Moonlight DIY

Just to let people out there know....there is an alternate to LED moonlight that might give you a better aesthetic look. I just finished equiping my new canopy with CCFL* that is cold cathode flouresent light* sort of a neon bulb. I got a dual 12" blue kit from a computer store for $7 and run them on a universal PSU* on that has multiple voltages* you can also use a potentiometer as a reostat; this way you can simulate a lunar phase. works great...but recommend voltage less than 12V(TOO BRIGHT) but not less than 6.2VDC* bulb will not light at all....partial lighting at 7VDC which is perfect for the lesser side of the lunar phase.

you don't get the hot spots that leds will cast, and at the same time you still get that shimmer from you wavemakers

420nm is a purple color! Why would you want that?

Probably because that is the spectrum that causes most corals to fluoresce.  It's also the spectrum of vho actinic light.

420 nm is violet light.  I never said it was blue (but aquarium bulb manufactures do ). 

Actinics are a UV light they produce UV light just like a black light.

They are almost monochromatic and peak at 420 nm

  http://www.esuweb.com/products.asp?ESUSubCompany=Coralife&am p;am p;Catagory=Fluorescent%20Lamps&SubCatagory=T12%20True%20 Actinic%2003%20Blue%20Fluorescent%20Lamps&RelationID=112 &IDProductRelationship=368 

If they were UV light you wouldn't be able to see any "light".

But it is a blue, UV mix to get the corals to glow better. I can tell you from experience that corals look better under a blue LED then a UV LED.

I've got a 410 nm violet LED and a 470 mn blue LED sitting right here.  Without a doubt the 410 nm LED makes the corals GLOW while the 470 nm LED just makes them blue. 

Personally, for a moonlight, I like the 470 nm light.  It looks more like the moon.  And it's just too strange to see the tank glowing all night

Lets just say that most blue LEDs peak at 470nm and they also give off a large amount of color that goes down in the 300nm range this is what makes the phosphors in the corals fluoresce and glow. Without this low wave length the corals would not glow at all. UV LEDS will make a coral glow better because it has more peak light in in the UVA, but a blue LED will also cause a coral to glow and it looks much better then the UV LED does. This is why we use a blue light and not a UV light. The same thing goes for actinics they cause things in are aquariums to glow because they have a very wide color spectrum that goes down into the UV range but still peaks at around 420nm. Please correct me if I am wrong on this and explain why!

But anyways lets get off of the nanometer subject and get back to what is important.

Cold Cathode Florescent lights rule for moonlights! They are cheap to buy, cheat to run, have the same color as LEDs, stay cool to the touch, are super bright (almost to bright if ran at 100%), last 20,000+ hours, and are dim-able so they can be used with a Neptune controller to simulate the moon cycle. What more could you ask for in a moonlight?

 showing the non biased side, if you really like leds....try "luxeon Star" LEDS...offered in 1, 3, and even 5 watt.... the low dome has a projection angle of 110 degree...high dome 140 degree..just recommend you rough the lens a little so it gets a bit of a diffused look(toothpaste or rubing compound) but these are a little pricy

bbfitch I'm wondering what price you paid for your LED moonlight setup? How much time did you spend putting it together including time spent searching for parts? I ask because I would like people to have a comparison as to how difficult and costly it is to try to make an LED moonlight vs a cold cathode moonlight.

Cold cathodes cost about $20.00 from Best buy, or about $10.00 online (shipped). I installed a potentiometer onto mine so that I could dim it, cost for that was $2.00. Power supply was an old cell phone charger so it was free. Time it took me to pickup/order parts, solder connections, and install light was about 2 hours. Cost me about $12.00 to make.  

People if you have a moonlight now keep it. If you are looking for a cheap DIY moonlight go with a cold cathode you will not be disappointed.

Thats cool that you have a machine shop available to you. Most of use do not. It looks like if you have are handy and have a shop that the price and time is about the same. Thanks for the info.