DIY Moonlights

Siapin -

1. That's what I did, actually searching on 'blue LED bulb', and watching and reading descriptions for a couple of days to learn what's out there. I think I got really lucky with the 180 degree LED's, because the 30 degree ones I have do the spotlight thing - YMMV.

2. I used four LED's (mostly because I blew one of the five I bought) because my 65AGA has a center brace, so I centered two over each open area. If you don't have a center brace on your tank, I would go with either three or four, again space so as to be centered. An 8' piece of 3/4" pvc was 1.19 at my Home Dumpo, so you could probably rig something up with electrical tape and alligator clips and stare at it a while before you decide if you need more or less light, then trash the prototype.

Remember you'll only get 2-3 in each series, so it's pretty easy to just add or subtract groups of LED's.

3. Radio Shack is where I got three rolls of 22 gauge wire for under $10. The different colors are helpful when you are mapping things out.

I wonder if you will want to try rigging something up much different from what I have so you don't block any of the light you have coming from that awesome looking fixture in your picture.

jp
 
I have also been hanging around this thread and found it moslty accurate. Definetly look into building your own power supply as well. Most wall wart PS are unregulated and like it was said earlier, their voltages/currents can run higher than listed.
Here is a great beginner electronics website. Download his booklet, and read it if this is your first time with electronics. Your project will come out better.
http://www.southwest.com.au/~jfuller/electronics/menu.htm
PM me if you need help.
 
Hey I think 'mostly accurate' is a compliment, considering where I was a week or so ago!

I have all these extra 30 degree LED's and resistors now I am thinking about putting three of them tight together to create some spot lighting, maybe on some kind of flexible hose I could use to point at something in the tank someday. I hope I'm not addicted to that solder smoke.

jp
 
I found some LED's: $9 for 50 LED bulbs.

Here are the Specifications:

Material: InGaN
Emitting Colour: BLUE
Lens Type: Water clear
Reverse Voltage: 5.0 V
DC Forward Voltage: Typical: 3.2 V Max: 3.4 V
Light Intensity: Typ: 8,000MC, Max: 10,000MCD
Wavelength Length: 465-475nm
DC Forward Current: 20mA
Viewing Angle: 140degree
Lead Soldering Temp: 260oC for 5 seconds
Intensely Bright


I originally wanted to get blue 10mm 40,000mcd wide angle LEDs, but I can't find those exact ones. But I did find these, which are pretty close. If I use more lower powered LED's than originally planned, will it have the same effect as the high intensity LED's?

I can special order those 10mm LED's, and they can custom make them, but I have to buy 100 minimum. But I have no need for that many. I was planning on using only 5.

Can I get your opinions?
 
Yo Siapin -

Those LED's look pretty good to me. I bet 140 degrees works out better in the end, because you still want them to point downward and not all over the place. I wound up taping some sockets taken from an old bathroom lighting fixture around each LED to reduce the sprawl.

The place I ordered from on eBay was http://www.quickar.com/. The good news is that since you now have 100 LED's, you can experiment away with different configurations.

jp
 
Why do you guys use blue LED's ?? :confused:

You wouldn't see blue moonlight on the reef, except once in a "blue moon". ;)
 
Good thought...my first impression of using blue LED's is that it looks cooler than white. Why do people use 20k MH rather than 6.5k? Because of the bluish color emitted by 20k...so that's probably the same idea...but it was all worth the joke -- cleaver kgolem!

I didn't get the 100 LED's yet, I wanted to hear some opinions before I actually go and buy them...I think it will end up costing around $40 or so, but that's just a guess. I'm looking for an equal alternative.
 
I have been using white LED's for my moonlight experiments. White LED's tend to favour the blue end of the spectrum anyway.

Nice Pics MinibowMatt; I have been experimenting with IR LED's as well, some very cool effects are possible. I have been thinking about long term effects when using of IR LED's on the aquarium. Given the tiny power levels, I wonder if it is detrimental to the tank inhabitants or not. I see there was some comments on the thread posted. Any further thoughts?

Check out my gallery, the mushroom pics are illuminated with IR LED's. Star polyps are neat looking.

Currently I am in the conceptual planning stages of a T5 light hood for my 130. I have purchased four - two lamp HO T5 ballasts for a total of 424 watts. I will be building moonlights and IR illumination into the hood.

The plan is to use stainless steel milk line from a dairy farm milking parlour for the reflectors. The 2 1/4 inch lines have a polished inside surface. I need to figure the best way to cut the pipes longitudinaly to create the reflectors for the four foot tubes.

I have access to the stainless steel from a close relative who is in the dairy industry.

That will be this summers project.
 
Those pictures are really cool.

I'd like to know if there has been any detrimental effects to the UV lighting on the corals. Did anyone see any bleaching in the corals when using UV LED's?

Also, after reading that thread, what spectrum and intensity would you recommend?
 
People use blue LED's because the longer wavelengths of white light are absorbed by seawater and the majority of what is left 20' down is blue. That's part of why our corals color up so nicely under 20,000K lighting.
 
No....sorry for the confusion. I haven't bought any yet. I'm reading and studying up to which ones I want to buy. The ones I listed were some that I was looking at.

From what I gather, some people get all hyped up when they see high intensity LED's, and they actually don't look as good as others. But rather, using lower intensity LED's but using more of them will give a better look.

So far, I'm bought on the UV LED's, but I still don't know much about those. If I put a bunch of them over my 29g, distributing more light over the aquarium, will it essentially give off more illumination? I liked the pictures in that previously noted thread, but if it is very low lighting so that very little can be seen, I don't like that idea much. I'd rather go with those lights, but use more so that there will be more light for more to see. Is that theory wrong? Will excess UV come into effect?
 
Okay, after going back and forth on the LED's that I want to use for my setup, I bought a set of 50 400nm 5mm 2500mcd LED's. Here is the product that I won.

Now I need a power output. What do I get now, and where do I get it? Can I get it from an old appliance? Or can I get it at Radio Shack, Wal-Mart, Fry's, or eBay? What kind? Are there certain specifications to the one I'm going to need? I plan on using 5 LED's, maybe more depending on how it looks. Also, I'm going to use 20 or so on my buddy's 100g tank. How does this sound? Should I be using more or less?

I could really use some input from people that know what they're doing, cuz I don't!

Thanks, Daniel
 
Siapin - I had a box of old plug in power supplies that I was keeping for no reason. Of course when you settle on one, you'll need to do some math to determine your configuration.

Radio Shack probably sells generic ones as well. Glad to hear you are on your way now.

jp
 
I have no idea where to start. Do I just get any kind? Can someone post a link of one that resembles one that I'm going to need? eBay? I just have no idea what I'm doing, but I want to learn by doing. What do I do about math? I can do the math, but where do I get the formulas and all that?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7150657#post7150657 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BigJPDC
you'll need to do some math to determine your configuration.

jp


I received my LED's in the mail this week. WHAT NOW?

What math do I do? Do you need me to list my LED specs?
 
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