Moon Lighting

[gcrowptc]

Has anyone experimented with using 4k clear lens blue led's for moonlighting there tanks? If so am sure myself and others would love to hear your experiences and how they were set up as I am my self experimenting with them currently

[Rhodophyta]

Hmmm. It sounds like and OCTOPUS article in the making. Good luck with the project!

[gcrowptc]

have made a temporary setup of 3 4k blue leds and have seen a change in not only the coral hardiness but also in the fish, have some pics, of the temp lighting but have not been able to upload them here yet, will be mounting them in my pc fixture this weekend and see if the reflector diffuses the light a little more as the leds tend to spotlight areas with no reflector. temp set up has been running for 1 week and again have seen a difference already...will try to get pics here soon and will also keep everyone updated as to the results it has on the corals and fish

[gcrowptc]

was unable to mount in pc fixture,so am looking at other options to mount the led's and run the wiring without using project boxes like the moon lights on ebay or aquabid. I have also found that aiming the leds across the surface gives a better lighting affect and diminishes the spot lighting effects of the leds

[frag38]

I have made over 10 different sets. I use 18 awg solid wire for the leads and soder everything together with the proper resistors. You can attach this under your hood and bend the wire to shine the leds where you want.

[gcrowptc]

Hi Rick, that is how I have them set up now, the only thing Iam going to try next is to use a potetiometer to vary voltages to simulate diffrent phases of moonlight to match the lunar cycle and also try 5 mm leds versus the 3 mm am currently using. I also shrink wrap all connections right to the base of the led to avoid any oxidation of the connections

[gcrowptc]

After doing more research am going to scrap the idea of dimming the 5mm leds with a potentiometer as it will change the wave length of the lighting and not give true moon light, instead am going to use a commercial digital programmable timer with multiple contacts in it and program what outputs to turn designated leds on and off in order to simulate the lunar cycle and not lose the led wavelength.. a little more complex yes but what the heck, it is all in the matter of research and trying to create the optimal moon lighting set up....The best part is I buy all the parts through work @ wholesale and have people there to help me design the circuits to make this work

[mercedes216]

I have about 200 leds that i used for my moon ligts that i can help you guys out with if you need some just shoot me a PM. O mounted my lights in the plastic corner bead used to protect the corner of a wall, its like 2 buks for 4 feet at lowes, I drilled a 3/16 hole in it, and press fit the leds in there and it works like a charm. I used a cordless phone power cord and a few resistor and poof instant moon lights, the wave length on the lights i have is about 475, that is the closest to actual moon light i could find, you do not need a dimmer and they look AWESOME, if i can find my wifes camera i will snap a pic of my tank with them on. After i put them on, I noticed my zoos seem to be reproducing more, and my rose anemone has split 3 times and my saddleback anemone is about 18" across now and looking awesome, so i do think the moon lights do add to the tank. My frgspawn has added 3 more heads and my hammer is dropping babies like there is not tomorrow.

Let me know if you need help on them I will do what i can. I also added a photocell in line with my moonlights so when my MH and VHOs go off, the moonlights come on, it really is a sight to behold!