lighting for night viewing?

[z6joker9]

excuse my ignorance as i'm new to the hobby(my 120gal is cycling now), but is there any lighting i could add that would allow you to see what's going on in there at night? something that would not disturb fish, inverts, or anything else.

i ask because our house is very active for the better part of the day, to the point where i do not turn on the lights until 10 in the morning, but even then we commonly have people up and about at 2am.

thanks for any help you can give!

[Aaron1100us]

I got a 12 foot piece of red rope lites and put them just under my lid but not in the water. They are waterproof too. I just went once around the inside of the tank and it lights it up great for night viewing.

[gcvt]

I did the exact same thing and it works like a charm.

http://www.motorworld.com/gcvt/pets/fish/reef/pics/rope_light.jpg

http://www.motorworld.com/gcvt/pets/fish/reef/pics/reef_night.jpg

[DJPB]

I got a moon light from www.premiumaquatics.com and it is sooooo damn cool. Set me back $30 but cheaper than flashlight batteries in the long run. One works in a 55, 2 in a 120...

[z6joker9]

wow quick responses, thanks guys! i've heard, and i'm basing this on my freshwater experience, that red lights(and blacklights) are not good for fish. however this might be some misinformation. could there be any truth to it?

[z6joker9]

Originally posted by DJPB
I got a moon light from www.premiumaquatics.com and it is sooooo damn cool. Set me back $30 but cheaper than flashlight batteries in the long run. One works in a 55, 2 in a 120...

btw, does this come with a power cord, or does it use batteries, or what?

[DJPB]

It comes with a power cord

[McSierra]

Originally posted by DJPB
I got a moon light from www.premiumaquatics.com and it is sooooo damn cool. Set me back $30 but cheaper than flashlight batteries in the long run. One works in a 55, 2 in a 120...

Do you have a Pic of the lights when they are on..?

[BrentB]

DJPB,

Which moon lite did you order? The Aqua or the CSL?

[McSierra]

Originally posted by BrentB
DJPB,

Which moon lite did you order? The Aqua or the CSL?

http://reefcentral.com/images/welcome.gif

[grevedin]

I just got the CSL one too from my LFS this weekend. It works great! uses only 1 watt of energy, and really creates a faint but crisp blue light very similar to the moon.

I highly recommend it for $30!

[McSierra]

Originally posted by grevedin
I just got the CSL one too from my LFS this weekend. It works great! uses only 1 watt of energy, and really creates a faint but crisp blue light very similar to the moon.

I highly recommend it for $30!

Do You have a Pic to show us?

[Ron H]

I bought mine from WWW.championlighting.com This thing is cool its about the size of your thumb and has its own AC power source. It produces a nice moolight effect with shimmer lines and is a great night light. The moonlight effect is very benefical to the corals.

[DJPB]

I'll post a pic of it as soon as I figure out how to post it (still new to computers). Here is a link to where I got it so you can see the unit... www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PA&Product_Code=CSL-ML&Category_Code=moonlight

[photobarry]

z6joker9- Red lights are actually perfect for night viewing of a SW tank. Most of our animals aren't very sensitive to red light and can't see it too well. This is especially true of nocturnal inverts. Blacklights produce a lot of UV radiation and are not a good idea to use. They are neat to briefly use to see intense fluorescence in certain corals though. Actinics do the same thing but to a lesser extent.

-Barry

[SPS Reef]

What i did is i installed 2 -75 watt black lights in my PFO Hood it was a great idea the bulbs are only a $1.00 TO $2.00 depending where you go. It lights up the tank gray just like if you where out under the moon at night. Only bad thing about the bulbs is they only last 800 hours. I run the moon light for about 8 hours. They last me about 2-3 mounths the bulbs light up purple but the tank is a dim gray. It look's great, it also make's the sand grow white.

[SPS Reef]

Pic of the bulb only

[SPS Reef]

and also pic up close in PFO hood

[Biodragen]

I picked up mine from PETCO
It is the High-Lite brand for 27.00
Comes with one blue and one green and is water proof.
You can have a total of 5 lights hooked up at one time.
I have these in my 55g and these are great. just enough to see what is happening.

Brian

[z6joker9]

thanks for the replys guys... i have seen the highbright LEDs, but i think it would be alot cheaper to just wire some of my own. the only problem was that radio shack around here had only ONE blue LED, i was shooting for 5. no difference, i bought one of those 12' rope lights in blue, and just installed it in my hood. i'll see how it turns out tonight.

[grevedin]

McSierra,

Unfortunately I do not have a digital camera to post new pics. The light, however, is the same as the one DJBP ordered from Premiumaquatics.

[Biodragen]

I was going to make my own but after figuring what it would cost ....in the end I was better off buying what I did. Yeah it cost me a few bucks more but it does not look cheap and it is all housed in casings.

Brian