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Shifting light intensity through the day

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Darwin88

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Hi,

I've been discussing lighting for my next project in a different thread and it's got my imagination working.

I've made a diagram that I hope gives a visual representation of what I'm thinking of:

a35fa144faa464ad4708872bd8c5482f.jpg


Using 4 TMC grobeam 600 LED units with the controllers that allow a fade in/out setting, set the lights to follow a set movement of intensity from left to right, meaning the tank is illuminated for 12 hours each day but the intensity travels along the length of the tank so that no plants are under full light for the whole period. Essentially mimicking the movement of the sun across the sky.

I think this is physically possible using the controller settings.

Thoughts on how this will effect plants, fish and algae?

Thanks!


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How big/long is the tank? I would think that it would have no measurable effect. Plants will just adapt I think. Your co2 will also fluctuate or would you just keep it high?

Cool experiment to try though.
 
It's 150cm long, 45cm wide, 50cm high. The main reason is that I have a bizarre work/life schedule that has me in and out of the house at random times that follows no set pattern. When I've set my lights to be on mostly in the evening, I seem to spend half my day looking at a dark tank. When I've set them to be on through the day I spend evenings looking at a dark tank wishing I could see what was in there!

A 12 hour photo period would mean I have more time to enjoy looking at my tank but I've tried that before and blasted the plants and had huge algae blooms.

I thought a shifting light pattern would allow maximum viewing time without the whole tank being fully lit all day.

I have absolutely no idea how this would effect co2/oxygen levels or plant/algae growth. I guess it's an experimental thought then!


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It's a sound idea. as long as each plant gets enough exposure, there's no problem with spreading the light this way.
 
Cheers, thanks guys


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Your logic is sound for this use case. I think it will be interesting to see your results.
 
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