Ex-Or ensures night follows day for exotic fish T

Health of hundreds of exotic fish and rare marine creatures is safe in the hands of Ex-Or , European leaders in lighting management.

The health of hundreds of exotic fish and rare marine creatures is safe in the hands of Ex-Or , European leaders in lighting management.

Ex-Or's scene-setting and dimming system is being used to simulate sunrise and sunset by World Museum Liverpool in the quarantine areas of its unique Aquarium section, which displays the fish in their underwater habitats.

Mimicking the natural lighting patterns of the fish is vital to their health.

"Our SceneSelect II system is used in all sorts of situations where differently lit scenes need to be called up, but this is certainly the most unusual use we have come across so far," said Ex-Or marketing manager Charmian Cvek.

A massive GBP35 million investment has doubled the size of World Museum Liverpool and added to its attractions.

The Aquarium is one of the museum's most popular sections.

Hundreds of colourful tropical fish live in displays representing coral reefs, lagoons and other settings, each with life-like models of rocks, corals and seaweeds.

Said Charmian: "Fish are brought into the museum from all over the world, but before they can be placed in the public display areas they must be quarantined for three months to ensure they are free from disease.

They are kept in a number of quarantine rooms, and it is vital that the patterns and times of sunrise and sunset mirror their natural habitats.

"And this is why they came to Ex-Or.

We supplied and fitted SceneSelect II controls throughout all the quarantine rooms.

The controls can be easily programmed by the user to pre-set the desired lighting scenes and then recall them at the touch of a button.

In this case, the sunrise and sunset times match the time of day and night appropriate for the particular type of fish in each quarantine room.

SceneSelect II causes the lights to automatically brighten, and then later dim down, over a 20 minute period to simulate the sun rising and setting".

She said the Museum needed a lighting system that was totally reliable in operation so there would be no threat to the fish due to lighting failure.

The system also had to be easy for museum staff to programme in order to match the different lifecycle patterns of the many breeds of fish brought in for quarantine.

Ex-Or's SceneSelect II offers many other user benefits - increased lamp life and energy cost savings amongst them - but for World Museum Liverpool it is its ability to safeguard their rare and exotic fish that is paramount.

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