# Moon Lighting Question



## WaterWorld (May 7, 2006)

Does anyone know or has personal experience with good quality moon lights.
I will have a 36" 96 Watt x 2 on my 65 gallon saltwater tank and wanted to add some moon lights.

I was looking at either the Coralife Aqualight 3/4 Watt Lunar Blue Moon-Glow LED Light
http://www.bigalsonline.ca/BigAlsCA...alifeaqualight34wattlunarbluemoonglowledlight

AND

the Current USA Lunar Light - Nocturnal Blue
http://www.bigalsonline.ca/BigAlsCA/ctl3664/cp17949/si1318758/cl0/currentusalunarlightnocturnalblue

Any suggestions/comments are always welcome.


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

Of the two, I prefer the Current USA as you can always add more w/o having to accomodate another adapter.

JM2C


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

I just ordered a pack 20 of 5mm white LEDs on ebay, $.99 CDN + $4.99 shipping = $6 total. Solder gun and wire about $20. Going to solder and wire them when they arrive and see how well it looks. Maybe I can make extra too.

I looked at the Current USA ones and the ones from BigAl's--it was too expensive, and there's only like 2 LED bulbs.


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## WaterWorld (May 7, 2006)

Can you take some pictures of your project and post them up? I would like to see how it looks. What type/size tank are you putting them over?


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

By the way, this is for freshwater.

It's going to be over a 55 gallon, I think surface dimensions are 48" x 12". I'm going to use about 6-8 LEDs, depending on how bright they go.










- LEDs from ebay
- soldering gun / wire from Canadian Tire
- adapter: input: 120v, 60Hz, 12W; output: 9VDC 500mA
- speaker wire, either somewhere in the house or at an audio store/Best Buy/RadioShack

LED specifications:
Emitted Colour : White
Size (mm) : 3mm
Lens Colour : Water Clear
Forward Voltage (V) : 3.2 ~ 3.4
Reverse Current (uA) : <= 30
Luminous Intensity Typ Iv (mcd) : 4000(Typical) ~ 5000(Max)
Life Rating : 100,000 Hours
Viewing Angle : 85 ~ 100 Degree
Absolute Maximum Ratings ( Ta = 25oC )
Max Power Dissipation : 80 mw
Max Continuous Forward Current : 30 mA
Max Peak Forward Current : 75 mA
Reverse Voltage : 5 ~ 6 V
Lead Soldering Temperature : 240oC ( < 5 Sec ) 
Operating Temperature Range : -25oC ~ +85oC 
Preservative Temperature Range : -30oC ~ +100oC
Quantity : 20
Free Resistors (Work for 12v)

I'm going to base the wiring on this useful guide: http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz










I might have to either find a 12VDC adapter somewhere in the house (thanks to old phone rechargers) or buy new resistors at the correct resistance from RadioShack/Source by Circuit City.

I'm a complete noob in lighting and electrical wiring, so correct me if I'm wrong. I'm only doing this for fun, and also because LEDs are relatively safe since they use very little watts and emit very little heat.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Hey, I finally got the LED bulbs and resistors. I was all excited to finish in one night. Here are the pictures, I'll do the commentary later. Oh yeah, it's not for a 55g but for a 20g, hope you don't mind.

  


























































Edit: Please go to http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/55527-guide-diy-moonlighting-note-mods-maybe.html for the complete guide. Hope you don't mind the link to another forum. I didn't use it for marine because I know almost nothing about saltwater aquariums--but if I were to make moonlighting for marine, I would probably choose blue LEDs instead of white LEDs, and also do some research on specific light requirements for corals at night-time. Hope I helped!


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## WaterWorld (May 7, 2006)

Thanks dekstr, 
it looks pretty good. For a salt water tank it would look better in blue, I agree with you. Thanks again.


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## Katalyst (Jul 29, 2007)

Someone recently suggested trying a black light over moon lights because they are a cheaper solution. I have no experince with either and am just looking for a way to view my nocturnal fish at night, rather then to grow plants.


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## ozi (Aug 23, 2007)

Good job, it looks pretty awsome!!! 
and it gives a nice relaxing color to the layout, but you think it will be enough for the plants???


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Katalyst said:


> Someone recently suggested trying a black light over moon lights because they are a cheaper solution. I have no experince with either and am just looking for a way to view my nocturnal fish at night, rather then to grow plants.


Well I didn't try to grow plants with moonlighting. I wrote that I was just more interested in seeing the fish as well.  I'm not sure about black light. It could work. But LEDs are really cheap already.



ozi said:


> Good job, it looks pretty awsome!!!
> and it gives a nice relaxing color to the layout, but you think it will be enough for the plants???


Well the moonlighting isn't for plant growth. It's more for viewing pleasure than anything. I didn't research into LEDs' effect on plant growth. Plus it's so dim that photosynthesis can hardly occur. I have normal day lights for plant growth, and the moonlighting is more for having extended time to view the tank.



WaterWorld said:


> Thanks dekstr,
> it looks pretty good. For a salt water tank it would look better in blue, I agree with you. Thanks again.


NP. Hope I helped.


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## WaterWorld (May 7, 2006)

It looks great!


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## ozi (Aug 23, 2007)

dekstr said:


> Well the moonlighting isn't for plant growth. It's more for viewing pleasure than anything. I didn't research into LEDs' effect on plant growth. Plus it's so dim that photosynthesis can hardly occur. I have normal day lights for plant growth, and the moonlighting is more for having extended time to view the tank.


correct me if i'm wrong, but i believe that instead of solving a problem, you just created a couple more  
first, you'll have to manually change the light setup everytime you want to have an _extended time to view the tank_ and second, switching lights back and forth is detrimental to the well being of the plants.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Who said anything about switching lights back and forth. I believe you misinterpreted my statement. I specifically said I put in the moonlights on a timer. I don't really understand, how is that detrimental to plants and fish?


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## ozi (Aug 23, 2007)

i must have misinterpreted you  
i read the whole topic, maybe not 100% attentive throughout, but i never saw you saying they're on a timer, and from the pictures it seemed to me that it's either with the LEDs or with regular lights .
i'm not sure it's detrimental, and i don't have any evidence to support my claim...thinking at it again, i know of many aquarists that use different lights through the duration of the day, being set up on timers, to get a morning-day-evening effect in they're tanks, and they say it's good for their plants.
so again...awsome job!!! i really like it.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Thanks. I think I'll try it with the lights on 24/7, and see what happens. Different combinations to see what happens. So far I have upgraded to a 55 gallon, so the tank in the picture no longer exists. 

However, the 55 has a bracer in the middle which nicely divides into two 20g high top dimensions. So now I have one side lit with moonlight and the other not. Things I've noticed so far: rummynose tetras prefer the lit side over the dark side; they continue to school, although they bump into each other at times and the movement is more chaotic. Corydoras--pygymies and panda, have no preference and swim all over. Otos are more active, less shy.


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## PILLSBURY (Oct 1, 2006)

I put LED on my FW tank and on timers so as the night goes on the tank gets dark and dark..

Some of the pix didn't come out that good .....


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

dekstr said:


>


I'm thinking about doing something similar, but would like to control its brightness with a knob. I am wondering, since all the resistors are in parallel to the (-) terminal, could we not add a single potentiometer knob right before the (-) junction to allow manual control over brightness?


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## UnderTheSea (Jun 2, 2008)

Don't waste you time trying to DIY end to end on LED's. Here is a ready made strip that has served me well for 3 years now. Princess auto for the strip and the power supply (or even walmart for the variable output power supply)

The product number is 8059495


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

Started building my DIY moonlighting yesterday, it looks great and is super cheap. I only did 3 LEDs, but I think my 20G could use more so I'm going to add 2 more, might try purple to warm it up a little and make it easier to look at. Its a known fact that humans have the most difficulty focusing on the blue end of the colour spectrum, especially with LEDs. Have you ever noticed that blue LED christmas lights always look fuzzy?


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

DROOLS 

http://www.fishbowl-innovations.com/product/moonComputer


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