DIY Moonlights

[Sandworm]

Hey guys, can we post this to a sticky?? Copy it and make a reference to who wrote it?? Just in case for some reason the guy takes it down... Its a great DIY on how to make moonlights for a reef tank.

Thanks..

Here is the link:

http://www.kaotica.com/frag/diy/moonlight/

[Sandworm]

Still feel this would go good in a sticky.

[Fishmonger]

Yeah its a goo dsite, anyone set it up like this on their own tanks ?

[Sandworm]

I'm going to be setting it up on my tank after the new year. Spent too much on other gifts for others.. hehe

[Fishmonger]

I'm going to do it with 6 leds 2 on 3 sides of the canopy

[savanyo]

In this design, does anyone know why one common resistor could not be used for all LED's as opposed to one resistor for each LED?
-John

[Sandworm]

Probably has to do with the current to each LED. Resistors are cheap anyway, so its no biggie for me to have 6 of them instead of one.. Fish, I'm going to use 6 as well. The article says it will work for either 5 or 6. Heck the most expensive part is the power source.

[robertfusco]

After reading his site, I decided to try it, So I ordered the S.B Leds. I have pictures i can post it up later, And is definatley cost effective. I used 14 (2 rows of 7) on my 150 with a 24V power supply and a 1k ohm resistor. im sure the tech. challenged people can even do this!
Rob

[jason gilman]

how do you water proof it.wouldnt it corode with the salt creep
andshort out if gotten wet.

[robertfusco]

I fed my Led leads throught the top(very small dremel bit) and put the resistors behind the ligh fixture, this way the Leds sit flush, im sure a little silicone sealent wont hurt to truly waterproof it, but I dont think water will get to them. If is does no damage will be done its low voltage AC only 3.5 watts to the LED. I'll post the pic tonight.
Rob

[jason gilman]

my moons are what seems to be water tight.but one had gotten in the water yesterday and burnt out .now i only have 3.damb i gotta get a new led.

[robertfusco]

Herse a link to my setup, kinda an early revision of the lights (has no fans,reflector).

http://www.msnusers.com/EJ25T/tankpics.msnw?Page=2

Anyone know a good jpeg compression utility? Freeware?
thanks
Rob

[Sandworm]

That came out pretty nice looking rob. Would you happen to have any shots of the actual tank and rocks with it lit up with the lights?

[robertfusco]

Thanks Sandworm, i will try tonight . My dig. camera doesnt do to well with low lighting. I tried a couple times but it just doesnt show up the way it does in person. I'll mess with the settings on the camera if that doesnt work I'll take it with the regular cam, I have a few shots left on the roll.
Rob

[namscam]

the reason why u need a resistor for each led is because of the type of circuit they used. In the circuit they used, when one light is burned out the others will still work but when u use one resistor your setting it up in a series (i think) circuit,, it ll still work but when one light is burned out the others wont work but they are not burnt out..kind of like what christmas lights used to be like

[robertfusco]

The resistor is there to bring the operating voltage down to a safe level so you dont fry the LED.Leds are wired in parallel each one will still work if one goes out. Leds wont work in series as each resistor will bring the voltage down further and further and they are polarity sensitive.
Rob

[bzzbee2]

WoW. I will definately be doing this. I myself used to play with these things alot about 2 years ago. for those of you wondering what size of resistors you need. the formula that you use is called Ohm's Law. here is a link to the site that i used to purchase from. it has a great explanation oh how to figure the correct resistor, and even has a resistor calculator on the page so us mathematically challenged people dont have to worry.

http://www.ledsupply.com/techinfo.html

the only thing that gets me with this setup is the transformer. i have never seen one of these travel transformers. could you take a pic of it or give the model number.

just a quick note on soldering. you need to tin your iron before soldering. this basically means cleaning it. and applying a layer of solder to the tip of the iron. if you are having a hard time getting the solder to hold the two pieces together, you need to do this. with a properly tinned iron heat transfer from the iron to the solder and pieces being soldered is much more efficient and therefor requires a fraction of the time to solder. for example, i use a 25w iron, and it takes only a fraction of a second to securley solder a led to a wire... if your going 3 seconds.... or even 2. you need to clean that tip. if it is severly oxidized you can file it smooth. heat it up and rub it on a wet cellouse sponge... this should clean it up good. then apply some solder to it, you should now see that the solder will form a almost mirror finish on the tip that will hold solder. just apply solder to the tip and immediately touch to items you want soldered and BAMM.. your done. these methods may be a bit crude but i doubt many of us have expensive soldering stations with adjustable voltage and all the doodads.. i like my 9.99 iron from radioshack...

[LT1ownzyou]

Just a little tip to save some of u some money and frustration. Go to ur local radio shack and tell them u want to power a few LED lights for a fish tank. They have a power supply u can pick up for under $15 that plugs directly into the wall and has two wires coming out, just like a wall plug, and u dont need any resistors at all. Its just right for the LEDS :) I picked one up and it works great. I tried a combo of the blue/red LEDS and found the blue alone to be much more visually satisfying. Much more of an ocean effect. Tho in the shark tank, red is kind of intimidating 8)

[bzzbee2]

yea, those work good.. the one that i bought there is wall plug with selectable voltages... i think you can select anywhere form 1-12 volts. i will have to dig it up..

[hounddog]

Love the caculator it is way too easy. I have a associates in electroincs and it took me about 30 minutes to figure what this can tell you in 5 seconds. I am going to start my moonlights soon and will definatly use this caculator. I plan on using shrink wrap tubing to protect mine with some sealant on the ends. The LED's are sealed so they will not need anything.

[gregoryalln]

i just forked out 40 buck's and got the p.f.o.'s they are super bright. 1 was enough for my 150, but i allways do overkill and got 2. i think maybe it is to bright

[hounddog]

Just ordered the LED's will build it when they arrive.

[Chloe]

I just finished with my Moonlight set up. I am using 8 of these (http://www.lc-led.com/View.jsp?idProduct=64) with 100 to 150ohms resistors (a little mix of both although I only really needed 100 Ohms) with a 6 volt trans from radio shack. I ran all of the lights in a circle and connected the pos and neg to a control box with a switch. The cool thing about it is that the 6V transormer plugs into the control box. The control box with the switch is attached to the outside of the canopy, then the lights run across the front and rear of my 72" canopy. Actualy a good set up it has turned into. Had I seen the calculator for Ohms before, I would only have used the 100 ohm resistors for the 6v! Anyway, just thought I would toss in what I completed today since you all have been discussing it.

[Chloe]

BTW, I set mine up just like this http://www.kaotica.com/frag/diy/moonlight/

[bzzbee2]

:twisted:

heres another little thing about LED's. wavelength of the light is one thing, intensity is another. so if you have a bulb with a wavelength of 470, yea its blue. now how bright do you want it to be. The term used to measure this is millicandela, or mcd. usually the higher the mcd the brighter the led. if you look at the technical specs for the LED's used in fabio's wirte up those are 3850mcd bulbs. now if you search around you can find some which are much brighter.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/leds.htm
this site has 3 superblue LED's

RL5-B2430 Blue clear 2400 mcd 30° 470 nm T-1 3/4
RL5-B3023 Blue clear 3000 mcd 23° 463 nm T-1 3/4
RL5-B5515 Blue clear 5500 mcd 15° 470 nm T-1 3/4

also notice the part that states its viewing angle. the wider the angle the more difused the LED. The more difused the LED throw out a wider spread of light, while the last bulb above has a 15° angle. which would be more like a spotlight.

for example. the viewing angle of a super blue from radio shack is 30°. this is a 2600mcd 468nm led. here is what it puts out from about 2 feet. on a wall. the lit circle is approximately 12".... as you can see this thing is very focused. i would imagine water would difuse it a bit...
In my opinion this can be a very important factor in making sure you have an even layer of blue hitting the tank, instad of having parts of your tank look like its in a spotlight.

i am going to work on putting together a hood this week. and i think i am going to incorporate my moonlighting into it. My setup will be very simmilar to fabio's...

also if anyone finishes their moonlighting please post pics.. they look awesome!!!

[hounddog]

posted mine in another post. if your interested.

[utvol!]

I am thinking about building this little get up... looks pretty cool... my question is this... How will the led's light affect the tank? Will it cause algae to grow? I am just comming off a huge hair algae problem and do not want to go through that again...any info will help.

Thanks,

UTVol!

[bzzbee2]

hey gregory, maybe im missing something.. P.F.O's what are these?