Moonlight

[steelhealr]

Hi...some great posts here on moonlights. I just wanted to post a clearer picture of my tank at night. I'm not sure how to upload here so I'm linking it from the Members section. As you can see, the luminescence is amazing and I'm blown away to see what happens after dark. It seems much less bright than a cold cathode. I have it linked to a timer so when the strip light goes out, the LEDs come on. I highly recommend it. The reason I built mine is because I didn't know anything about tank hoods when I bought my 46 gallon bow.The hood is all plastic with a central strip of glass that only fits their strip light. There was no way to upgrade my lighting without having to buy a whole new hood and I didn't like the moonlights that stick on the side of the tank. Not only is it amazing to see who comes out at night, but, talk about the beautiful light blue glow. Anyway, if anyone needs help, they can PM me....the only skill really needed is soldering. I finished this project in about 3 hours. I added a dimmer on it, but, I don't think you really need it. SH

 

[keane]

looks great SH!

i've got a set of moonlights on my community tank too. love them late on in the evening when the main lights have gone off.

give such a sooooothing atmosphere!!

will post some pics of mine as soon as i learn how to!

steve 8)

 

[steelhealr]

Great...PM me when you have them up Steve so I can see. SH

 

[Whiskerz]

It's beautiful SH I've been trying to get my friends dad to put moonlights on his 100 gallon saltwater tank. I think they would look awesome on his tank.

 

[NikkiY]

Great pics

I think LEDs are better for moonlight the cold cathode because I found the cold cathode a little bit too bright to my taste. Another good feature with LED is that you can select certain area of your tank to be lighted while leaving other area quite dark for the fish to sleep or hide Actually, my fish aren't bothered by the LED at all. They seems to be able to sleep under the soft blue glow of the LED.

For other considering the LEDs and don't want to get into any soldering, there are LEDs that are pre-soldered with resistors. All you will need to do is to wire it to a DC adaptor and use some solderless wire connectors to connect the LED to the DC adaptor. If you want more information, you can check my previous post about my moonlight.

Nikki

 

[keane]

Great...PM me when you have them up Steve so I can see. SH

will do.

steve 8)

 

[steelhealr]

Hi...I agree with Nikki's post. I find my angel fish hovering in the plants on the left side of my tank sorta listing to one side..obviously sleeping or at rest. Couldn't see this at night without stressing everyone out with a flashlight. The 'lobster' comes out scavenging too. None seem bothered by the light. As Nikki said the blue LEDS are best. The one's in my tank are 4000MCD. They sell them at Radio Shack too but these are 2600 MCD. I can't comment on whether this makes a difference in lighting or not. SH

 

[NikkiY]

Hi...I agree with Nikki's post. I find my angel fish hovering in the plants on the left side of my tank sorta listing to one side..obviously sleeping or at rest. Couldn't see this at night without stressing everyone out with a flashlight. The 'lobster' comes out scavenging too. None seem bothered by the light. As Nikki said the blue LEDS are best. The one's in my tank are 4000MCD. They sell them at Radio Shack too but these are 2600 MCD. I can't comment on whether this makes a difference in lighting or not. SH

The 2600MCD will simply be less light output (the current max MCD for LED is around 5000 to 7000). However, one can simply put two together to make up the difference. If I were to use the 2600MCD LCD, I would use a row of them along the longest side of the tank. This will give the tank a very relaxing blue glow. Then, in region where more light is desired, I will group addtional LCD to give the desire effect. OMG, I think I am going LCD crazy

Nikki

 

[NikkiY]

SH,

The new picture look amazing!

Nikki

 

[Navarre]

Picture looks great!

I have 2 sets of blue LEDs with suckers over my tank. this consists of 10 LEDs positioned around the tank and it looks great. However i am changing them soon for a different setup.

I have found a set of 4 LEDs that are designed to fit into paving slabs. What i intend to do is make a canopy and countersink these LEds into the canopy and create 4 spotlights over the tank. I have seen this done once before and it looked very nice. I will post piccys once I get around to it.

 

[Aquascaper]

What i intend to do is make a canopy and countersink these LEds into the canopy and create 4 spotlights over the tank.

Let us know how 'you' get on

As a side note: You can run cold cathode tubes down as low as 6v to soften the light - I find this very effective

 

[Navarre]

I was considering asking you to do it mate! dont like cathodes.. prefer the spots sorry

 

[Aquascaper]

I might be persuaded to fit the LED's for you in return for some coffee and spag bol?

 

[steelhealr]

NikkiY..thanks. Dont forget, you previous posts helped me during my construction. Frank

 

[konrad05]

thanks stealhealr! I stole your idea and applied it to my tank, 4 hyper led from walmart and wired to a 12V DC source