GlennF's 300 gallon DSR reef.

[glennf]

Do you need to worry about high ph of those? With diy cement rocks they need to be soaked for months in fresh water and changed daily to bring the ph down.

No i don't.
Saltwater is different than freshwater. The PH may rise a little, but nothing to worry about.

 

[Cory]

No i don't.
Saltwater is different than freshwater. The PH may rise a little, but nothing to worry about.

Hmm. Its made of cement or epoxy? In my experience the ph of cement rocks would go to 10 and up.

 

[BighohoReef]

ENG:
Exciting!
With the frag700reef I finally have the confidence in fullLED to get the last 8x T5 tubes out.
Replaced 8x54 watt T5 for 4x54 watt LED strips
There were already 7x54watt LED strips in it, now the total is 11x54watt.

The total power consumption goes from 950 watts to 750 watts

I am not completely satisfied yet, but that will be because the corals still has to adjust to the new lighting. In the near future I will be playing with different color combinations to get the most out of this reef.

@Kyle Sproul for your next build

 

[dadarara]

Can you post more details about the leds and drivers and diffusion glass? And other parts you use pls. Unless you already have ...

 

[RobertP]

I would love to see more detail about your light build. I built a few small lights using leds from rapidled and banggood but always wanted to do something bigger and useful! I'm not an electrical engineer but I can solder and copy what others have proved work.

 

[glennf]

Hmm. Its made of cement or epoxy? In my experience the ph of cement rocks would go to 10 and up.

It's made of cement
Did you test the concrete with fresh or saltwater?
Did you place is into a life tank, or just soaked it into a small amount of water.

 

[glennf]

Can you post more details about the leds and drivers and diffusion glass? And other parts you use pls. Unless you already have ...

Technicals:
Powersupply : 48volts,10 ampere
Single string : 14 leds
Current Regulators : LM317 with 2,7ohm (loopback) resistor for constant current of ~350mA = 1watt/led. One for each string. 3 per strip.
3strings per 2500mm length = 3x14W= 52watts consumption per ledstrip
Protection/bypass: 3,3volt zener over each led.
Mounting/cooling: Aluminium square profiles. Length per strip 2500mm, measures material 20x20x1,5mm.
Wiring: 18AWG cables.
LED used: Epileds 3 watt,
Colors: 445nm/465nm/6600kelvin/10K/red/green. (Up to your own preference of corals demand)
The Blue's are essential. The colors and white have a support function and are also there to please your eyes.

 

[dadarara]

Found epileds 3w on AliExpress for ~1$. Is it any good ? Where did you buy yours pls? Did you use optics like diffuser or lens ?

 

[Cory]

It's made of cement
Did you test the concrete with fresh or saltwater?
Did you place is into a life tank, or just soaked it into a small amount of water.

When using portland cement, your supposed to soak the rock in freshwater for months until the high ph 10+ goes down to 8. Then its safe to use. Your supposed to change the freshwater daily or weekly until the ph drops to 8 and stays there. Otherwise it would kill everything. Ive never tried soaking in saltwater as that would waste it, no? If i remember right its the calcium hydroxide in the cement causing this. There was big threads about these rocks called diy arocrete rocks. People hated waiting months for the high ph to come down.

Maybe you have low ph cement? Ive heard of that before.

 

[glennf]

When using portland cement, your supposed to soak the rock in freshwater for months until the high ph 10+ goes down to 8. Then its safe to use. Your supposed to change the freshwater daily or weekly until the ph drops to 8 and stays there. Otherwise it would kill everything. Ive never tried soaking in saltwater as that would waste it, no? If i remember right its the calcium hydroxide in the cement causing this. There was big threads about these rocks called diy arocrete rocks. People hated waiting months for the high ph to come down.

Maybe you have low ph cement? Ive heard of that before.

Matured Saltwater reacts different the PH would not be affected drasticly and nothing will die in a life tank. (Unless you put a unrealistic massive amount of concrete scaping at once)
I.e. 7,9 could be raised to 8,2 but it would stay put.
It will never go beyond 8,5 because you will get precipitation.
Even that could be easily managed with the DSR.....

Compactcalc

dsrreefing.com

Just measure and adjust it using the calculator

We are not that afraid of some slight fluctuation in Kh/Ca because now we can control it all.

As I said before... The dynamics of saltwater is very different the freshwater. So forget about the freshwater theories.

Note:
In freshwater the PH will rise and everything will die....

 

[glennf]

Found epileds 3w on AliExpress for ~1$. Is it any good ? Where did you buy yours pls? Did you use optics like diffuser or lens ?

You can get from them from 10-16cent
I use various suppliers. Some are garbage some are OK.

No optics used. They spoil everything, i prefer wide spread light .
A diffusor ca be used but that wil flatten the light and the shimmering experience.
You may use a 2mm acrylic plate to protect the leds or sandblast it slightly to make a diffusor. If you have a lasercutter you may even create a diffusion pattern.

 

[Cory]

Matured Saltwater reacts different the PH would not be affected drasticly and nothing will die in a life tank. (Unless you put a unrealistic massive amount of concrete scaping at once)
I.e. 7,9 could be raised to 8,2 but it would stay put.
It will never go beyond 8,5 because you will get precipitation.
Even that could be easily managed with the DSR.....

Compactcalc

dsrreefing.com

Just measure and adjust it using the calculator

We are not that afraid of some slight fluctuation in Kh/Ca because now we can control it all.

As I said before... The dynamics of saltwater is very different the freshwater. So forget about the freshwater theories.

Note:
In freshwater the PH will rise and everything will die....

You sure it isnt hydraulic cement? That would make more sense to me. That cement apparently doesn't rise the ph much at all.

 

[glennf]

You sure it isnt hydraulic cement? That would make more sense to me. That cement apparently doesn't rise the ph much at all.

Don't worry to much about the PH.
It's Portland cement and the PH in saltwater is not affected as much as you would expect

Try It yourself on a bucket old saltwater from your WC and report back.

 

[glennf]

This is the build and shematics for the full Led fixture

Technicals:
OuterSize 249,5x70x10xm
Powersupply : 2x 48volts,10 ampere (used at max.400watt)
Single string : 14 leds
Current Regulators : LM317 with 2,7ohm (loopback) resistor for constant current of ~350mA = 1watt/led. One for each string. 3 per strip. = total 33 (11x3)
3strings per 2500mm length = 3x14W= 52watts consumption per ledstrip
Total Ledbars: 11
Total leds: 11x(14x3) =462pcs
Protection/bypass: 3,3volt zener over each led.
Mounting/cooling: passive cooling, Aluminium square profiles. Length per strip 2495mm, measures material 20x20x1,5mm.
LED spacing: 5,6cm
Wiring: 18AWG cables.
LED used: Epileds 3 watt,
Optics: none
Colors: 445nm/465nm/6500kelvin/10K/red/green. (Up to your own preference, or corals demand)
The Blue's are essential. The colors and white have a support function and are also there to please your eyes.
Dim function: NONE, each bar may be turn on/off separately.
Efficiency: very high

This is a cheap, easy, straightforward and functional diy build.

The cooling is passive and the aluminium bars are without cooling ribs. By distancing the leds 5,6cm apart the temperature wil stay below 50 degrees Celsius at 23 degrees room temperature.
Active cooling is not necessary but optional.

Warning:
DIY with electronics and electricity requires basis electric education/skills. Don't attempt building these without basic electric skills. This may cause electrocution or firehazard.

Happy reefing

 

[dadarara]

Thanks Glenn
Truly appreciate you sharing
If I may..
I don’t see you use the capacitor only resistor ...?
And the main question is , how do you simulate the daily light change ? The only option is to switch the strings one by one. This is what you are doing ? Manually ?

 

[glennf]

Thanks Glenn
Truly appreciate you sharing
If I may..
I don’t see you use the capacitor only resistor ...?
And the main question is , how do you simulate the daily light change ? The only option is to switch the strings one by one. This is what you are doing ? Manually ?

The capacitor stablizes local voltage. This may make a difference when your powersupply and wiring are not optimal. For this application i see no real benefit. But to make sure maybe i will add them.

Yes i am using a 3× cheap timer swithes to turn them on in 3 phases.
You are of course free to modify them partially to dim the first/last few minutes/hour
My experience is the more you complicate the design the more chance of failure.

This is above all a functional and redundant design. This way I can keep spares and I am always on top op things. Don't need to rely on the supply chain and uncooperative Suppliers while my corals are dying.

 

[glennf]

Just finished installing my S21Ultra and took some pictures

The tank is also settling from the transition from T5/LED to FullLED lighting.

I love it

 

[Cory]

Hows the growth of the led tank comparing to t5s? Do you know why corals get white growth tips and dont? Is it high verus low po4?

 

[glennf]

Growth is just crazy, some better, others undetermined. See for yourself.
The better they grow the nicer (colorfull) the tips. Extreme Low PO4 tend to promote white/washout/pale colors

 

[glennf]

The NPScoraltank is comming along just fine.