3 ms·
How did you automate all of this? Would love to know!
by simondlr 15y ago
How did you automate all of this? Would love to know!
- rjd 15y agoYou can buy commercial set ups that do this, but they don't have daylight bulbs, which is how I got the idea to do it to my tank. I used all off the shelf products. The first step was an electric wall socket timer. You can pick these up at any hardware store. I had one going off at 6:30am for the fish tank lights (one daylight/UV & one standard neon), second one at 7am for a desk lamp to complete the full bright light effect. On the fish tank I lights I had a second device I'm pretty sure I brought off a marine tank supplier. All it did was slowly ramp up power flow. I just put it between the lights and the wall timer and it just slowly lifted the current flow to the lights. Last bit was a dual alarm clock, first alarm at 7am played music, second at 7:15 set the alarm. Oh and the curtains, the main bit to hide the actual outside light pollution which could undermine the whole trick.
- Bostwick 15y agoI bought a sunrise alarm clock [1] to do something similar to this. It's not nearly as fancy as rjd's setup, but it works really well for me. I put blackout curtains on the windows in my room. I usually wake up at 7, so I'll set the clock to reach full brightness at 6:50, and then the alarm on my cell phone goes off at 7. It works really well, especially in winter. [1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00196LFGW/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000T3Y2RA&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=11T1K443CJSQH4HE4SZ7 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00196LFGW/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp...
- chadgeidel 15y agoDoes that clock get pretty "bright"? Does it light up the whole room? For comparison - my bedroom is about 170 sq ft.