blue lunar lighting

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homertaz

New Member
hi,


does anyone know how to make your own lunar blue light for a 12 gallon nano reef tank?



thank you,


john
 
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Trogdor

New Member
you need some LED's, some resistors. a project box (or something to shield the lights) and a power source. I have made my own but it will really depend on what you use as a power source and the voltage that it puts out. You will need to do some calculations on computing the resistor value needed to drop the voltage down low enough for the LED's.

I used to have a DIY somewhere that detailed building a moonlight. I might have to try and dig it out of some archives somewhere. It's really not difficult once you figure out the voltage and resistance values needed. I might make one and post another DIY.
 
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KidNano

New Member
Trogdor... what do you do for a living? Why do you seem to know so much about electricity? Are you ever going to build that LED system? If you do, I'm totally interested in knowing about it. I'll copy your plans if it works out. I know how to soldier and work with electricity however the technical stuff is beyond me.
 
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Trogdor

New Member
I'm a mechanical engineer that designs motors and generators. Electrical parts have always been a keen interest of mine since I was a kid. I used to take things apart to see how they worked, though they never worked the same after I got done with them...lol I have taken several electrical classes while at Purdue and actually majored in automation so electrical systems have always been somewhat interesting to me. I enjoy seeing things that I build come to life and that's why I enjoy building things. My wife thinks I'm a nut but she just looks the other way most of the time.

I just need to come up with a design and the electrical side of it is pretty straight forward. I just haven't gotten off of my butt and worked on it yet. I still have the first one that I built and it worked great but I need a cover for it to rest on and my tank runs too hot for that right now so I need to design in a tube that it can sit in. Once I get it designed and built I will post it here for all to see.
 
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KidNano

New Member
Well if you can't get off your butt tell me what parts I need to get and tell me how to connect everything and I'll let you know how it works. My tank is 60 gallons so I'd probably need to double what ever it is you do, right?

I'm about to add another 2x54 watt T5, but I wouldn't mind putting the money into something that could potentially provide better lighting. LED's would give me the shimmer that T5's won't right?

I love building things too. However I don't have much formal education in anything, but auto's and homes.
 
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Trogdor

New Member
I wasn't talking about adding a full LED lighting system. Lunar lights are the blue LED lamps that people set up during the lights out phase. I don't have the technology to build a good LED white light system. For that you need optics that can magnify and focus the lighting in a way that isn't possible on the home DIY projects. If you are wanting the blue lunar lights then I can work on getting a design together. I'm still wrestling a few ideas in my head on a reflector and sealing the wires from salt spray.
 
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Trogdor

New Member
Damn that looks like they put it on a hella long circuit board. Like I said, I have some ideas but I haven't worked them out yet into a design. The hardest part is keeping spray off of them so they don't corrode. My first design worked because it sat on top of a glass plate. This new design is going to take some time to design. Can you get me a photo of them in daylight? It's hard to make out how they were made.

thx
 
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KidNano

New Member
yeah I'll take another couple of pics for you when i get home. I took it apart when I got it home because I had to move where the plug came out of it. Do to mounting issues. Anyway it was surprisingly simple. They put the lights into the circuit board or what ever material they used. Then slid it into a clear plastice tube. sealed one end ran they wires out the other then sealed it. The reflector has solid black plastic ends they just drilled a hole in those big enough to slide the tube into and whala, it's water tight. It's made pretty cheesy to be honest, but it does it's job very well. I don't think I could have better moonlighting.

So you didn't mention the other thread. Were you planning on a full LED lighting system at one time?
 
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Trogdor

New Member
yeah i was planning a LED lighting system but the amount of LED's that I theorized it to need was a rather large amount. The LED systems on the market use optics to intensify the light so you don't need as many LED's. They help diffuse and spread the light evenly, much more so than I would be able to do. LED's aren't exactly cheap when you start getting the higher outputs so it wouldn't be a cheap setup. In fact it might not be much less than a commercial setup after you add a power supply and enclosures.
 
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KidNano

New Member
ok so this is the end cap.

This is the plug that goes to a DC adapter that says:12V DC 300mA It says some other stuff too but I'm not sure what you'd be looking for.

These are the resistors at the end. I took it apart for you.

And this is the back side of the circuit board.


Let me know if you want to see any other part. If I had to guess whether or not the they LEDs where 3mm or 5mm. I'd go with 5mm. Anyway like I said it's pretty simple. And then there is always the reflector that helps quite a bit I'm sure.
 
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Trogdor

New Member
thanks for the photos. They really helped. I'm still toying with designs so i will post something when i decide what to do.
 
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KidNano

New Member
have fun.... That's unfortunate that you don't think we could build an LED daylight system. I was really looking forward to a project. now I'll have to find something else. I think I'm going to work on an ATO and a phosban reactor.

For fathers day I'm getting another 2x54 TEk T5 retrofit kit. That'll be fun to put together.

I'll keep an eye out for your moonlight DIY.
 
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