DIY Moonlights with LED's

shiby1510

shiby1510

Member
Hi all,
Well with the canopy I will be building I'm going to buy some led's and solder them and connect them up into my hood... I was thinking of a setup of some sort as follows:
3- Left side perimeter
3- Right side perimeter
5 - Front perimeter
5 - Back perimeter
I figured they wouldn't really be needed in the back and it would probably look really nice if I had the added blue in the front..In addition should I put a reflector behind these?? and having the black and wires exposed would be okay they don't need to be enclosed or anything right?
the tank is a 29g... just a standard 30"x12".
 
drewsta

drewsta

Active Member
That will light up your tank like the 4th of JULY lol that will be very bright for moonlights. I have 4 on my 75G and its pretty bright.
 
shiby1510

shiby1510

Member
Originally Posted by Drewsta
That will light up your tank like the 4th of JULY lol that will be very bright for moonlights. I have 4 on my 75G and its pretty bright.


OHh okay... I read somewhere that you put 1 every 7" I possibly just need them in the front??? I'm thinking of getting a pretty high angle... what are your specs; lum., angle, etc?
 
drewsta

drewsta

Active Member
They are in my light hood. I know they are LED 1W each. If I where to do it myself I would get 1 led strip on the auction site for like $20 and just screw it on, simple and easy
 
jakebtc

jakebtc

Member
shiby how large of a tank do you have?
I would probably put only like 5-6 for a 6 ft long tank
this is just my opinion
 
chipmaker

chipmaker

Active Member
The one watt lunar lights as well as the 3/4 watt lunars sold by coral life are not exactly the common LED. They are a high end luxeon, which are considerably more brighter than the standard super bright LED....hence the cost is more....Everything I have read really sucks when it comes to placing LEDs. Why does it all suck, well for the most part there are just to many variables involved. There are all kinds of degrees of view, depth of tank, the MCD output and a host of other things, I generally tend to view the spacing a geared to that brand of light only.....and not applicable to all. Its easy to add another light along the way if you make your own. The strips you buy leave a lot to be desired, so IMHO DIY is the way to go if your capable.
One thing that can be done which really makes coraline stand out 1000 times more than the typical 420 to 470 nm color blue moon lights can even think of and that is to use UV LEDs..It just makes things stand out so much better, and adds so much more intense color than any blue led can possibly do. YOu can add them next to a typicalblue LED, and iyt enhances the colors even more.......
Think....." Those Black velvet Elvis, or typical Unicorn Painting with black light" .......that is what the UV does to the stuff n the tank........
 
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