Staggered Photoperiods for Multiple MH?

[AJ_77]

Just read another article on mobile lighting systems - using small electric motors and pulleys to transport MH fixtures across the tops of large tanks... To further simulate natural lighting (the sun tracking across the sky, supposedly).

My Q is this: for people with multiple MH over your tanks, have any of you tried a staggered photoperiod, a left-to-right, dawn-to-dusk effect using timers for each bulb?

For a simple example, say you had 3 MH spaced over your 6-ft tank, with actinics.
- 10 AM: the actinics come on.
- 11 AM: the Left MH bulb fires up.
- 12 PM: the Center MH fires up (2 MH now on together).
- 1 PM: the Right MH fires up (3 MH on together for "high noon" effect).

- 7 PM: the Left MH shuts down, leaving two.
- 8 PM: Center MH shuts down, leaving one.
- 9 PM: Right MH shuts down, leaving actinics only.
- 10 PM: Actinics shut off.

So all MH would be on together for only 6 hrs a day, and each MH bulb would be burning for 8 hrs a day (in this example). And it would look like the light source "rose" at the left, gained strength and intensity through the day, then "set" to the right.

This seems a lot simpler than installing tracks and motors and pulleys, assuming a person wanted to simulate the sun's travel over their reef.

Has this idea been done to death somewhere? Or does it make any sense at all? I don't get on the other boards a whole lot...