I just went and got a strip of blue LED's made for sticking somewhere in your car and wired them into the hood on my 20gal. Right now they're basically just hooked straight up to an AC adaptor so they're always on. Do I need to worry about putting a switch in so I can turn them off before I go to bed, or is it just as fine to leave them on 24/7?
Moonlight (blue) ok all night?
- Thread starter Moloch
- Start date
You shouldn't have any problems leaving your led on 24/7 except for the fact that it's service life will be shorter than if you turn them off during the day. The blue color could bring out more color in your fish.
I have mine on a timer to run all night.
Are you worried about your fish not getting any pitch black or the life of the lights?
Two different questions
The fish are fine
The bulbs will last longer if you turn them off in the day time
Are you worried about your fish not getting any pitch black or the life of the lights?
Two different questions
The fish are fine
The bulbs will last longer if you turn them off in the day time
Was worried about the fish not the bulbs. I'm not terribly worried about maximizing the life of LED's...they'll last long enough that I probably won't even remember what I paid for them when I need to replace them
The only worry I have now is that I don't know where in the spectrum these lights sit, I've heard you want your to be in a certain range so-as not to stress the fish? These are just LED's from autozone that are made to stick in your car...
I was thinking about taking the AC adapters I have for them and mounting them inside the light covers & wiring them straight off the wall power then putting a separate switch on the light for the moonlights.
Then again...if its really no problem to just leave them on all the time, I probably won't bother I'll just leave them on.
The only worry I have now is that I don't know where in the spectrum these lights sit, I've heard you want your to be in a certain range so-as not to stress the fish? These are just LED's from autozone that are made to stick in your car...
I was thinking about taking the AC adapters I have for them and mounting them inside the light covers & wiring them straight off the wall power then putting a separate switch on the light for the moonlights.
Then again...if its really no problem to just leave them on all the time, I probably won't bother I'll just leave them on.
The led's aren't going to hurt your fish unless you have quite a few of them in there and it's to bright that they can't rest and have a normal diurnal cycle.
Ok...but how bright is too bright and how do I tell?
Luckily they're both on adjustable power supplies so its easy to kick down from 12v to 9v and make it plenty dim. I don't feel like 12v is too bright...its still pretty dim but I can still make out whats going on in the tank from across the room on the couch (about 10 feet away)
Luckily they're both on adjustable power supplies so its easy to kick down from 12v to 9v and make it plenty dim. I don't feel like 12v is too bright...its still pretty dim but I can still make out whats going on in the tank from across the room on the couch (about 10 feet away)
Well if your trying to use it as moonlights then you want it fairly dim, you should be able to make out the shapes of your fish but not any real detail. If it's to bright you won't notice them resting much and would swim about as actively as if the lights were on.