track light?

[yaktop]

this is for my future 270.

http://www.sunlightsupply.com/product.cfm?sid=400EEE8AE0815D553469C5CDBA578B2D&p=719&cs=products%2Ecfm%3Fsid%3D400EEE8AE0815D553469C5CDBA578B2D%26c%3D48%26kys%3D%26pgi%3D1

all these reseached have a motor that turns 6 or 10 RPM's which is to fast - the movement of the sun would need the lights to track the full length in 8 hours. We could save a fortune if someone could figure how to slow it down.

any ideas ?

[Double-J]

Put it on a timer.

[yaktop]

wont work the way it should. it should start at one end of the track at the beginning and end at the other at the end. otherwise it will go back and forth all during the cycle. or to use short times, the wheel is probably 3/4" of inch at 6RPM and one minute times would still do the same thing.

need a way to have it go very slow through a 10 hour +/- cycle for X feet. probably cant be done but lots of smart people here.

[Crusty Old Shellback]

I use one on my 7' long 400G tank to supliment the NSL that the tank gets. I have 2 X 400W DE MH pendants mounted 2 1/2 feet apart on it. It travels about 3 feet total acorss the tank. With the light set up this way, the tank is almost constantly lit at all times. The light will go a little dim at one end of the tan as the light moves away from that end and then lightens back up, almost like a cloud is passing across the suns path. So far, it seems to be working just fine and my corals are doing good.

I understand trying to replicate the suns movement but I think it is not useful. You would one, need a major light source. Two, the light would have enough spread to cover the whole tank. I understand that the light intensity will vary on different parts of the tank as it moves acorss but the whole tank will need to be lit during the photo period or you may run into problems getting enough light to all of the corals.

In the ocean, a 7' streach of the ocean will have the same amount of light across it at all time sduring the suns travel. Meaning that if you put a light meter on the reef at 7 feet apart, throughout the day, they will both have the same reading as each other. It will vary in intensity as the sun pases over but each end will be the same. Does that make sense?

[yaktop]

how many times do your lights go back and forth on a given day? is it 6RPM as I indicated, must be alot. not sure I like it but that might be the tradeoff.

[Crusty Old Shellback]

It is a 6 RPM motor. Never really counted but I can go time it and deduct from that.

[glenc]

The biggest benefit of the track light is that light is dispersed evenly. It doesn't matter that it goes back and forward once every few minutes, what matters is that the angle of the light changes thus allowing for a minimum of shading more even growth.