LED light for moonlights?

[ReefWraith]

Hello Curt....


I have an ACIII Pro and love it! I would like to use the moon cycle feature but am uncertain as to which lights the dimmer module is compatible with. I know florescents won't work... but what about LED's? Would it be ok to run them off a 12v adapter for example (DC instead of AC) and still be able to dim them with a lamp module or is this not feasible... and if not why? I understand that LED's CAN be dimmed but I'm not sure if the lamp module will work with a DC adapter. If not, do you have any recommendations for an AC moonlight? Thanks for your time!

 

[Member No. 1]

The 3 Pro is sweet isn't it? I use just a standard small watt light bulb, the kind that you would use on a Christmas tree. The "old school" screw in type, blue in color. It works slick, comes on dim, gets brighter, then dims to off. Don't be alarmed when you see it on during the day, this is ok as the moon rises and sets 50 minutes later each day.

 

[tonga_man]

If I remember correctly an X10 Lamp Dimmer works by chopping or altering the sine wave of the AC voltage. Example - The voltage still runs at 60 hertz (120 inversions a sec), but depending on the setting or percentage of the dimmer - a portion of the leading edge of the wave is removed. This changes the amount of time the circuit is energized - hence dimming the bulb.

This won't work with a DC adapter for your LED lights. Changing the length of the energized circuit would harm the transformer and it's components pretty quickly.

I imagine if you realy wanted to, you could come up with some sort of counter that could read the duration of the sine wave and feed back into a variable DC power supply that would dim the LED's - but that would be a ton of work.

 

[ReefWraith]

Thanks for the idea Pete! Yes... the ACIII Pro is right up my 'tinkering' alley. I'll have to look for some of the older style lights. Do you have any idea what your wavelength is (420 to 470nm)??

Tonga Man... this is exactly what I was afraid of. I was pretty sure the transformer wouldn't be able to handle the conversion very well. Too bad... as I have some great LED's that would look sweet on this tank.

Anyone else have any other ideas or input as to how they have there moonlights working with the moon phase supplied by the Aquacontrolller? I'm open to other ideas as coming up with a counter to offset the transformer sounds like far more work than I'm willing to do!

 

[Member No. 1]

Thanks for the idea Pete! Yes... the ACIII Pro is right up my 'tinkering' alley. I'll have to look for some of the older style lights. Do you have any idea what your wavelength is (420 to 470nm)??

I think the wavelength is "A nice Pretty Blue" :>)

All kidding aside, I have no idea. I looked into getting the right wavelength also, then my head started to hurt, so I stopped. I really don't think I need a "proper" lamp. As long as it brightens and dims in a repeatable cycle. But I'm sure there are others how know a lot more than me. Besides, with the power output of these small LED's just how much of the proper light is getting to the corals. I don't think we are trying to make them grow at night, just spawn.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help

 

[ReefWraith]

I understand completely Pete! Thanks for your input and yes, spawning is the desired goal... not growth. I'm also a bit concerned about the tank being 'too' bright as the corals need to rest at night (as they do in the ocean) for proper zooxanthellae function (or so I've read). I'm curious as to how other ACIII owners do this!!?? Any advice Curt?

 

[clp]

We don't recommend use the lamp module with a transformer. As mentioned previously, the lamp module (CM465) outputs a half rectified sine wave, and since it is not symmetrical will cause excessive heating in the transformer. It is likely that either the lamp module or the transformer will be damaged.
If you don't want dimming you can use the regular control module (CM466) or DC4/DC4HD to control LED moonlight. It will come on/off at the correct moonrise/moonset times - just no dimming.
Personally, I recommend just using an incandescent bulb w/ a lamp module for the lunar simulation. The wattage should be less than 5 Watts. Most tanks have way too bright of moon lights; the ratio full sun light intensity to full moon intensity is about 1000:1. So if you had 1000 Watts of light on your tank then, the moon light should be about 1 watt.

Curt

 

[ReefWraith]

Thanks Curt! I was really hoping to utilize the dimming feature as this was a great bonus feature with the ACIII pro. What type of incandescent to you recommend and does it have any special wavelength? Thanks again...

 

[clp]

I've used a normal white bulb and blue tinted blue (don't know the wavelength). I like the look of the blue bulb best.

Curt

 

[kyounge]

What bulbs/brands are people using and how do you like them?

 

[HippieSmell]

I was thinking about using a reptile moonlight. I think they look a little different than a blue party bulb.

 

[Aquaduck]

Anyone tried a blue Christmas tree lamp screwed into a night light socket? Would it be bright enough for full moon simulation? I have tried the blue party lights before and I found them too bright and the spectrum of light appeared wront to my eyes. BTW why do we use blue lights for moon simulation? The moon reflects white light.

 

[Member No. 1]

Anyone tried a blue Christmas tree lamp screwed into a night light socket? Would it be bright enough for full moon simulation? I have tried the blue party lights before and I found them too bright and the spectrum of light appeared wront to my eyes. BTW why do we use blue lights for moon simulation? The moon reflects white light.

That is what i am using. But my question was....Is it the light spectrum, or the fact you have a repeating cycle that induces the corals to spawn. Is moon light 420-470 nanometers? Look at my other posts above. But i would like to know if it really does matter.

 

[ReefWraith]

To the best of my knowledge... ... moonlight is indeed within the 420 to 470nm spectrum (underwater that is... once the NSW has filtered out the other colors in a typical white spectrum). However, I'm not completely sure as to whether it's the spectrum or simply the proper cycling of any light that causes corals and other critters to spawn. I'm simply wanting to follow the cues given by nature as closely as possible by providing both.

To be certain, many 'party bulbs' would produce far too much light. I even worry about a old style christmas bulb burning too brightly and possibly throwing off too many PAR. After all, moonlights are a rather new trend and long term studies (or experimentation in our case ) just haven't been done to determine the effect of too much light on your fish. I have read accounts here on RC of animals that never seem to rest or sleep due to too much moonlight. This certainly can't be good as photosynthesis, metabolism, and other processes that require a rest period. Just my paranoid .02!

 

[Member No. 1]

RW...
Good info, thanks. I use one blue Christmas bulb, and it's not clear blue, but a has a solid color to it, as in you can't see thru it. And with this, I believe the light out put is even less. I don't have it mounted over my tank either, it's more off to the side, and up a little. Right now, with the moon cycle, it doesn't come on at night. Only during the day. Plus it's not on at max intensity, starts out dim, gets bright, then dims to off. I really don't think I am inducing much stress. Well not as much as some that are running 3-6 LED's all night long.

 

[ReefWraith]

Yes, I agree No. 1 ... (hee hee.. that sounds funny.. and I'm not even a Trekie)... anyway, I think your light output is fine but I completely agree that some people have a TON of LED light on their tanks at night. I guess time will tell as to what effects it might have. I would still like to hear from others that are using the lunar cycle feature of the AC to see what lights they are using. Any other input?

 

[kyounge]

Well I just set up a reptile moon light. I think it was one like HippieSmell was talking about. The one that I got is 75watts. I was leery of putting such a high wattage bulb over my tank. I have it about 12 inches above my tank. I must say it is not very bright at all. If you have a light on in the room you can barely tell that it is even on. I find that the blue spectrum that it gives is a pretty good color. I have this over my 125. When you look at the bottom of the tank it looks like the moon is shining on the water. It gives off a reflection. It has a shimmering type effect on the bottom of the tank. I think that I am going to use it for a while and see what happens. None of my fish have come out at all so far. I think that this is a good sign. I also have this on an x10 lamp module so that I can get the dimming out of it. I will have to wait to see how the cycle turns out.

 

[HippieSmell]

Well I just set up a reptile moon light. I think it was one like HippieSmell was talking about. The one that I got is 75watts. I was leery of putting such a high wattage bulb over my tank. I have it about 12 inches above my tank. I must say it is not very bright at all. If you have a light on in the room you can barely tell that it is even on. I find that the blue spectrum that it gives is a pretty good color. I have this over my 125. When you look at the bottom of the tank it looks like the moon is shining on the water. It gives off a reflection. It has a shimmering type effect on the bottom of the tank. I think that I am going to use it for a while and see what happens. None of my fish have come out at all so far. I think that this is a good sign. I also have this on an x10 lamp module so that I can get the dimming out of it. I will have to wait to see how the cycle turns out.

Cool. You're using a 75W lamp? I'm curious as to how bright that is. You should post some pics

 

[ReefWraith]

I agree! Break out that camera!

 

[kyounge]

I will post some. One thing that I am not sure if I like it or not yet is towards the top the color is almost like a deep red. Almost like a port wine. I know that my hammer stayed mostly extended last night and I have not seen him do that ever. Also my Chili is standing straight up. He has not done that in a while. I will click a few pics and post them later. it will be hard to see anything in the tank. b/c it is not very bright.