Need Advice On Lighting

[blackers92]

Hey Guys

My tank currently has 2 t5 lights set on a timer to come on at 7am and go off at 9pm

I am worried about how the sudden illumination affects fish surely it cannot be good for them.

Now for my main question, I am going to upgrade to a 75 Gallon tank at the end of the year and want to have lighting to simulate different times of the day, e.g. morning, midday, evening. I don't know how I would go about setting this up. Would I have to put each light on a separate timer ( 3 plugs into the wall, three timers) or is there something that can manage all the different lights and there specific times and only require one plug socket in the wall. I am also considering a moonlight, but is it necessary? i plan on keeping Oscars

hopefully someone will be able to clear my confusion

adam

 

[Rafael Dilone]

Well different spectrum's in degrees kelvin mimic that of the natural lighting. Also the depth of your tank give affect how the lighting looks like. It will be rather expensive to set that up. But if you really want that you will need at least 3 separate bulbs as well as separate timers or one of those that is a 6 outlet plugin or so. There are these really expensive hoods that have all those bulbs in one that will give you a full days cycle. I personally just use a 8000 degree kelvin bulb and moonlight lunar lights running on 2 timers. You have your light period for 14 hours at the moment and that could cause algae problems but it seems you have not stated so.

 

[Katty]

To comment on the outlet thing, you could try this power strip (Zilla power strip). I personally haven't used it, but it has 4 always-on sockets, to use for filters or heaters or whatever, and seems to have 2 "day" sockets on one timer, and 2 "night" sockets on another timer. That could clear up the wall-outlet jam atleast. If you go that route keep the receipt at in case it doesn't work as planned.

 

[ellena]

Can you get some kind of automatic dimmer switch? The kind of thing used in those daylight alarm clocks for people with SAD?
I also think the sudden light on/light off thing isn't good, but I suppose thousands of people's fish thrive with it?

 

[meguro]

while particular light spectrums may be stronger/weaker at particular times of the day, there is also a difference in the intensity of the light (lumens) which i think is what the OP is mainly asking about. how to best imitate the natural rise and fall in brightness

 

[Biulu]

A natural way of dimming the light intensity a bit and give your fish a shock is to put floating plants in your tank. Or another option is vallis which will once grown out lie partly on top of the water.

A dimmer would be your best shot if you want to mimick natural light intensities. What is also done often by people is to start off with only 1 lamp in the morning and during the day have the full set on (2 or more lamps) and then phase out again with 1 lamp in the evening. This would be 2 lamps with 2 timers...

 

[blackers92]

I dont have a problem with algae but have been considering cutting it back to 12 hours any way.

And yes it is the sudden illumination that I worry about and the intensity of illumination, I think I may go with the two lamps and two timers, is a moonlight light worth it?

And does a dimmer work the same way as a house one? just a knob that allows you to adjust the intensity?

thanks so much for all the responses

 

[OldMan47]

A pair of timers are sometimes used to give 3 light levels. You turn on a set of lights and a few hours late add in another set. Then you shut off one set and a bit later the other set. The result is low light followed by high light followed again by low light before everything goes off. As far as spectra, the best for plants are in the 5000K to 6500K range. Lights in the higher energy ranges are for corals which I hope is not the subject in a freshwater part of the forum. If it is, my apologies and go with 8000K plus lamps.

 

[blackers92]

Haha what fishkeeper would keep oscars in a marine tank oldman47?

its going to be freshwater, I will probably go with a setup like that, it seems quite simple and wont be too expensive. I cant wait. I am thinking I will install lamps that will improve plant growth but im not sure if I will grow plants (oscars destructive nature?) either way I will still have them incase I want to grow them at a later date.