can add a extension rail to make it go up to nine feet

[young-d]

I just bought my set up from Sunlight Supply. I have a 6" long tank and decided to run 2 mh instead of 3 (but in my case 4- I was running 4 mh, 4 pc, and 4 vho). I had to cut down when I moved because of a pool.

On my set up I am running two 6rpm motors on a single 6" track. I bought two Reef Optix I for two 400 watt mh.

I also bought the robo stick; a stick that Sunlight Supply recommened to help balance the pendent.

I can take picks of the goods, at this time all of the stuff are still in their boxes. Hope to have it up this coming week or next. It will depend on how trick I want it to look.

[Trickman2]

lets see some pictures young when you get it setup

[moonpod]

Originally posted by Trickman2
I think you can add a extension rail to make it go up to nine feet

Yeah, but my tank is 120" long....

[HippieSmell]

I looked into this about a year ago, and the best thing I could find were the light movers that use 1 RPM motors. That would work if you wanted the light to move across the tank multiple times per day, but at a recent trip to Radio Shack, I found a little hobby circuit board that has instructions to make a servo motor do anything you want. Before that, I was looking at PLC's (programmable logic controllers) that were way too expensive. The radio shack thing was $50(?) and would be pretty cool. FWIW

[Kent E]

Where are the 1 rpm motors? I couldn't find anyting that low.

moon, you would only need 8' of rail. The light fixture won't need to be at the exact end of your tank. Reflectors and light spread take care of that last bit of tank.

[moonpod]

Ah, I understand what you mean Kent, but I was thinking in terms of mounting. I guess the rail doesn't have to be the length of the tank.....how do you mount these things. There's NO WAY I'm hanging it from my ceiling (way, way too high).

[Kent E]

I'm thinking about mounting it in the canopy, which will be built special to accomodate it and lumenarcs. Anyone on 1 rpm motors?

[Sparkysreef]

any updates or pics yet?

[Kent E]

I have installed this in my 8' tank. I have two 250 watt with lumenarc 3s lighting the tank and its great. Great colors. I do, however, have a triangular shadow on the back wall in the middle but its not large and I don't care. For a 10' tank 3 lumenarcs would be plenty. It has only been a few weeks so the corals are regaining their color from the tank switch and I am waiting to see if there is actually an improved color from the light variation. I previously lit my tank for 7 hours but now with the movement, I light for 11 hours. SO far so good! I am pleased.

[Carl_in_Florida]

we are absolutely going to need pics!

Carl