Does anyone use moving lighting?

[Areseebee]

I have been thinking hard about how to best light a tank I'm building. It will be 6'x3'x2'. There are two primary constraints: (1) I'm pretty cheap and (2) ok... there's no 2. Regardless, right now MH are pretty cheap and arguably the best lighting for corals. They do have some drawbacks though, mostly heat. So the conventional thing would be to put maybe 3 250W fixtures over the tank and some T5 or LED strips for support? That will definitely generate a lot of heat and require me to buy 3x fixtures and 3x bulbs every year. Not a huge problem. I think typical wisdom would say I should keep those fixtures on for 6ish hours a day and they'll cover, on their own, roughly a 24" to 30" square, with the correct reflector.

However, what I started wondering is if I could have 1 fixture that slowly moves across the length of the tank over the course of 12ish hours. The idea is that every spot on the tank will have a dedicated MH hanging directly overhead for a good number of hours each day. This would basically mean in a 6 foot tank moving 48 inches in 12 hours or 4 inches/hour. It seems like this would have so many nice benefits: (1) The heat is almost inconsequential now. You are turning it on longer but at a much lower intensity so it is easier to dissipate. (2) You get a very natural "sunrise/set" type effect as the light moves around during the day. The corals will experience light from all directions at some point each day and would hopefully help eliminate shading issues. (3) Your aquarium is lit for more hours of the day so you can enjoy it more. (4) It would (probably) be cheaper, depending on how to build the track that moves the light (I have no idea about this part). Also there are some things to consider, obviously if you run 1 fixture twice as much, you have to replace the bulk twice as often. I think there are certain fundamental things like that which you can not escape.

So I'm curious to hear opinions on this idea or if anyone has seen it done or has ideas on how to accomplish it.

 

[GARRIGA]

Pot growers learned this a while back to be most efficient as electricity being their biggest expenditure often. Although setting up a moving rail might be more costly than just adding the necessary fixture. Might want to research how they execute this process.

 

[DCR]

Moving fixtures used to be more common on large reef tanks. I recall seeing them in fish stores over large shallow coral tanks. The ones I saw moved much faster - making a round every 30-60 seconds or so. I think the biggest advantage was that they eliminate a lot of the shadowing issues from a fixed-point light. Not sure if they can still be found.

 

[bobnicaragua]

I’ve done a lot of experimenting with different lights. LED supplemented with halides is a winning combo. Less heat than a primarily halide setup. The colors get deeper and the corals just appear healthier with halides in the mix.

On my 6 foot tank, I have 3 Reefi UNOs and 2 halides in the center, with some supplemental lights on the side.

Your moving light idea will work, but the moving part will eventually get stuck. Even when it’s working, the tank won’t be lit evenly.

 

[Stevorino]

Even when it’s working, the tank won’t be lit evenly.

This would be my hang-up on it.

I admittedly have not seen a halide setup in a really long time, but I just imagine it looking sorta wonky without other supplemental lighting. The other supplemental lighting would be easier to program to shift throughout the day than to setup a track for a single halide.

 

[Troylee]

This would be my hang-up on it.

I admittedly have not seen a halide setup in a really long time, but I just imagine it looking sorta wonky without other supplemental lighting. The other supplemental lighting would be easier to program to shift throughout the day than to setup a track for a single halide.

I still run them! Love halides and they’re dirt cheap! I’ve personally never had a problem with heat on my tanks from halides.. guess it’s cause I run open tops.. only problem with halides is the bulbs are getting hard to find! Ugh..

 

[Dburr1014]

My old tank, 20+ years ago, I ran the left side 8 hours and the right side 8 hours but staggered 2 hours. So total MH lighting was 10 and supplemented with pc's. Total on time for both MH was 6 hours.
I get what your doing but humidity is not on your side with moving parts.

 

[Rjukan]

I still run them! Love halides and they’re dirt cheap! I’ve personally never had a problem with heat on my tanks from halides.. guess it’s cause I run open tops.. only problem with halides is the bulbs are getting hard to find! Ugh..

Are MHs more expensive to run than LED and or T5? Or is that urban legend?

 

[Dburr1014]

Are MHs more expensive to run than LED and or T5? Or is that urban legend?

150w MH = 150w led = 150w t5

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

I have been thinking of this for years but doing so in an arch over the tank rather than straight across. It is doable and may want i.to looking into a motor that turns on automatically using a timer. Use the motor and setup using gear reductions to get speed desired on a track chain path. Im sure there is already motors that can be adjusted and others have saud tgis is done before but just thoughts if.

 

[Areseebee]

This would be my hang-up on it.

I admittedly have not seen a halide setup in a really long time, but I just imagine it looking sorta wonky without other supplemental lighting. The other supplemental lighting would be easier to program to shift throughout the day than to setup a track for a single halide.

Yes I'm thinking about the "wonkiness" of it too but I could imagine it would actually be nice, in the morning one side of the tank is light intensely while the other is more "dusk" like and then by the end of the day it's the other way. I do wonder if never actually having the whole thing lit would just get annoying. For the record I would want maybe some led strips to supplement and keep the tank at some basic level of lit all the time.... But not in that super intense high-par state all the time.

 

[Areseebee]

My old tank, 20+ years ago, I ran the left side 8 hours and the right side 8 hours but staggered 2 hours. So total MH lighting was 10 and supplemented with pc's. Total on time for both MH was 6 hours.
I get what your doing but humidity is not on your side with moving parts.

This is kind of a cool solution too and actually it's not like the fixtures themselves are the major expense... Maybe this is a better idea with three fixtures that have an hour or two stagger left to right (or vice versa)

 

[Troylee]

Are MHs more expensive to run than LED and or T5? Or is that urban legend?

A watts a watt… 1000w in halides or leds it’s the same price.. I get amazing coverage with 3 halides that use 750watts I couldn’t get that result with three xr30’s that’s 750watts.. I’m not gonna debate the halide vs led thing but I will say you get way more bang for your buck from halides..

 

[Troylee]

Yes I'm thinking about the "wonkiness" of it too but I could imagine it would actually be nice, in the morning one side of the tank is light intensely while the other is more "dusk" like and then by the end of the day it's the other way. I do wonder if never actually having the whole thing lit would just get annoying. For the record I would want maybe some led strips to supplement and keep the tank at some basic level of lit all the time.... But not in that super intense high-par state all the time.

I do just that with my halides here or there just cause it looks cool! I have all 3 of mine on my apex and they come on at different times while the reefbrites steady burn.. my tank light against the wall then the other end later and center goes full blast last.. same principal you want but I stead of a moving rack I have 3 halides that go in sequence. I doubt the corals care but it looks cool when my tank is super bright on one end and fades to to blue on the other. Gives it depth to the eye..

 

[Rjukan]

A watts a watt… 1000w in halides or leds it’s the same price.. I get amazing coverage with 3 halides that use 750watts I couldn’t get that result with three xr30’s that’s 750watts.. I’m not gonna debate the halide vs led thing but I will say you get way more bang for your buck from halides..

I hear you, and I wasn't thinking about it that way. I thought that LEDs use less wattage in general, but I never looked into the comparison. But at any rate, I didn't want to derail the thread that way, it was only bc the OP made the comment about being cheap. Which made me think of maybe its cheap up front but costly over time due to electrical costs.
I do like the idea of a moving MH on a track though, and I want to say I've read something similar a while ago but don't remember if it was actually complete or not.

 

[Troylee]

I hear you, and I wasn't thinking about it that way. I thought that LEDs use less wattage in general, but I never looked into the comparison. But at any rate, I didn't want to derail the thread that way, it was only bc the OP made the comment about being cheap. Which made me think of maybe its cheap up front but costly over time due to electrical costs.
I do like the idea of a moving MH on a track though, and I want to say I've read something similar a while ago but don't remember if it was actually complete or not.

Lots of people had that in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.. I can’t remember what they used.. with all these 3D printers nowadays it would be easy to make something I’d imagine. leds are more efficient in the way of not wasting electricity on heat for sure! But your electrical bill doesn’t care haha!

 

[oreo54]

A watts a watt… 1000w in halides or leds it’s the same price.. I get amazing coverage with 3 halides that use 750watts I couldn’t get that result with three xr30’s that’s 750watts.. I’m not gonna debate the halide vs led thing but I will say you get way more bang for your buck from halides..

XR 30 is 210 watts.. 630 not 750..and if dimmed (color shifting) as most do.. even less.
And a watt isn't a watt in terms of light output..
Leds are currently running 120 plus lumens/watt.
MH's are lucky to get 90 L/watt.
Yea better if done in par but it is what we have.
Soo one light produces less heat because more energy is turned into photons.

A watt is NOT a watt IF you count photons.

Takes less watts to equal the same amount.

Not sure what you mean by same price.

Yea rumor has it you need the same amount of watts (which technically MAY be MORE photons than a MH and less heat but same energy cost) to get similar results.

This only seems to occur in reef tanks. Not in hort or fw.

 

[Troylee]

XR 30 is 210 watts.. 630 not 750..and if dimmed (color shifting) as most do.. even less.
And a watt isn't a watt in terms of light output..
Leds are currently running 120 plus lumens/watt.
MH's are lucky to get 90 L/watt.
Yea better if done in par but it is what we have.
Soo one light produces less heat because more energy is turned into photons.

A watt is NOT a watt IF you count photons.

Takes less watts to equal the same amount.

Not sure what you mean by same price.

Yea rumor has it you need the same amount of watts (which technically MAY be MORE photons than a MH and less heat but same energy cost) to get similar results.

This only seems to occur in reef tanks. Not in hort or fw.

Exactly what I said above.. mh by no means is efficient in anything! Great for spread and covering large areas.. I’m say your power company doesn’t care what kinda bulb it is when you use a watt you pay for it! Being a toaster, halide, hair clipper or leds lol..

 

[Areseebee]

I do just that with my halides here or there just cause it looks cool! I have all 3 of mine on my apex and they come on at different times while the reefbrites steady burn.. my tank light against the wall then the other end later and center goes full blast last.. same principal you want but I stead of a moving rack I have 3 halides that go in sequence. I doubt the corals care but it looks cool when my tank is super bright on one end and fades to to blue on the other. Gives it depth to the eye..

Yeah this is kind of what I was thinking about, especially with a VERY slow continuous movement from one side to the other. I think I do just like the idea of using a few fixtures and staggering them. I'll have to grapple with heat but I guess I can just turn them off when I need to.

 

[laverda]

I did exactly what you thinking of doing on an 8' tank. LEDs did not even exist for practical purposes when I built it. I used a 250w DE metal halide light with T5 suplements. It worked well at keeping my electrical bill down snd controlling the heat in my canopy.
I used a light mover with the slowest ratio then available. It was much faster than what your invisioning. It would move back and forth across the tank a day while the MH was on. It was simple and reliable. I dont know how much benifit it would be on a 4 foot tank.
Amazon lists several. This one looks like what I used. Light mover