Moon light LED help

Ok as I am nearing the completion of my new tank, moon light is now one of my projects.
As I search the forums, alot of the links take me to "you are at an old site thread" message which means I cant find out what people were talking about.

So I am asking those who have DIY moonlights or know what the specs are on their LEDs to offer their opinion.

I have found both Blue and Aqua color LEDs.Does anyone have an opinion on which would be better as long as both emitted 470nm?

I have found LED's from the intensity of 800mcd to 6000mcd. Does anyone have an opinion of what is too bright or too dim??

I have found LEDs that have a 5 degree view angle, 15deg, 30deg, 45deg also. Does any one have an opinion as to how wide the beam should be in conjunction with the intensity???

And lastly, I have a 90 gallon 48" by 18" by 24"deep, does any one have an opinion as to how far apart the LEDs should be spaced, please include your spacing and intensity and beam width if known. I think you can estimate the beam width by observing the illumination area.

Thanks for your O in advance
Chris

 

This is soo odd that you just posted these questions as I have almost identical ones. I have a coralife aqualight pro and it has 2 moon leds, that I feel aren't bright enough or spaced well enough for my tank (46gal bowfront) I just started looking into trying to find out which bulbs my light enclosure has so I can add 2 more to light different parts of the tank. I was looking at LED's at superbrightleds.com and found much of the same info as you on types available. To me it seems as if the viewing angle is very important - http://www.grandwell.com/vw_angle.htm

Sorry I wasn't much help,
Mike

 

Well boost, pay attention to this post and hopefully our answers will be answered together. I do like your site for the angle, that is a great depiction. as you can see by my description I currently have the 46 bow. for the past year I have used a blue rope light strung hither and yon in the canopy. it was...... tolerable... yes that is a good word.... but I'm doing it right with this new 90 gal. thanks for the info.
Chris

 

Anyone?

 

Bump

 

Ok, I'll try and answer at least part of your problem. You made me dust of my HS trig book for this. First, lets assume the point at which you mount the LED's is 8" above the tank and you have a 4" bed at the bottom. Your light will be 28" from the bottom. Using this figure:

45º = 23.2" circle at the sand
30º = 15"
15º = 7.5"

Considering the widht of your tank at 18" if you put the LED right down the center line, 3 30º LED's at 9, 24, 39 inches would give you full coverage.

Using 12 15º LEDs at 5, 13, 21, 29, 36, 45 in two rows 4" from front and back will give full coverage at 4x the brightness.

The only thing I could find on brightness was the MCD rating at the point source. Without a measurement at a distance from the point or a diameter of the initial point, I can't calculate the intensity at the sand.

Understand?

Whew!! Felt like I was back taking a final! ;D

Mike

 

Wow that was good. I did not stop to think ofthe coverage like that. As far as the intensity, numbers would not mean a whole lot to me as I could do nothing with, " 4000mcd give you 3.14159 lumens at 24"....Blah blah blah",
I want some one with first hand knowledge to say "well i have 6000mcd leds and my fish wear sunglasses at night" or " i have 4000mcd leds and my fish are sipping wine and listening to Barry White on the rocks!!!" LOL
I appreciate the layman translation.
Chris

 

I have 3@ 1watt 30* on my 125 gal tank, I can see every thing in the tank but it does not illuminate the room I have 2@ 3/4 watt 45* on my 72, I can see every thing in that tank as well but it seams brighter. if you just want to be able to see in the tank at night then go with LESS if you are trying to grow coral at night then....
I will post pictures this evening But the leds dont come on until 11:00 or so

 

more info here - http://thelebos.com/