moonlights

[bussardnr]

since the leds are 60 degrees do i have to have them protruding from the light? wouldnt the light blockout the leds if i just had them flush?

 

[JProx]

i believe it won't make a large difference. the light should be emitted at the tip of the led, the viewing angle, is the measement of light leaving the tip and its raidus from the center, if i understand it correctly.

 

[bussardnr]

i finally got back to radioshck today and got a 4.5v power converted. is that what i need for the powersupply?

 

[JProx]

yeah that will do it, the slight difference in voltage from the calcs, won't make a big difference.

 

[StrongBad]

What is the best type LED to use. Or better yet what light range is the best to use?

 

[JProx]

5mm - 5000mcd blue leds are about the best ones, based on price / performance, these ones can be had for about 50cents an led, all leds should last somewhere around 10,000 operating hours, if correctly soldered, and has the right circuit driving them.

light range? are you referring to color temp, or viewing angle or maybe total light generated ?

 

[StrongBad]

I guess I mean the cone shape (some seem to make a bigger footprint on the aquarium floor.) and brightness and also the similarity to the actual moonlight spectrum.

 

[JProx]

cone shap is viewing angle, the angle(s) at which the light leaves the lens, currently i have seen 60, 30 and 20 degree angles, between those 3 i like 30degrees.

brightness - leds are commonly judged on their milli - candela output (mcd) currently there are 2,000 mcd - 12,000 mcd leds out there, 5,000 mcd generates a good amount of light for a moonlight setup. an led at around 10,000 mcd is hard to stare at for longer than 15seconds if that helps you vissualize their output.

leds don't generate light in Kelvin temps yet, and eventually though (3-7 yrs from now hopefully) all leds right now (5mm stock) generate less than 1 watt of output power anyway. what they do is provide some light to the tank, that tricks the animals into thinking its night time, and provides us with just enough light to see all the fish and thier nocturnal behaviors.

 

[StrongBad]

THanks Jprox, very helpful!