GenX's 75G Upgrade

GenX · Jul 29, 2010

Hi R2Rers! Just stopped by to post my new tank and solicit any helpful advice from the veterans here! Here's the build so far:

Display Tank - Coast to Coast 36x24x20 - 3 Sided Starphire - 1" Drain / .75 Return
Sump - AGA 30L 36x12x16
Return Pump - Eheim 1260
Skimmer - Royal Exclusiv Vertex Alpha 170 Cone Skimmer
Water Movement - Vortech MP40wES & MP20 (have MP40wES upgrade kit, but might too much flow with 2 MP40s)
Lighting - 30 Cree XP-G R5 Cool White & 35 Cree XP-E Royal Blue
Controller - GHL Profilux Plus II EX + (3) EVG-AP-2F Ballast Control Boards

Coast 2 Coast Tank

Tabletop (made with 1" stair boards) with Homasote Frame

DIY Stand with Homasote Board

Light Tree (bent 1/2" aluminum conduit pipes, painted black) & stand with removable sides

Home for Profilux Controller and future home for Profilux Doser

Meanwells & 3 EVG-AP-2F Ballast Boards

DIY LEDs - 5 arrays, blues & whites are controlled/dimmed independently via Profilux. A 6th can be added as I have a spare 1-10v on the Profilux. (Sorry for the bad photo, I'll take a better one later on)

Sump area - Alpha 170 eats so much real estate.

Finally finished DIY acrylic hood for LEDs. Yea, I put a scratch on it already (4) 120mm Scythe Fans on hood for cooling.

Another angle of the hood with the jacks for LEDs and FANs in view.

Fixture underside. Look Ma'! No big clunky heatsink!

Closeup LEDs.

Got rocks and sand in today as well!

Let there be light!

Aquascape... not entirely happy with it, but that's what it is for now. Sorry for the barreling, used fisheye lens for this pic.

Thanks for looking! Feel free to comment/bash/advise!

gar732 · Jul 29, 2010

That's awesome! It looks like you've got it all figured out. That led fixture looks great. Will that aluminum rack the lights are on diffuse the heat as efficiently as a heatsink? What do you plan on keeping?

TopNotchCorals · Jul 29, 2010

Is the very last pic with only the blues on??

GenX · Jul 29, 2010

gar732 said:
That's awesome! It looks like you've got it all figured out. That led fixture looks great. Will that aluminum rack the lights are on diffuse the heat as efficiently as a heatsink? What do you plan on keeping?

Thanks! Yes, so far so good. My first fixture I got a heatsink from HeatSinkUSA like everyone else did... but I didn't like it being clunky, hideous and heavy. So fixture #2 and #3, I started using various tubing, aluminum plating. I got a infrared thermometer for kicks 'n giggles. This new fixture with all fans off, all 65 LEDs @ 3w gets to about 150-160 degrees; this in an apartment with central AC @ 76 degrees. Same experiment with fans on, tubing is just slightly warm to touch, temperatures reads between 80-95 degrees. I have (4) of these Newegg.com - Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120mm Case Fan extracting heat upwards, didn't want to blow it towards the fixture and onto the water surface. I will be attempting a lot more SPS than my nano permitted.

bayreefer said:
Is the very last pic with only the blues on??

Yes, mostly. All blues are on, with the middle row of whites. The middle row is wired together, so whites and blues are controlled together. It's quite noticeable because the whites are XP-Gs, much more light than the XR-E Blues.