Luc Vogels's 600+ gallon CoralCare Reef

Andrew Mc

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What a fantastic story! God bless your dear parents for cultivating your love, passion and talent for the hobby. Not to mention their undertaking in some outrageous home engineering feats in doing so. You must come from a family of engineers?

Welcome aboard and thank you for sharing! I'm looking forward to hearing more about the Philips LEDs as it's my understanding they are in a class by themselves. From what you've shown thus far, the specteral quality produces stunning aesthetics that are simply breathtaking...

Following along!
 

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Thanks so much for sharing! Definitely following.
 
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Luc Vogels

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Very nice!
Thanks David.

Some more shots of the same period but this time during evening light settings.
More recent pictures will follow in the upcoming posts :)

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maroun.c

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Hello Luc,
Amazing build. Is the tank setup in Eindhoven as well?
looking forward for some comparative shots of growth and coloration before and after Coral Care Addition.
Dynalite on a tank!!! you guys in lighting get all the goodies :)
Can you elaborate on what mods you had on those and what can you control with them? I recently added an Apex for part of my setup but would love to have another controller to control lights and other things for tanks in basement.
Also very interested in the Dastaco DIY job can you please elaborate on it.
Again a very nice build and a breathtaking tank.
 
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Luc Vogels

Luc Vogels

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Nice setup!

Thanks so much for sharing! Definitely following.

That is an absolutely stunning display! Thank you for sharing it with us!
Thanks for following :)!

What a fantastic story! God bless your dear parents for cultivating your love, passion and talent for the hobby. Not to mention their undertaking in some outrageous home engineering feats in doing so. You must come from a family of engineers?

Welcome aboard and thank you for sharing! I'm looking forward to hearing more about the Philips LEDs as it's my understanding they are in a class by themselves. From what you've shown thus far, the specteral quality produces stunning aesthetics that are simply breathtaking...

Following along!
Thank you for the kind words! You are indeed correct; I belong to a family of engineers.
My dad is a technical engineer for medical applications (specialised in Dialysis equipment) and my grandpa... well he is my greatest inspiration.
He did everything... serving as a military engineer (building bridges in indonesia), working as a carpenter.. and his ever lasting eagerness in understanding how something works.
Just to get an idea about him; When he was 80yrs he was still building a satellite receiver for communication :).
He told me on what end to hold the solderiron when I was 10 years old... :p ... yes I am very grateful for all the support I got from my family!

We shared a lot of detailed information on our webpage.
But if you have a question or want to understand the background of a specific choice or feature I am happy to answer them in this topic or in our sponsor section!
 
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Luc Vogels

Luc Vogels

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Hello Luc,
Amazing build. Is the tank setup in Eindhoven as well?
looking forward for some comparative shots of growth and coloration before and after Coral Care Addition.
Dynalite on a tank!!! you guys in lighting get all the goodies :)
Can you elaborate on what mods you had on those and what can you control with them? I recently added an Apex for part of my setup but would love to have another controller to control lights and other things for tanks in basement.
Also very interested in the Dastaco DIY job can you please elaborate on it.
Again a very nice build and a breathtaking tank.

Hi Maroun, This tank is not located at the Philips Labs but in the living room of my house. (Herten, a city half an hour drive from Eindhoven)... So when you are in Eindhoven you can always call me for a visit :).
A bit running ahead to the timeline status of this thread, but you can see the progress of my reef in this document.
I did not make any comparison shots between the growth and coloration before and after adding CoralCare.
It very difficult to do this for a young reef (because it is constantly changing).
But we did perform an independent study that shows the difference in growth and coloration between T5 and CoralCare.
This was performed by Tim Wijgerde from Coral Publications (document and video).

Like mentioned before, Dynalite is a great system for home automation and performs some basic tasks for my aquarium.
It knows "time", can detect contact status (closed/open) and control output voltages (mains on/off, 0-10V outputs and DALI).
With those functions you can perform many basic tasks as ATO, controlling the dosingpumps, disable/enable lighting, and a bit more advanced things like disabling the skimmer when the sump level is to high (during water change). The biggest problem is the lack of measurement capabilities (PH, temp, ....). So I would advise to use a controller like the Apex if you want to monitor these values.

About the DIY DaStaCo, what do you want to know?
The system runs on a 8-bit Atmel microcontroller and steers 3 channels (1 dosingpump, 1 C02 valve, and the circulation pump).
All control decisions are based on two inputs; A potentiometer to set the speed of the dosingpump (ml/hour) and a float switch to read the c02 saturation status in the chamber.
By knowing when you enable the outputs and reading back the status of the float switch you can determine if the system is working properly.
A simple example.. if you enable the C02 valve you expect that the saturation chamber is filled with c02 (and eventually hit the float switch so it changes state).
If this does not occur within a few minutes we know that the c02 bottle is empty.
Another example... We detected that the saturation state of the chamber is reached... then we wait i.e. 5 minutes so the c02 level in the chamber should be reduced.
If we check after 5 minutes that the state of the float switch is not changed, we know that the c02 valve is still open --> malfunctioning valve

Please let me know when you have more question, hapy to answer them for you :)
 

Stylo328

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Thanks for following :)!

Thank you for the kind words! You are indeed correct; I belong to a family of engineers.
My dad is a technical engineer for medical applications (specialised in Dialysis equipment) and my grandpa... well he is my greatest inspiration.
He did everything... serving as a military engineer (building bridges in indonesia), working as a carpenter.. and his ever lasting eagerness in understanding how something works.
Just to get an idea about him; When he was 80yrs he was still building a satellite receiver for communication :).
He told me on what end to hold the solderiron when I was 10 years old... :p ... yes I am very grateful for all the support I got from my family!

We shared a lot of detailed information on our webpage.
But if you have a question or want to understand the background of a specific choice or feature I am happy to answer them in this topic or in our sponsor section!

One of the most touching posts I've read. Your grandpa reads to have been an amazing man and your tone in describing him further reinforces that.

Also, you are an Incredibly well written young person. Thoroughly enjoy reading your updates.
 
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Luc Vogels

Luc Vogels

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One of the most touching posts I've read. Your grandpa reads to have been an amazing man and your tone in describing him further reinforces that.

Also, you are an Incredibly well written young person. Thoroughly enjoy reading your updates.
Have been… He is 93yrs now and we (my grandpa, dad and me) are still discussing electronics and woodworking.. isn’t that great!!
Thanks for the compliments, I will keep trying my best in documenting the status and progress of my hobby.

Very nice, please keep us posted. Following...

Really a beautiful tank. Thank you for sharing :)
Thanks, much appreciated!
 

maroun.c

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Hi Maroun, This tank is not located at the Philips Labs but in the living room of my house. (Herten, a city half an hour drive from Eindhoven)... So when you are in Eindhoven you can always call me for a visit :).
A bit running ahead to the timeline status of this thread, but you can see the progress of my reef in this document.
I did not make any comparison shots between the growth and coloration before and after adding CoralCare.
It very difficult to do this for a young reef (because it is constantly changing).
But we did perform an independent study that shows the difference in growth and coloration between T5 and CoralCare.
This was performed by Tim Wijgerde from Coral Publications (document and video).

Like mentioned before, Dynalite is a great system for home automation and performs some basic tasks for my aquarium.
It knows "time", can detect contact status (closed/open) and control output voltages (mains on/off, 0-10V outputs and DALI).
With those functions you can perform many basic tasks as ATO, controlling the dosingpumps, disable/enable lighting, and a bit more advanced things like disabling the skimmer when the sump level is to high (during water change). The biggest problem is the lack of measurement capabilities (PH, temp, ....). So I would advise to use a controller like the Apex if you want to monitor these values.

About the DIY DaStaCo, what do you want to know?
The system runs on a 8-bit Atmel microcontroller and steers 3 channels (1 dosingpump, 1 C02 valve, and the circulation pump).
All control decisions are based on two inputs; A potentiometer to set the speed of the dosingpump (ml/hour) and a float switch to read the c02 saturation status in the chamber.
By knowing when you enable the outputs and reading back the status of the float switch you can determine if the system is working properly.
A simple example.. if you enable the C02 valve you expect that the saturation chamber is filled with c02 (and eventually hit the float switch so it changes state).
If this does not occur within a few minutes we know that the c02 bottle is empty.
Another example... We detected that the saturation state of the chamber is reached... then we wait i.e. 5 minutes so the c02 level in the chamber should be reduced.
If we check after 5 minutes that the state of the float switch is not changed, we know that the c02 valve is still open --> malfunctioning valve

Please let me know when you have more question, hapy to answer them for you :)

Hello Luc,
Thanks for all the info. Guess we should have a tank in each philips Office now :)
Yeah remember the T5 VS Coral care testing and hope to have some more comparative tests performed by hobbyists soon.
Love how you managed Dynalite to your needs, I do have an Apex on my setup but would be nice to incorporate tank control with home automation wherever possible, understand the probe control limitations but still amazed with all the modifications you have on both control explanation.
Look forward to be back in Holland hopefully soon to get to see the setup in person :)
All the best and please keep adding to this already amazing build thread.
 
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Luc Vogels

Luc Vogels

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Hello Luc,
Thanks for all the info. Guess we should have a tank in each philips Office now :)
Yeah remember the T5 VS Coral care testing and hope to have some more comparative tests performed by hobbyists soon.
Love how you managed Dynalite to your needs, I do have an Apex on my setup but would be nice to incorporate tank control with home automation wherever possible, understand the probe control limitations but still amazed with all the modifications you have on both control explanation.
Look forward to be back in Holland hopefully soon to get to see the setup in person :)
All the best and please keep adding to this already amazing build thread.

Very impressive.
Thanks guys!
 
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Luc Vogels

Luc Vogels

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In July 2015 I bought a DSLR camera because I was struggling to make decent pictures with my phone camera. One of my relatives (experienced hobby photographer) visited me and shot the pictures that I shared in the previous update. When I saw the result I was impressed and determined to try and produce such kind of pictures myself! But I quickly found out that even if you have good equipment, it is still a challenge to take pictures of your tank, corals and fish!

You need to think about reflections, color control, focal distance, lighting..... and the list goes on.

So here are some random images from the first weeks after I bought the camera.

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maroun.c

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Amazing shots. Yes there is a learning curve to DSLRs but its very rewarding to be able to share pics of ur tank fish and corals that do them justice.
 

eg8r210

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Love the tank and it sounds like your relationship with your grandfather is even better than the tank. :) I look forward to seeing more on the tank and the lights.

I have a quick question about the CoralCare lights...was the fixture chosen simply because it was available and already successful use in commercial applications?
 
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Luc Vogels

Luc Vogels

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Amazing shots. Yes there is a learning curve to DSLRs but its very rewarding to be able to share pics of ur tank fish and corals that do them justice.
Thanks Maroun!
I agree, learning curve is rewarding.
I just make 1000 pictures and with some luck 4-5 of them are Ok.
Lets hope next year it will be 1 out of 100 haha ;)

prima hoor!
Ask your grandpa where in Indonesia?
Bedankt! I will ask but I thought it was (former) Dutch East Indies

Love the tank and it sounds like your relationship with your grandfather is even better than the tank. :) I look forward to seeing more on the tank and the lights.

I have a quick question about the CoralCare lights...was the fixture chosen simply because it was available and already successful use in commercial applications?

Thanks and I will keep updating this topic!

About the form factor and choice of the CoralCare fixture.

In our labs we worked for multiple years on the design and validation of the CoralCare spectrum and optics. Once we knew what was key (spectral distribution, homogeneity and color consistency) to efficiently grow corals and stimulate colorization, we scanned the existing Philips portfolio to find a product that could meet the required specifications. Philips is a multibillion company, but that does not automatically mean it grants you unlimited resources to develop a product!!

It took me an extreme effort to influence and convince the board to invest in this proposition for a niche market. You can imagine that a company perceives each product as an investment, which eventually should compensate for the development and release costs (and even better, make a profit).Therefor we decided to scan the Philips portfolio on existing products and determine what product already fulfilled a part of the Marine aquaristic specification.

We chose for the Gentlespace 2 architecture, an extremely durable and high quality fixture that ensures reliability and long lifetime of the product. We changed the optics, LED engine and driver components to further match the specs (the five points we mention as benefits of the system). This choice affects the aesthetic appearance of this fixture. It has an industrial look (because it was designed for this) that some reefers do not find appealing.
We made the choice to put the performance of the fixture as our most important priority.

Therefor we considered passive cooling as a mandatory feature, and for a 190Watt fixture that simply means that a large quantity of metal is needed to ensure a correct operation temperature of the fixture (while applied in aquaristic applications). Also the shape (finned design) and used materials (glass front plate, metal housing, thick coating and heavy duty hanging kit) ensure a long lifetime in the harsh aquarium environment.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 73 37.6%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 66 34.0%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 12.9%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 14.4%
  • Other.

    Votes: 2 1.0%
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