Auto Dimming lights?

[Charliegrs]

I know alot of aquarium lighting fixtures have controls that will automatically turn the lights on and off for a programmed time, but Im curious, does anyone know if there are lights that will slowly brighten when they come on and slowly dim when they go off? To mimic the rising and falling of the sun. Basically a fully automated light system. I hope I worded it correctly so people know what Im talking about.

Ive looked online for something like this, but it seems like all I find are systems that just turn themselves on and off for whatever time you program them to. From what I understand its not good to have lights that just come on in an aquarium as it messes with the fishes circadian rythms. I would like to find a T5 or LED light system like the one I described.

 

[bjohanson1234]

I know that some of the fancier LED lights do it. t5's and MH are more difficult to dim and more expensive so they tend to just turn on. If you want it to dim, your best bet is to invest in an LED system.

 

[BL1]

The new plasma lights coming out are dimmable as well. There's a guy on RC that did a 1000g build using them.

 

[Bifferwine]

I don't know of any dimmable MH or T5 lights. I don't even know if that technology is capable of it.

Lots of the LED systems are dimmable, however. They are just a ton more expensive than T5 or MH systems. Dimmable lights are for our aesthetic pleasure only -- they don't serve a purpose for the livestock. So I wouldn't base lighting decisions on that factor.

 

[sen5241b]

Some lights have the sunrise/sunset feature.

One bad thing about having lights just pop on and off is that it drives the fish crazy. I had a clown who would jump out of the tank when the lights went off.

 

[dcantucson]

My old LED Solaris system did that and it was very cool. It also mimicked cloud cover at various times during the day. Too bad they went belly up. :(

 

[Bifferwine]

One bad thing about having lights just pop on and off is that it drives the fish crazy. I had a clown who would jump out of the tank when the lights went off.

But even if you don't have dimmable lights, you can use timers on all lights (MH and T5) to turn actinics on first, then daylights. This helps to avoid startling the fish.

 

[bjohanson1234]

I don't know of any dimmable MH or T5 lights. I don't even know if that technology is capable of it.

The technology exists for dimmable flourecents. They are used more in office settings that auto-dim based on the ammount of natural sunlight that comes in through the windows. It saves on lighting costs.