LED light for moonlights?

[ReefWraith]

Hello Curt....


I have an ACIII Pro and love it! :D I would like to use the moon cycle feature but am uncertain as to which lights the dimmer module is compatible with. I know florescents won't work... but what about LED's? Would it be ok to run them off a 12v adapter for example (DC instead of AC) and still be able to dim them with a lamp module or is this not feasible... and if not why? I understand that LED's CAN be dimmed but I'm not sure if the lamp module will work with a DC adapter. If not, do you have any recommendations for an AC moonlight? Thanks for your time!

[Member No. 1]

The 3 Pro is sweet isn't it? I use just a standard small watt light bulb, the kind that you would use on a Christmas tree. The "old school" screw in type, blue in color. It works slick, comes on dim, gets brighter, then dims to off. Don't be alarmed when you see it on during the day, this is ok as the moon rises and sets 50 minutes later each day.

[tonga_man]

If I remember correctly an X10 Lamp Dimmer works by chopping or altering the sine wave of the AC voltage. Example - The voltage still runs at 60 hertz (120 inversions a sec), but depending on the setting or percentage of the dimmer - a portion of the leading edge of the wave is removed. This changes the amount of time the circuit is energized - hence dimming the bulb.

This won't work with a DC adapter for your LED lights. Changing the length of the energized circuit would harm the transformer and it's components pretty quickly.

I imagine if you realy wanted to, you could come up with some sort of counter that could read the duration of the sine wave and feed back into a variable DC power supply that would dim the LED's - but that would be a ton of work.

[ReefWraith]

Thanks for the idea Pete! Yes... the ACIII Pro is right up my 'tinkering' alley. :D I'll have to look for some of the older style lights. Do you have any idea what your wavelength is (420 to 470nm)??

Tonga Man... this is exactly what I was afraid of. I was pretty sure the transformer wouldn't be able to handle the conversion very well. Too bad... as I have some great LED's that would look sweet on this tank.

Anyone else have any other ideas or input as to how they have there moonlights working with the moon phase supplied by the Aquacontrolller? I'm open to other ideas as coming up with a counter to offset the transformer sounds like far more work than I'm willing to do! :D

[Member No. 1]

Originally posted by ReefWraith
Thanks for the idea Pete! Yes... the ACIII Pro is right up my 'tinkering' alley. :D I'll have to look for some of the older style lights. Do you have any idea what your wavelength is (420 to 470nm)??

I think the wavelength is "A nice Pretty Blue" :>)

All kidding aside, I have no idea. I looked into getting the right wavelength also, then my head started to hurt, so I stopped. I really don't think I need a "proper" lamp. As long as it brightens and dims in a repeatable cycle. But I'm sure there are others how know a lot more than me. Besides, with the power output of these small LED's just how much of the proper light is getting to the corals. I don't think we are trying to make them grow at night, just spawn.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help

[ReefWraith]

I understand completely Pete! :D Thanks for your input and yes, spawning is the desired goal... not growth. I'm also a bit concerned about the tank being 'too' bright as the corals need to rest at night (as they do in the ocean) for proper zooxanthellae function (or so I've read). I'm curious as to how other ACIII owners do this!!?? :confused: Any advice Curt?

[clp]

We don't recommend use the lamp module with a transformer. As mentioned previously, the lamp module (CM465) outputs a half rectified sine wave, and since it is not symmetrical will cause excessive heating in the transformer. It is likely that either the lamp module or the transformer will be damaged.
If you don't want dimming you can use the regular control module (CM466) or DC4/DC4HD to control LED moonlight. It will come on/off at the correct moonrise/moonset times - just no dimming.
Personally, I recommend just using an incandescent bulb w/ a lamp module for the lunar simulation. The wattage should be less than 5 Watts. Most tanks have way too bright of moon lights; the ratio full sun light intensity to full moon intensity is about 1000:1. So if you had 1000 Watts of light on your tank then, the moon light should be about 1 watt.

Curt

[ReefWraith]

Thanks Curt! I was really hoping to utilize the dimming feature as this was a great bonus feature with the ACIII pro. What type of incandescent to you recommend and does it have any special wavelength? Thanks again... :D

[clp]

I've used a normal white bulb and blue tinted blue (don't know the wavelength). I like the look of the blue bulb best.

Curt

[kyounge]

What bulbs/brands are people using and how do you like them?

[HippieSmell]

I was thinking about using a reptile moonlight. I think they look a little different than a blue party bulb.

[Aquaduck]

Anyone tried a blue Christmas tree lamp screwed into a night light socket? Would it be bright enough for full moon simulation? I have tried the blue party lights before and I found them too bright and the spectrum of light appeared wront to my eyes. BTW why do we use blue lights for moon simulation? The moon reflects white light.

[Member No. 1]

Originally posted by Aquaduck
Anyone tried a blue Christmas tree lamp screwed into a night light socket? Would it be bright enough for full moon simulation? I have tried the blue party lights before and I found them too bright and the spectrum of light appeared wront to my eyes. BTW why do we use blue lights for moon simulation? The moon reflects white light. That is what i am using. But my question was....Is it the light spectrum, or the fact you have a repeating cycle that induces the corals to spawn. Is moon light 420-470 nanometers? Look at my other posts above. But i would like to know if it really does matter.

[ReefWraith]

To the best of my knowledge... :rolleyes: ... moonlight is indeed within the 420 to 470nm spectrum (underwater that is... once the NSW has filtered out the other colors in a typical white spectrum). However, I'm not completely sure as to whether it's the spectrum or simply the proper cycling of any light that causes corals and other critters to spawn. I'm simply wanting to follow the cues given by nature as closely as possible by providing both.

To be certain, many 'party bulbs' would produce far too much light. I even worry about a old style christmas bulb burning too brightly and possibly throwing off too many PAR. After all, moonlights are a rather new trend and long term studies (or experimentation in our case :D) just haven't been done to determine the effect of too much light on your fish. I have read accounts here on RC of animals that never seem to rest or sleep due to too much moonlight. This certainly can't be good as photosynthesis, metabolism, and other processes that require a rest period. Just my paranoid .02! :D

[Member No. 1]

RW...
Good info, thanks. I use one blue Christmas bulb, and it's not clear blue, but a has a solid color to it, as in you can't see thru it. And with this, I believe the light out put is even less. I don't have it mounted over my tank either, it's more off to the side, and up a little. Right now, with the moon cycle, it doesn't come on at night. Only during the day. Plus it's not on at max intensity, starts out dim, gets bright, then dims to off. I really don't think I am inducing much stress. Well not as much as some that are running 3-6 LED's all night long.

[ReefWraith]

Yes, I agree No. 1 ... (hee hee.. that sounds funny.. and I'm not even a Trekie)... anyway, I think your light output is fine but I completely agree that some people have a TON of LED light on their tanks at night. I guess time will tell as to what effects it might have. I would still like to hear from others that are using the lunar cycle feature of the AC to see what lights they are using. Any other input?

[kyounge]

Well I just set up a reptile moon light. I think it was one like HippieSmell was talking about. The one that I got is 75watts. I was leery of putting such a high wattage bulb over my tank. I have it about 12 inches above my tank. I must say it is not very bright at all. If you have a light on in the room you can barely tell that it is even on. I find that the blue spectrum that it gives is a pretty good color. I have this over my 125. When you look at the bottom of the tank it looks like the moon is shining on the water. It gives off a reflection. It has a shimmering type effect on the bottom of the tank. I think that I am going to use it for a while and see what happens. None of my fish have come out at all so far. I think that this is a good sign. I also have this on an x10 lamp module so that I can get the dimming out of it. I will have to wait to see how the cycle turns out.

[HippieSmell]

Originally posted by kyounge
Well I just set up a reptile moon light. I think it was one like HippieSmell was talking about. The one that I got is 75watts. I was leery of putting such a high wattage bulb over my tank. I have it about 12 inches above my tank. I must say it is not very bright at all. If you have a light on in the room you can barely tell that it is even on. I find that the blue spectrum that it gives is a pretty good color. I have this over my 125. When you look at the bottom of the tank it looks like the moon is shining on the water. It gives off a reflection. It has a shimmering type effect on the bottom of the tank. I think that I am going to use it for a while and see what happens. None of my fish have come out at all so far. I think that this is a good sign. I also have this on an x10 lamp module so that I can get the dimming out of it. I will have to wait to see how the cycle turns out.

Cool. You're using a 75W lamp? I'm curious as to how bright that is. You should post some pics:)

[ReefWraith]

I agree! Break out that camera! :D

[kyounge]

I will post some. One thing that I am not sure if I like it or not yet is towards the top the color is almost like a deep red. Almost like a port wine. I know that my hammer stayed mostly extended last night and I have not seen him do that ever. Also my Chili is standing straight up. He has not done that in a while. I will click a few pics and post them later. it will be hard to see anything in the tank. b/c it is not very bright.

[kyounge]

Ok here are a few pics. They are not great b/c my ISO only go's to 400 and I am by no means a photographer! I took these pics with a canon g3. I did not have a lot of time to take pics last night so excuse the crappy photos! Also these pics are maybe 10 inches from the tank if that. If I was any further away the camera would take only black pictures and the flash washes the color out. Also I think that this gives you an idea of how bright/dim the 75 watt bulb is. I have the bulb clsoe to the center on the right side of the tank. I believe that it covers about half of the tank in light. So I may buy one more to go on the other side just to see if it balances the tank out. But, it may be a good thing to have one side in complete darkness and the other in light I am not sure?


This one is looking from the bottom towards the top of the tank.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/kyounge/topoftankmoonlight.jpg


This one is of the bottom of the tank.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/kyounge/bottomoftank.jpg


This is a pic of the temp setup just to see if I like it or not. But it give you a basic idea of the color.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/kyounge/colorofmoonlight.jpg

[HippieSmell]

Thanks for posting. They are kind of hard to see. You could put the camera on a tripod, or hold really still, turn the flash off and do a timed exposure. Just keep the shutter open for a second or two.

The light is really red. Weird.

[kyounge]

I will try that tonight if I get a chance.

[golden69_ca]

i have seen were u can get the moon lights in blue , white and red . does the color make a true diferance or is it more for the eye.

[HippieSmell]

Ohhhh Kyounge...where are youuuu....:rollface:

[kyounge]

HippieSmell I am here!!!!!! Sorry We had a big upgrade this last weekend. I will take some more shots I put another one on last night to see what it would look like. It is kind of crazy my brown xenia looks a evil red! This one seems to be a lot more red then the other one. It may take some time to burn in maybe. I but, my whole tank is is covered now in light. This one is about the same brightness. At the bottom of the tank it is still that blue color. I know many people have been asking if red has an effect on the animals and so far I do not think so. Also I went to another store yesterday and found the same type of bulb in a 15 watt and a 25 watt. So I may try one of those and see what they look like as well.

[ReefWraith]

Thanks for the info kyounge! :D You mentioned these are reptile lighting bulbs correct? What brand are you using? Thanks again!



Vaughn

[kyounge]

Yes they are Reptile bulbs. The 75 watt bulb's are a little more expensive then the 25 and the 40 watt bulbs. I think they are like 5.99 or something like that verse 2.99 or 3.99 for the 25 or 40 watt. I maybe wrong on the prices give or take a few bucks.


The 75 watt bulbs are by Exo Terra they are Called Night Glo Moonlight lamp. The 25 and 40 watt bulbs are made by T-Rex they are called Nocturnal Black Heat lamp. It is also simulated moonglow. You should be able to get these at either Petsmart or Petco. I also bought a 25 watt bulb yesterday to put over a 10 gallon tank that has some tree frogs in it. The color is about the same. Here is a picture of the boxes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/kyounge/moonlightbulbs.jpg

Thanks,

Kent

[HippieSmell]

Neat. Thanks for the update.

[ReefWraith]

Excellent kyounge! Thanks for the additional info and pic... very helpful!

[kyounge]

I will try to get some new shots to night of them. When I do post I will get one onf the 25 watt over the frog tank. So everyone can see the color of it.

[ReefWraith]

Looking forward to it... comparison shots are always helpful! :D

[kyounge]

Ok here are a few more shots.

The first pic is of the 25 watt bulb over a 10 gallon tank. Mind you this tank has tree frogs in it. I can move it over to one of my tanks if anyone wants to see pics over a tank with water. But I do not think that it would penetrate the water very deep.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/kyounge/25wattbulb.jpg

here is a pic of the center bottom of my 125 with (2) 75 watt bulbs running. Again I tried to get a pic of the center of the tank but it turned out black. I tried with a little light in the back ground and changing the shutter speed to let more light in and I got the same results.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/kyounge/centeroftankwtih275wattbulbs.jpg

Pic of the left side of my tank.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/kyounge/leftsideoftankwith75wattbulb.jpg

Also if there is anything else anyone would like to see please let me know. I will do my best to take a picture of it. I also realize that I am a terrible photographer! So I think that I will enroll myself in a photography class this summer! I think that you all can get the gist of what they look like.

One other thing that I mentioned before is that there are different colors in these 75 watt bulbs towards the top of the tank it is a purplish red color think port wine color. Then towards the bottom it is that bluish color. I am going to do some research to find out what the color spectrums of the lights are to see where they rate to the moon. Which I belive I have read that it is around 420 nanometers.

Thanks,

Kent

[kyounge]

I found out that Exo Terra offers a 15,25,40,50 and 75 watt bulbs.

[ReefWraith]

Once again... thanks for the info Kent. If you find any spectrum data on the bulbs I know I for one would be interested!


Vaughn

[jake2045]

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/59311Night_time_on_the_reef_2.jpg

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/59311Night_time_on_the_reef_5.jpg

These shots where taken with 5 LEDs as a moonlight.