LED moonlights - anyone tried these?

[mark77ap]

I came across these on the net and they look pretty cool. They are called the Dual R2 Extreme Moonlight and each set of LED's will light 3ft of tank according to them.

I have a 75 Gal tank and am not sure whether to go with 1 (which would cover 3 feet) or 2 (which would cover 6)

Has anyone used these? How bright are they, would 1 be enough? I am worried that 2 would be too bright?

Thanks

Mark

[9am53]

looks pretty sweet, but dude, 50 bucks??? thats crazy!

I got some chinese deal from ebay, 3 dollars SHIPPED from china to kingston, 8 blue LEDs in a waterproof housing, just went to value village ripped a transformer from a phone, got it for free, and rigged it up, once inside my soon to come hood it will be completely invisible, and the light is great, the 8 LEDS are close together, and they give a moonbeam effect, if you rigged a few of them together you could do your whole tank for a fraction of the cost...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fantastic-High-b...QQcmdZViewItem

here they are, same price...they also have leads from the other side to connect them in parallel

[mark77ap]

It did seem steep to me.

Would 2 of these chinese ones work for a 75 gal ya think?

Originally Posted by 9am53

looks pretty sweet, but dude, 50 bucks??? thats crazy!

I got some chinese deal from ebay, 3 dollars SHIPPED from china to kingston, 8 blue LEDs in a waterproof housing, just went to value village ripped a transformer from a phone, got it for free, and rigged it up, once inside my soon to come hood it will be completely invisible, and the light is great, the 8 LEDS are close together, and they give a moonbeam effect, if you rigged a few of them together you could do your whole tank for a fraction of the cost...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fantastic-High-b...QQcmdZViewItem

here they are, same price...they also have leads from the other side to connect them in parallel

[9am53]

depends what you're looking for...I like the moonbeam type lighting, in which case 2 together would give you a great beam for a 75 gallon, but with this you cant really see too far outside the beam. To shed evenly distributed light over the whole tank you'd need a few of them. The problem with LED's is the direct beam of light, almost "laserlike". To do the whole tank evenly you would have to think of a way of diffusing the light somehow, Ive considered this myself. If you are a DIYer like me Ive though of taking some clear silicone sealand, and making a long channel of it into which I would glue a strip of the LEDs, this might give you a long diffused "wall" of light instead of the individual beams, but I havent tried it yet...possibly the topic of a DIY thread...?

Here are some pics of a single LED cluster. The tank pic is awefull, but my camera kinda sucks...in total darkness I can make out all areas of my 29 gallon, but the areas beyond maybe 6 inches outside the beam are quite faint

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...3/100_1308.jpg
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...3/100_1305.jpg

If you want the whole tank evenly lit, and you are not a DIYer, and/or dont want to try my proposed method, then maybe the R2 extreme lights might work, they seem to have a diffusion method built in...

[Torpedobarb]

I got some really nice ones on ebay for 29.00 shipped.. it has 35 blue led's in two 21" strips. it works out nicely with the center brace. I think 50.00 for that light is insane.

[mark77ap]

ok, I am have been looking around. Getting anything shipped from the US on ebay is killer. People are charging like $30 to ship LED's to Canada. Come on.

I think I will try the hong kong route....

[lauraleellbp]

I assume you've tried the Canadian Ebay?

[DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR]

i rigged up my own diy moonlights lately and watching the tank at night has raised a curiousity of mine.

previously at nighttime when i would spy on my discus in the dark they would lay motionless in the plants in a back corner behind driftwood, "sleeping.."

with these moonlights it seems like they are much more active at night. it makes me wonder if this light is depriving them of sleep.

however, because of work and life i do not get much time to enjoy my tank while the lights are on during normal hours. to me these moonlights are awesome.

DIY idea of the week=
moonlights.. about $15 dollars.
go to walgreens and look in the "automotive section." walmart will work too.
or kragen, pepboys..checkers..
you are looking for a small package containing three blue led "accent lights."
they are supposed to be plugged into the cigarrete lighter socket in a car and taped onto things in the car.
apparently someone would think this is cool.

anyway, you know the deal. buy them, take them home. rip open the package and cut the lighter socket plug off. then find a 12 volt adapter to power them. mount them and plug them into a timer.

[Complexity]

Not the cheapest, but I like the quality of this guy's lights:

http://search.stores.ebay.com/DiGiKi...ghtQ2aQQsofpZ0

I have the 30" lights on my 20L tank, and this thread just reminded me to get his 48" lights (2 x 24") for my 75g. I prefer the ones with the dimmers so I can adjust the lights to my preference. For my 75g, I actually ordered two sets which will allow me to get more even coverage of the front and back instead of just a line in the middle. His lights are wide angle instead of pinpoint which helps.

The only complaint I have is that the lights shine in your eyes if you don't have a canopy to hide them. I used black duct tape to cover the top and sides so the light can escape only from the bottom. This hurts the wide angle a little, but it was my choice to do it that way. I won't have this problem with my 75g since I have a canopy on that one.

[mark77ap]

I was looking at those LED's but $19.90 to ship to Canada is a bit much.
I did look on ebay.ca, no one seems to be selling LED moonlights in canada....
I like the walmart Idea, I will check it out....