How do light timers work?

[sealife]

Hello,
I have a led light thats a bit too strong for my cichlid tank. No plants. And I am worried if it will cause algae. Its a Beamswork V4 High Lumen 48w/10,000k LED light on 50g tank.

I was thinking of buying a light timer, but I have never used one before.
I had a few questions:

1. What kinds are there?
2. Are any brands better?
3. Anything I should look for?
4. Do they still use electricity when light is not on?

Thanks guys.

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[Brookster123]

That's a whole lot of light, whew... timers are basically a clock that dictates what time electricity is allowed to pass into said component. I use woods digital timers as they've multiple settings allowed and battery backup. I wouldn't be surprised if all 8 that I run cost me $1/year idling..

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[friscuba]

You've got options. You can get a basic outlet timer at any hardware department that'll give you a timed on/off for cheap. I just picked up a Current single ramp timer for my Beamswork 600 that ramps up the brightness for 15 minutes on the morning cycle and dims it over 15 minutes on the evening cycle, works great so far. I don't know if it's compatible with all of the Beamsworks lights. It was something like 26-28 bucks from Amazon

 

[venymae]

For basic "on at this time, off at that time" you can get a timer at the hardware store (menards, home depot, etc). They usually run $5 for the basic kind.

 

[sealife]

Are my LED lights way too strong? Should I just change them so I can leave lights on longer, instead of buying a timer?

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[NigelK8485]

Are my LED lights way too strong? Should I just change them so I can leave lights on longer, instead of buying a timer?

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I would. Get something that looks cooler and has multiple colors you can program since you aren't growing plants or anything.


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