Moonlight: Which is best suited for 18 gal?

[bon_jon11]

I am planning on purchasing a moonlight. Im not sure which yet but have been looking. right now i have a pc 96 watt. Ive seen the single units and the fixtures containg two bulbs. I want to get something that will go across all of the tank. (20inches) If anyone can give me some product descriptions and which is best suited for my tank i would be very greatful. ( I have read the product description at the site but all they do is try to sell it i want the truth)

[Cookie_Monster]

Umm, the best moonlight I've seen are small lights that you mount in your hood. Remember that at night you only want a little bit of light hitting your tank. Definately wouldnt go for any big lights to simulate moonlight. You start hitting it with to much light them nocturnal critters are going to suffer.

[EdgeKrusher]

Do a search for it on ReefCentral there's a good article on DIY Moonlighting for under $20. It's basically just soldering a couple of LED's to a 12v Dc Converter. Simple. Sorry if that's too vauge but I didn't save the URL for the forum.

Peace

[EdgeKrusher]

Hey Bon Jon,
I found the forum thread I mentioned earlier.Blue LED's for DIY Moonlights *BRIGHT*. HTH

Peace

Edge

[gch]

try this link
http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/sh...ight=moonlight

[ckreef]

I have been doing some research on LED's lately for a slightly different project I have going on although closely related.

As a byproduct of this research and experiments I have been doing I am planning on custom installing a few blue LED's into my current canopy sometime in the near future for moonlight.

If you have any specific questions that the above referenced threads do not answer PM me I might be able to help --- but please note I'm not an electronics expert just a hobbiest who's tried a few experiments and done some research.

[Cookie_Monster]

I've also heard of people using small 1 to 2 ft sections of blue rope light in there hoods for moonlight. That'd be a quick 10 dollar fix.

[ckreef]

Yes I have also read many post about those rope lights.

Either way will work.

If you go DIY the only real cost is the power supply and most people will have an old one lying around that they can use. Other than that it's probably less than $10.00 worth of parts for 2 LEDS which should be more than adequate for a Nano.

OK after thinking about this and responding to a PM I guess I'm going to have to install my moonlight sometime next week. My original project LEDS should be arriving any day but the very next time I go into town to RS I will get two blue LEDS to do the moonlight. I should be able to post all my findings latter this week or next weekend.

[Cookie_Monster]

Just remember once you set the mood, you wanna play some marvin gay or barry white to really get your fish in the mood.

[ckreef]

Well my two super bright white LEDS came for my original project. The Company was nice enough to send them as samples. They are a whopping 7,000 mcd --- I can't wait to hook them up to a power supply and get blinded by the light.

I have another big reef meeting tomorrow night so I guess I'll have to wait till thursday to go to RS and get the resistors and a few misc. parts.