Lights: Timer on a Dimmer

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Andyroo

Andyroo

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Apr 17, 2011
1,195
508
150
MoBay, Jamaica
www.seascapecarib.com
Wise Y'all,
I'm looking for a dimmer-switch with a timer. Not seeing anything on Amazon, so checking the hive-mind.

I've got dimmable LED's in the light-box above the tank, which seem do be doing a lovely job - lovely hatched light, plants (when the SD don't eat them), algae, mosses, surface/emergent plants etc.
However, the switch is not on a dimmer and the tank's hallway is closed & dark. When switched on, it's a hard "BRIGHT" that the fish don't appreciate.

What I'd love would be that the light turn on automatically at 5:30, starting from zero & taking 20~30minutes to get to its full beam. I'm up at 6, so the fish would be ready-to-go before the dogs get raucous.
Then turn off again over a similar 20~30min at 10:00, reminding me that "just one more episode" of a something stupid on Netflix isn't a good investment.

Something that didn't shut-off, but only dimmed to near-zero overnight might also be good - a moonlight effect.

Currently it's on a Honeywell timer set for 5:50AM with the hard-bright, which means I'm woken a bit early by the sound of groggy-grumpy pre-coffee arowana soaking the carpet...

Preferably something from the building trades or even gardening/horticulture rather than aquarium specific: a) cost & b) fit into existing switch plate, as the Honeywell does.

Blessup.
 
I would use a dedicated night light that's left on 24 hours. Especially with arowana. A 5 watt LED light wouldn't affect your electrical bill at all.

Much cheaper, more reliable, less effort than a timer.

Use your other lights on top as you need, the night light is just to solve the issues you have.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jjohnwm, deeda and Andyroo
Don't disagree, but I like the idea of reducing the light-shock so they can wake up more slowly, naturally. A bit of crepuscularity might be good for the aro & RTS, maybe spur some spawning in the SDs.

My wife's got these fairy-string jar lights with solar charger hanging in the trees. I was thinking of stripping the guts & hot-gluing to the ceiling, to charge by the tank-lights & give a wee starry glow overnight. This would save me doing a formal wiring thing, and keep the fish from up-orienting to the robo-vac's charging light.
 
Rekindling, as the loaches & eels are going into that tank next week (or at least ASAP)
Corpuscular, so 90minutes+ from zero to full-bright would be the plan, if there's a product/switch that y'all can point me towards.
I don't understand why this isn't common on Amazon; I'd love to wake up to this sort of thing.
 
Sounds what you are looking for is a ramp timer. Most of these 'Aquarium' types are usually low voltage meant to go inline on a 12-24v.
Here is an example of what Im describing.

I dont know of any plug in style 110V kind of ramp timers like that but you may be able to wire something in if you have a little electrical know how and cut the plugs off and hardwire in one of the low voltage aquarium types between the transformer and LED's.
 
That looks pretty spot-on, DMD123 DMD123 , but the big tank's going to need this system wired from the switch, methinks. It's a normal recessed dimmable LED system/bulb like you'd have in your kitchen... and is the rest of this house. It's already on a timer at the switch, I "just" need it to dim & brighten on that timer-switch, too.

Having said that, this ramp switch is absolutely going to the less elaborate lighting plan for the office tanks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DMD123
@ndyroo, I was thinking a plug in style 110v set up, the wire in one will be a lot nicer for sure. I have simple Beamswork LED lights but they do make some nice dimmer timers for their lights. Not really a ramp feature but the lighting is too bright to begin with so the dimmer is important. I have the blue light come on at setting 1 (out of 10) about an hour before the regular light comes on at setting 4 (again out of 10). The same process in the evening with the blue light being on an hour after main lights go off. This works well but not as slick as the ramp timers Ive used in the past... only problem has been longevity. The ramp timers in the past have only lasted a short period of time for me, maybe 8 months to a year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Andyroo
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom