LED Night Light

[xxmurrxx]

Threw together a LED moonlight mounted onto my tanks old light fixture.  Only thing I don't like is the size of the additional fixture, only running two led's could easily mount into a small strip but i'm still trying to find something suitable. It's a little brighter than planned but still looks good I think.

If anyone has any ideas on a slimmer smaller fixture I could use that would be great.. I have been randomly looking around home depot, crappy tire but have not seen anything yet.

T5 Lighting

X2 Blue Led's

 

[daleomilla]

use 1/2 in abs pipe drill in the leds

 

[Krazykarl]

What did you use for the led?

 

[xxmurrxx]

use 1/2 in abs pipe drill in the leds

Maybe I can rig something with ABS, would have to make a stand / holder though..

Ordered these led's
http://www.unique-leds.com/index.php?target=products&product_id=1619

 

[daleomilla]

put abs from side to side let it sit on the inside rim of the tank.

 

[Seggsy]

Tell me if I am hijacking the thread - can you just use like blue Christmas led's?  I was going to staple some into my hood and see what happens.  Any issues with algae from the spectrum (or other issues)????

Ya, spot the guy who considers most DIY 30 seconds or less.

 

[xxmurrxx]

I went by a guide online seemed like the LED choice was pretty close to "actual moonlight" wavelengths..
True or not I'm not sure. Just fired it up a couple of days ago no side effects so far, i'll follow up if anything negative comes out of it.

Main goal was just to build it for looks so I did not have to run my T5 lighting off and on late night when I wanted to check out the tank.
I might end up just leaving them run all night if there are no negative effects.

 

[Blob-79]

Ya, spot the guy who considers most DIY 30 seconds or less.

I couldnt help but laugh lol

 

[twps]

This looks like an excellent idea, I was just shopping ebay for LED's and thy're charging $25 (plus another $20 S&H) for a string of LED's and power adapter. This could really save some cash, and looks to be a simple DIY project.

I do have a couple of quick questions.

1. What size tank do you have them installed in currently? (I've read about 1 LED for every 10G)
2. How are you wiring and powering them?

 

[xxmurrxx]

These LED's are just for looks not for growing or maintaining corals or anything.
I set up two LED's on my 15 gal you can get different angles and such to use more or less lights, as well as diffused lenses vs norm.

Below is the guide I followed and the links are there with the site where the LED'S pretty cheap, I over ordered supplies 20 LED's and got everything including shipping for $20.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169831

And like the guide I used a 9V power adapter (from an old cell phone) with the correct resistor.

 

[Seggsy]

OK - finally remembered to get some LED's - $15 or so at walmart for 8 in the auto section.  Spliced them into an adapter from a cordless phone.  LOVE IT.  Wish I had more room in my hood, but I am still very happy.  I have hammers that just explode now at night - going to have to start the light cycle earlier to get to the moon light!