It been a while, but I'm BACK and planning a big build.

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

Ouch, sorry to hear that. You should milk them for an acrylic upgrade

That would be great, except, I DO NOT LIKE acrylic!!

I have never had luck with acrylic. The acrylic tanks I have used in the past were simply too much work. They scratched if you looked at the tank wrong. It was ridiculous!. I will stick with glass for as long as I can. I know there is a point where glass just doesn't make sense anymore, but I don't think I am there yet.

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

The new tank will be here Saturday evening. Neptune's is actually delivering it and picking up the one being returned. The stand is still in the planning stages, but hopefully work can start on it soon. I think we have finally settled on a plan for the lights. I know we have changed the plan several times, but we were unhappy with everything we found in some way or another. Unfortunately, the new plan will require A LOT of work to complete. The number of LED's may change a bit, but the basic plan is in place. The number of LED's is limited by the power supplies, we are trying to use only 1 power supply per bank of LED's. This means only 106 max per 21"x36" section (the open areas between the braces). Here is the current plan:

3 - 17"x30" heatsinks

Each heatsink will have

4 - 650-670nm red
4 - 620-630nm Red
4 - 710-720nm Red
12 - Cyan
7 - 410-420 Violet
7 - 400-410 UV
5 - Cool White
5 - Neutral White
4 - Warm White
26 - Royal Blue
26 - Blue

That is a total of 104 LED's Per bank or 312 total LED's. We are planning on 60 degree lenses on the Blue LED's and 80 degree on everything else. I am still deciding on whether to control each color individually (11 channels) or to do similar colors (red, blue, White, Cyan, UV/Violet) and use only 5 channels. The controller can handle up to 16 channels, so either is doable.

My roommate is planning on building an enclosure to hide all of the drivers, power supplies, wires, etc., using aluminum. We will then attach it to the ceiling with a pulley system so we can raise the lights for easy access to the tank for cleaning and maintenance. We are planning on getting everything, except the heatsinks from RapidLED. Total cost will be ~$3000 give or take.

Let me know what you think and any changes you would suggest before we place our order.

 

[SkyShark]

That will be a heck of a build. Good luck! Will the leds be clustered together or spread out?

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

That will be a heck of a build. Good luck! Will the leds be clustered together or spread out?

The plan is to spread them out. We are going to use T-slot heatsinks, so it will be easier than trying to group them on that, plus, the LED's will only have about an inch between each other. Here is a picture of one possible layout. It does not show each individual color, just red blue, cyan, UV, and white, but it gives a good idea. Here is the key:

Brown (actually red but looks brown) = Red LED
Blue = Blue LED
Green = Cyan LED
Neon Yellow = White LED
Pink = UV/Violet LED

 

[zombie]

I would actually run a mix more like this. Whites provide a lot of full spectrum light and ideally, you want about 50% blue, 25% white, and 25% mix of other colors.

Each heatsink will have

2 - 650-670nm red
2 - 620-630nm Red
2 - 710-720nm Red
10 - Cyan
6 - 410-420 Violet
6 - 400-410 UV
8 - Cool White
8 - Neutral White
8 - Warm White
26 - Royal Blue
26 - Blue

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

I would actually run a mix more like this. Whites provide a lot of full spectrum light and ideally, you want about 50% blue, 25% white, and 25% mix of other colors.

Each heatsink will have

2 - 650-670nm red
2 - 620-630nm Red
2 - 710-720nm Red
10 - Cyan
6 - 410-420 Violet
6 - 400-410 UV
8 - Cool White
8 - Neutral White
8 - Warm White
26 - Royal Blue
26 - Blue

We may still change up the layout and numbers a bit. I am currently looking for different power supplies that will allow me to run more LED's without having to utilize more supplies. The idea behind having more colors and fewer white is that the whites will ONLY be used to fill in the gaps in spectrum. The colored LED's in conjunction with the blue will naturally create a white looking light when properly mixed. I would go with colored LED's only, if that did not leave gaps in the spectrum, but that is not the case. So, we decided to add a few different colored whites, just to fill in the gaps.

I have even seen talk lately of fixtures being produced that do not use ANY white LED's. They simply use colored LED's to achieve the desired color temperature.

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

Here is a little sketchup of my proposed layout. I think we will stick with a layout very similar to this. If I find we need more whites, we can always add them later.

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

Finally have some concrete decisions this weekend. Everything has been ordered for the light (more on that in a minute). We also ordered a Jebao DCT 12000 return pump (the Mag Drive 24 pump just makes too much noise), and 2 x 40b tanks (at the $1 per gallon sale) for QT tanks.

As for the light, We found a supplier (yes, out of china) that is making arrays similar to the Rapid LED Aurora pucks. We ordered 18 arrays with lenses (6 pucks per section of the tank. Each array has 20 LEDs on 4 channels:

Channel 1 = 5 x Cree XPE Royal Blue
Channel 2 = 3 x Cree XPE Red and 2 x Epiled Cyan
Channel 3 = 5 x Cree XPE Cool White
Channel 4 = 3 x Cree XPE Blue and 2 x Epiled 420nm Violet

We also ordered 96 x Cree XTE Royal Blue to act as actinics and night time LED's, also to give more control over sunrise/sunset. Everything will be run using Meanwell LDD drivers in either 700mA or 1000mA, and controlled using Coralux Storm X controllers. We will be mounting all of the LED's on 17"x30" T-slot heatsinks.

 

[sethsolomon]

That is a lot of red led for that area of spread. I would pull 2 of the reds and swap them with neutral whites

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

That is a lot of red led for that area of spread. I would pull 2 of the reds and swap them with neutral whites

I wish I could. These are already on boards and I cannot reflow new diodes in place of those. We are planning on turning them down to accommodate. This is part of the reason we went with 18 of these pucks, it will give us better control. Also, the RapidLED Aurora puck has 2 x red and 1 x red/orange on it. Like I said, this is very similar to the Aurora Puck. These have Cyan instead of green, 3 Blue instead of 4, and have only 2 Violet instead of 4. It may not be the perfect mix, but I like that is uses Cyan rather than green. I may end up adding a few more violet and maybe some 400-410 UV, but we will see.

 

[sethsolomon]

I may end up adding a few more violet and maybe some 400-410 UV, but we will see.

Just a heads up 400-410 nm is not uv its just the lowest violet. UV is

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

Just a heads up 400-410 nm is not uv its just the lowest violet. UV is

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

...if you want to add some UV-A or UV-B http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-10-20-50-...violet-365-405nm-LED-Lamp-Light-/221475439385

There is NO UVB LED. UVB is UV light between 290-320nm. The best we can get is UVA 320-400nm. Just FYI:angel:

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

I need some advice from some of you who know and use the Apex controller. First a little back story:

I have a small custom built 3 gallon pico reef. It has a 2.5g custom sump and 2.5g ATO. It has been running and doing well for nearly 5 years. Tonight when I got home I saw that the frog spawn was completely melting and all of the other corals were VERY unhappy. When I reached into the tank to remove the frog spawn, I found that the tank was VERY hot, 93.5 dergrees. I immediately started searching for the culprit, only to find that the thermostat on the heater had failed in the on position. We are now cooling it down, but it looks like it is a total loss.

Now, in the pico, this translates to a few hundred dollars lost, while in a 300g tank it would mean THOUSANDS. This seems to have been enough to convince my roommate to invest in an Apex controller for the tank. My problem is, I am completely confused. There are so many options and modules for it that I don't know where to start. I need advice and, at some point, help with setting it all up. Please help us out here.

On a side note, the stand will hopefully be done and to the powder coater by the end of next week. I am also hopeful that the LED build will be done by next weekend, I am just waiting in a couple more parts and then IT IS ON.

 

[zombie]

The first thing you need to answer is what equipment do you have on the tank (include manufacturer and model if you have it)? And second, what do you want to measure (pH, orp, conductivity).

 

[zombie]

I looked through the thread a bit more, and I think this would be a decent setup for the apex.

1. Apex standard with lab grade pH probe.

2. 2x 2 channel apex dimming cable (will allow the apex to control your lights and eliminate the need for the storm controllers.

3. 1x Breakout box

4. 1x EB4

5. (Optional) Vdm and fish street adaptor or torx harness

6. (Optional) PM2 and conductivity probe (if you want to measure salinity)

With this layout, you would have the LED power supplies plugged into the wall with the apex dimming cables controlling your 4 light channels. Have one heater (and thermostat) plugged into a relay outlet of an EB8 and the other plugged into the 12A outlet of the EB4. Plug the skimmer, reactor, and returns into the the triac outlets of the EB8. If you wnd up getting BRS dosing pumps for 2 part, they would go in the EB4. If you get the optional VDM and adaptor, you can have the apex control your RW-20s. You can add some float switches and wire them to the breakout box for ATO control (or just failsafes) and other cool stuff like skimmer overflow detection, sump light switch, etc. If you ever get a CaRx, you can use the second pH/orp slot to measure the pH of the calcium reactor for alarms or full control of the CO2.

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

I looked through the thread a bit more, and I think this would be a decent setup for the apex.

1. Apex standard with lab grade pH probe.

2. 2x 2 channel apex dimming cable (will allow the apex to control your lights and eliminate the need for the storm controllers.

3. 1x Breakout box

4. 1x EB4

5. (Optional) Vdm and fish street adaptor or torx harness

6. (Optional) PM2 and conductivity probe (if you want to measure salinity)

With this layout, you would have the LED power supplies plugged into the wall with the apex dimming cables controlling your 4 light channels. Have one heater (and thermostat) plugged into a relay outlet of an EB8 and the other plugged into the 12A outlet of the EB4. Plug the skimmer, reactor, and returns into the the triac outlets of the EB8. If you wnd up getting BRS dosing pumps for 2 part, they would go in the EB4. If you get the optional VDM and adaptor, you can have the apex control your RW-20s. You can add some float switches and wire them to the breakout box for ATO control (or just failsafes) and other cool stuff like skimmer overflow detection, sump light switch, etc. If you ever get a CaRx, you can use the second pH/orp slot to measure the pH of the calcium reactor for alarms or full control of the CO2.

Wow, thank you. I will look into all of that. Can I hot you up for more info if needed or help setting it up?

 

[zombie]

Wow, thank you. I will look into all of that. Can I hot you up for more info if needed or help setting it up?

Always. Im one of the main contributors to the neptune forums, so I can make the apex do just about anything you can think of.

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

Finally miking a little bit of progress. The steel will be ready to pick up on Mon. Then we can get it all welded pretty quickly. In the meantime, we got all of the aluminum for the light fixture today and cut everything up. We will be welding everything together tomorrow. Then it will go to the powder coater. I will have the rest of the parts for the LED's Monday and hope to have everything placed on the heatsinks in a couple of days.

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

The light is coming along. We were not able to get as much done as we had hoped, but we did make some progress. It may take most of the week to complete since we only have a few hours each evening to work on it. Here are a couple of pics of the progress.

Fitted together, before welding.

Welding things.

Partially welded and 1/2 of drivers and power supplies (2/3 of fixture).