Loaches Online Forum

This is something that I posted on a reef forum, but it may be of interest here.

I found an interesting little gadget in a DIY store today that can be used for moonlighting for those who are not prepared to get the soldering gun out.
It is a little flat circular light about 2 in. in diameter with three white LEDs arranged in a triangle in the middle.
It is intended to be put in closets to light them up when you open the door. It is wired to a pair of tiny magnets that you are supposed to attach to the closet doors so that when you open the door the light goes on, but that is irrelevant to our purpose.
I dismantled it, took a file and roughened the glass of the LEDs so that their light is diffused.
Sitting on top of my tank cover glass they project a nice soft moonlight.
It runs on 3 AAA batteries so the question is, how long do they last, but since LED's consume so little power and it has this magnetic switching function, I assume that ithe batteries will last a long time, if you only want to view by moonlight occasionally.
It is made in China, where else? and costs $10 here. Maybe you can find similar in budget stores in US or elsewhere.

These guys?



They're all over Toronto in different body colours too.



Martin.

Sounds like a cheap and easy solution. Thanks for the heads up.

Do you have any pictures? How deep is the tank and how deep does the light penetrate?

I have two different moon light setups on my two tanks (one white lights and one blue lights), but I'm always looking for something new

Martin Thoene wrote:These guys?

Martin.

That's it. But the one I bought is branded 'Chacun' which is a name used here for all sorts of cheap Chinese electric products.
What does the Sylvania model cost?

JonGuerriero wrote:Do you have any pictures? How deep is the tank and how deep does the light penetrate?

I have two different moon light setups on my two tanks (one white lights and one blue lights), but I'm always looking for something new

The tank is 18 inches deep. The light illuminates the sand clearly. I'll try to get a pic, but my primitive point-and-shoot camera may not be up to making a good image of a moonlit tank--we'll see.

As I suspected my old camera was just not up to taking pics in such extreme conditions.
But I can assure you that it gives a soft and luminescent moonlight that penetrates at least 18 in. If anything it might be too bright, but that can be easily cured by interposing a piece of colored glass or plastic.

http://www.bulbamerica.com/catalog/2578

Martin.

$7 sounds a fair price. Everything is more expensive here. I recommend them for those who want to try moonlights out but don't want to buy an expensive kit on spec, or who don't want to bugger around with soldering irons.