armadillo

Hi everyone. I'd like a light that switches on gradually for my fish. Am sure that stark neon light that comes on at once must startle them. What do you use to deal with that? Are there dimmer switches, is it a special type of bulb (i.e. not neon), etc. Your suggestions, recommendations and ideas are much appreciated.

sick-lid boy

I'm 98% positive there is no such thing as a dimmer switch that will work with fluorescent lights of any type. Fluorescent lights are either off or on... no middle ground.

On my tanks, I set my fluorescent lighting up so that there are two switches- one switch controlling either one bulb or one set of bulbs. For instance, on my 80 gallon tank, one switch controls two 24" fluorescent bulbs (Aqua-Glo, Marine-Glo) which gives my tank a bluish tint and is not very bright, and the other switch controls two 36" bulbs (Aqua-Glo, Power-Glo) which is almost completely white and quite bright. Each switch controls a different lighting fixture. I can use the 24" lights by themselves, the 36" lights by themselves, or both fixtures at the same time.. giving me three levels of brightness to choose from. A set-up like this is very easy to set up... so long as you have room for two separate lighting fixtures on the top or hood of your tank.

Now on my 55 gallon tank, I do NOT have room for two fixtures, so I had to set it up in a different way which is slightly more complicated. I have a single 48" fixture with two bulbs (one Aqua-Glo, one Marine-Glo) , but I hooked up an extra switch to control the white (aqua-glo)bulb. One switch is the power switch for both bulbs- like any normal fixture that you would buy, but I added another switch after the power switch that controls the white bulb so I have the choice of either the blue light or both lights, but not just the white light. This set up requires a special type of ballast that will control one OR two bulbs. Most ballasts that will handle two bulbs will not work if one of the bulbs is burnt out or missing- and that type of ballast will not work if you set it up this way. This type of is not nearly as easy to do as the first set-up I mentioned and requires a basic knowledge of electricity. I'm certainly no electrician, but I was able to figure it out.

Of course, none of this means squat if you have the screw-in type of fixture that uses incandescent bulbs.. in that case any dimmer switch will work...

armadillo

Oh, this sounds like boyfriend work to me. I'll pass it on to him as (another) DIY project. That sounds like exactly what I want (the opportunity to choose between a softer light and the interview room ambiance).

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, I will pass my instructions on to the DIY maestro in our house!