Anyone ever tried to replicate sun movement?

[anon9896]

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/leds-on-a-motorized-track.60249/
(Super bonus points for the person that catches my reference without googling it)

So you can moke a post but can't see the difference between somebody asking about a ramp, and about replicating the movement of the sun? I sure would like a simple setup but in my modest opinion there are many variables at stake.
Thanks for bombing my post , i'll remember your name

 

[ca1ore]

Facsinating topic! I played around with this years ago but could never make it work (tried using a modified garage door opener) - probably a lack of technical skills on my part. I'm also unsure that there are incremental benefits to the alternative of simply adding more lights; and whether the latter is any more expensive. I've done a lot of diving, and while light intensity changes morning and evening are quite apparent, it has not been clear to me that the position of the sun in the sky necessarily affects the incidence of radiation or the coverage. At least, not observably so. The refraction of light based on surface turbulence seems to have a much bigger affect. Perhaps increasing water movement at the surface of a tank is a better way to get incidence of radiation changes to the corals.

 

[anon9896]

Facsinating topic! I played around with this years ago but could never make it work (tried using a modified garage door opener) - probably a lack of technical skills on my part. I'm also unsure that there are incremental benefits to the alternative of simply adding more lights; and whether the latter is any more expensive. I've done a lot of diving, and while light intensity changes morning and evening are quite apparent, it has not been clear to me that the position of the sun in the sky necessarily affects the incidence of radiation or the coverage. At least, not observably so. The refraction of light based on surface turbulence seems to have a much bigger affect. Perhaps increasing water movement at the surface of a tank is a better way to get incidence of radiation changes to the corals.

Wow what a great point !

 

[Phildago]

like this

I like your idea for this, but I think keeping the lights at the same angle throughout the track would be best. That way you get a good spread on the light everywhere in the tank the entire day. You'd still get the increased intensity that you're looking for at high noon, but corals on the outskirts wouldn't be completely shaded. This say both sides of your corals would get good light. Otherwise corals in the lateral aspects would never get good light on inside face

 

[RoyinSpain]

I use Radion's programe to simulate sunrise/sunset. Simply tell it the relative positions of the 3 lamps and how long I want the effect to last for morning and evening. Of course, lamps don't move, but they start lighting up and dimming down from the east.

 

[JDnKY]

This company makes light moving rails...
https://www.lightrail3.com/

The indoor gardening industry has had these for years and would be a good place to start. I haven’t done much research on these but it wouldn’t surprise me if the tech has advanced Enough to be able to slowly tilt the lights as it moves to provide more complete coverage than if the light were in a fixed position as they move. This along with the ramping capabilities of the newer lights you should be able to simulate the suns movement and intensity using a straight rail system. I really don’t know if the benefit would be worth the cost and trouble though.

 

[dbraunst]

I'm wondering if I should go through the work of doing so...

I'm going to say no because I believe there are plenty of LED light fixtures that have a manual setting as well as a lighting simulation. We've all seen the lightning patterns and whatnot. If I'm not mistaken a fixture mimics what is literally is on the Great Barrier Reef everyday which of course could vary wildly during the course of the day. I've driven myself nuts trying to figure out what is the best settings for my Kessil fixtures. I would love for them to come up with an automated setting if that's not already available.

 

[shadesatsetbreak]

A couple things:
1) light movers for indoor gardening are not to replicate suns movement, just to access areas that normally would be shaded, making it possible to grow more plants with fewer lights.
2) water is refractive, the sun's position in the sky only really affects the brightness underwater, not how shadows are cast. Think of scuba diving with a sundial. Or better yet, try it.