Troylee's eco friendly build.....

[CJO]

Yeah!!!!! Just had my buddy come get my apex online and live!!!! Even got to program it and set the lighting schedule up!!! Nice... It has been plugged in for 4 months now as a ph monitor.. I even got my own website!!! Nice... Ahahahaha just a little excited...1smile1

LOL, about time! The Apex is my favorite part of my tank (besides the inhabitants). I don't know what I'd do without it. Do you have it set to dim the sunrise and sunset?

CJ

 

[Troylee]

Yup^^^^^^ moon lights the whole deal... It runs the LEDs 24hrs a day there on from night time to high noon blast...1smile1 well my meter worked that way anyways lol... I haven't plugged the fixture in yet trying to get the skin done today so I can hang it tomorrow and fire it up...;)

 

[Wy Renegade]

At least you are making some progress on your build, mine is still in the planning stages :(

 

[Troylee]

man i had a plan 6 months ago lol..... i just go and tackle each part when it comes up... never have i sat down and actually thought a system out if i did i would never get anything done because i would keep changing it....

 

[CJO]

As far as the fan goes, you may want to try running it for 2+ hours at 100% before making a decision. Once mine have been on that long, the surface next to the LEDs gets pretty hot, and I don't have the density of LEDs you do. IMO, there isn't much reason not to put on a fan. The LED's lifespan is directly related to how hot it gets.

CJ

 

[Troylee]

oh i agree completly... one good thing is the heat sink will not be encapsulated it's gonna be wide open for air draw around the whole thing....i will see what i got when i get home i got some nice 5" dayton fans i think that would work like a charm....

 

[Troylee]

Lights camera action!!!!!!gonna be really hard to take pics now....:( I don't even know if I like it really....:( I'm so used to radiums and this is alot whiter... With just the blues on it looks cool and all but I'm not sure what's gonna happen....

 

[drainbamage]

can you dim the whites to certain percent power? That way you can dial in exactly how blue you want it to be.

I'm going to buy/build some LEDs down the road, and my intention is to run them majority of the day with just only blues on, kicking in some 'warm' colors for maybe a 3-4 hour window just for purpose of coral growth-otherwise, me like the blue look :bigsmile:


Looks good though man! Nice clean build and install- what's the missus say?

 

[Troylee]

Ya I can adjust either color from 0 to 100 percent the joy of diy lol... Maybe the optics will help I don't know I was expecting so much more than it really is.... I gotta play with them I'm sure once there programmed I will like them.... A lot of my acros are washed out with the blues only...:( I mean flamethrower, crazy fox, my Miami, and some yellow zoos and stuff I got just glow like who done it!!!! Only with blues on thou the white kills the
Pop!!!! I got my vhos in there and they overpower the blues only all the shimmer and glow goes away.... Wow I'm just tired lol... I have been non stop since 4am that's why I didn't even post today lol.... I love the way the fixture looks thou it came out sweet and getting in the tank is gonna be a breeze now since I used the grip lock system from ati to hang the fixture I can adjust it to any height.... No more lifting heavy canopies lol....

 

[redtop03]

awesome work on the fixture,dang thing looks better than anything you could buy off the shelf,being able to program it to brighten and dim at specific times is gonna be wicked cool....looks like it's making plenty of light too,I like the color that your camera is showing us....

couldn't you take out some of the whites and add more blues if you're not satisfied with the color yet ? or maybe,program it so that the whites are on while you're not there having to see 'em,they should help greatly with coral growth though

or you could change out the VHOs with the ATI blue + T5s to get the color pop your getting and they shouldn't over power the LEDs like the VHOs....the ATI blue + T5s are the best bulb I've ever had over my tank to get the pop I've been trying so long to get :D

 

[MarvinsReef]

great job man. I hope you can get it dialed in correctly. :)

 

[Troylee]

Well I watched the sun rise today on my tank that was cool..... After everything was up to full intensity I figured out what's bugging me..... With the blues at 100 percent it looks cool fade the whites in it looks real nice after about 75 percent whites the tank and sand start turning pink!!!! At 100 percent white and blues the tank is real pink!!!!my vhos cured that thou so far so good...1smile1 once I get the correct intensity dialed in and par is decent it should be all systems go.... Dialing the whites down kill the par iirc.... I mean if my corals grow the same and keep there colors I will be more than satisfied...;)

 

[skinz78]

Pic's man pic's!

 

[Troylee]

Will do soon still working a ton of bugs with the apex and lighting etc... Gotta order a few more LEDs also to run a string for a moon cycle..

 

[Troylee]

Well I sold my picassos I didn't like them and found a pair of "jigsaw clowns" these I like!!!!1smile1

 

[FiReBReTHa]

I was concerned about the fan size, Do you have a pic of the fans on the heatsink? its possible there isnt enough coverage over the heatsinks to blow thru the channels.

 

[Troylee]

not off hand i will get one when i get home there 5" fans... i only put one on there right now and a wallmart clip on... haven't had much time to play...

 

[CJO]

A few 5" fans should provide plenty of air flow. Is the top of your hood open to allow the heat to escape?

CJ

 

[drainbamage]

I was concerned about the fan size, Do you have a pic of the fans on the heatsink? its possible there isnt enough coverage over the heatsinks to blow thru the channels.

you don't need to blow the entire way through the heatsinks- part of the reason for using a highly heat conductive metal like aluminum is that even if you only cool one spot, the metal will balance out the temperature across it's entire length. So you don't need a fan that will create a large airflow over the entire heat sink, just one that's sufficient to get enough cooling, even if it's over a partial area.

 

[Troylee]

A few 5" fans should provide plenty of air flow. Is the top of your hood open to allow the heat to escape?

CJ

Ya it's wide open just wood around the sides... The page before this you can see it...