300 Mixed Reef Build

[New Wave]

with my kind of luck... it would attach to the screen :)

 

[fishdoc11]

Looking great Zef.

 

[Dowtish]

Looking great Zef.

haha! yeah Zef!

 

[New Wave]

seems i needed to the mandarins to motivate me to continue the build... :)

yes... thats right... i havent touched my tank since september of last year... some of it due to being very busy... but mostly because i suffered the DEATH again... we were seriously debating on turning the tank into a hampster cage... but then we found the female mandarin... sooooo... we decided to continue building... this time just putting in lps... and periodically months apart... start introducing sps to see if the coast is clear... so... my good friend Bill came down... and we did a mega-mod on the lights... we configuerd the LED's so that the entire fixture was self supported... powering and controlling all 216 leds from the fixture itself... meaning there are only two cables leaving the light fixture... one for power... and another for data... its SUPER clean... and extremely lightweight... total fixture weighing less than 30lbs.

this is the control platform.. it looks complicated... but its really quite organized in such a small space...

overall view from the top..

and bottom....

and finally... we continue to build

:)

 

[ToXIc]

looks good! slacker...

 

[Dowtish]

Very Nice mod! Glad to see the post. If you want any xenia, lmk:xd:

 

[Zef004]

Looking great Zef.

HahA! That's not my tank. lol

seems i needed to the mandarins to motivate me to continue the build... :)

yes... thats right... i havent touched my tank since september of last year... some of it due to being very busy... but mostly because i suffered the DEATH again... we were seriously debating on turning the tank into a hampster cage... but then we found the female mandarin... sooooo... we decided to continue building... this time just putting in lps... and periodically months apart... start introducing sps to see if the coast is clear... so... my good friend Bill came down... and we did a mega-mod on the lights... we configuerd the LED's so that the entire fixture was self supported... powering and controlling all 216 leds from the fixture itself... meaning there are only two cables leaving the light fixture... one for power... and another for data... its SUPER clean... and extremely lightweight... total fixture weighing less than 30lbs.

this is the control platform.. it looks complicated... but its really quite organized in such a small space...

overall view from the top..

and bottom....

and finally... we continue to build

:)

Nice DIY you and bill did a great job.

 

[bknapp]

Nice work Zef, would love to make myself an LED fixture.

 

[New Wave]

Well... Today was a productive day... I finally put the overflow covers on... I raised the water level in the tank to the full level... Put the moon lights on... Recharged the carbon and gfo... Filled the 2-part ... Cleaned the skimmer... Took out the excess rock In The sump... Raised the sump level to where it's supposed to be... Put the chato I a basket... Put the chato light on the controller... Installed a circulation pump In The sump... ... Tidy'd up the plumbimg and some of the wires...And put noise baffels On the overflows... For the first time the tank is somewhat fully operational.... I pu a few frags in the tank today... Heck... Maybe tomorrow I'll even check levels... Maybe things will start coming together. It feels good to have somewhat of a decent setup again :). It may seem pretty routine... But it's kinda feels good to me... First time I really messed with the tank since September.

 

[orthokardia]

good news mel:)

 

[Dowtish]

Why did you remove rock from the sump? was there a bunch of build up? Is that the reason for the circulation pump?

 

[New Wave]

Nah... Just personal preference... I like my sump empty... I have 250 lbs of rock and 225lbs of sand In the tank... That's more than enough biological ... I added the circulation pump to mix any chemicals I put In plus the dosers. Plus it heats the sump more evenly to make the heaters more effective... And moves water accross the chato (sp)... But yea... It also helps keep the sump clean...

 

[New Wave]

 

[Dowtish]

Looks good...

I am going to add a pump to my sump asap. I need the heater to work better for me, and to keep the crud stirred up too....thanks

 

[Reefer5060]

What reactors are those?

 

[New Wave]

those are precision marine (PM) reactors... holla at the boys / gals from PM.. these reactors are top notch!

 

[New Wave]

a few shots of the LED's... wanna say thank you to BILL for the ENDLESS hours you put into helping me design, build, wire, repair... and EVERYTHING ELSE you did to help me get this killer rig... RICK... thank you for your electronic technical support... REEFLEDLIGHTS... for the top notch lighting materials, and youre EXCELLENT customer support!

 

[amt68]

Just wanted to say what an impresive build you have! I was wanting to know what you used to mount your led's to and if you have any heat issues, do you need to use fans? Thanks for your time. Bob

Bob's Phone

 

[New Wave]

Just wanted to say what an impresive build you have! I was wanting to know what you used to mount your led's to and if you have any heat issues, do you need to use fans? Thanks for your time. Bob

Bob's Phone

Thank you. Very much! :) for the build... Poolkeeper1 (Bill) kinda spear-headed the framing... We used 3/4 aluminum u-channel to constrct the frame... Mounted the LEDs with screws using arctic silver (or something like that I think) for heat transfer to the Aluminum... Um... I don't believe the manufacturer recommends this method as of yet... We've been keeping an eye on The temperatures... If the LEDs are Being overdriven... The. There are heat issues I think... However properly tuned thu seem to be running In the proper temperature range... There are a few of us In the club running the same "framing"... I believe some are NOT running fans... However I do... Because ... Well... I've neEver heard anyone blaming led failures because they were too cold :)

Poolkeeper1, mixer911, and a few others probably know way more than me... But I hope that helps...

 

[koda12305]

Your build has been sweet! I just read through the entire thing and it is great I hope to be able to have a tank that size in the future.