Why is using the photocell important?

[vijaym85]

There have been some postings in the general forum on RC regarding the natural currents of the ocean at night. My wavebox as you know came with a Photocell to turn the pump off when the lights go out. What exactly is the idea behind doing this? How does stoping current mimic the ocean which is always in motion? Also should all internal pumps be stoped except for the return line or just the wavebox?

I am sure it was included for a reason but one which eludes me at this point, I certainly am eager to understand the motivation behind this innovation.

Thank you!

 

[figuerres]

I am not sure why that part comes with that setup but...


tides and currents in the sea are effected by the location of both the sun and the moon.

coral spanwing for example happens (as I recall) at a high tide at night when the water is less "active" than other times of the year.

other things like fish spawning and sea turtles laying eggs are also key'd to night time high and low tide cycles where at peak high and lowest ebb the water slows down for a time.

also if you have fish they might benefit from less action at night to help them stay in "resting" locations.

and some corals may feed better at a "slack tide" at night.


-----


I'd love to be able to calculate slack tide for a reef control system!

I have the info for sun and moon calulations to program with but tide tables also take into account the local geography, bays have different tide patterns than open coastlines for example.

 

[rvitko]

It is totally optional, many people want it off at night for the noise. Generally the winds die down at night at reduced thermal energy is entering the sea from the sun so the ocean does get much calmer.

 

[hahnmeister]

Perhaps the best option would be to use the photosensor, but not so it picks up the main tank's lighting. You could program a $20 digital timer (or leave it on random) to run a small lightbulb that would control the photosensor. Then you would have high and low tide simulation regardless of the main tank's lighting.

Not sure how you could program one over the long term for moon-tidal simulation though...

 

[rvitko]

Personally, I don't use the photocell on the wavebox, I do however use night mode on my multicontroller to slow the pumps.