# "christmas tree light" moonlights? - initial trial looks good 4/15 :)



## modemfox (Nov 9, 2007)

IMO they are to bright to allow for the fishes Nocturnal cycle and can cause health problems, also pretty dangerous having a STRING of electricity hanging above a BODY of water... lol. 

Me personally, i would not do it.


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## GOT MTS? (Jan 17, 2009)

I agree on the safety aspect of the Christmas lights. Those things are cheep and can get quite hot.

I have DIY moon lights made with cheap LEDs. Here is a link to the forum I have them posted on. I don't think you have to be a member to view it. http://www.theexoticfish.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=1800


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

yep yep safety was a concern, was just thinking it might not be one if i used the outdoor ones....what about suspended well above the tank but not all the way at the ceiling? so it was more like the room in the area of the tank had ambient "moonlight" ? 

thanks GOTMTS - i do have to be a member to read the thread, but i'll probably register so i can take a look, can't hurt to be a member in more places


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## Rich976USAF (Mar 27, 2009)

I have some i bought on ebay. I know the led focuses light straight down but the xmas light might diffuse more, but i might do this when i finish custom hood, i can staple a string to the wood not too close to h2o


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Cool cool, that's more along the line of what I was thinking, not just laying them on the glass canopy or anything of course  Don't we all have big tubes of electricity over our tanks? And those who use shoplights as a less expensive alternative aren't even necessarily using something designed to withstand "the elements" whereas outdoor christmas lights certainly are...that can't be that much less safe than any of the other wires we run near or even IN our tanks right?


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

*damn tittle line! do it yourself moon lights*

There is no difference between the contact sockets for the florescent tubes in any aquarium fixture and the ones for any other tube fixture. May have better sealed connectors and what not elsewhere in the fixture but where you connect the bulb there's not. Any electrical supply has them and while most don't stock T5 sockets they can order them. (cheaper than going back to Current or whom ever you use) Ballasts, transformer etc. most all the components bulk ship from the same manufacturers. DIY LEDS should be a thread somebody has posted. Heat shrink and a soldering gun, A/C to low volt DC transformer its a simple two wire circuit. I would really bet the counter tech at your local Radio Shack could hook you up cheap, cheap and match the number of desired lights to transformer rated output right off the shelf.

Something else to consider.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

wkndracer said:


> There is no difference between the contact sockets for the florescent tubes in any aquarium fixture and the ones for any other tube fixture. May have better sealed connectors and what not elsewhere in the fixture but where you connect the bulb there's not. Any electrical supply has them and while most don't stock T5 sockets they can order them. (cheaper than going back to Current or whom ever you use) Ballasts, transformer etc. most all the components bulk ship from the same manufacturers.


I'm not sure what this part is referring to...i'm not having a problem with my regular light? 




wkndracer said:


> I would really bet the counter tech at your local Radio Shack could hook you up cheap, cheap and match the number of desired lights to transformer rated output right off the shelf.
> 
> Something else to consider.


I'd love to do it myself and I'm sure it would be cheap but...



wkndracer said:


> DIY LEDS should be a thread somebody has posted. Heat shrink and a soldering gun, A/C to low volt DC transformer its a simple two wire circuit.


This is already over my head :tongue: I'm pretty smart and pretty handy, but I know nothing about electricity. Give me a drill a saw and some wood and I'll put together something sturdy and nice, hand me electrical wires and things and tell me to make something with it and I have no idea where to begin :redface:


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

I was responding to reply's / comments in this string regarding various views of what was safe above a tank of water. Just saying the parts in tank lighting are nothing special.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

ooooooh that makes sense. I haven't had enough coffee yet today  And yes, that's what I was thinking too, but in less technical terms, it's nice to know someone who seems to know what they are talking about when it comes to this stuff agrees 

I would love to DIY LED moonlights....i'm not sure i'm electricity savvy enough though to do it safely.....and not only because it's near water, but because I have very little soldering / putting together anything to do with electricity experience...I'm off to search the DIY forum for good instructions, if there are ones that I think I can reasonably follow, i might head to radio shack this weekend


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

*Let's do this.*

You mentioned Christmas tree lights, these *are* good instructions. It just starts with a transformer like most everybody has seen for portable radios etc. 

If the bulb sets are bought as individual units then you have two wires. Look at this as in / out connections and which way doesn’t matter. 
Connect the first bulb to the transformer. Again doesn’t matter which side as it’s a simple DC circuit. 

Choices: Run the bulbs in series - one bulb wire connected to the next with the final end of this chain connected to the second wire from the two wire transformer. Just like your Xmas lights when one bulb burns out the whole string goes dark as the circuit is broken.
Parallel connection – each bulb set gets hooked to its own wire in and out of the transformer. If one burns out then the remaining lights still have current path. 
Heat shrink, electrical tape or twist connectors just make sure no bare wire remains after assembly to create a short by touching something. 
Each bulb creates ‘flow’ restriction in the circuit that’s where the counter sales person comes into play. X type of light bulb needs X voltage to light up so is supplied by X transformer. X # of lights needs X amperage to push the voltage through your circuit.


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## foster400 (Apr 13, 2009)

Karackle,

here is my hood with a DIY blue LED night light from wal-mart.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/85933-20g-high-lighting.html

I just cut a large enough hole for the pins to pass thru the hood and plugged it in to an extension cord. I held the light in place using the aluminum tape and for extra security I taped the cord end to the night light.

its just enough "moonlight" for my 20g


click for full size


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

wkndracer - thanks, I appreciate the effort you put into it! These will be useful if I go the DIY LED route (i think that's what your instructions are for?)....honestly though, I have to google what a transformer is if that gives you an idea of how naive i am when it comes to circuits and electricity, so I'll probably go with a safer route :tongue: 

Unless....were these instructions for XMas lights? I'm not sure i'd need more than 1 string so the option would only be to have the bulbs in parallel (since that's how they come) except the ones that are semi in series with the extra wires so only like 1/3 go out if 1 bulb blows....and if you ARE talking about XMas lights then what do i need the transformer for? can't i just plug them in? ...... sorry...... i need a lot of detail when it comes to instructions :tongue:

But maybe i'll talk to my friend who is an engineer and knows more about this stuff than i do and if she thinks I can do it, then I'll come back to you for more instructions! thanks!

foster - thanks for that! Looks pretty simple....what is the LED attached to on the back side so that it can be plugged in though? And how is the aluminum tape reflector working out? I might try that for my tanks if it would help. I just have stock fluorescent lighting and it's enough for me at the moment bulb-wise, but if I could eek a little more light out of those tubes it probably wouldn't hurt, right?


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## jinx© (Oct 17, 2007)

Outdoor LED xmas lights will work fine. 
There's a thread here on the forum on the topic of using them, a quick search didn't bring it up though.


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## foster400 (Apr 13, 2009)

Karackle
it just plugs into the end of an extension cord. I put a little electrical tape on it to help make sure it doesnt slip off.

I think the Al tape works great, others say white paint is better, which im not denying, i just havent tried it.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

jinx - thanks, I forgot they make LED xmas lights now! that's even better  Or maybe one of those flexible tube strips of light....hmmm.....

foster400 - i might have to pick me up some aluminum tape! Painting might work better, but aluminum tape seems faster :hihi: and any extra lights is going to be good in my tanks! 

So many possibilities! Looks like I need to hit up Lowe's and/or Home Depot tongiht! :hihi:


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

found this thread http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/55527-guide-diy-led-moonlighting.html with some really good ideas, and the last post by Tech is a really good idea for using XMas lights and making it into a nice, neat, moonlight, sounds nice and safe too!


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

So I had some Christmas tree lights stashed away from when they used to decorate my room. I did a little bulb switching around and put together a string of red and a string of blue lights to see how it looked and snapped some shots. 
These are rigged VERY loosely, I just used small pieces of tape to keep the bulbs in place on top of my glass canopy and covered the lights with towels and sweatshirts lying around to avoid ambient light from them, I was just trying to get a feel for how it would look. I like it.  

The pictures are terrible but here you go they are blurry and I had to mess with the colors a lot in order to get them to look at all the same as they appear in real life, however, the red looks a lot brighter in the pictures and the blue looks a lot brighter in real life...but....here they are: 

First the Red, again this picture makes the lights look a bit brighter than they are in real life, now that I look at this pic again though, it's actually pretty close....but that was after i did a lot of tampering :hihi: 









And the blue, this picture makes it almost impossible to see anything, but in real life, the light appears brighter, but I might need to add a few lights for this one anyway: 








oh and please excuse the orange/red dot in the middle, that's the heater light :tongue:

So I really like how they both look, I'm going to try and get to a store (or 5) tomorrow, otherwise this weekend, to pick up some shorter (hopefully) strands of lights and something to rig up a housing for them in. Will post results as I go.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Two out of three of my motorcycles are blue so you guessed my choice. Nice DIY!


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Thanks! and thanks for the input earlier too!  is there any reason to cut up the strings of lights or just leave them as is (depending on how long the light-less tail is on the ones I pick up for the actual project). 

I'll be sure to take pictures to record my steps for a DIY thread  .... if it comes out well that is


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

If its a short run with a place to hide the tail just roll it up and tuck it away. Every electric circuit is a loop (hence the phrase circuit _duh I kno_) so if you cut the excess off you'd need to do a good trace to be sure of the loop back. If its only a two wire easy enough yes I'd trim it. So ya see, this morning no faith and tonight your well on your way to a DIY Masters Degree. :thumbsup:


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Cool thanks! Hahaha masters degree, sweet!


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## redfalconf35 (Feb 24, 2008)

I tried to do the same thing earlier, but tried to mix 2 types of bulbs (blue and white). Bad idea! the bulbs and sockets from the two strings (same brand, same parameters, bought at same time) were different! GRRR! So i put two strands up over my tanks, but i found it difficult to keep them mounted (i used duct tape), and was too bright for my tastes. If you find a good way to (somewhat) permanently mount these things, please post it!

Also, most xmas lights built in the last 5+ years are wired up in parallel configuration, meaning you should be able to just snip the strand wherever you want, but there is an issue that come in to play with LED strands. They have resistors connected to each line on the strand. Typically there are 2 lines per strand (thus why if you pull a bulb, only half of the strand goes out). The safer way to trim these is to cut at the separation between the two lines, but it may be ok to cut anywhere (i can't remember how these things are wired off the top of my head).


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Thanks for the tips! 

Yeah, I had strands with multiple colored lights so I just rearranged the bulbs on the one strand. I am going to try and find short strands of single colored lights and see how that works, hopefully this way I won't have to cut anything, but we'll see!  I will definitely post what I come up with in terms of mounting if I come up with something that works!


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Well, I hit a snag. I couldn't find XMas tree lights! The best I could find was a rope light but the shortest in colors were 18' long! 

So unless I find some good light gel to cover the 2 or 6' rope lights with, this project will be put on hold until I can find either a colored rope light of reasonable length or some regular XMas lights. 

If I can't find any of that soon, then I will get the supplies to rig up what I want and do it in a temporary fashion using the lights I have and I will just black out the extra lights for now. That will result in a lot of excess light strand with lights on it hiding somewhere behind the tank which doesn't thrill me.


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## foster400 (Apr 13, 2009)

Karackle,

Im not sure if this would apply to the rope light you are looking at, but i do know that some commercial rope light can be cut at 18" intervals. If that kind cant be cut you can look up some specialty lighting suppliers who would for sure have some that can be cut.

This might be a long shot but you might check some party supply stores for Xmas lights or even wedding supply places. Of course ebay is a good place also.


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## redfalconf35 (Feb 24, 2008)

I may have a couple extra strings of lights if you're interested... PM me and i'll check.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Foster - Thanks for the idea, if I can't find regular string lights i'll certainly look into the possibility of cutting rope lights! And party supply place might not be a bad idea either, i'll have to see if there is one near me. A friend gave me an idea for another store too which is called The Christmas Tree Shop (not sure if these are nation wide or not) but they should probably have something too i would think. 

redfalcon - thanks! I'll PM you and we can talk!


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## airborne_r6 (May 2, 2008)

Threadjack in progress - Please keep moving, nothing to see here



wkndracer said:


> If its a short run with a place to hide the tail just roll it up and tuck it away. Every electric circuit is a loop (hence the phrase circuit _duh I kno_) so if you cut the excess off you'd need to do a good trace to be sure of the loop back. If its only a two wire easy enough yes I'd trim it. So ya see, this morning no faith and tonight your well on your way to a DIY Masters Degree. :thumbsup:


What do ride?


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## Manolito (Jul 5, 2007)

Here's a thread that I did on my tank.

HTH

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/77197-moonlighting-your-tank.html


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

cool thanks! that is definitely helpful! 

Now if I can just find the lights! :hihi:


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## luckydud13 (Jun 21, 2008)

HEy karackle good project I was just about to do this. I have some tube lights, led's. I plan to drill a hole in the canopy of my tank (which is really the bottom of the support of another tank, and use wire ties to keep the lights up. Good luck!


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

cool, sounds like a good plan! I've had trouble finding regular or rope christmas tree lights but i'll definitely update here once i find some lights to do my project with 

I'd love to see how yours comes out though!


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## luckydud13 (Jun 21, 2008)

Thanks we got ours at an after christmas sale at lowes.


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