The Blue Window - 500 G in wall, never ending build
- Build Thread
- Thread starter Dennis Cartier
- Start date
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OP
OP
Thanks mrcole76. For things like the gantry plan, I have always found that to be a success it has to work well enough to compensate for any extra hassle that it may entail. The greater the amount of hassle, the more tasks that it will be skipped over as it is just quicker to do it the old way.
If I can make the time lapse overhead positional camera idea work well, than the gantry will still be worth it. Having daily time lapse photos of the same colonies to show growth, or in cases of issues, decline, will be quite handy.
Dennis
Miles Williams
Community Member
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Beautiful setup so far, following along!
This will be fun to watch. Go ahead and retire NOW so you don't leave us hanging Dennis!
Good luck. I love what you are doing.
Good luck. I love what you are doing.
OP
OP
Thanks Miles.
Thanks Scott. After the day I had at work, your suggestion sounds pretty good!
Dennis
I just read your post talking about your previous 10w led cob build- that’s the same approach I’m about to take (planned for 18 month, build delayed until just recently due to job changes and moving) .
If you have any additional info, it would be greatly appreciated. I’m planning on using a coralux storm controller, 4s /driver x 12, 2x 60v input, 1000mA ldd dimmable drivers on a couple 6-up boards. That’ll give me a total of ~480 watts over white, blue, uv and a few reds, greens and moonlights. Heatsink will be a 5’ piece of finned aluminum good fir 110w/ foot, then sone pc fans for additional active cooling.
It’s all in boxes in the basement, just waiting until my 7 week old hits daycare (or mom takes her out of town to the in laws for a looong weekend) before I can start wiring it up.
Thanks for any info!
If you have any additional info, it would be greatly appreciated. I’m planning on using a coralux storm controller, 4s /driver x 12, 2x 60v input, 1000mA ldd dimmable drivers on a couple 6-up boards. That’ll give me a total of ~480 watts over white, blue, uv and a few reds, greens and moonlights. Heatsink will be a 5’ piece of finned aluminum good fir 110w/ foot, then sone pc fans for additional active cooling.
It’s all in boxes in the basement, just waiting until my 7 week old hits daycare (or mom takes her out of town to the in laws for a looong weekend) before I can start wiring it up.
Thanks for any info!
OP
OP
Hey Neil. Sure I can provide info on what I did. When I did the first version of my LEDs, the x-up boards were not yet common. So I used Meanwell dimmable drivers. At that point I was dimming through my Reef Angel using the built in PWM ports. Eventually the LDD units came on the scene and I ordered some bare boards and sockets and soldered up some 4-up boards. I was running a mix of 1000 mA, 700 mA and 600 mA drivers. To control and dim the LDD units, I used a Raspberry Pi and the Adafruit 16 channel PWM board (I2C interface). After the last additions of LEDs (Luxeon's if I recall), I had 9 channels of different spectrums and LED families. Most of the channels were single spectrums (E.g 480 nm, 430 nm, etc.) spread across both lights. The COB modules provided very soft lighting, whereas the 3W Luxeon modules were more narrowly focused.
This was the first 100% COB layout (for 1 panel). At this point the 2 panels were about 280W.
This was the second version with added 3W LEDs. The total power was 418W after this upgrade.
Here are some build photos of the construction.
They were mounted into wooden frames, with the panels seating in slots and glass panes below them slotted in. The inside surfaces were painted flat white. To help make working on the tank easier, the lights were mounted to rails for server cases. They could be slid out of the way of the top of the tank. The egg crate in the photos was removed in short order once I realized how much it reduced PAR.
Here is what they looked like lit up.
If I were thinking about doing another DIY light today, I would give a very serious look at the Blue Acro modules from @theatrus. They look very capable and would be a great place to start, especially with the the diffuser and reflector.
Dennis
Man. Awesome info. I really appreciate it.
Any more info on how you wired the drivers and dimmers? Asking more about the connectors, or whether you basically had a one piece harness instead of pluggable (if that makes sense?). I noticed the yellow wire harness in one of your pics. I’ve been toying with making it unpluggable by using rj45 jacks, but really don’t see having to ever remove it and should plan to make it a one piece harness. I was also going to ‘remote mount’ my meanwells, but haven’t quite figured out the longest possible wire run from the driver to the led. If I could do 3-4 feet, that would be perfect.
Also- are those white ‘legs’ pvc pipe hanger with the hook cut off?
Yeah- I’m locked into my LEDs at this point- I have 36 10w , in a mix of royal blue, royal blue + 420nm actinic, cool white, warm whites, and a bunch of 3w in RB, Red, Green.
Essentially planning to copy the sbreef led layout, or best I can manage.
Any more info on how you wired the drivers and dimmers? Asking more about the connectors, or whether you basically had a one piece harness instead of pluggable (if that makes sense?). I noticed the yellow wire harness in one of your pics. I’ve been toying with making it unpluggable by using rj45 jacks, but really don’t see having to ever remove it and should plan to make it a one piece harness. I was also going to ‘remote mount’ my meanwells, but haven’t quite figured out the longest possible wire run from the driver to the led. If I could do 3-4 feet, that would be perfect.
Also- are those white ‘legs’ pvc pipe hanger with the hook cut off?
Yeah- I’m locked into my LEDs at this point- I have 36 10w , in a mix of royal blue, royal blue + 420nm actinic, cool white, warm whites, and a bunch of 3w in RB, Red, Green.
Essentially planning to copy the sbreef led layout, or best I can manage.
OP
OP
I started off with them using a butt connector that was tightened with a screw, but as the number of channels increased, that became impractical. So I changed to using plain ethernet cables to carry the PWM signals. I found some RJ45 breakouts and just used jumper cables to go between the LDD boards and the RJ45 interface boards. Placing the LDD boards into a project box would help keep things neat and provide a convenient mount for RJ45 interface boards. To power them, I had a 54V 12 Amp power supply. I just used lamp cord to run to the LDD boards, but if you are mounting them in a case, you could setup a better (cleaner) power pattern.
Yes, those are PVC pipe hangers with the hook cut off. I was at Home Depot (or Lowes) wandering around trying to find something that could act as a support, and yet be slippery enough to slide easily on the tank frame when moving them out of the way. I saw the pipe hangers with the rounded end, the plethora of mounting holes and thought, "Hey that will work!".
Sounds like a good choice on the LEDs. One of my favourite ones, and the ones that you just don't see very often are 430 nm modules. On a couple of occasions when I noticed frags growing in what seemed like a predetermined way, I found that they were growing towards the place where a 430 nm chip was mounted.
Dennis
Awesome, sounds like we came to the same decisions points and solutions regarding the rj45 etc.
That’s good info on the 430nm. Can’t say I’ve ever seen them. I’ll look out gir them.
Do you run moonlights? I’m thinking 2x 3w RB over a 6ft tank abs doing moon cycle with the controller
That’s good info on the 430nm. Can’t say I’ve ever seen them. I’ll look out gir them.
Do you run moonlights? I’m thinking 2x 3w RB over a 6ft tank abs doing moon cycle with the controller
mmw64
Valuable Member
followingI have been procrastinating on putting up a build thread for my new display tank. In fact I have been procrastinating about completing the build as well. Part of the reason is that it is a lot larger of a project than I have typically taken on. This project entailed turning a bedroom in the basement of a house I moved to into a fishroom. As you will see, I have a bit of an issue sticking to a single plan. I often change horses mid race, sometimes for the better, sadly sometimes not.
I will be posting photos, but first I need to give you the back story.
Because this is my first "large" tank, I decided I wanted something with decent depth front to back. My previous tank was 18" front to back, and I wanted more of a footprint for aquascaping. So I purchased a Marineland 300DD tank and set about getting the wall and floor of the new fishroom prepared to accept the 300DD. The process started in August 2016.
The wall of my soon to be fishroom where the 300DD will be placed.
And the demo and rebuild begins
Some supplies are already arriving, it won't be long now! ...
OP
OP
Yes, I had 1 channel that I drove with a python phases of the moon module on the RPI. If your controller has it built in (lunar cycles), I think it would be a neat effect.
Dennis
OP
OP
I think I have figured out what I would like to do as far as flow goes. I was looking at a smaller tank by @-Alex- , but with killer stag growth (I love stags) and noticed he was able to position all his pumps on his overflow end of a peninsula tank. This is pretty much the same setup that I was planning with the Gyres. So I am intending to put a horizontal XF280 just below the weir skimmer and then an Xf250 vertically in each corner of the overflow end. I will use the Ocean Motion for 4 returns, 1 per corner. I also plan on having 2 Sea sweeps mounted on the centre braces, 1 on the left near the front glass and 1 on the right near the back glass. Each Sea Sweep will have a Tunze 6105 mounted on it. This should give me enough random flow to keep SPS happy.
Dennis
Dennis
rushbattle
Valuable Member
It would be tempting to do 4 sweeps with tunze 6105 on them IMO. A tank that big really can’t get too much flow without something like the panta rhei fan pumps.
OP
OP
My only concern with using 4 is how intrusive they may be. The centre braces are pretty much the only place that I can mount them, so I could put 2 on each brace, 1 against the front rail and 1 against the back, but I don't know if it would spoil the look with that many powerheads hanging down in a small area. I was already planning to have 1 mounted forward and 1 at the rear, so even with 2 I should be able to get similar flow patterns (since they rotate 360 deg). Maybe I will plan to get a Tunze 7000 to control them so if I go with the original plan of 2, I will still have room for 2 more should I feel the need.
With the 2 sea Sweeps and the OM discharging to the 4 corners, and the 3 Gyres, I should have a ton of flow.
Does anyone who uses an OM know if you can use a anti-siphon reverse check valve with them (like the way Melev sets them up)? I was not sure if each of the OM outputs seal completely tight when they are not the active one. Thinking about this, they must or they would be a potential siphon. I would probably need 4 separate check valves though (1 on each output just before the tank) rather than only 1 before the OM. Unless I mount the OM really high, far away from the pump.
Currently I am at a bit of a standstill while I wait for a supplier to get more extrusions in. My supplier is waiting for their US supplier to get more in, whom I suspect is waiting for the boat to arrive from China. I am a bit worried about tariffs getting in the way.
Dennis
Fin
Professional Procrastinator
Maybe I missed it, but are you using the OM on a return, or on a closed loop? I have mostly seen them used on closed loops. That is how I used mine for 12 years. You don't need to worry about back siphons if it is a closed loop.
OP
OP
I was planning on using the OM on 1 of the return pumps. I plan on running dual return pumps for redundancy. Awhile back, I had this crazy idea of running the OM off 1 of the drains on the overflow box. Kind of like a hidden closed loop. After thinking about it, I figured the closed loop pump would out run the flow rate of the overflow. I have 3 drains in the overflow, was intending to run a Bean Animal setup, but was willing to sacrifice one drain to be able to get a quasi closed loop.
Dennis
rushbattle
Valuable Member
I hear you on the intrusion! I am trying to figure out flow for a 66x40x25 and it is even hard with less than 300 gallons. I think I am going to have to have at least 4 pumps in the tank, and that will be visually overwhelming. I guess we can both experiment with fewer pumps and add if we need. Good luck, and I hope you have perfect flow with your current plan!
Fin
Professional Procrastinator
I am sorry, I noticed that the 4way was for returns, after I posted. Have you considered a true closed loop for at least part of your flow? That 4way (or even 6 way) would work well as a closed loop. It keeps the extra pumps out of the tank and with a little ingenuity, you can disguise the outlets somewhat. Just as an example, this is a picture of my bottom 1" returns, which sat right up front at the bottom in full view (and two in the upper front corners). I covered the fittings with rubble rock and eventually it was completely covered with GSP. The drain was a 1½" hole in the back wall with a screen over it. It was mostly hidden by a large arch in my aquascape. (This is on a 140 that I set up in 2006, so much smaller than what you have). There were no holes in the bottom of the tank, other than the factory holes in the overflow. The bottom returns were run down the back wall with black PVC and under the sandbed. I would never do that without a closed loop system, but the upflow was awesome.
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