Moonlights completed!
- Thread starter kablamo
- Start date
robchuck
Active Member
Nice work! The moonlights on my tank are my favorite DIY project so far. And I know what you mean about trying to photograph with just the moonlights on (I had to do alot of work in Photoshop to make this picture appear exactly like the tank does at night in my living room).
sly
Active Member
It depends on how much you want to do. I bought retrofit kits and mounted the power compacts in a fixture myself. You may want retrofits if you want to save a little cash and have something that is custom made for your hood or you may just want to buy a premade setup that already has the lights in them.
There are 3 basic types of high intensity lighting.
Very High Output (VHO) are like regular flourescent tubes but are much brighter. They are standard length and so they don't fit in smaller hoods
Power Compacts (PC) are also flourescent tubes but are bent into a u to make them smaller. They put out the same amount of light.
Metal Halides (MH) are just dang bright lights. These are like the ones that hang from gym ceilings. They are more expensive and put out more light but last longer.
PC's and VHO's last about 12-18 months before they need replacing. The spectrum starts to drift after this and so the corals no longer get the correct wavelengths of light that they need. Even if you don't see a difference, you should replace the bulbs. MH last a lot longer but I'm not sure how long.
I guess you need to decide if you want to build your own lighting setup or if you want one that's premade. The premade ones are expensive but you can be sure the quality is good and the wiring is correct. If you build one yourself there is always the learning curve. The first fixture may suck until you learn what you are doing.
[edit] I bought 4 retrofit kits off ---- for $35 dollars each. This included the ballast, wiring, endcaps, and bulbs. The bulbs individually cost about $15 apiece. MH bulbs are about $90 apiece but 1 is all you would probably need.
There are 3 basic types of high intensity lighting.
Very High Output (VHO) are like regular flourescent tubes but are much brighter. They are standard length and so they don't fit in smaller hoods
Power Compacts (PC) are also flourescent tubes but are bent into a u to make them smaller. They put out the same amount of light.
Metal Halides (MH) are just dang bright lights. These are like the ones that hang from gym ceilings. They are more expensive and put out more light but last longer.
PC's and VHO's last about 12-18 months before they need replacing. The spectrum starts to drift after this and so the corals no longer get the correct wavelengths of light that they need. Even if you don't see a difference, you should replace the bulbs. MH last a lot longer but I'm not sure how long.
I guess you need to decide if you want to build your own lighting setup or if you want one that's premade. The premade ones are expensive but you can be sure the quality is good and the wiring is correct. If you build one yourself there is always the learning curve. The first fixture may suck until you learn what you are doing.
[edit] I bought 4 retrofit kits off ---- for $35 dollars each. This included the ballast, wiring, endcaps, and bulbs. The bulbs individually cost about $15 apiece. MH bulbs are about $90 apiece but 1 is all you would probably need.
kablamo
Member
Well, I've already got the canopy plans designed for PC lighting, I don't have a lot of money, so i guess i should go with the cheapest possible, BTW, my brother is an electrician and can help with anything i need, so scratch the learning curve! For a 20 gal I would need 2 65 watt bulbs? I'm gonna have to think about this, my tank is still cycling anyway.
sly
Active Member
Yea, 2 should be fine for most stuff. If you get an anemone and it stays bleached white then that's a sign that you need more lighting.
When you do your fixture, mount a cooling fan to blow the hot air out so that your water doesn't get too warm.
Also wire up the balasts so that they can be placed outside of the hood on the floor or something. That will also cut down on heat.
If your tank doesn't have a cover then you will need some way to keep the water from splashing on your bulbs.
There are different colors of bulbs. The most common are 10,000k (pretty much white), 6500k (more yellow but still white), and Actinic which is bluish and puts out a lot of UV light for coral growth. Usually people get 1 10,000k bulb and 1 actinic bulb but they also make "50/50" bulbs which are half actinic and half 10,000k. Two of these would work also.
When you do your fixture, mount a cooling fan to blow the hot air out so that your water doesn't get too warm.
Also wire up the balasts so that they can be placed outside of the hood on the floor or something. That will also cut down on heat.
If your tank doesn't have a cover then you will need some way to keep the water from splashing on your bulbs.
There are different colors of bulbs. The most common are 10,000k (pretty much white), 6500k (more yellow but still white), and Actinic which is bluish and puts out a lot of UV light for coral growth. Usually people get 1 10,000k bulb and 1 actinic bulb but they also make "50/50" bulbs which are half actinic and half 10,000k. Two of these would work also.
cholland
Member
hey Sly could you email me the instructions on how to build one of those moonlight setups?
csholland2002@yahoo.com
Thanks!
csholland2002@yahoo.com
Thanks!
sly
Active Member
Check out this thread for instructions
Once I got my lights wired up, I drilled 5 holes in my fixture and put the LEDs through the holes. Then I secured them to the fixture with duct tape. It has worked well so far. I aimed the LEDs to get them to shine evenly through the tank. I did this by making the holes a little larger than the LED. Then I bent the lead of the LED so that it would shine where I wanted it to. It was trial and error but it worked.
If you know how to soldier, I recommend doing that since that is the most permanent way to connect wires.
I could have put my LEDs on a timer but there's really no need. They don't use much electricity and don't generate any real heat, so why bother?
Once I got my lights wired up, I drilled 5 holes in my fixture and put the LEDs through the holes. Then I secured them to the fixture with duct tape. It has worked well so far. I aimed the LEDs to get them to shine evenly through the tank. I did this by making the holes a little larger than the LED. Then I bent the lead of the LED so that it would shine where I wanted it to. It was trial and error but it worked.
If you know how to soldier, I recommend doing that since that is the most permanent way to connect wires.
I could have put my LEDs on a timer but there's really no need. They don't use much electricity and don't generate any real heat, so why bother?
bobbyzat
Member
Originally posted by Sly
When you do your fixture, mount a cooling fan to blow the hot air out so that your water doesn't get too warm.
I read a looooong thread a while back about this, and there were a lot of interesting points to be made, but one thing they made pretty clear was that your fans will last a lot longer if they are blowing cool dry air INTO your canopy, rather than warm salty humid air OUT. They also said that it works better to cool of the warm top layer of water, which is where your fan should be blowing, don't try to cool of the air or bulbs, cuz the air cooling is inefficient, and the bulb cooling reduces the intensity of the bulb.