# Moonlight Effect



## DarkCobra (Jun 22, 2004)

Not sure what's out there as far as commercial LED moonlighting. I'm strictly DIY.

From that standpoint, I would diffuse LED light any of these ways:

1) Point LEDs up instead of down at a flat white patch on the inside of your hood.
2) Put a piece of lightly sanded acrylic in front of the LEDs, or other diffuser material.
3) For the T1-3/4 (5mm) LEDs, you can sand the LED's lens itself. 

Any diffusion method also causes some light loss, which may be desirable in your case.

Some of these might be usable for commercial products as well.


----------



## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

Stop by or look online at the any of the big box stores like Walmart, Lowes, Home depot... To see what is available. I've see led nightlights that might work.


----------



## tamsin (Jan 12, 2011)

I have a single white LED spotlight (submersible) in my 20g which I think looks good and more natural than the blue LED strip moonlight we have in our marine tank. Because it's a single beam of light not a whole strip you get great shadows! I've got it at the top atm but I've also had it at the back on the bottom up lighting the stems on my crypt too. 

My photo taking skills are a bit rubbish but I can and take a pic if you like?


----------



## pweifan (Nov 2, 2006)

Thank you for the responses! DarkCobra, pointing the light up instead of down is an interesting idea. On adding the acrylic, I'm afraid to add too much "stuff" into the hood and keep it as open as possible to encourage passive airflow out the exhaust hole in the back. I'd really like to avoid the need for fans. Steve, I've been to the big stores looking for ideas, but I didn't think of a nightlight solution. I'll look into that. tamsin, if you don't mind posting a pic, I'd be grateful. I didn't realize that you could submerge the light itself.


----------



## swoof (Jun 30, 2010)

Marineland has LED bubble wands that you could probably use and put where you like inside the tank. I think i've seen a video on youtube of someone with one in a tank and the lights off.


----------



## tamsin (Jan 12, 2011)

Sorry, taking a pic in the dark seems to be a bit beyond my skill, this is the best I could get  This is just a single LED, the adapter I have will run four so I think I'll pick up a couple more and that will be about right. The LED itself isn't a white splodge like in the pic either.


----------



## VaultBoy (Nov 11, 2010)

i like the LED nightlight idea but i butchered a solar LED garden light, the kind that have alittle solar panel on top and sit on a spike in your garden and light up at night. I put the solar panel above my light tubes on the inside of my reflector and mounted the LED in the reflector looking down into the tank. The fluro tubes charge the battery during the day and when they turn off the LED turns on and runs for about 4 hours til it flattens the battery. Its a bit small for my 50 corner tank but on my 29 it looks great. It cost $5 from the local hardware store and is free to run, doesnt require a power source or timer etc. prob the simplest moonlight setup i have seen.


----------



## jasonh (Oct 26, 2003)

I like the idea to point the LED up. That way you just get the diffuse reflection lighting the tank.

On larger tanks, something cool I found was a 12" led "strip" in the automotive section at walmart. I had blue for my reef tank, but I'm sure I saw them in white too. Just plug one into a 12v wall-wart and point it up...I think it would look pretty good. Probably overkill for a little tank though.

I wonder...anybody ever see those electric "glowsticks" ? I never really looked close at them but they really just look to be a small led flashlight with a frosted piece of colored plastic attached (to make the "stick"). If you can find one in white, it seems like that would work. Just hook it to a small power adapter of whatever voltage the batteries add up to.


----------



## pweifan (Nov 2, 2006)

I really like the suggestion to paint the interior of the hood white to reflect the light back down. I think I'll be combining that suggestion with VaultBoy's suggestion to cheaply capture the energy with a solar panel and power the lights for "free".

Thank you everyone! This was very helpful


----------



## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

pweifan said:


> I really like the suggestion to paint the interior of the hood white to reflect the light back down. I think I'll be combining that suggestion with VaultBoy's suggestion to cheaply capture the energy with a solar panel and power the lights for "free".
> 
> Thank you everyone! This was very helpful



Moonlight creates stark shadows. Have you considered if you do that you'll lose the stark shadows in favor of less distinct shadows. Compare direct non diffused light to the diffused lighting created by bouncing too see which is more esthetically appealing. Let us know which you think looks better.

What length run time are you planning for this moonlight effect per night ?


----------



## they call me bruce (Feb 13, 2011)

Just got 2days ago from aqua trader a 24" [4] t5 6700K light its awsome for 49.00 bucks
came with two long cords with plug in balasts that you can put anywhere and i didnt know it came with built in 4 verysmall blue led's for moon light it is absolutly gorgous ---what a deal--for 96 watts-----by the way do i leave them on all night?


----------



## Gookis (Dec 28, 2010)

If I redid my moonlight I'd make it a lot shorter so that it doesn't light the tank evenly. I like that my led's are dim enough that if it isn't really dark in the room you can't see things really well.

What I would do is make the strip about 5 inches long (so maybe 6 led lights) and then use an 12volt power source rather than the 3.7volt. 

The effect would be a bright source from one corner or side that dissipates from that source. 

My moonlight is stuck to the inside of my fixture behind the diffuser so there is no "bright" single source (ie. glaring). Let me know if you want pictures of the set up.

Matt


----------



## jahmic (Jan 30, 2011)

I have a 5" long submersible LED strip with 6 lights inside. ($16 shipped off ebay)

I angle it up into my hood so that the my DIY aluminum reflectors bounces the light back down and diffuses it into the tank. It's actually pointed towards the front/top corner of my hood so that it breaks up the light more than it would pointed directly up. As DarkCobra mentioned the light passing through acrylic...it turns out my LED passes through the tinted acrylic lip of my HOB outflow, then through another layer of thick acrylic before even getting to the reflector. 

No complaints here...in fact I kinda tend to stare at the tank more during "lights out", lol. 

Edit: I grabbed a photo of a portion of the tank without any reflections to throw off my exposure...











I definitely agree with the suggestions others have already stated. I played around with a few different locations and angles for the light, and this worked out the best by far. My baby RCS have enough light to feed at night and feel more comfortable hanging out without the bright daylights on...makes watching the tank at night pretty interesting.


----------



## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

they call me bruce said:


> Just got 2days ago from aqua trader a 24" [4] t5 6700K light its awsome for 49.00 bucks
> came with two long cords with plug in balasts that you can put anywhere and i didnt know it came with built in 4 verysmall blue led's for moon light it is absolutly gorgous ---what a deal--for 96 watts-----by the way do i leave them on all night?


I have the same fixture, LEDs are on the night timer and run all night on my 29, shut off when the lights come on, works and looks nice


----------



## they call me bruce (Feb 13, 2011)

Thanks holy angel got to find room for another timer


----------



## justin182 (Aug 19, 2009)

jahmic said:


> I have a 5" long submersible LED strip with 6 lights inside. ($16 shipped off ebay)
> 
> I angle it up into my hood so that the my DIY aluminum reflectors bounces the light back down and diffuses it into the tank. It's actually pointed towards the front/top corner of my hood so that it breaks up the light more than it would pointed directly up. As DarkCobra mentioned the light passing through acrylic...it turns out my LED passes through the tinted acrylic lip of my HOB outflow, then through another layer of thick acrylic before even getting to the reflector.
> 
> ...



Good idea!!


----------



## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

HolyAngel said:


> I have the same fixture, LEDs are on the night timer and run all night on my 29, shut off when the lights come on, works and looks nice


Human and animal studies have shown that weak amounts of light at night can have detrimental affects. By extension do you know you are not affecting the health of the diurnal vertebrates in your tank through running the moon lights all night [ every night]? You may also be affecting the plants.


----------

