Rack Em Up! Garage tank rack project
- Thread starter DMD123
- Start date
Got my 46 bowfront laid out. Pretty sure Im only doing 5 plants total and will let them fill in a bit.
Want to keep it simple and natural looking. Decided to not move over all fish from the 65B. Not wanting hiders like the Raphael cats. Looking for more active cats like a hoplo or maybe a group of cory cats
Want to keep it simple and natural looking. Decided to not move over all fish from the 65B. Not wanting hiders like the Raphael cats. Looking for more active cats like a hoplo or maybe a group of cory cats
Well this is weird, another Beamswork timer issue. This one has been going months with no issues then last night I come in and it would not turn off. Time was correct and on/off times were also fine but noticed the blue channel had stopped working on this one too. I am using the EA full spectrum fixtures which have red, green, white and the 2nd channel night mode blue. The timer was doing both channels at the correct dimmed setting but now it stopped the blue...and wont turn off
With the cost of these Beamswork timers ($17.53 each x5 lights) and issues Ive had. Im thinking to just run the 3 bottom tank lights at full but just suspend them above the tank in the rack and then just wire all 3 bottom tanks to a regular timer. I didn’t want to do it this way but a benefit would be that it would light up the garage a little which my wife would like.
This is weird. I have 12 of these BeamsWork timer/dimmer modules running 48", 60", and 72" BeamsWork DA and EA LED fixtures, and both the timer/dimer modules and the light fixtures themselves have been running flawlessly for more than 3 years. Are your timer/dimmer modules exposed to a lot of moisture? I mounted mine on the front of each tank below the water line, upper left corner, as shown in the evening-mode shot below. All the tanks on the lower level have their lights turned off already; the upper level tanks still have the blue actinic lights on.
It's that universal fix-it for the modern world- unplug it and try again. Really high-tech stuff!
Ordered my last Beamswork dimmer/timer today. Only one tank in the garage is not a Beamswork fixture and that is the 30 gallon puffer tank. Been very happy with these fixtures along with the timers. I went with full length lights but could have easily done shorter ones. My 36”, 30 gallon only has a 24” light and it looks fine with the lighting inside the tank just a bit odd with a short fixture.
My two recent timers do a weird thing... I cant get the blue lights to come on with the timer. I have to manually push the minute button to turn on the blue lights in the morning. This was why I sent one back recently. I will need to watch tonight but I believe that when the blue light should be on before the fixture turns off is also not working correctly.
Well sure enough the two new timers do not work correctly for the blue lights. It works as an on/off for the white/color mixed channel only. So no blue light beginning the morning or closing out the day. The other 3 timers all work the way they should but the new ones dont... unless I missed a setting somewhere? Will try and decode the instructions and see
I think I missed it, saw someone on Amazon comment on bad instructions, lol
“3. Press 5 seconds to set the on and off cycle, hold the hour to set the day and hold the min to set the night cycle. When it flashes "on" set the on time then wait... when it flashes "off" set the off time.”
“3. Press 5 seconds to set the on and off cycle, hold the hour to set the day and hold the min to set the night cycle. When it flashes "on" set the on time then wait... when it flashes "off" set the off time.”
So user error on my part, lol. I did not remember that each channel has its own timer. I had forgot to turn on the blue channel timer. Got to it this morning so it should be fine now. It now gives me one hour of blue before the main lights come on and then an hour of blue light after main lights go off. Not a ramp feature but still very cool effect.
I had a feeling that might be the case, as the programming of these timers is not very intuitive. I wrote a long description of how to program these things in my Amazon review, here-
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H27JPWK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I still have a Current USA satellite plus going on my 30 gallon. I have a ramp timer I can use on it but the downfall is that you cant have a custom dimmed setting going on it. So you would get the cool ramping effect but lights would be on 100% all day. Thats what I like about the Beamswork, you can dim down the lighting. This really helps keep algae in check.
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This light thing can get pretty crazy. There are units that can be programmed to do just about anything short of making coffee in the morning, but they are seriously expensive. Apparently different kinds of reef organisms require very specific kinds of lighting; huge overkill for a freshwater aquarium.
The garage fishroom is still a work in progress. Ive added a second Aquaclear 110 to the one 90 gallon and really like the flow in the tank now. I have another ready to go for the other 90.
Just finished water changes this morning and love the Beamsworks lighting in the morning.
The 30 gallon on the bottom middle is a different light with just an on/off timer. I might just splurge and go with another Beamswork setup. It is just such a cool effect.
Been playing around with timers and cutting down the number of hours the tanks are on. I really didnt think about it but most were on over 12 hours. Of course this means algae growth. So Im trying to shoot for a later start and maybe try for 10-11 hours on instead.
Just finished water changes this morning and love the Beamsworks lighting in the morning.
The 30 gallon on the bottom middle is a different light with just an on/off timer. I might just splurge and go with another Beamswork setup. It is just such a cool effect.
Been playing around with timers and cutting down the number of hours the tanks are on. I really didnt think about it but most were on over 12 hours. Of course this means algae growth. So Im trying to shoot for a later start and maybe try for 10-11 hours on instead.
LOL! All fishrooms are a work in progress! As I posted earlier, I'm getting ready to change out two of my 55s for new Aqueon 75s that I picked up at Petco this week for $105 each. That means that I will need to modify the stands for these tanks, so it is going to be a project. Perhaps I will start a separate thread on that project, much like this 'Rack 'Em Up' thread.
I agree about the early morning and late evening lighting being super cool with just the actinic lights on. I usually spend an hour or so watching the fishes before I go to bed, and there are all kinds of activities going on that you don't see in the daytime. In fact, for some of my fishes I get the impression that many of the most important social interactions occur in dim light, when the fishes not preoccupied with foraging for food.
I do agree about 12+ hours of 6500K light being too much if you're concerned about algae growth. The one feature I wish Beamswork would add to these units would be the ability to program two light cycles per day. I have enough natural light in my fishroom that I really could turn the 6500K lights off for at least 4-5 hours in the middle of each day. Maybe the next generation of dimmer/timer module will have this feature.