DIY Moonlights~$17

[hurt]

I thought I would share my DIY moonlights. I bought a 12V 600ma AC/DC converter from WalMart for $7. I then bought two blue leds(470nm) for $5 each. Google auto lumination. From there go to hit the "LED Bike, Go Ped, Motorcycle, ATV, Boat and RV Light Fixtures" tab. On that page you will see "#Triple Dome & Utility Lights". Of course the LED blue(470nm) are only $5 a peice. I used two of these wired in parallel off the 12V 600 milli amp converter. Very simple to do, and the results are great. Here are a few pic's of the process. Again-my camera sucks, but the tank is lit very nicely. It's bright, but not too bright.

 

[wattsupdoc]

How do you know if their 470nm? I didnt find anything stating that.

 

[reef.magic]

hmm, that seems a little bright to me
i been thinking of putting together the same thing you did, but with red lights
that way the animals won't know there is a light on and will go about their natural night time routines

 

[hurt]

Click on the specs link right next to the reference row.
It's not quite as bright as the pictures look. My camera is an HP 3.2MP and it sucks as you can tell by the pics. It rarely if ever duplicates the true view of my tank, and for some reason it makes my moonlight pictures look brighter. To give you an idea, my friend has a coralife fixture with two 1W moonlights, and his tank is a little bit brighter than mine. If anything I could possibly wire in a third to cover the center a little better. I'm not sure why you would want red moonlights though. These moonlights are the exact spectrum of the moon-470nm. Intended to duplicate the natural nightime environment of the ocean.

 

[reef.magic]

well i know the red is not natural, but marine animals cannot see red spectrum, so they won't know a light is on them
i've never dealt with moon lights before, are the nocturnals reluctant to come out? is night time activity normal (the same as before the moonlights) with the moonlights?

 

[wattsupdoc]

Yeah I found it and got 2 comin'.Gonna hook em up as soon as they get here.
They are nocturnal and the moon is out at night... So yes they act like it is night time, cause it is for them.

 

[mikediii]

That seems like a good setup. I'm in the process of customizing a hood and I think I will give this a shot. Thanks for the post.