Seasonal Program Questions

[plaz]

What long/lat (geographic area) is base for the default seasonal settings?

We were thinking of trying to have less of a temp swing (like 2 degrees instead of the 4 degrees in the 76 - 80 program). Reading the manual, it says any edits are lost if the power goes out. If that is true, I guess it would probably be better on the fish to leave the default. We want to use the seasons, but were a little worried about the Hippo Tang having too much of a shift in temp (have read they need constant temps).

Thanks for any information.

PS Is 4 hours (2 in the morning and 2 at night) the max difference you can set for the halide lights when using the seasonal program?

 

[clp]

It is based on 10 N Lat - Longitude doesn't have much effect in the values for the seasonal lighting values.
The AquaController's temperature values are actually much smaller then the seasonal temperature swing in natural reef locations. Many natural reefs have 10+ degrees of variance.
The sun statement accepts offset between +-120.

Curt

 

[plaz]

Thanks Curt!
I give up - where is 10N Lat - Longitude?

 

[clp]

That should be a period after 10 N Lat and Longitude not a dash. 10 N Latitude is anywhere 10 degrees above the equator (Northern Hemisphere). The Phillipines are above 10N Lat. North latitude was chosen so that summer and winter would be in phase with the seasons in North America.

Curt

 

[Frogbone]

Question: Would you want to set the longitude to your own and only set the latitude to a more tropical value ?

e.g. I live in Minnesota, longitude is 94W , northern hemisphere.
If I wanted to simulate something like Fiji or Mashall Islands, the latitude would be about 10 ( either way, N or S )

so, 94 West and 10 North would match my location the closest ?

Would that be beneficial so I don't have to set a tank / clock difference to make it more realistic ?

 

[clp]

They still are not going to match the location you are trying to simulate, so I would just leave them at the default values. I don't think that you want them to match or you going to have very short lighting periods in the winter months, and too long lighting periods in the summer. You don't want to simulate the southern hemisphere, as that make the seasons the opposite of the Northern hemisphere, and increase heating/cooling costs.

Curt

 

[Frogbone]

But isn't the purpose of the seasonal lighting to simulate day/night lenghts of the more tropical areas?
I haven't heard of any native corals in Minnesota, LOL.

At least the longitude will make the day and night times more closely adjusted to my local area as far as median daylight goes.
The latitude then would then give me more realistic lenghts of daylight as observed closer to the equator which most coral reefs would be found.

Am i not on the right track with this ?

 

[clp]

I agree you want sunrise/sunset to be similar to where the corals come from, not your location. The default season table is based upon 10N latitude.
Adjusting longitude only does minor adjustments in the rise/set times +- 30 minutes within the time zone. For your location the rise and set times are:

Dec. 21 7:51 16:37
Jun. 21 4:29 20:06

The rise and set times for N10 latitude is

Dec. 21 6:28 18:01
Jun. 21 5:57 18:39

So there is a variation of 3.5 hours for sunrise and another 3.5 hours from longest to shortest days. In a location 10N there is a variation is about 30 minutes for both sunrise and sunset. I guess I'm not quite sure what you are trying to match up. Latitude by far dominates the rise/set times so if the location you are trying to simulate is not at about the same latitude as the tanks location, adjusting longitude is not going to have much effect.

Curt

 

[Frogbone]

I just realized that it is not the seasonal adjustments that I was worried about but my personal preferences

I have setup my tank time to be different than my clock time to actually shift the sunrise and sunset further out. That way I can enjoy a lit tank when i am at home in the evening rather than having the lights on all day and off when I get back from work

e.g. lights come on around noon and turn off around 10 pm etc.

That of course has nothing to do with the seasonal adjustments, lol. Sorry for the stupid question