yet another moon light thread

[rDr4g0n]

i plan to build one for the purpose of watching my noctural inhabitants. i understand that real moonlight is at a certain spectrum and all, but if i attempt to duplicate that spectrum, will the nocturnal creatures still come out under the impression that its nighttime?

i just wanna figure out how blue, my blue leds should be before i buy em and wire em up.

 

[Witfull]

some say blue,,,some say white,,,,

i use one 5wt white icecap moonlight in my 6ft 210g reef. enough to illuminate without being to bright.

now if you want true nocternal critter viewing,,,red light.

 

[Woodstock]

I prefer the blue cast... so I have one blue led night light. I am amazed at how deep that light penetrates! I have it on the end of the tank pointed through the tank to the other end and it lights up the tank and the wall on the far side! LOL.. sorta like a night light for the room

 

[rDr4g0n]

soooo about this red light... will any red led work? it wouldnt be too much to rig up red and blue that alternate to create purple lol the LSD tank!

 

[Witfull]

red is as easy as any other color,,,but the police may wonder about the new "red light district~"

 

[rDr4g0n]

red is as easy as any other color,,,but the police may wonder about the new "red light district~"

the fishy disco

 

[PhilOlsen]

I have both white and blue on different tanks and I see more activity with the blue, it does not mean that the "critters" are more likely to come out with blue, I just think it penetrates better showing more detail than the white ones do. My vote is for blue.

 

[rDr4g0n]

this is completely random but uhh... do ya think they notice blacklight? i have one and i was using it to peer into the tank at night. lots of stuff glows bright orange!!

anyways, that was more of something fun to do, not a reasonable lighting method.

 

[BrothaWolf]

I have 7 blues on my Cube I really like them Makes the tank look cool and you can see what your critters are up to. Of course I still keep the flash light handy for spot checks My new light has 9 blues and 9 whites. I cant wait to see it in action

 

[rDr4g0n]

ive been searching around... www.unique-leds.com has lots of stuff for cheap with no minimum order. they have a "5mm Deep Blue Led" that emits the moonlight spectrum of 450nm (depending on who you ask). its 1500-2000mcd which means its a reasonable brightness, but not too much. they also sell the little led holders so i can drill small holes in my hood, put the led and holder in it and it will look nice n neat. of course i have to buy the resistors and a small power supply and do some math

they also have some blue leds that are diffuse, which would provide more equal coverage, but are not nearly as bright.

im probably gonna order some once i get home and double check whatever power supplies i have lying around to use for the lights.

 

[BrothaWolf]

How much is all this gonna cost? You can get some cheap moonlights for your hood and all you will have to do is plug em in

 

[DeepBlue]

I have the SunPod 150 HQI that has the built in lunar and moon lights (blue and white LED's - 6 of each) I primarily use the blue lights as the whites give off a little too much light and some critters stay hidden until those are off. The blue also makes some of my corals look really sharp!

 

[Dragon Wrasse]

I use Digikits 420nm LEDs...I have these on all three of my tanks and am very pleased, they work great and have high intensity, you can have them custom make you a set or you can DIY like I did...here's a link.

http://www.digikits.com

 

[Dragon Wrasse]

this is completely random but uhh... do ya think they notice blacklight? i have one and i was using it to peer into the tank at night. lots of stuff glows bright orange!!

anyways, that was more of something fun to do, not a reasonable lighting method.

I too, tried black light on my softy tank and through research found that its not healthy for your tank it emits to much UV radiation. Here is just one quote that I have found on the subject, "Blacklight has tons of that nasty ultraviolet, and our animals don't like that at all! Save it for the bowling alleys or fuzzy posters!"http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/lighting/l/aa031300e.htm
Go with the natural moon light wavelength of 420nm.....just my two cents.

 

[rDr4g0n]

those blue leds i linked above, with resistors and the led holders will come out to about $12 shipped. i have old power supplies laying around that i can massacre to power the thing. all i have to do is be sure to seal it well so salt creep doesnt erode it.

i like the digikit ones, but i think i can probably do it DIY for much cheaper. the method is relatively simple anyway. the leds im looking at say 450-460nm... is that too far from the 420nm you guys are saying to use?

ya know what... im starting to notice that purple leds are rated for the 420nm range, not blue... hmmmmm.... just under that, in the 400nm range is UV...

 

[sasquatch]

Moonlights have been around for a while now, Ive never done one because of the potential to create spawning effects that resulted in, loss, floods etc, is this not happening? Would really like to do some but dont want my 2 corals to get all , well, you know lol. Steve

 

[rDr4g0n]

last time some corals spawned in my tank, there was an explosion of nuclear radiation. the feds said it wasnt my fault. they said i couldnt have known that brownsville tapwater + salt + coral spawn + blue light = nuclear bomb.

they were wrong.

 

[sasquatch]

sounds dirty lol.Steve

 

[Dragon Wrasse]

those blue leds i linked above, with resistors and the led holders will come out to about $12 shipped. i have old power supplies laying around that i can massacre to power the thing. all i have to do is be sure to seal it well so salt creep doesnt erode it.

i like the digikit ones, but i think i can probably do it DIY for much cheaper. the method is relatively simple anyway. the leds im looking at say 450-460nm... is that too far from the 420nm you guys are saying to use?

ya know what... im starting to notice that purple leds are rated for the 420nm range, not blue... hmmmmm.... just under that, in the 400nm range is UV...

You can just buy the kits from them also....420nm is Blue.....I've built three sets useing there LED's here is a link.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/10-s...goryZ33713QQihZ019QQitemZ8012435979QQtcZphoto

:bouncer:

 

[BigAl07]

Any updates? anyone else working on your own LED configuration? I have one of these
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=12760&N=2004+113544

and LOVE it but would like to have something smaller that I can drill & mount where I want. I don't have the electrical "talent" to cut & wire from scratch and don't really like the idea of creating a short hazzard (Fire). I made a neat bracket from some Lexan. I have velcro on the 90deg bracket and it attaches to the back of my hood and points the LED down into the tank. I also have it so I can slide the salt-spray cover back and velcro it inside the hood but it's so big it only fits over on the far left leaving the middle and right side of my tank not covered. I'd like to take this one apart and "re-engineer" it smaller and easier to mount.

Just tossing some ideas off of the "Pros" here.

Allen