"moon lighting"

S

Salty Dog

New Member
First, I'm new to this site, and it is very nice.
Second i am getting back in to reef after 2 year break and my new JBJ 24 came equipped with a led moon light. They make perfect sense why they have them but you cant put your lights on a timer if you want the moon lights to work. I found this site http://www.lunartracker.com through ebay it makes the most sense of the led lighting systems but a a price $70 for a single led with dimmer and "lunar tracker". Any thoughts would be great.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
i think its a really cool toy......... is it worth 70$??? well i guess that depends on whether or not you have the money and if your in to really cool toys or not :)
i run all of my tanks without any moon lights at all and the corals don't seem to care - but i think if i were to get moonlights i just might get these, but IMO they are way down the priority list on my tank budget
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
:welcome to the board.
Moonlighting is a neat feature but it is mainly there for us to have even more tank viewing time. There has been some speculation that lunar cycles may help with spawning events but in our tanks these are not necessary since most of the planktonic larvae ends up feeding the tanks inhabitants and the rest goes to filters and skimmers. IMO if you really want moonlighting just buy the cheapest moonlight that fits the bill for your tank and either leave it on all the time or if you have a spare timer throw it on that.
 
EDGRAY

EDGRAY

New Member
Hi and well :welcome ..... and concerning about your moonlight problem i thought about same thing this what i did.... well you know there are some cheap kinds of timer at ACE for like $10-15 ok has 2off and 2 on so what i did i put one off/on and the rest time manually like this to give more example: ok lights turn auto with timer on at 2pm then at 10pm i turned the lights off manually and moonlight on then at 7am (for a quick pic) i turn the lights on manually then at 9am they turned off with with timer ... so then so on you know so i only had to turn them on/off manually before going sleep and in the morning then was with timer but well that was me to keep the tank on when i wanted to see it 2 hours in the morning before work then everything normal for photosynthesis time 2pm to 10pm....but well thats only my :idea:..
 
TimSchmidt

TimSchmidt

New Member
If you are DIY inclined you could go to Radio Shack. The people there will help you get the right LED (really cheap too) and all the wiring to put it together. All in all I'd expect you to be able to build a single LED moon light for under 20 dollars. Add in 5 bucks for a timer (Home Depot sells them as light timers, 4.95 just got one). For aiming the home made moon light you could put flexible wire in with the normal wiring so you could point your moon light. I hope that I haven't confused you. I'm not sure how to explain it without actually drawing a picture.
 
K

kanlaor

New Member
IMO I bought the ones off http://www.drsfosterandsmith.com and I just leave them on all the time. They are LEDs but they do not draw much power at all so there is no point of turning them off at all. $70 worth not a chance I think I paid $20-30 for 3 of them with 2 LEDs each and chained them together. But yes very cool toy for us to see them when the lights are off.[/url]
 
JeffDubya

JeffDubya

New Member
I had a single LED moonlight that I bought some time back for my son's little FW aquarium, which kinda became his night light.With the size of that small tank, the LED kinda acted like an actinic as far as the color spectrum it added, very nice!

Now that I am working on my first marine tank in a jillion years, I bought a coralife hood with two built in LED moonlights. I was happy to discover that the lights are all individually corded, which meant I could put the moonlights on a timer. With the larger tank you can't even tell they are on with the compact flourescents doing their thing, so might as well have them off.

They make for a beautiful room illuminator at night. Some guys have fights with their wife so they can make up... I fight with mine so I can sleep in my son's room and check out the tank! :mrgreen: hehe kidding.
 
JeffDubya

JeffDubya

New Member
TimSchmidt said:
If you are DIY inclined you could go to Radio Shack. The people there will help you get the right LED (really cheap too) and all the wiring to put it together. All in all I'd expect you to be able to build a single LED moon light for under 20 dollars.
Click to expand...
Yeah... but you would also need a transformer... and can get them all decked out with a swivel head and adjustable neck for like 30 bucks...

The nice thing about these gizmos is that the more popular they get, the cheaper they will become.

I'm a DIY-E (do it yourself ELECTROCUTION) Expert. I like to play with wires, but I'm not always so good with them. Pre-fab works el-spiffo for me.
 
I

idog

New Member
Just buy a simple 12 adpater and cut the end off. There are only 4 wires coming off the stock LED's. Disconnect the LED's from the ballast power supply and termintate those connections. Then hook the two red wires from the LED's to the positive wire of the 12 volt. Do the same with the blacks and the negative wire. Dremel a small hole in the back of the canopy for the wire.

It works, you even still use the switch on top to control them. Or you can get a timer or just leave em on 24/7.

I can post pics if you like.
 
EDGRAY

EDGRAY

New Member
Talking about wiring IDOG can you help me with pics or instruccions of what?? well i have the 2 PC kit from my 12g DX hood on a DIY canacopy/ligh fixture whatever is called but the thing is that the wires are a mess and the fans were not needed and the wires still there same as moon light not there anymore but the wires are there and i want to connect directlry all the wires of the PC to the balast so can you help???
 
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