Anyone using a light mover over their large tanks?

[sonofgaladriel]

I'm considering this for the 600 or 860, but would like to hear some real experiences of how it looks/works.
I'm considering using a single 1000 watt 20 K bulb and have it slowly move over the 8 or 10 foot length.

 

[hahnmeister]

Well, a 1000watt halide would cover about a 4'x4' area at most...maybe only 3'x3' if the tank is deep. now, a 600-860 is going to be what...10-12' long (unless its more square, like 6'x6'x3' in which case a mover isnt going to work)? For enough photoperiod, you would have to have a mover that goes about 1' every 3 hours...so you are still looking at something like a 20-24 hour photoperiod.

IMO, they arent worth it. A buddy of mine wanted to use one on his frag vats...one bulb to light a 8' long vat...thinking it would mean 1/2 the electricity. But all it really means is that he would have 2x the photoperiod...so he just bought another halide.

 

[redox]

they are very much worth it , it does away with shaded areas my acros couldnt be happier ,got mine on ebay from a guy maned arangamover . they were cheap and work great. look in my gallery under the pic "duct"

 

[hahnmeister]

That is true. If you use a mover to simply sway the light rack back and forth...like 6" every 10 minutes or something like that, and then back again...it does provide more even coverage. I see coral farmers doing it like this.