Light Rail, who is using one

I lucked out that a piece of chain to pick up the slack worked out well enough on mine. If it wasnt for that, I was going to have the cord come in from the top back edge of the canopy and move back and forth with the motor on a swingarm. This way it could move left and right, but not fall down into the water.
 
the halide is a Ushio 14,000K

The T5s are 2x G-man true actinic 03, and 2x ATI blue+. I will be changing to the Sfiligoi or UVL actinics however for more 'pop' as soon as they arrive this week.
 
Here is my mover.

Its a Sunlight supply lumenmax w/ a phoenix 14k bulb in it. I am installing 2 t5's tomorrow to eliminate any shady spots.

Its a plywood box lined w/ white aluminum(I own a bender) that I am hanging from the ceiling w/ some griplock cables. I had an extra Reefkeeper that I mounted inside it to pimp it alittle more.

The crown moulding and some trim will go on tomorrow as well.

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i can update you on mine too later, maybe take some before/after pics, although it is a new tank, so the new tank in itself could be a contribution to the great looking corals.

But a couple things to note:

-I dont know what they are called, but those little white bumps on corals where they are about to sprout new branches... those 'nubs'... yeah... those things. Well, I have never seen corals with as many 'nubs' on them as with the light mover. There are nubs on the bases of the corals, there are nubs on the tips, there are nubs all along the branches. I have nubs on top of nubs... lots of nubs on nubs. There are some birdsnest pieces that have so many nubs clustered together, that the result is a mace-line ball with about 30 little spikes all over it. The entire ball is white because its all such rapid new growth. I have never seen this in anyone's tank before that I know with the same corals, with great conditions as well. Most of the time, when I see new growth on corals, its very local, or oriented in one direction only. All the 'nubs' are just facing up towards the light, and new nubs on the base of a coral are rather rare after the coral is well encrusted and has branches already. Not so with this light mover it seems. I have 'nubs' on all my corals all over their surfaces. Its insane looking. There is a pink birdsnest that has so many nubs on its surface, one might think its bleaching out or something... but its all little thorny tips sprouting, in concentrations I have never seen before.

Other corals are coloring in better all over their tissue than ever before, with vobrant color not only at their tips, but under the branches (now the light doesnt leave many shadows), and on the base as well. Several corals have colored in richer, darker, and deeper, despite the drop in wattage/gallon from previous tanks.
 
E. Borneman suggested laying something under part of the area traveled by the mover to see what if anything is falling into the tank (rubber or metal).

SteveU
 
I have something under the part of the area traveled by the mover... the reflector itself. I put an aluminum tray under the motor to catch any grease, aluminum, etc... but at least with the light rail Im using, I dont think it will be a problem.
 
I want to add a light mover to a 48" foot tank with my 250watt HQI / T5 Maristar. Problem is this is over a show tank, in a living room. The bare metal does not look like something I want to put up.

Are there any better looking ways to do this?
 
It's a completely rimless open top art form. It'd be a waste to top it with a canopy.

Are there any motor / rail combos that look good?
 
Well, the Gualala doesnt exactly look bad, and it is very low profile. I think that if you mounted it on the ceiling, and used aircraft cables to suspend the fixture, that would look cool. As for covering the rail and motor, you could simply create a box, or screen, that blocks the view of the rail and motor. Heck, simply hanging a sheet of wood or cloth from about 2-3" in front of the rail that hung down about 8-12" would block the view... much like marionette type stage if you know what I mean... For a modern look, a piece of 4' long white particle board shelving could be fixed to the ceiling to cover all but the wires.
 
Wondering if anyone is using a mover on a tank with a black center brace? Seems like there would be a big shadow everytime the halide passed over the brace.

Anyway, is anyone using one with solid center brace? Or did you have to replace the brace with a clear one?

Thanks
 
I would at least suggest wrapping the brace with aluminum foil to keep it cool. It may not prevent a shadow from time to time, but it would prevent the thing from melting.
 
I run mine so high heats never an issue. But then it's an open top frag system.

SteveU
 
I dont have a light mover in the near future plans but maybe down the road so I was wondering about the brace and shadows. Not so sure heat would be a major issue as the light would not be beating down directly at the brace 100% or the time, but good point Hahn. Definitely would need to check on how hot it got and remedy if needed.

gtrestoration ... How about the shadow? Pretty bad every time the light moves over the brace? Or not too noticeable?

Thanks
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10501050#post10501050 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DarG
............I was wondering about the brace and shadows........... How about the shadow? Pretty bad every time the light moves over the brace? Or not too noticeable?
Click to expand...

while i don't use a mover anymore i did for about 6 yrs in the 90's with great results. what i did was lined the inside of my canopy with polished aluminum sheet to make the entire canopy a reflector, i used a 4 bulb VHO setup (2 aquasun/2 03 Actinic) and had a 400w Radium bulb on the mover with no reflector and the bulb tracking about 3" below the VHO bulbs, it was hard to even tell where on the track the MH was at, there were no overly bright spots only water lines from the bulb. most people hardly even noticed by looking at the tank it had a mover. in the pics above it's too dramatic a difference as the bulb moves for my liking.
 
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