fishfingers wrote: I use a dimmer in my fishroom which is connected to a timer, I don't use it in the mornings only in the evenings so I can still go in my fishroom when it's dark outside, it dims down over a 30 min. period, pm me if you want to know more.
I would be interested in what you are using as i am putting together something similar! PM on the way

I have yet to finalise my lighting set-up for my main tank, I built the tank into a book shelf unit and purchased dimmable ballasts at the time, i can dimm the lights manually at the moment but the plan was to utilise a timed scene controller to program the lights to come on and off softly and to blend in with some blue LED lights i also built into the hood. Only the cost of the controller i had in mind has prevented me from finishing this set-up. I saw the controller i wanted at a local electrial wholesaler, here is a link to the shop site and some new products that could also do this.
<a href='http://www.mr-resistor.co.uk/controls.aspx?t=467' target='_blank'>http://www.mr-resistor.co.uk/controls.aspx?t=467</a>
a bit pricey i know, but this is a wireless switching system. the ballasts i bought were a lot cheaper
if i can find a link to the original controller i will post it here.