I have a nikon 4300 and all the tank photos i have posted have been done with it, there was a learning curve... I would encourage you to try this though! When I first started taking shots I zoomed in all the way, and my shots were horrible, quite by accident i discovered it I didn't zoom in (and I am not even talking digital zoom) and just did a close up shot with no flash, they came out great.

I would encourage you to fiddle with your settings and experiment some more, it will probably pay off.

as for timers, I don't have any digitals, I have been running some HEAVY DUTY timers I got at lowes without a problem. (I only have 175 MH on it though>)