Recently Addicted - Biocube LED Lighting Setup

[darud35]

Hi folks! I’ve been a long time lurker and have always found great info here on reef2reef. I figured it’s about time to post and introduce myself and projects. I currently have a biocube 16 and am working on setup of a Red Sea xl 525. More on that to come later.

The biocube has been a ton of fun and great learning experience. It’s setup in our small So Cal home and a great size for the space.

I tend to dive too deep into the diy side of projects so no surprise the fish tank would follow suit! I wanted to upgrade the lighting while maintaining the nice biocube hood. We have an 11 month old daughter and can only imagine what might end up in the tank before too long. That was the big driver for not getting a pre-existing LED fixture and mounting it above the tank. I own a wiring company by day so I was excited to put some of those skills into the marine setup.

Here are a few pics of the project coming together. I need to snap a few photos of the heat sink setup and light arrangement. It’s using a 5-up makersled driver kit with their controller. The fans are controlled with a thermistor and PWM speed control so they’re not blasting day and night. There are five LED channels configured setup similar to the CREE lumia 5.2 from LEDgroupbuy.com. I was hoping to order those but they haven’t been available. So it was time to put my solder skills to the test! Here’s the channel arrangement:

Channel 1 - Ultra Violet and Royal Blue (Actinic channel) (700mA)
Channel 2 - Royal Blue (base blue spectrum) (1000mA)
Channel 3 - Netural White and Warm White (base white color) (1000mA)
Channel 4 - Turquoise / Blue / Lime (enhanced color spectrum) (700mA)
Channel 5 - Ultra Violet and Royal Blue (Actinic channel) (700mA)

Happy to get more pics and specs if anyone would like more info. Happy reefing everyone!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Looks to be really high quality work. Congratulations.

Welcome to R2R.

BTW, I like your avatar. Is that you?

I raced SCCA for about 20 years. Now I auto-x a Toyota 86 (very close to stock) and a hot rod Miata that makes well over 300 hp using a Ford 2.5 liter that is built and turbo charged.

 

[najer]

Welcome to R2R, very tidy.

 

[darud35]

Thank you guys! Really appreciate the experience of the members here. Seems like a great group!

Super cool to hear your racing experience Ron. Love the Toyota 86’s. And a 300hp Miata sounds like a riot! That’s me in my old 911. I’d love to do some track time someday. My business does powertrain upgrades for the classic Porsche’s.

 

[Ron Reefman]

The Miata at Palm Beach International Raceway doing an SCCA Track Night in America. The car surprised a lot of people. It looks so 'normal' other than it being a bit lower than stock, it has an inter-cooler in the grill and it has big exhaust pipes. An it has an experienced race car driver out with people who mostly haven't raced. I annoyed one older Corvette owner when I was able to keep up with him but we had about the same straight line speed and I couldn't pass him!

We just did a new ECU tune and it pulled 325hp at the rear wheels on the dyno!

I'd love to see the Porsche. You wouldn't happen to have ever heard of Vic Skirmats or 356 Enterprises? He was my first race school instructor and we became pretty good friends while we were both racing SCCA.

356 Enterprises | Porsche 356 Racing, Parts, & Cars for Sale

Welcome to 356 Enterprises. We are a company built on over 50 years of racing experience. Check out our parts pages to see how we can help with your Porsche 356.

356enterprises.com

 

[darud35]

The Miata looks great! Love that gen. Much better lines than the older ones in my opinion. I think I might have met the 356 Enterprises guys at PRI in Indiana a few years back. They’re doing some impressive work with 356 race cars.

Here’s a photo of my hot rod. It has a 3.5L twin plug with 300whp, lots of fun!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Great looking classic 911. Some day I may own one, but getting the hot rod Miata to 100% and then getting it sold for a fair price is the first priority.

This is my Toyota 86. We won the CS class locally in both 2018 & 19.

 

[darud35]

Thanks for sharing - great looking car! I hear they’re a blast on the track. Perfectly netural and finely tuned suspension.