The Moon Lights

[Reefland]

Has any of you used any of these CSL, Aqua Medic, PFO moon lights that are becoming advertised so much? I am talking about the 1 watt LED lights that are being sold at pretty high costs for an LED light. If you have used one, do they luminate a tank at all? It seems that it wouldn't add any visisble light to the tank and although the purpose is not to brighten the tank it would be nice to utilize them for night time viewing too.

[captivereefs]

The CSL moonlights work nicely. THey are the least exspensive off all the offerings out there. They produce enough llight to mimic the moon. Not so much that they are night viewing lights but enough to make the fish and things slightly visible. Kind of a neat realistic effect if you ask me!

[Reefland]

Thanks for the pricing info! I would like to try them out but first have to get a hood on my tank. I currently have my Reef Optix pendents sitting on small wooden stands until I can come up with something permanent. Would you recommend 2 or 3 for a 48" tank?

[zhenya]

Scott,

I got one of the Aqua Medic moon lights on my 75 and it is pretty bright for a LED light but I would definitely use two. I'm ordering another one from Champion next week and will swap out my reflectors to accomodate for space to fit both of them.They are tiny in size(atleast the ones that I have) but need to be far enough from the MH not to melt plastic housing.

[captivereefs]

I would run two. But if you want them brighter you could run three. The aqua medic units are around $80. The PFO are arond $65 and the CSL are around $30. The CSL'S are also the smallest at and easiest to place. If you want some more info on the CSL and Aqua Medic Units you can look at both on my site. they are under lighting (misc)

[PerryinCA]

The moonlights are neat looking, but a couple years back, Dana Riddle tested a few of them and showed that the ones that were out at the time were about 100x too bright for use as moonlights (I think these were teh moonbeams). There is speculation from researchers that expect that the new ones with such high output 1 watt LED can actually effection the biological cycles of the corals do to unusually high levels of 24 hour light.

The LEDs are neat, but I wouldn't use them for a moonlight until more is known on any effect this lack of Calvin Cycling can have on coral.

This is why I am hesistant to release any type of moonlight. IMO the Geisemann (sp?) and AB moonlights are probably a better bet as they are lower in output.

just my thoughts....

-Perry

[Reefland]

Hey Perry!

Let me make sure I understand you correctly; the 1 watt of LED is potentially too bright to run in unisom with our normal daylight cycle of light? It seems to me that the 1 watt LED light would be very dim (hense the reason I was asking about using 2 or 3) but your research shows just the opposite?

Thanks,
Scott Z.

[captivereefs]

I have seen the CSL units run. They are not that bright. I think i get more ambient light from the street light outside of my house. My corals have never been affected by that. One never knows though!

[PerryinCA]

Hey Perry!

Let me make sure I understand you correctly; the 1 watt of LED is potentially too bright to run in unisom with our normal daylight cycle of light? It seems to me that the 1 watt LED light would be very dim (hense the reason I was asking about using 2 or 3) but your research shows just the opposite?

Thanks,
Scott Z.

Scott,

It wasn't my research but was something that Dana Riddle had actually worked on. I think he may have done the work in collaboration with someone, but it was basically determined that the light output was enough to impede on the normal life cycle of photosynthetic species if used as a synthetic night time light source (in smaller aquariums - i.e. likely < 300 gal). I don't know all the details off hand, but it was enough to keep me from wanting to do something with LEDs as a night light until further research was conducted. Apparantly the band of light was a close approximation, but the light too intense.

I'll give him a call sometime this week and try to get some details.

-Perry

[Reefland]

Thanks Perry! I'd would obviously be very interested in hearing more details if you can get some from Dana.

Regards,
Scott Z.

[Nemofound]

I bought one of these moon lights and I like it. Can't say my corals do or not.

Here's a link to some pictures the guy I bought it from posted on his website. He has them on sale, $9 off, until Oct 31 at midnight. I paid $50.95 including shipping. I've had mine for two weeks.

The brand name is Moon Beams You can get an idea of the brightness.

[Reefland]

Hi Nemofound and Welcome to Reefland!

Thanks for supplying the link to the pictures. Those don't appear to be bright enough to cause any interuption in photosythesis but maybe any amount of light does?

Perry,

Did you ever have a chance to talk to Dana R. about this?

Thanks,
Scott Z.