Are you staring at a dark tank at night?

[neuroslicer]

For less than $10, you can have really nice moonlights on your tank if you don't already. My wife builds dollhouses, and for a couple bucks at any hobby store that sells doll houses or trains, you can buy little "grains of wheat" light bulbs. Just splice those into an extension cord, about one per foot, and connect the line to a DC converter with 12 V output. I did this a couple weeks ago, attached the line of lights to my canopy lid, and the effect is charming. The lights make the water shimmer beautifully. And if you're like me, you've probably already got a 12 V DC ouput converter lying in a box around the house somewhere, with all the electronics that have come and gone.
Happy DIYing!

Jay

 

[bshumake]

Hey Jay,
Is the resistor already soldered to the light? Is it an LED or something similiar? I have a LED moonlight system I made and plan on making another for my new tank. Do you know what wavelength these lights are putting off?

 

[neuroslicer]

They're not LEDs Barrett, but 3 mm incandescent bulbs. I don't know the wavelength range, but they're going to be a much broader spectrum white light than your LEDs. And probably a lot cheaper too....?
Jay

edit: I take that back, I found some fairly cheap broad spectrum LEDs at TheLedLight.com!

 

[CaptainDave]

I used 3-LED arrays from autolumination.com. They're 5 bucks apiece, and will each light up around 1-2 feet of aquarium length. They work great, but I'd be interested in trying some incandescents because I can dim those with an Aquacontroller. I'm guessing that the ones neuro mentioned wouldn't work for that because the AquaController chops the sine wave, and you would need AC lights for that to work. Neuro, do they have AC lights similar to what you were talking about?

For the record, the ones I used were, I believe, 420 nm and had the resistor soldered in already - a 12V DC and you're ready to go. I'd be glad to help anybody interested in putting a set together, it's super easy.