Hello fello and sister reefers last year I was looking on this site And this dude had a good idea about making moon light from led blue Christmas tree lights. About two weeks after christmas lowes and home depot had done took all there light off the shelves:frustrat:.So any ways tonight I was at Walmart and thought about checking out there Christmas lights and low and behold they had a box of 60 led lights with no grappy covers on them wired up for 6.98 :bounce: I grabbed a box took them home and drapped them over my canopy and it looks like the real deal for only 6.98 you can't beet that. Im going to make some kind of rod to put them on so they'll face striaght down on the water.... I just thought some of you all might be interested on this simple find and cheep tomake...:Cheers:
diy moon lighting
- Thread starter AHill40
- Start date
Chris_150G
Reefing newb
Is that the same as the moon lights that you can buy? Do moon lights actually do anything besides look cool?
dcantucson
Reef pro
Moon lights are just for us reefers. They do not serve any purpose other than mood lighting. But they are cool!
Sinluien
Reefing newb
I'm going in like 5 minutes to get them... they better be there... or i might have to go all mantis shrimp on them.
Chris_150G
Reefing newb
I bought a string of 100 blue LED's from Walmart. They cost only $2. The box says they use 40W. I laid them on top of the tank. The light they make does look good. I hadn't seen what moonlight looked like. So yes they do work, look good and are almost free. But I took them down.
The problem is that there is too much wiring. The string can stretch out to 20 ft and is like quadruple wired so a bulb can go out without taking the rest down with it. The trouble is hiding all of that bulky green wiring. (I don't use a canopy).
Also I noticed that as far as mounting goes, the individual (xmas) LED bulbs do not project light from the tip of the bulb. So pointing them at the water doesn't help. The side of the bulb has to face the water.
The problem is that there is too much wiring. The string can stretch out to 20 ft and is like quadruple wired so a bulb can go out without taking the rest down with it. The trouble is hiding all of that bulky green wiring. (I don't use a canopy).
Also I noticed that as far as mounting goes, the individual (xmas) LED bulbs do not project light from the tip of the bulb. So pointing them at the water doesn't help. The side of the bulb has to face the water.
dcantucson
Reef pro
I looked all over the walmart and only found the 60 bulb blue led light for 6.98 the other ones that I had seen was for 2.00 were the old type of Christmas lights which were not leds they have them know I dont know. If you knew how to rewire them up in to a pvc pipe or something that you could hold them over the water you wouldnt need that many light for a good price.
As for most after market moon lighting Ive seen that are already assembled in to light fixtures there are only 3 or 4 pointing down to water and they seem to shine quite well and most actual moon lights that ive seen for sale like on e-bay the cheepest that I had found at one time was a 12'' strip and that price was for $25.00 the ones i had bought looked good, I'll send pic as soon as I get time to finish what I need to do with them.
As for most after market moon lighting Ive seen that are already assembled in to light fixtures there are only 3 or 4 pointing down to water and they seem to shine quite well and most actual moon lights that ive seen for sale like on e-bay the cheepest that I had found at one time was a 12'' strip and that price was for $25.00 the ones i had bought looked good, I'll send pic as soon as I get time to finish what I need to do with them.
Sinluien
Reefing newb
Yep, so i done bought em'. I removed several of them and eliminated some wire, drilled an old fluorescent fixture from the garage, where the side is on an angle to reflect light, tested it for giggles, a hose filled tank with cracked glass, and it looks great. I think the angle helped with the side lighting issue. I think it was the best 7 dollar investment i ever made.
now to hide the wires...
dcan, nice link, cheap fixtures, awesome!
now to hide the wires...
dcan, nice link, cheap fixtures, awesome!
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Sinluien
Reefing newb
I currently have 4 digi camera and my fiance so much as looks at it, they break. She has horrible luck with them. So, maybe, if i ever get my BB back from being repaired ill get some pics up.
BTW i'm also buying the odyssea top of the line light fixture. for a 135 bucks shipped, it's worth a shot. 4 bulb with moonlighting and timer. I do construction and have several electrician friends (ballasts) and one who owns a computer shop (fans) here.
We all did some work for an aquarium for a local doctor. but the electricians kinda home made some t5's, the normal ballasts wouldn't run the bulbs, the computer guy put in the fans to cool the ballasts the electricians put in. Was a huge fiasco. The aquarium is maintained by Sea Dwellers and they placed the tank as well, it was built on site. but they were impressed with our EXTREME overkill lighting that none of us knew a damn thing about. I remember him on the phone to the store saying "well, once you guys get the water truck running bring it down, i need 400" . I was like wow i knew it was big, but jebus!
My crew built his office, and i... supervised and did the trim work. lol So, for ME i think its worth it, having access to all the things that go bad if they do. I will let you know how it goes. Worst case scenario ill use the timer off of it for those nova extremes i've been eyeballing. I'll deliver a full review when i can
BTW i'm also buying the odyssea top of the line light fixture. for a 135 bucks shipped, it's worth a shot. 4 bulb with moonlighting and timer. I do construction and have several electrician friends (ballasts) and one who owns a computer shop (fans) here.
We all did some work for an aquarium for a local doctor. but the electricians kinda home made some t5's, the normal ballasts wouldn't run the bulbs, the computer guy put in the fans to cool the ballasts the electricians put in. Was a huge fiasco. The aquarium is maintained by Sea Dwellers and they placed the tank as well, it was built on site. but they were impressed with our EXTREME overkill lighting that none of us knew a damn thing about. I remember him on the phone to the store saying "well, once you guys get the water truck running bring it down, i need 400" . I was like wow i knew it was big, but jebus!
My crew built his office, and i... supervised and did the trim work. lol So, for ME i think its worth it, having access to all the things that go bad if they do. I will let you know how it goes. Worst case scenario ill use the timer off of it for those nova extremes i've been eyeballing. I'll deliver a full review when i can
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project5k
Reef enthusiast
hehehe i bought the blue led lights to play with with my new canopy too... i'll have to post some pictures when i end up with my final design....
dcantucson
Reef pro
looks cool
Thank you ill have to post a rough draft of how i hung all those lights. I havent made any thing yet because im still waiting to get another tank hopfully this week end. Im getting a 125gal from a friend of mine, tank, stand,lights, 150lbs live rock, 8 fish some coral mostly zoa's,a whole lot of other crap, bascily his whole set up for $500.00 he just gotten tierd of it, his loss hopefully my gain. I'll try and post more pic now that i had figured out how to post them LOL.
dcantucson
Reef pro
They do the trick.
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