Revolving lite rig

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reckless

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Hi all, I have been thinking of this idea for a long time now.
Basically everybody says sunrise/sunset is basically tubes 1st then mh then mh off tubes on and tubes off.
To think in nature the sun rises in east and sets in west.
So my point here and question is what about a revolving lite rig that penetrates the left of a coral in morning then around lunchtime the mhs are over the coral and towards the evening the mh are to the right of the coral.
I'm thinking get a rig and let it revolve on a motor with a clock arm precision stuff to let the rig turn. This will work out well in a cube shape tank where you can have all mhs on 1 rig.
Now why I am thinking seriously about this is that I noticed on the sps esp. acros some branches that do not get light die away/colour not that rich.
What I have also noticed on montis esp. the danaes, they come in on shipments and are growing uprite, but you cannot satisfy both sides, but to think of it these pieces are receiving light on both sides during the day as per sunrise /sunset when they are in holding rock pools from the farm they are cultured.
Please guys from all ratings in this hobby, give me your views.

 
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Sounds like a great idea! Often thought of this effect that our corals are subjected to but never thought of a revolving light fixture. Good one and keep us informed of progress.
 
He doesn't call himself reckless for nothing... ;)
 
Yes I have thought of this as well but not in the revolving sense. I suppose there would need to be some sort of clock work. But maybe find a concept dev engineer.

I was thinking of rounded rails (like a roller coaster) on which a fixture slide. Id on't really know. All I know is that the theory behind the light reaching more of the coral surface sure is worth a shot.
 
Would it not be easier to put lights on the sides of your tank and have them on timers.
 
Ever think of MH's on the sides of the tank? Im not all for this light revolving light fixture.
There are sessile organisms living in the shade created in your reef.Having the light shining from the side would just kill them.
Now you will probably ask me what happens in nature. Well it has taken years for reefs to develop and all life form has basically found their so called 'spots'. What mother nature takes away she can replace. Unfortunately we cant replicate that.
Conclusion: Its diffucult to replicate the sun and the 'True Mother Nature'.:)
 
sounds interesting niresh.makes alot of sense.this is gona be alot of graaf though,planning it through.well you are reckless anyway :lol:
 
Sounds like a cool idea, but I'm not sure if its worth the effort though. In nature everything is permanently overgrowing or poisoning or stinging its neighbours.

There is always going to be something or some part of a coral that gets a bit less light in our reefs or on natural ones
 
What about shining the lights onto a 3 mirror surface and just tilting the mirror? The tilt does not have to be much to move the beam a lot.

Hmm ok what about rotating the mirrors? Just trying to see a lighter way.
 
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Shining light through the side of the glass or reflecting it off mirros alters the wavelength of the light as it travels through the glass... or something.
 
This is a interesting subject. Cause the target area is very small so the lighting rig just has to move say about 300mm or so. Great idea Reckless.
 
sorry about the caps there brittle,
mashrie,are you aware that most of these frags of sps are indeed collected from the wild,then fragged and kept in natural rockpools,
i would agree if you refering to captive frags,the the thought of this project mite be worth trying.cool.
 
A small note - East to West does not necessarilly mean right to left.
It can even be front to back (then the rig may only need to move a couple of centimetres.

Another option - how about setting your lights up differently?

Say have a small fluorescent (1 foot, actinic maybe) on extreme left of the tank (widthways) that switches on first, then a bit further on something a bit more powerful (say 2 fluorescents next to each other or a 150W halide, then something even more (eg 250 watt halide) and then start tuning it down as you go from left to right.

Then have it all on timers, to simulate something like a "mexican wave" i.e. if you have say 6 different sets of lights (1-6) running from left to right in your tank then the timing could go something like this.

1 on
2 on
3 on
1 off, 4 on
2 off, 5 on
3 off, 6 on
4 off
5 off
6 off

This way you do not need a moving rig, just timers and lights arranged the correct way
 
This topic has been discussed for many years, but untill recently it was just too much hassle to set up a trolley with MH's above your tank (it HAS been done a few times, and reported on the 'net as being quite beneficial...

Give it another year or two, and we will all be replacing our HOT MH's and/or T5's with an array of cool running, *long* lasting, LED's. With a bank of LED's spread over the full width of a tank, and with these lights being powered with ~12V DC, it will be simplicity itself to create not only a moving "sun", but also a seasonal variation in lighting intensity. Oh, and of course "moonlight" which varies from "new moon" to "full moon" exactly as in nature.

The technology is already available - the high-intensity LED's are still just very expensive, and they need to work a bit more on improving the colour spectrum...

Hennie
 
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