JCOLE's Big Box of Rocks

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JCOLE

JCOLE

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Finished the rock mold and made the rocks today. Its going to be a long 3 weeks. Hopefully it doesn't break when I try and remove them.

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Superlightman

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Finished the rock mold and made the rocks today. Its going to be a long 3 weeks. Hopefully it doesn't break when I try and remove them.

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You have some completely close area's, will this not be complicated from get good water flow everywhere later?
 
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JCOLE

JCOLE

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You have some completely close area's, will this not be complicated from get good water flow everywhere later?

No. The structure is hollow. All of those smaller holes will have flow via an internal closed loop throughout the structure.
 
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JCOLE

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Round two complete. First attempt broke into a bunch of pieces when I tried to remove it from the Mold.

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Nick Steele

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Just seeing this now but wow!!!! I have to go back and read the 50+ pages but that tank in 2022 is gorgeous!!! Can’t wait to see this new one up and running!


Also I instantly thought of J Cole the rapper when I seen this and thought that’d be interesting lol.
 
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JCOLE

JCOLE

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Just seeing this now but wow!!!! I have to go back and read the 50+ pages but that tank in 2022 is gorgeous!!! Can’t wait to see this new one up and running!


Also I instantly thought of J Cole the rapper when I seen this and thought that’d be interesting lol.

Thank you! I hope this one turns out the way I am hoping.

I get it all the time. My work email used to be Jcole@ and it was a weekly occurrence. I assure you I don't have that amount of street cred! :face-with-tears-of-joy:
 
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Update on current progress

I abandoned the DIY rockscape. The second version came off without breaking but I did not like it at all. It looked very unnatural and would have been an eyesore. What I landed on was a 50/50 approach. I made my scape with existing rock I had and then created a ton of shelf pieces out of the Portland cement. I made a mockup, and I love it so this is what I will go with. Once the rock is done, I will get everything in the tank.

I am 95% complete with the sanding. Urchin marks and scratches are gone. I just need to finish the tank off with Novus polish and it will be as good as new.

I am also going to redo my lighting. I really like T5 lighting but the flat look just doesn't do it for me. When I removed the halides,, it just never sat right with me. I am making 100W led cannons for the tank. This is one of the 10K lights on and the PAR is pretty good. 200ish at the bottom and 600 near the top. This is about a 3'x'3' area as well.

Just look at those rays and shimmer, though. I am going to be in love with this once I have everything set up.

 

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Nice with the cannon. I built a few back in the day (pre Kessil). They were cool, PAR monsters, but didn’t have the color options available today, so you always had to supplement with other LED or T5. I built a Kessil/T5 hybris fixture with the A500’s, before I snagged your halides. I still have it if you want to come by and check it out.
 

Gumbies R Us

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Update on current progress

I abandoned the DIY rockscape. The second version came off without breaking but I did not like it at all. It looked very unnatural and would have been an eyesore. What I landed on was a 50/50 approach. I made my scape with existing rock I had and then created a ton of shelf pieces out of the Portland cement. I made a mockup, and I love it so this is what I will go with. Once the rock is done, I will get everything in the tank.

I am 95% complete with the sanding. Urchin marks and scratches are gone. I just need to finish the tank off with Novus polish and it will be as good as new.

I am also going to redo my lighting. I really like T5 lighting but the flat look just doesn't do it for me. When I removed the halides,, it just never sat right with me. I am making 100W led cannons for the tank. This is one of the 10K lights on and the PAR is pretty good. 200ish at the bottom and 600 near the top. This is about a 3'x'3' area as well.

Just look at those rays and shimmer, though. I am going to be in love with this once I have everything set up.


It already looks fantastic! I can't wait to see it full of life!
 
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JCOLE

JCOLE

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Nice with the cannon. I built a few back in the day (pre Kessil). They were cool, PAR monsters, but didn’t have the color options available today, so you always had to supplement with other LED or T5. I built a Kessil/T5 hybris fixture with the A500’s, before I snagged your halides. I still have it if you want to come by and check it out.

That is my plan. I still have six (4) bulb T5 fixtures. I might put four of them up with just Blue+/Actinic and have the LED cannons down the middle for punch and shimmer. Spectrometer shows the chips around 10k with a full spectrum and heavy on the blue side. They are very close in color to the Radiums.

How are the halides working out for your system?
 

dieselkeeper

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Update on current progress

I am making 100W led cannons for the tank. This is one of the 10K lights on and the PAR is pretty good. 200ish at the bottom and 600 near the top. This is about a 3'x'3' area as well.
Are making the lights from scratch?
 

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Halides are great. After I got that fan I showed you, ZERO temp swings as you would typically have with radiant ovens over the water. Color is just perfect with Radiums.
 
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JCOLE

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I have been asked about the LED cannons I am making. I posted on another forum, so I figured I would post here as well, in case anyone wants to build on it in the future. It is pretty simple.

This is what I used to make the LED cannon. I am sure I will miss something, so let me know if you have any questions. Even though I picked up some things at other places, you can purchase everything from Amazon.

Enclosure - Amazon.com
Heatsink - Amazon.com
10k 100w COB LED - Amazon.com
LED Driver - Must use this constant current driver for these LED's - Amazon.com
Thermal paste - Amazon.com
120vac fan to replace 12v fan - Amazon.com
1/2" squeeze connector(I picked these up from Lowes) - Amazon.com
10' 16/3 Electrical cord(I picked mine up from Walmart) - Amazon.com
Wire Nuts(Lowes) - smaller yellow or orange wire nuts rated for 16 gauge should do

I drilled ventilation holes in the enclosure's back and on the sides. Also, there are a couple of smaller holes to mount the LED driver. One of the holes contains the squeeze connector. This ensures that the wire will not pull on the connections within the enclosure.
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I replaced the 12vdc fan that comes with the heatsink with a 120V fan. This way, the 12V fan doesn't need another power source. Plus, the 120 vac puts out much more CFM air flow.

Heatsink with 12v fan
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Remove the 12vdc fan and now take the opportunity to remove the aluminum shavings when they tapped the aluminum for screws. To slide between the grills, I used an old hotel card.

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Installing new 120vac fan - Pay attention to air flow signs; otherwise, you'll be doing it twice.
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Drill a hole large enough for the fan. The fan will be mounted to the enclosure's cover, while the fan grill will be placed inside to support the fan. I removed the fan grill and used that as a template to drill the holes for the screws. There are four holes for the screws and one hole to route the wiring through.

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Enclosure cover with Heatsink and fan mounted
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Cut the extension cord end off, run it into the enclosure through the squeeze connector, and clamp it down. The extension cord should be spliced and wired to the LED driver, and the fan wiring should be T-tapped into the connection. This way, when the power turns on, the fan will also turn on.

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Install the LED onto the heatsink and solder on the driver wire. You must use thermal paste, as it gets HOT(THIS IS A MUST)! Also, one side has one hole and the other has two. The side with two holes is positive. I would advise using a voltmeter set on continuity to determine this for yourself. Once soldered and tested, install the lens. You can order the heatsink with a 60- or 120-degree angle. I really like the 120 degrees. Once it is installed, you should be good to go.

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bradreef

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You should really do a separate thread on this build it is very interesting. Any experience with the blue led cluster.
 
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JCOLE

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JCole, what causes your light to shimmer so beautifully compared to the market offerings?

I believe it is due to the one main focal point. Similar to a halide but with more punch and spread.
 

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