Moonlight Led Stip

[dayzofspeed]

i'm guessing most of us have by now seen the moonlight strips being sold on ebay, my question is this, for a tank length of 120 cm what length of led strip would i need to buy to create a decent moonlight effect and aside from that if i have these on for say 6 hours through the night after having had my main lights on for 8 or 9 hours through the day am i likely to encourage algae as i have read algae can take advantage even of moonlight lights, anyone had any bad experience of these things......... many thanks, Kevin

 

[moochy13]

the ones i got off ebay, i got 3 seperate strips in the package, and it was enough to do my 4ft tank. however my tank is quite shallow, so theres less water for the light to penetrate before it illuminates the bottom.

you can see the lgihts producing 'beams' of light, but my water is a bit murky i guess clearer water wouldnt show this effect as bad. also it doesnt look that bad in person, its difficult to get a good photo showing the tank like this. dont know about the algae thing, i have my main lights on between 9:30am and 6pm, then the moonlights between 6 and 9:30pm. i dont have any algae problems, a couple of odd spots here and there on the glass, but nothing anywhere else.

 

[Breedon]

I have these lights on 3 of my tanks and does look good, as for algae i dont have any problems as there only on for about 2-3 hours

 

[dayzofspeed]

the tubes in my tank are approx 1m in length and what i had thought of doing was putting 2 centrally positioned strips of leds 48cm in length, 1 either side of the cross member i can get these on ebay for £3.28 per strip (without a transformer)i had thought that i could maybe use an old phone charger by cutting off the jack and then connecting the wires, does this sound feasible and would that be enough light for the moonlight effect

 

[capester]

Hi mate, I bought the 3 strips of moonlights and also 2 longer strips of white lights which came with a transformer. Just going to undo the crimps and reattach with the wires from the blue set as well. Reckon I'll use these along with the existing T8s and see what the effect is.

 

[flix_cw]

i can get these on ebay for £3.28 per strip (without a transformer)

Any chance of a link to those strips?

 

[dayzofspeed]

i never tried pasting a shortcut, but try this http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/48-LED-48CM-Light-Moonlight-Strip-Aquarium-Car-Blue-/160512748485?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item255f4e2bc5

 

[flix_cw]

i never tried pasting a shortcut, but try this http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/48-LED-48CM-Light-Moonlight-Strip-Aquarium-Car-Blue-/160512748485?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item255f4e2bc5

Nice one cheers mate.

 

[flix_cw]

i never tried pasting a shortcut, but try this http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/48-LED-48CM-Light-Moonlight-Strip-Aquarium-Car-Blue-/160512748485?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item255f4e2bc5

How much did you pay for a 12V adapter? I've found one on ebay for £6.50, that about right?
http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150504045318&actionType=singinformore

 

[OldMan47]

For moon lights, I have been using a 4 LED strip on a 6 foot tank. It has blue LEDs rated to give a wide spread light source. There are only 4 LEDs in my fixture so I do not get much light at all. What I end up with is little more light than I would get with real moonlight. I can sort of see what is going on in my tank but it is far too dim to get a picture of it. The effect, from an aesthetic perspective is quite pleasant. My tank seems to be lit by something akin to moonlight while not disturbing the fish in the tank at all.

 

[DavenClare]

For moon lights, I have been using a 4 LED strip on a 6 foot tank. It has blue LEDs rated to give a wide spread light source. There are only 4 LEDs in my fixture so I do not get much light at all. What I end up with is little more light than I would get with real moonlight. I can sort of see what is going on in my tank but it is far too dim to get a picture of it. The effect, from an aesthetic perspective is quite pleasant. My tank seems to be lit by something akin to moonlight while not disturbing the fish in the tank at all.

I have just ordered an LED driver from eBay to power my moonlight strip.

I also got a long blue led strip from a company called Brightlightz. They seem pretty good. Will get some pics up when the drivers arrive.

I've blown 2 12v adapters so far - the first melted and the second went fairly quickly. Neither bought for the task though and the led driver (Search LED power supply) on eBay was only £4. I think I'll have to supply std plug and wires though.

If that works, my aim is to try some SMD 5050 white LED's in the tank - if ok, they'll stay there and replace the T8 bulbs. If not, they are going to be downlights for kitchen cupboards. these may need a more beefy power supply (LED Driver) though. Again - will try and get pics or feedback. My concern is that it will increase the load on the heater during the winter as LED's would run cooler. However, in the hot summer months, they shouldn't over heat the tank.

Dave

 

[bangerdemon]

I have just fitted blue cold cathode tubes to my son's 39" tank (just over £7 off Ebay for dual kit) using an ac adapter from Maplin (£7.50) with variable voltage.

Both tubes worked fine on the bench, but now they are in situ, one is dimmer than the other (typical), but still give a good effect!!!

 

[jbroadway]

I have just fitted blue cold cathode tubes to my son's 39" tank (just over £7 off Ebay for dual kit) using an ac adapter from Maplin (£7.50) with variable voltage.

Both tubes worked fine on the bench, but now they are in situ, one is dimmer than the other (typical), but still give a good effect!!!

just a suggestion but this could be because you wired them in series not parallel if you run them in parallel you should not have this problem

 

[bangerdemon]

I have just fitted blue cold cathode tubes to my son's 39" tank (just over £7 off Ebay for dual kit) using an ac adapter from Maplin (£7.50) with variable voltage.

Both tubes worked fine on the bench, but now they are in situ, one is dimmer than the other (typical), but still give a good effect!!!

just a suggestion but this could be because you wired them in series not parallel if you run them in parallel you should not have this problem

Only one way to wire them up, and that was to plug them into the inverter!!!

 

[jbroadway]

I have just fitted blue cold cathode tubes to my son's 39" tank (just over £7 off Ebay for dual kit) using an ac adapter from Maplin (£7.50) with variable voltage.

Both tubes worked fine on the bench, but now they are in situ, one is dimmer than the other (typical), but still give a good effect!!!

just a suggestion but this could be because you wired them in series not parallel if you run them in parallel you should not have this problem

Only one way to wire them up, and that was to plug them into the inverter!!!

maybe the inverter isnt powerful enough what does the cold cathode look like?