Help needed on Moonlighting

[reefamily]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if you could tell me the advantages of having moonlighting over the tank.

We have a 55 g thriving well and another 180 g, which we have re-started, so its going thru the cycle. Recently hubby came up with a bright idea that he is going to set up some LEDs on it to act as the moon (how romantic.. )

Now the fact is he is thinking of using some Cyan lights (instead of blue - why? he told me something in greek.) Although he is very good at optics, but i have my concerns on asking him to try something like this.

In the 55 g, we have only LPS and couple of Zoos and Mushrooms.
No Fish. Any advice, input would be appreciated.

Thank you
Hema

 

[jlehigh]

Moonlights to date via LED's IMHO are solely for asthetics. I think they look cool and provide subtle tank viewing while the tank is sleeping I even made moolights for my finch aviary

Now changing the actual coloration of the LED's will change the appearance of course however unless you have a very large number of them covering every inch of the tank at a very high intencity you are not going to impact coral coloration, growth ect.. I had toyed with the idea of trying some UV LED's to see what happened since they put out the violet spectrum but I haven't becuase I am skeptical of seeing ANY results..

My only advice in making DIY LED lights is to make sure you use Ohm's law and not use too big of a power supply. You will fry the LED's which can become expensive (timewise)

 

[wrightme43]

www.kaotica.com/frag/diy/moonlight/
It has a link to a place to true ice blue 430 nanometer led bulbs (25$) for a bunch of them and how to build them into a diy moonlight. I have the bulbs very very nice. I only have run them temp. I am going to put them in the canopy I build for my MH/VHO light project. HTH. Steve

 

[reefamily]

Thank you guys for the reply. I have taken over my wife's query. I got some Leds They are called Luxeons one of the brightest in the industry by company called Lumileds. I took the Cyan ones because they still are very close to the blue spectrum but give thrice as much light.Blue luxeons are rated at 6 Lumens and Cyan ones at 18 Lumens. I also found out from the internet that Corals and other inverts thrive at the range of 450-550 Lumens and even fishes associated with the corals like clownfishes are supposed to spawn during that Light. I did a lot of research on the subject and hence am going to try the Cyan leds to see what happens. I am keeping my fingers crossed. Will let you know the outcome

 

[NaH2O]

Look forward to the update!

 

[JFDJason]

Look for leds in the 470 - 485 range ....430 is way to low

IMO....since I have added moonlights to my tank, stuff seems to be doing much better. All my corals look better, clean-up crew seams to be more active. Nocturnal animales like my stars, seem to be more active. Plus it gives the tank a little "night viewing"

 

[wrightme43]

Sorry I went back and check the super blues linked in the instuctions I linked are 475 nanometer in a 15 degree bulb. Very blue. HTH Steve

 

[Zephrant]

BTW- Costco is selling LED flashlights with a while Luxeon LED. Nice pair in an aluminum case.

I'm using them for spot-lighting corals to take pictures with- The light really makes the metallic colors show up well. Not sure why, but even bristle worms have metallic green spots on them under these.

Now if I could get some pictures of them…

Zeph

 

[Frankie]

Well I think your wrong useing blues when the true moonlight is just reflected white sun light off the moon. I made blue moonlights way back and have just redone my setup with eight 3.6 volt, 20mA,1100mcd LED's with 220-ohm 1/4 watt resistors and a muti switch power supply and find it quit real looking. even my suns open up in them while the rest of the tank is sleeping. Hope this helps

 

[RandyStacyE]

Here's a way to find out exactly what "true moonligh" looks like. Ask someone who has done some night diving.

I just saw a cool forum post showing pensil size neon for moonlight.

I think I am going to do this - this week.
http://ozreef.org/content/view/113/29/

Everywhere I read, people are debating which type of LEDs to use, what power, ohm, etc... If moonlights are for asthetics only - what would it matter which light to use. I know you do not want to "illuminate" the tank like daylight, but this neon looks great! Even if your neon is too bright, one could always dim it with a makeshift refractor over the reflector.

 

[Abissus]

Anyone have experience/comments with this site: www.thelebos.com? It sells both parts and completed moonlight even how-to plan.

It looks rather interesting to me.

 

[RandyStacyE]

I just bought this 6" Ultra Mini blue Neon tube by Street Glow. It looks so cool I found it at my local "Parts America" auto store. I'm sure these tubes are verry common. I listed a link showing the item online:

http://www.optxbystreetglow.com/ultraminiaccenttubes.htm

Once I splice in the 110V/12V transformer and rig the reflector I will post a few pics. I'm sure it will look spectacular.

 

[RandyStacyE]

Finished. It is absolutely amazing!!! My sea mats and mushrooms are just illuminating under the blue light. I do think it may be a tad too bright, but I wouldn't know how bright "moonlight LEDs" are supposed to be. I quickly fixed that by placing a small cut piece of "smoked acrylic" over the reflector I made. This dimmed the neon perfectly.

In the auto parts store I also spotted a slightly larger blue neon that is "arked" - slightly curved and already has a "smoked" plastic shield over it. I'll use that for the next one.

I'd have to say that a 55 gal tank and above would need 2 of these. They went for about $19.00 each so it isn't exactly cheaper than dirt, but super easy(especiall if you happen to have a 110v/12V transformer laying arround).