VFX_Reef_Peacekeeper
Community Member
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2018
- Messages
- 73
- Reaction score
- 85
275 Crystal Dynamics Tank Build.
An 8 month project finally up and running. A brief rundown on what I'm covering in this
build breakdown.
#1, Ordering tank. Crystal Dynamics in Oceanside CA.
#2, Using Ocean Revive LED lights fully modified to run using the Bluefish controller.
#3, Building the light canopy to be mounted to wall studs.
#4, Building the electrical cabinet to go inside the stand.
#5, Curing and prepping 200lb of Pukani Rock 4 months in advance of tank delivery.
I hope this info helps other reefers!!
#1 Tank Purchase
After much research and the decision to go for quality and wait a little longer I decided to go for
Crystal Dynamics near San Diego. The tank is 275 gallons (The tank is 84" long, 30" deep and 28") and the stand is stainless steel clad in Maple, the tank specs are insane. Seriously re enforced and built for strength. Trent and Zoya were really good. The only downside was the customer service was a little lacking at times. From ordering both tank and stand to delivery was close to six months. However the quality is outstanding and I would not consider any other tank builder. Oh yeah, I had to re enforce the floor to support this monster.
I recommend checking them out if you're looking for a solid tank.
https://cdaquarium.com/
#2 Lighting
Obviously lighting is super important and my initial tendency was to lean toward Gen 4 Radions.
However after the tank build I was concerned about keeping the cost down and I need a minimum of 4 lights. I went with the Ocean Revive t247 led's. Their growing performance is really good with high PAR reading of above 350. The only downside was they don't have any remote capability.
My solution was to wire in the Bluefish Controller.
Here is a breakdown of how I did it.
Ocean Revive / Bluefish Controller Mod.
The first thing I did was research the Mod on the Ocean Revives. I'm not huge on electrical work but this turned out to be quite simple. There a few gotchas like reducing the voltage from the bluefish from 10v to 5v.
The Bluefish Controller has 6 channels. So three lights 2 channels each. This was an issue as I needed 4 lights. I ended up linking the two center lights to channels 3 & 4. As the bluefish will only take
the lights from 10% to 100% I use my Apex controller to turn them on and off.
The App is super easy to use and had loads of functions including weather patterns based on actual locations.
https://aquarium-led-controller.com/product/bluefish-led-controller/
3# Building a Floating Light Canopy
The canopy is 74" Long by 18" Deep. The build is basically a frame 4 cross sections for strength and 1/2 inch Maple planks skinning the outside of the frame.
The design has an open top for cooling reasons. I also using T and L brackets on all the joints to help with strength as the weight of the unit will mostly be on the back of the frame.
Here is a list of the materials I used.
Building the frame.
I counter sank all of the joints so they would fit together in a stronger way. Adding a wood strip to the front and back of the frame I drilled holes to line up with the mount fittings on the lights. This allowed me to mount the lights using the original parts they came with them. After finishing this I realized I made it way to tall and had to cut it down by almost half. Once the canopy was finished and stained I painted it with three coats of polly and sprayed the inside black.
I wanted to mount it using two TV mounts rated to hold 120lb each. The canopy was 80lb with lights installed. The outside wood is maple (Super hard wood) and is screwed securely to the frame so the TV mounting brackets just screwed into this. I had an issue with sagging at the front so I solved this by adding two wires to the top back to the wall. This enables me to push the lights back to the wall for maintenance on the tank and have them properly supported once pulled forward.
An 8 month project finally up and running. A brief rundown on what I'm covering in this
build breakdown.
#1, Ordering tank. Crystal Dynamics in Oceanside CA.
#2, Using Ocean Revive LED lights fully modified to run using the Bluefish controller.
#3, Building the light canopy to be mounted to wall studs.
#4, Building the electrical cabinet to go inside the stand.
#5, Curing and prepping 200lb of Pukani Rock 4 months in advance of tank delivery.
I hope this info helps other reefers!!
#1 Tank Purchase
After much research and the decision to go for quality and wait a little longer I decided to go for
Crystal Dynamics near San Diego. The tank is 275 gallons (The tank is 84" long, 30" deep and 28") and the stand is stainless steel clad in Maple, the tank specs are insane. Seriously re enforced and built for strength. Trent and Zoya were really good. The only downside was the customer service was a little lacking at times. From ordering both tank and stand to delivery was close to six months. However the quality is outstanding and I would not consider any other tank builder. Oh yeah, I had to re enforce the floor to support this monster.
I recommend checking them out if you're looking for a solid tank.
https://cdaquarium.com/
#2 Lighting
Obviously lighting is super important and my initial tendency was to lean toward Gen 4 Radions.
However after the tank build I was concerned about keeping the cost down and I need a minimum of 4 lights. I went with the Ocean Revive t247 led's. Their growing performance is really good with high PAR reading of above 350. The only downside was they don't have any remote capability.
My solution was to wire in the Bluefish Controller.
Here is a breakdown of how I did it.
Ocean Revive / Bluefish Controller Mod.
The first thing I did was research the Mod on the Ocean Revives. I'm not huge on electrical work but this turned out to be quite simple. There a few gotchas like reducing the voltage from the bluefish from 10v to 5v.
The Bluefish Controller has 6 channels. So three lights 2 channels each. This was an issue as I needed 4 lights. I ended up linking the two center lights to channels 3 & 4. As the bluefish will only take
the lights from 10% to 100% I use my Apex controller to turn them on and off.
The App is super easy to use and had loads of functions including weather patterns based on actual locations.
https://aquarium-led-controller.com/product/bluefish-led-controller/
3# Building a Floating Light Canopy
The canopy is 74" Long by 18" Deep. The build is basically a frame 4 cross sections for strength and 1/2 inch Maple planks skinning the outside of the frame.
The design has an open top for cooling reasons. I also using T and L brackets on all the joints to help with strength as the weight of the unit will mostly be on the back of the frame.
Here is a list of the materials I used.
Building the frame.
I counter sank all of the joints so they would fit together in a stronger way. Adding a wood strip to the front and back of the frame I drilled holes to line up with the mount fittings on the lights. This allowed me to mount the lights using the original parts they came with them. After finishing this I realized I made it way to tall and had to cut it down by almost half. Once the canopy was finished and stained I painted it with three coats of polly and sprayed the inside black.
I wanted to mount it using two TV mounts rated to hold 120lb each. The canopy was 80lb with lights installed. The outside wood is maple (Super hard wood) and is screwed securely to the frame so the TV mounting brackets just screwed into this. I had an issue with sagging at the front so I solved this by adding two wires to the top back to the wall. This enables me to push the lights back to the wall for maintenance on the tank and have them properly supported once pulled forward.
