DIY Moonlighting

[RustyNut]

Here is the simple way I added moonlighting to my existing Twin-bulb hood.

I had a spare Computer Lighting Kit laying around going to waste. It is a "mini" cold cathode light kit in Blue Color. The bulb is four inches long. The Kit come with a switch and a Molex plug to connect to your computer power supply and operates on 12v DC. I simply Cut the switch/connector off and used some heavy guage speaker wire to reach from the top of my tank to the 12v adapter which plugs into a timer under the stand.

I used Velcro tape to secure everything, but my Velcro tape didn't stick very well to the mirrored finish of the reflector so I used a little Elmer's wood glue to get the velcro to stay put.

I have two 36" light hoods on my 6-ft tank so I placed the bulb as close to one end as possible so it would be fairly centered in the tank.

[RustyNut]

Connected to the bulb is the ballast... this has two wires going to the bulb and a Red & Black pair of wires for power. (Black is gnegative and Red is Positive)

Speaker wire has two colors to it (Brass and Silver) so I connected the Red wire to the Brass wire of the speaker wire and the Black wire to the Silver wire. I soldered these together and wrapped them with electrical tape. There is a product called spaghetti which is the preferred method of protecting the splices but I had none available. The Electrical tape worked just fine as we are only dealing with 12V DC.

[RustyNut]

Next I found a suitable location for the ballast. The rear of the hood was too tight to fit, but I found I had just enough room in the front area to fit the ballast without interfering with the flourescent bulb.

[RustyNut]

You can see the ballast just barely clear the edge of the hood.

[RustyNut]

I then neatly managed to wiggle the wiring behind the end-caps of the flourescent bulb, and tuck along the end of the hood to a rear corner where I made a small notch for the wire to slip out.

[RustyNut]

I then connected the wire to the adapter making sure I had the Positive and Negative wires correct (brass is Positive, Silver is Negative) and tightened the screws. If your using another adapter, you may have to also splice this end, OR your adapter cord may be long enough already.

[RustyNut]

Then I tested operation.... I should note that I had already tested the adapter, and bulb prior to fitting this into the hood to ensure everything was working (Not shown here)

[RustyNut]

And here is the final result!

note: I took this picture with my camera set to candlight mode so the light appears much brighter in the picture than in reality. I did this to show off the halo effect and demonstrate the coverage area better.

[RustyNut]

Here is the picture under normal conditions....

[cichgirl]

Nice Job! Looks great!

[snox]

i like that,,,,it real cool and gives it nice atmosphere,,,, i might just try that myself,,,,,,,,

[NEO_72]

Great job - just did the same thing (different matl's).

Really makes the tank great!

[RustyNut]

Originally posted by NEO_72
Great job - just did the same thing (different matl's).

Ya I seen your LED version and its nice too... just wanted to show off the various possiblities!

I have a DUAL 12" light kit (Cold Cathode) here I was thinking of using but after seeing the output of the 4" kit I am glad I didn't use it!

My fish really seem to love it!

I now have my sunrise (dual 48" 80watts) come on at 6AM, then the two hoods (dual36" 100watts) come on at noon... and around 6pm the 48" shuts off, then just before 11pm the Moonlight comes on and within a minute or two the Hoods shut down... Really great transitional effects! The BONUS is that the fish all look a little different under the four different lighting periods!

[DogWalker]

Nice! I'll bet that light cycle even has the people in the room behaving more naturally!

[RedParrotBubbles85]

Looks really good. Do the fish seem to mind it? or do they act normal as if there was no light?
-Mike

[RustyNut]

As stated above.... They seem to LOVE it!

After the main lights go off, you can see them gently swiming to thier caves and everyone seems to calm down quickly and just hunker down for the night. I am still trying to figure out how long I want the moonlighting on... I have it set for 3 hours now so its on a little longer than the latest I ever am up until.... I can peek in on them right up until bedtime! :wink:

I just want them to get enough rest!

[NEO_72]

Yeah, I have a few fish that seem to be night owls if I leave it too bright overnight...was thinkning about their rest too :D

[Dempsey88]

That looks really good. Would never think that effect came from a DIY project. Thumbs up!

[Ray]

great Idea on the moonlights
I have the orbit 24 hour lighing system, so I already have moonlights built in but am thinking about using the idea on my other tanks. the orbit is sweet though.

[Ray]

nice !!! I may have to do that my 40 gallon could use some moonlighting.
cool thanks!

[Glaive]

Just a fyi for most the cold cathode light tubes for computer modding can be had for cheap. My gf's two 12 inch bars set me back $5.99.

[Ray]

cool I really didn't want to buy another orbit lighting system when all i needed was moonlights to complete my other tanks. I was looking at the small moonlights at the lfs but it seems like I would need four or five of those just to get the same effect out of the cold cathodes shown here.

[Steve C]

I was using my power compact lights for the 55, I would use the 100w's during the day, the actinic toward the evening, and then the moon LED's for a while at night. I liked the effect but it seemed too bright for them, and under the moon glows they never really settled down for night time. I scrapped the whole routine for fear of stressing them out, it was either that or surgically attach eyelids to them.

[NEO_72]

If you use a variable AC/DC converter, you can lower the voltage. The converter I have ranges from 1.5V to 12V via a selector switch.

I know LED's will glow dimmer with less voltage. I don't know if the cathode has the same property, or if it's a go/no-go thing depending on the juice supplied.

[Glaive]

Cold cathode is on/off as far as I know, if I were to use a 12 inch I would consider a film like window tint to reduce the light. This actually as me considering making day time aquarium lighting from cold cathode tubes due to thier efficiency and lack of temperature. Led vs cct in my latest computer has yielded a temp difference of 10C.

[seajays]

You can dim Cold Cathode by lowering the voltage.

[RustyNut]

yup! At least somewhat..... LED's are much more variable.

[NEO_72]

Glaive, if you do cold cathode daytime lighting, keep me informed. Sounds interesting. Do you know the CRI of ccts? Or does it vary?

[RustyNut]

On the point of moonlights preventing the fish from resting... I do not believe they do. For one thing, the african moonlight is very strong and bright and can last nearly the entire night. So in some respects the moonlights are simulating a natural effect that fish naturally sleep in. Also, you don't have to leave your moonlights on all night. I have mine set on a 3-hour timer so that minimally the fish are getting 4-5hours of darkness. (During mid summer maybe slightly less than 4hrs)

Most aquarium fish are not used to moonlighting and probably have adapted to the lights out dark tank conditions. It may take some time for them to feel comfortable sleeping during the moonlight period and that may be why some fish tend to be night owls. (Or they are teenagers - lol!)

I have noticed that many of my fish head to thier 'beds' within 15 mins after the main lights go out and the moonlights come on.... While some fish hang out in the center lighted area until the moonlights go out. I have not witnessed any chasing, breeeding, or other "active" behaviour once the main lights go out though, so you might conclude even the night owls are relaxing if not sleeping.

[NEO_72]

Yeah, 2 of my fish hang out in the moonlight, as do my dithers. I'm always womdering if they're getting rest. I usually wake up in the night, so I'll turn the moonlights off during the near-full-moon phases when my appartment has enough ambient light at night anyway.

[sirgardens]

Your tank looks great RustyNuts.I have always always wanted to set up my tank similar if not the same as far as all of those great rocks you have stacked up.LOOKS GREAT!

How do you know when its too much weight?

Thats actually keeping me from doing the same, I have four of those boring lfs brown rocks dont know if they are lava rocks but dont come close to the natural look you have.Way cooler!
I would have to imagine its cheaper to do right?

like always thanks RustyNuts

[humidityhater]

I did a moonlight setup....cheap and easy.

Lowes lighting department has an LED bar for around $18. Plugit in and mount it ....DONE! I chose to use two of them so that the light was even across the tank. I think they come in 10 and 16 inch light bars.

Looks great...try it out.

H.H.