Timing Lights and powerheads.

OK, so how important is the day/night timing system. Do most people use timers? the only timer I see over and over is that coralife one, but most reviews i have read say its kinda junk. My fixture has 3 plugs antics, daylight, moon lights. Im guessing i could just leave the moon lights on always? (there is no switch for them) I know i can get those big boxy plugins, but is that the best way? Also i read about wavemaking? is that essentialy turning on some powerheads on one side of the tank and then turning those off and the other ones on the other side on?

What happens if lights are left on to long? I can imagine if they are off things die. So probably the same for too much light? (thinking if i tried to just remember to turn them on and off every day)

Oh yeah I eventualy would like to have corals and all that but im starting with fish for a while till i get a hang of everything. It sounds like they are a lot lot more forgiving of mistakes.

Glen.

 

someone here built this nice box with digital timers the only issue is that each timer was like 30 bucks. I will see if I could find the link

 

here it is I plan on making one of these some day. I got the MH's need to add VHO and moonlights then I will make one.
http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/power-centers-digital-timers-29399.html

 

Lighting and random water movement is very helpful in coral health. Most people strive to mimic a natural reef. There a lot of options out there depending on your budget and how fancy you want to get. You can get anything from an aquarium controller that does multiple tasks to a simple timmer that you can get at your local hardware store.

 

If you are on a budget like me you can is a regular time from Kmart, Walmart etc and hook an power strip to it to control several items with 1 unit.