# moon lights?



## ben2957 (Sep 17, 2005)

i have moon lights in one of my tanks and im not sure how long to run them. i anybody has them let me know how long you run yours.


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## wlecount (Jan 22, 2006)

I never turn mine off. I use two 12" cold cathode tubes that I have put in my light fuxture. I don't turn them off because they give a great blue tint to the fish during the day. Makes them really sparkle. As always heres a pic. First is with lights on, you can see the blue light coming into the tank slightly. Next is with lights off. 
View attachment 101354

View attachment 101353


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## ___ (Feb 19, 2006)

> I never turn mine off. I use two 12" cold cathode tubes that I have put in my light fuxture. I don't turn them off because they give a great blue tint to the fish during the day. Makes them really sparkle. As always heres a pic. First is with lights on, you can see the blue light coming into the tank slightly. Next is with lights off.


two things i'd like to know...do you have any probs. with algi or anything growing in your tank(LPS guy said i would with colored lights)

2nd thing where did you get the badass lights....that look real nice


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## black_piranha (Jan 12, 2006)

wlecount said:


> I never turn mine off. I use two 12" cold cathode tubes that I have put in my light fuxture. I don't turn them off because they give a great blue tint to the fish during the day. Makes them really sparkle. As always heres a pic. First is with lights on, you can see the blue light coming into the tank slightly. Next is with lights off.
> View attachment 101354
> 
> View attachment 101353


thats pretty cool.


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## HomeRecker3 (Jan 18, 2006)

sweet pics and good looking tanks. did you just ADD the moonlights into your normal light housing? or did you replace the normal bulbs? just wondering........?


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## wlecount (Jan 22, 2006)

Take a look at this thread, I somewhat explained the process there and it includes more pictures that I enjoy showing. And to answer that first question I have yet to see any algae, but the cold cathodes have only been up and running for a week. Thanks for the comments


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## Zip (Apr 17, 2005)

ben2957 said:


> i have moon lights in one of my tanks and im not sure how long to run them. i anybody has them let me know how long you run yours.


I have my moonlights come on for a couple hours early in the morning, then my compact flourescents run 9 hrs, then the moonlights come on a couple hours for "dusk".


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## 2PiRaNhA~2FuRrY (Nov 1, 2005)

sweet tank dude! but i like the first one better. nice and clear.


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## ___ (Feb 19, 2006)

dont call me a dumbass but would it hurt to use a "NEON" light from the auto parts store i work at....you know the ones ppl put under the dash of the cars??????


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## 2PiRaNhA~2FuRrY (Nov 1, 2005)

bader666 said:


> dont call me a dumbass but would it hurt to use a "NEON" light from the auto parts store i work at....you know the ones ppl put under the dash of the cars??????


if peoples call you dumbass, that make 2 of us. i was thinking about the same think... i dont know it going to work.

but give it a shot and let me know how's goes.


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## RedBelly Dom (Mar 22, 2005)

is it hard to switch it from the moon light to regular?


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## wlecount (Jan 22, 2006)

I never turn the moonlight off and the tank light is on a timer from to be on from 9am to to 10pm. That way I get a blue tint to the water during the day which makes the fish sparkle.


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## Bigkrup444 (Oct 6, 2003)

i was lookin into doin this 2 day. i think it looks sweet. and it not too much. i'll do it and see how the p's like it


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## Guest (Apr 7, 2006)

Actinics are not moonlights. Try getting a 3/4w moonlight lamp, that looks much better. The water dances around the tank because of surface agitation, and gives it that "moonlight on lake" type of feel. I enjoyed it thoroughly when I had my reef tanks running.


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## wlecount (Jan 22, 2006)

I have tried using LED's for moonlights on other tanks and never quite liked the look. Often I went with straight LED without anything to disperse the light so that was a major reason I did not like it... Looked like three bright lights that shined in a solid beam. I will say the pictures I have above make it look brighter than it really is. As you said, you get with the LED or 3/4 watt lamp I still get the water dancing in my tank. No, it is not as much as I got with a setup like the one you were talking about, but I like the whole tank being lit up. It is not a true moonlight for say, more like a night light.









Here is a pic similar to what you were saying although this was in a 10-gallon tank and I had not covered the lights so they would disperse better. I used three blue LED's for this.

View attachment 101539

View attachment 101540


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## Guest (Apr 7, 2006)

wlecount said:


> I have tried using LED's for moonlights on other tanks and never quite liked the look. Often I went with straight LED without anything to disperse the light so that was a major reason I did not like it... Looked like three bright lights that shined in a solid beam. I will say the pictures I have above make it look brighter than it really is. As you said, you get with the LED or 3/4 watt lamp I still get the water dancing in my tank. No, it is not as much as I got with a setup like the one you were talking about, but I like the whole tank being lit up. It is not a true moonlight for say, more like a night light.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thats NOTHING like I was talking about!










Those are moonlights, you are lookin for actinics which provide a "dusk effect". Sorry for the mix up


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## ben2957 (Sep 17, 2005)

my moon lights are wide angle leds. there are four pod and each pod has 3 leds in it. here is a pic of what it looks like. my main lights come on at noon and shut off when my moon lights come on at 7pm and run until 6am. do you think this is ok or should i change the time they are on.


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## Guest (Apr 7, 2006)

ben2957 said:


> my moon lights are wide angle leds. there are four pod and each pod has 3 leds in it. here is a pic of what it looks like. my main lights come on at noon and shut off when my moon lights come on at 7pm and run until 6am. do you think this is ok or should i change the time they are on.


Sounds like a solid set up to me









Nice tank btw







I like the moonlight effect.


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## wlecount (Jan 22, 2006)

Well I was searching around the web and I was wondering if anyone has used one of these tubes before  LOGISYS BLUE LIQUID NEON THUNDER PATTERN. That might add alittle more of the ripple effect you were talking about, but with allowing the full coverage cold cathode gives to a tank. If I weren't so strapped for cash you would best believe I would have already ordered one, but if anyone has any info on these that would be greatly appreciated.


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## ___ (Feb 19, 2006)

what is "cold cathode".....is that a type of light or are all moon lights cold cathode???


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## Guest (Apr 8, 2006)

Cold Cathode is similar to what you might see in some neon signs.


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## ben2957 (Sep 17, 2005)

thanks its my cichlid tank. im getting some moon llights for my piranhas soon


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## ___ (Feb 19, 2006)

> Cold Cathode is similar to what you might see in some neon signs.


is that type good or are the LEDs better??


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## oryschakgp (Nov 5, 2005)

bader666 said:


> > Cold Cathode is similar to what you might see in some neon signs.
> 
> 
> is that type good or are the LEDs better??


I built a led moonlight setup for my african cichlid tank. I like them better than a cold cathode setup because they don't run hot and they take less power to run. I also like more of a spotlight effect instead of having the whole tank illuminated.


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## ___ (Feb 19, 2006)

> QUOTE(bader666 @ Apr 7 2006, 10:53 PM)
> 
> QUOTE
> Cold Cathode is similar to what you might see in some neon signs.
> ...


so its really up to thbe owner of the tank to say whats better...thanks


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## Someone (Apr 4, 2006)

hey guys.. for rbp which light you recommending?


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## wlecount (Jan 22, 2006)

Really it's up to the owner. I like the cold cathode route because it lights up the whole tank, but is still not as bright as fluorescent. I like this most because I can watch the fish at night perfect, but they can't see me sitting in the dark. (this is what's on my current RBP tank)

When I used the LED's I liked how I had it setup because it gave a spotlight effect which my Danios in the tank would school in at night. These were not diffused like many so it didnt light up much of the tank. So LED's are great if you want a somewhat spotlight effect. This of course depends on what LED's you buy.

So in the end it's up to what you like best.


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## ___ (Feb 19, 2006)

cool...i ordered 12 LED moonlights for my tank....i had never heard of moon lights B4 this thread...im glade i saw this B/C i have been wanting to watch my MAC at night but have never been able to....i either had a light on or he saw me sitting in the dark....just want to say great info in this thread thank you


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## ben2957 (Sep 17, 2005)

bader666 said:


> cool...i ordered 12 LED moonlights for my tank....i had never heard of moon lights B4 this thread...im glade i saw this B/C i have been wanting to watch my MAC at night but have never been able to....i either had a light on or he saw me sitting in the dark....just want to say great info in this thread thank you


what size tank and how long is the moon light.


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## ___ (Feb 19, 2006)

i have a 45g...the tubes are 6.5 each and i got 2 of them


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## ___ (Feb 19, 2006)

10:40AM moon light just got here....thought you would all like to know lol


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## ben2957 (Sep 17, 2005)

sounds great take some pics when you get them installed.


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## ___ (Feb 19, 2006)

hard to see in the pic....but it looks really good lights up the tank really nice


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## ben2957 (Sep 17, 2005)

looks good man. i know its hard to take a pic of i tried for like 20 min one day


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## ___ (Feb 19, 2006)

> looks good man. i know its hard to take a pic of i tried for like 20 min one day


thanks

it took like 5pics to get that....f-ed up and used the flash a few times too lol


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

Ok. For a Moonlight effect you don't want to light up the whole tank. 
You want spotty and dim lighting because that is the light your trying to simulate. You probably dont want to run neons. Mainly because of the power they draw, the heat and the fact that neon lighting may promote alge and other growth. IMO.
LED lighting is much better because you are dealing with a low power, 0 heat and pure color. they also do not penitrate the water TOO much and give a light lighting effect.

As far as running them. I only run mine at night. would be pointless to run durring the day since they are overpowered by the acentic and the 50/50.

I built mine out of 15 LED's and they give solid coverage of the light they do give off. I angle mine towards he front of the tank so to give nice hiding spots from the light to my tigerfish. 
Heres a pic of what mine looks like










Basically you can build one yourself for about 20 bucks. Or you can get one off the guy on Ebay that sells them prebuilt. It's horribly easy to make them tho. I knocked one out in a couple days. took longer then expected cause I need to go to the store for parts.

I think for this ap-plication Wide angle LEDs may be best.


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## ___ (Feb 19, 2006)

my LEDs dont light up the hole tank they give a spotty look and i really think it look great


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

bader666 said:


> my LEDs dont light up the hole tank they give a spotty look and i really think it look great


Yeah yours look pretty sweet. how many LEDs did you use to get the coverage?
Taking a picture of the tank lit like that was a pain.


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## ___ (Feb 19, 2006)

> Yeah yours look pretty sweet. how many LEDs did you use to get the coverage?
> Taking a picture of the tank lit like that was a pain.


i got 2 tubes with 6 LEDs in each

yes the pic was a pain flash made it look like all the lights were on and no flash was really dark...like you see


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

yeah I hear that. took 5 pics and some photoshopin for my pic to be decently viewable and close to how it looks in person.


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