DIY Moonlight... how many LEDs?

[SnowManSnow]

I'm gonna try to make a moonlight strip for my 37 G tank this weekend, but I'm not sure how many LED lights to stick in the thing... anyone have a suggestion or 2? I know a lot depends on how bright I need it to be...duh... but I'm just not sure how bright these things are.

Thanks for any advice.

Have a good one!
B.

 

[Len]

There are numerous types of LEDs, and when you apply more voltage to a LED, it will glow brighter. So it's hard to say exactly how many. I'd say two or three, and I'd fashion a reflector so as to disperse the light instead of the direct beaming effect LEDs have. An upside down umbrella-type reflector (bouncing the LEDs up and then back down) would be what I'd try first.

 

[Anonymous]

I sorta prefer the "beaming" effect myself.. - And theres LOTS of choices in how to set it up..

http://www.eled.com

 

[holry7778]

Here is a test I'm doing with moon lihgts

It is a 55g SW test tank with a string of 50 blue xmas bulbs...the exterior kind. For $1.50 from Target, they look pretty nice and spread the light out nicely. I'm not shure what the NMs of the lights are but it is probibly as close to the moon's natural light as LEDs are

The room has no other lights on, so the brightness of the photo is pretty true. It is just enought to see the granules of the sand.

So for a $1.50 the price and color rendition seem pretty good.

 

[Rikko]

$1.50?!?!
They were selling for $50 a string around here last year for the blues.. Some colossal screwup in supply and demand and the blue strands sold out within a week and fetched a revolting amount of money.

I ended up buying my LEDs off an ebay seller and pointed them straight down. I used 1/2" PVC and cut it lengthwise in half to make a pseudo-reflector (not that much light bleeds out to the side, but it also allowed me an easy place to mount them) and dropped it on top of my 77 gallon FW tank. I used 7 ultra bright blue LEDs and it worked nicely for me.

One thing I definitely likes about the PVC was that I could mount the LEDs at various angles to aim at different sections of the tank, so there was one going straight to the back glass, and couple towards the front glass and the rest kind of randomly shining in.

Here's an ugly shot of the assembly halfway through building it:

And one pic of it at night:

 

[holry7778]

It looks good Rikko. A little spot lightish but good.

The x-mas lights seem to be more uniform in lighting the entire bed

 

[SnowManSnow]

I like the DIY PICS of your moonlights..
great idea about the pvc

Let's see more pics.. along with more details as far as resisters used.. ect...

THANKS!

 

[SnowManSnow]

NE1 ever try using just an LED ropelight epoxied to somthin stiff to make the moon light strip?