moon lights to view your catfish
- Thread starter joedodge
- Start date
i have moonlights on my tank. came in handy when i had my bumblebee cat. never saw it untill i installed the moonlights. you can buy them ready made from most shops and of course ebay.
i made mine from cold cathode tubes, the ones for lighting up PC towers. i got mine in a kit (2 CCT's and a power invertor) from from maplin for £8. but you could get them from most PC shops. i just connected mine up to a variable voltage power adapter i had, and hey presto! a monlight system for £8.
i have seen power adapters for less then £1, but normally around £3 so the total cost to collect everything from scratch is £11. this is fine on my 3ft tank but for bigger tanks it may be worth buying more kits, as you can only run two tubes per invertor. or you could just turn the voltage up to compensate. i run mine at 4.5v and its just light enough to see my fish, but not too bright to spook them... you can go to 12v though if you need to.
i made mine from cold cathode tubes, the ones for lighting up PC towers. i got mine in a kit (2 CCT's and a power invertor) from from maplin for £8. but you could get them from most PC shops. i just connected mine up to a variable voltage power adapter i had, and hey presto! a monlight system for £8.
i have seen power adapters for less then £1, but normally around £3 so the total cost to collect everything from scratch is £11. this is fine on my 3ft tank but for bigger tanks it may be worth buying more kits, as you can only run two tubes per invertor. or you could just turn the voltage up to compensate. i run mine at 4.5v and its just light enough to see my fish, but not too bright to spook them... you can go to 12v though if you need to.
i picked up a LED light strip from local hardware store on clearance for $15 you can daisy chain them together but all i use is the one. love it.
HPIZZLE;2351803; said:
if you have fish that are nocturnal, i would recomend them. i dont use them so much now as i have a green spotted puffer and a chromide in the tank. but its nice to know i have them if i need them. especially if i add any other nocturnal fish to the tank. i wouldnt have to hope that they get active during the day. as i literally didnt see the cat for 6 months. i thought it had long died... untill it crawled from behind a rock at 6".
theyre supposed to be great for corals too. there are reports of corals spawning in home aquaria when moon lights are introduced. there are some systems available that can accuratly reinact the moons cycle. but they cost a lot more than my cheap method. or the led strips.
I run a Actinic for a few hours after the daylights go out. My cats love it, and the Plecos come out in the dimmer lights.