DIY Lighting Timers to mimic nature

[travis_]

I want to set my lights (main light and moon light) to mimic nature. You can find sun and moon rise and set times for any longitude/latitude online. I am planning eventually to hook up a PLC to do this, but I would still need to invest in the software and proper i/o cards and I can't afford this at this time.

Does anyone know of a low cost way, using digital timers, to set your lights to turn on/off at different times every week? Preset? Rather than adjsuting every day, I was thinking if I changed the on/off times every week this would suffice. Therefore I would need to be able to program in 52 different settings and repeat yearly. This may be hard to find with a low cost timer. I was also thinking that I could simulate the sunrise/set time using a linear scale and then vary the on/off times by ~15 minutes a week for half a year + then 1/2 a year -. Then I was thinking perhaps I could hook a time up to a timer and vary the on/off times that way. Then I got myself confused and decided to write this post to see if anyone had any experience. I am also not against manually adjusting the timers every week, but this is a bit of a PITA and as far as I can tell, I would need to adjsut on a daily basis to come anywhere close to mimicing the moon rise/set cycles.

thanks, I am learning a lot through this forum,

 

[ac7av]

Just tagging along on this one.
I am curious as to why you are trying to so precisely light your system?

 

[travis_]

Just tagging along on this one.
I am curious as to why you are trying to so precisely light your system?

I am sure you will agree that you can't beat nature, and the influence the cycle of the moon and daylight length has on every living creature is huge! I want to simulate these conditions to provide the optimum conditions the closest possible to nature and to use the natural cycles of the moon to trigger my corals and clams to spawn. As you know, reproductive cycles are governed by the moon. At some point I actually hope to attempt to breed clams and get them to spawn on their own without having to induce them.

 

[tgfrench]

For the lunar cycle try this site: http://cgi.ebay.com/Aquarium-Moon-L...ryZ46314QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I've got the controller and 2 tubes, wish i'd gotten 3 tubes though for my 90

 

[DonW]

Regular digital timers will let you set a nimber of different programs. Although it sounds novel it wont do anything to help your tank. You can get mixed results by varying the intensity of your lighting but the only way to do this is raising and lowing the lights.

Don

 

[travis_]

Regular digital timers will let you set a nimber of different programs. Although it sounds novel it wont do anything to help your tank. You can get mixed results by varying the intensity of your lighting but the only way to do this is raising and lowing the lights.

Don

Rather than varying the intensity of the moon lights, I am planning on changing the number of LEDs on at a time based on how full the moon is. Do you not agree that the cycles of the moon can induce your corals and clams to spawn? As I said, this is one of my longer term goals and I have seen first hand how much healthier a reef can look after adding moon lights that mimic the cycles of nature. I am going to get myslef a digital timer for now and see what I can do with that,

thanks for the input!

 

[DonW]

Rather than varying the intensity of the moon lights, I am planning on changing the number of LEDs on at a time based on how full the moon is. Do you not agree that the cycles of the moon can induce your corals and clams to spawn? As I said, this is one of my longer term goals and I have seen first hand how much healthier a reef can look after adding moon lights that mimic the cycles of nature. I am going to get myslef a digital timer for now and see what I can do with that,

thanks for the input!

I dont agree that moon lights will help. Inducing a spawn in a closed system is also not safe but I doubt moon lights will do that anyways. Stress will induce a spawn.

Don

 

[travis_]

I dont agree that moon lights will help. Inducing a spawn in a closed system is also not safe but I doubt moon lights will do that anyways. Stress will induce a spawn.

Don

Then what induces clams and corals to spawn in nature if it is not stress?

 

[DonW]

Then what induces clams and corals to spawn in nature if it is not stress?

For clams it has something to due with the moon but there is more to it than light. Spawning in a closed system is toxic polution and should be avoided. Our tanks are nothing even close to nature and leds are not going to change that. We dont breed clams in tanks, we use leased pieces of the ocean.

Don

 

[ac7av]

I do think that there could be some good by trying to reproduce the conditions of the area your tank inhabitance were from. This would only be useful if all your wet pets were from the same area. As far as the lunar cycle goes, has anyone tried using a solar tube lighting to bring in natural moon light? This would eliminate the need for automation of the moon lights and also provide actual moon light. As you were saying it does play a large part in the cycle of things in the world. Its just a thought but as DonW said it is probable not recommended to try and have things spawn in your tank.