Sawdonkey's 220 Progress Thread

sawdonkey · Dec 16, 2016

G8trBait16 said:
I have a ding dang mille middle/low in my tank under an 8x54w ATI unit. Where do you have yours placed? It looks amazing!

It's about 20 inches below the surface, but below a cross brace, so not a high-intensity light area. It's also in an area that doesn't get great flow.

sawdonkey · Dec 31, 2016

I got a new camera since my house was burglarized. Unfortunately, my computer that had Lightroom on it is now owned by someone else too. Here are some new pics of my fish shot in JPG, cuz that's all I can do for now. I got a new zoom lens that I look forward to doing some macro shots with tomorrow.

bowen1022 · Dec 31, 2016

Sorry to hear about the incident. Photos look good though!

LParker480 · Dec 31, 2016

Sucks about the burglary but your fish look great!!!

sawdonkey · Jan 1, 2017

Couple more of the fish:

Al Roker

Anderson Cooper

Gary _ Ive had Gary since 2003

Larry King

Maritimer · Jan 2, 2017

Y'know . . .

I _can_ see a bit of Anderson Cooper in that powderblue . . . beautiful photos of obviously healthy fish!

~Bruce

sawdonkey · Jan 27, 2017

Couple of new frags from Hung:

Also picked up a RR The Vinh, Sexy Orange Passion, and recently acquired a nub of WD.

pscheel2 · Jan 27, 2017

Beautiful shots Gunner. I think more frags are in my future along with photography lessons.

sawdonkey · Jan 28, 2017

pscheel2 said:
Beautiful shots Gunner. I think more frags are in my future along with photography lessons.

Thanks, I can help you out in both aspects. Just let me know if/when you want to come buy.

sawdonkey · Jan 29, 2017

Replacing a couple of burned out diodes today! I've thought my blue channel has looked a little dim lately.

FarmerTy · Jan 30, 2017

sawdonkey said:
Replacing a couple of burned out diodes today! I've thought my blue channel has looked a little dim lately.

How could you tell they were burnt out? I want to keep my eye out for it!

sawdonkey · Jan 30, 2017

Super dim light and blackened diodes. They still lit up, but the plastic that surrounds the chip turned black. It's pretty obvious.

I also had some fans not working, so that probably contributed to the burnt diodes. The red wire that goes into the fans gets oxidized by the salty air and the connection is lost. I was able to solder a couple, but I need to replace quite a few. Ocean Revive's customer service is really responsive and I'm just going to get the fans from them. The will sell them to me for nearly free.

FarmerTy · Jan 30, 2017

sawdonkey said:
Super dim light and blackened diodes. They still lit up, but the plastic that surrounds the chip turned black. It's pretty obvious.

I also had some fans not working, so that probably contributed to the burnt diodes. The red wire that goes into the fans gets oxidized by the salty air and the connection is lost. I was able to solder a couple, but I need to replace quite a few. Ocean Revive's customer service is really responsive and I'm just going to get the fans from them. The will sell them to me for nearly free.

Thanks! I did a thorough check last night and didn't see any dim ones in the bunch. I'll keep periodically checking and appreciate the heads up!

I've replaced 4 fans now over 5 fixtures in the last 2 years. I went ahead and bought 10 fans the last time I ordered, super cheap, and the customer service lady asked me twice if I really wanted 10. I said according to my calculations, yes, because I'll need to reorder in 3 years at this rate. [emoji4]

But if that's the only thing I have to do on these fixtures, I have no complaints at all compared to the pricing of other LED fixtures out there.

sawdonkey · Jan 30, 2017

FarmerTy said:
Thanks! I did a thorough check last night and didn't see any dim ones in the bunch. I'll keep periodically checking and appreciate the heads up!

I've replaced 4 fans now over 5 fixtures in the last 2 years. I went ahead and bought 10 fans the last time I ordered, super cheap, and the customer service lady asked me twice if I really wanted 10. I said according to my calculations, yes, because I'll need to reorder in 3 years at this rate. [emoji4]

But if that's the only thing I have to do on these fixtures, I have no complaints at all compared to the pricing of other LED fixtures out there.

The fans themselves don't go bad. It's the corrosion of the red wire where it attaches to the fan. I'm putting a little dab of silicone over that area before I install the new ones. Should last forever or close to it after this.

FarmerTy · Jan 30, 2017

sawdonkey said:
The fans themselves don't go bad. It's the corrosion of the red wire where it attaches to the fan. I'm putting a little dab of silicone over that area before I install the new ones. Should last forever or close to it after this.

Ahhh, great tip. I'll have to do that as well. Anybody need 10 fans? [emoji12]

revhtree · Jan 30, 2017

Did you get them replaced?

sawdonkey · Jan 30, 2017

revhtree said:
Did you get them replaced?

After about 4 solid hours of work taking apart, soldering, and putting the fixtures back together, yes. It was worth it though. My tank is obviously brighter and a little bluer than is was before. Looks much better.

sawdonkey · Feb 5, 2017

Last weekend I spent a whole day fixing my lights. Today, I spent the whole day syphoning all of the sand out of my DT. I replaced it with the really coarse gravel that's been in my sump for about three years. It's big chunks of shells and live rock.

I did this to get a different look, to crank up my flow and avoid bare spots, to keep my sump more clean, and because I think the coarse gravel will be really easy to vacuum. Also, I don't think my triggers will pick up and crop dust this stuff as much.

I know people say this type of substrate is a detritus trap, but with how often I vacuum my gravel, I'm not worried about it.