Geeks never finishing reef build 40 gal Breeder

[oreo54]

OK feels like I didn't get very far but I think I did. So I did run into a problem with my fan control/monitor board. I didn't realize that when I shut off the fan with the FET it ends up driving about 10V down the PWM pin. Needless to say my pico W got a bit hot. lol. I had to order another one although mine seems to be working OK for now. I reworked my board by adding another FET as a buffer so that it can't dump current down the PWM pin when the fan is powered down.

So I don't have all the code I would like in the Pico, but I have it set to run the fans at a medium level and it scans the three temperature sensors I have on the center heat sink near each fan that is on the other side. This below is about where it hangs out if I have just the center lights on. It increases to around 50C on the hot area 3 when I all the royal blues running.

This is with all lights on 'white'/royal blue (8 Steve's led 2 blue 1 cyan - 4 BridgeLux + 12 10W RB)

This is with just the center 'white' on. (8 Steve's led 2 blue 1 cyan - 4 BridgeLux)

'white' spectrum'

'white'/royal blue

Hmmm...was expecting much bluer with the 12 royal 10w cobs.
What are your feelings?
Then again this is the purpose of dimmable drivers.

 

[geekengineer]

So do you think I should be running them all during the day cycle? Just curious. I think it looks OK to me, but I am not too particular I guess. I didn't add the two more RBs yet. I thought I had two more and somehow misplaced one of them. So I will probably have to buy one more if I still can't find it. Those brigelux'es are super white and must really overpower the RBs and blues in general. With just the center channel to me it doesn't look that much different than the 10k metal halides if I recall. Maybe they had a bit more of a blue hue but not a ton. I decided to go with 8 of the LED stars cause I checked the voltage with 6 stars+4 BLs and I had a lot of headroom still. Anyways do you think its a problem that its more white than blue other than just looks?

I think this was a picture of it with just the 10k metal halides.

 

[oreo54]

Well the thinking was to emulate mh's.
Proof of course will be w/ corals.

Do you have a 10v controller of some kind?
If I remember correctly I've used batteries as a voltage source to dim the drivers.
You could limit current w say a 10kohm resistor but you should know better than I.

A lithium button cell @ 4. V would be interesting on the white channel.

My " thesis" is if 6500k Iwasaki mh's " work" this def. should work and work well ..

I'm pretty sure the whole thing will need to be dimmed but a quantum meter will be needed to verify.

Background:

Imitating Natural Light Quality, Intensity, and Dosage in a Reef Aquarium – Do We Really Want To?

When it comes to reef aquariums, Mother Nature has always been the de facto benchmark aquarists aspire towards. Dana investigates in great detail the quality and quantity of light over natural reefs in order to lay the groundwork to answer the age-old question: what is the best light for...

reefs.com

 

[geekengineer]

Is a quantum meter the same as a par meter? They have this one for 60 dollars its probably not as accurate but maybe good enough to get an estimate? To me the center LEDs look a bit bluer than the MH if I put them next to each other.

cell phone Par meter

I haven't started working on my controller but I totally forgot about needing 10V PWM source so that will require some conversion on my part. i.e. another little circuit inline probably. Certainly I could play with the dimming with resistors or a potentiometer for now, since this model is setup to be able to do it that way as well.

Left MH / right center only LED.

 

[oreo54]

Is a quantum meter the same as a par meter? They have this one for 60 dollars its probably not as accurate but maybe good enough to get an estimate? To me the center LEDs look a bit bluer than the MH if I put them next to each other.

cell phone Par meter

I haven't started working on my controller but I totally forgot about needing 10V PWM source so that will require some conversion on my part. i.e. another little circuit inline probably. Certainly I could play with the dimming with resistors or a potentiometer for now, since this model is setup to be able to do it that way as well.

Left MH / right center only LED.

Yea but " par meter" is sooo scientifically incorrect.. Sort of a pet peeve of mine

Actually a lux meter would be just as useful w/ that amount of err " white"
Divide lux by 60- ish.


Personally ( and I stress personally) def prefer the right side .not violet/magenta tint.
I'll look at it closer on the computer though.
Photos aren't always visually accurate though. Human/ machine differences.

Probably a bit early to play w/ looks.
Was just more out of curiosity as to what it takes to shift the look so far..

 

[oreo54]

I played with some "guesstimates" and came up with these. Now I'm not sure what "area" they define to calculate lux from lumens but I was more interested in the conversion factor:
Using just the white channel and 50 Lumens for a blue (Lux states about 74), 119 cyan ( lux states about 135)
and 2000 X 2 lumens for each white COB (3000/cob looks a bit better)

Corrected for lumiled and Bridgelux data sheets and 8 vs 6 three ups.
Of course lot/bin will have an influence.

The cct is "off axis" but should best be described as "20000K" type.

* MIXING LIST
----------------------------------------
myData SPECTRA CSV DATA (2022/05/09) x6
myData luxrebelcyanRAYCAL.txt x9
myData luxrebelblueraycal.csv x23
----------------------------------------

* SIMULATION DATA
----------------------------------------
Luminous flux: 14,221 lm
Radiant flux: 68,663 mW
PPF: 300 umol/s
TCP: ‑ K
CRI: 32
λp: 462 nm
Color: #6E87FF
----------------------------------------

* PERFORMANCE @ 45cm & 120° (compulsory)
----------------------------------------
Irradiance: 36 W/m²/s
Illuminance: 7,451 lx
PPFD: 157 umol/m²/s
----------------------------------------

by RAYCAL 2.0 @ 1.023world

SPECTRA

SPECTRA can perform the optical simulation of many required for coral breeding. SPECTRAはサンゴ飼育に必要な多くの光学シミュレーションを行う事が可能です。

spectra.1023world.net

Adding in the royals..

* SIMULATION DATA
----------------------------------------
Luminous flux: 15,204 lm
Radiant flux: 109,972 mW
PPF: 454 umol/s
TCP: ‑ K
CRI: ‑
λp: 448 nm
Color: #5448FF
----------------------------------------

* PERFORMANCE @ 45cm & 120° (compulsory)
----------------------------------------
Irradiance: 57.6 W/m²/s
Illuminance: 7,966 lx
PPFD: 238 umol/m²/s

Not sure their "par" estimates are free air (much easier to estimate) or in tank. I assume free air which means you should have more par at 45cm when in tank and in water..

Lux to par conversion factor is 33.5 with the now heavier under-sampled blue cobs added
47.5 with the white only.

Conversion divisors are " in the ballpark" numbers based on other calculators and spectrum types.

Would be interesting to compare it to real world numbers.

 

[geekengineer]

Would something like this link below be sufficient for Lux measurment? Ideally something reasonably priced. Althought I could possibly find a quantum meter maybe I could rent from somplace.

Lux meter

 

[oreo54]

Would something like this link below be sufficient for Lux measurment? Ideally something reasonably priced. Althought I could possibly find a quantum meter maybe I could rent from somplace.

Lux meter

Sure most are adequate.
Personally I prefer tethered sensors over fixed on body.

Anyways this model had good ratings and inexpensive, relatively speaking.



My method was to look up quality models and then hunt on ebay..
Got a (now an antique) INS DX-200 for like $25.

DX-200 / High Accuracy Lux & Ft-cd Meter

Pro-Measure is your one stop shop for all your test and measurement equipment. We carry the best selection of light meter, sound meter, EMF meter, anemometer and humidity meter, ph Meter instruments

www.pro-measure.com

LUX MERTER | LUX MERTER | PRODUCT | INS Enterprise Co.,Ltd.

www.insssy.com

I wanted a detachable sensor so that I could use the electronics for a custom built quantum sensor.
Never happened though I did play w/ some photodiodes of my own attached to it.
Has a standard DIN plug.
Always was hoping to find an "extra" sensor also.

Anyways back to reality.

I couldn't find any removable sensor types but did find this. Listed "for leds"..
The brand is well regarded afaict.


Actually can get a use one for $20 including shipping..

Dr.meter LED light meter LX1332B pre owned | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dr.meter LED light meter LX1332B pre owned at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Note 400000Lux is like 9200 PPFD
200000 is 4600 PPFD
Daylight can reach 2000 PPFD +/-

Some luxmeters top out at 50000 (1150 ppfd) Lux and are not really useable. Extech has many like that.

 

[geekengineer]

Ended up chatting with oreo for a while about measurements. I got some measurements with a basic LUX meter for now as rough guideline vs. spending more money on something that might only be marginally better.

Center lights only facing tank (LUX)

FC - 10650

FL - 7790

FR - 8280

C - 10960

CL - 9370 (probably blocked a bit from return box)

CR - 9540

RC - 9260

RL - 7890

RR - 7670


Both RB and Center facing tank. (LUX)

CL - 11120

C - 12480

CR - 10980


So the peak PAR assuming a 6500K High CRI ( using this calculator converter)
This might be off some since my light isn't all just high CRI 6500k,.

White C -188.88 umol/s/m2

RB/White C - 215.08 umol/s/m2

 

[geekengineer]

More data. I can't get this darn thing to be able to crop the camera so I'm stuck with this red shift but Here are some spectrum plots I tried to get. I made some references so you roughly have a gauge of wavelength. I would have to probably re-build where the camera is on my spectrometer to work the way they expect.

References.


Florescent light

black light

Aquarium lights

Royal blue

'White'

Both RB and 'White'

 

[geekengineer]

OK I think the next item on the agenda (other than screwing around with PAR meters and spectrum's. lol) is the saltwater mixing station. This is what I got to work with as far as space goes so a 30Gal Brute won't fit in this area. I am hoping a couple of those 27 Gal heavy duty storage bins will work cause they are square. I just need to make a stand for them. I was also watching this video below. So they said he had a 500+ gallon tank and he only changes like 2 gallons a day? I guess that doesn't seem like a lot. Does a bigger tank take less water changes vs. a 40 gallon tank? I was thinking of automating the salt mixing cause I got tired of that before. lol

automatic salt water mixing - Google Search

 

[geekengineer]

Here's the progress from last weekend. Had a bit of an accident with a water line popping off so didn't get as far as i would have liked. Instead I spent a lot of time drying out the carpet.

 

[geekengineer]

Just was going to give an update since I am never finishing this build of course. Well life kinda went crazy for a while my wife was having some issues late last year. Then I got sick with with stomach bacteria and took too long to figure out and get rid of it. Then my mom got sick and found out it was colon cancer and passed away in May. Needless to say I haven't got much done and was realing from the loss for a few months. I am hoping I can start working on it here at least this winter or if I get modivated to work on it this somer but I have too many other house projects I want to get done this summer.

 

[geekengineer]

I did finally get some things going here recently. I have water in the tank right now and trying to cycle it some with an ammonia additive. May end up kicking myself that I didn't put the rock in first, but I was hoping I could set it up next to the tank and take some of the water out when I lower rock in. Working fairly quiet so far and trying to get the water cleared out a bit more. I couldn't get all my pictures downloaded for some reason so this is what I have for now.

 

[geekengineer]

Here are some more pictures as it is currently. I think I have a nice mockup for the rocks I'm going to put in maybe here later tonight.

 

[geekengineer]

Here is my rock setup now. It's simple but I think it works for the tank size I have.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Here is my rock setup now. It's simple but I think it works for the tank size I have.

Aquascape looks great!

 

[geekengineer]

Well, I decided to start a 20-gallon long hospital tank to quarantine fish with. Didn't make it to this fish place that isn't too far from me. They said they were open on Sunday but weren't . They don't open until Thursday, but I probably won't be able to make it there until Saturday. So I haven't decided yet what I'm doing I may just get a hermit crab just to keep the tank a bit cycled while I have fish in quarantine.

Having trouble with my LED light control. I didn't think about that maybe I needed to use an optocoupler circuit instead and would be much easier than what I was trying. So, I'm working on a little board to fix that.

 

[geekengineer]

Yippie, I think I have the LED brightness output control finally working now.

 

[oreo54]

Yippie, I think I have the LED brightness output control finally working now.

Cool...