NanoReefGuy Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 I've had my BioCube 29 running for 11 months now. When I set it up I was trying to make minimal mods to the tank. After almost a year I am ready to take on a number of mods to make adjustments that I think will greatly improve my aquarium. One objective in this project is not to change the all in one nature of the BC (for asthetic reasons). This means no HOB or sump. I wanted to document the whole process and create a thread so that you all can yell, laugh or suggest better changes for my tank. I plan to update as I make changes so you can see the outcome. Equipment changes from stock at the start of the project: -Removed bottom of chamber 1 to make room for heater -Add 50W Tronic heater. Discovered it was not sufficient for winter, so upgraded to Stealth 100W. -Added Korilia #1 to help eliminate stagnant spots -Added Hydorflo to promote circulation - Using stock filter frame with Aquapure poly fiber, phosphate absorber and carbon - 4litre ATO built with a milk jug, digital timer and air pump Shortcomings of current configuration: -Not enough light to grow clams -No sunrise/sunset. Don't know if this really affects the life, but it looks cool -In summer time tank temperature gets too high -On cold winter nights tank temperature gets too low -Canopy fans noisy -Nitrates climb quickly after water change. Occasional nitrites measuring ~0.1ppm -pH low (~7.8 during daylight hours) -cyano & diatoms love to grow in this tank! Planned changes: -Add high powered LED lighting to the canopy. Program sunrise/sunset. Low heat, lots of light! -Build improved reflectors that vibrate less and have better air flow -Improve air flow by using 80mm fans with temperature controls to vary fan speed/control noise -Add Peltier to heat/cool water -Add GFCI to line power for safety -Electronic controls to replace the 3 timers and to give the system more "intelligence" for top offs, controlling pumps for feeding, wave making, light cycle, temperature control -Upgrade main pump. MJ400 with propeller mod. more flow with less watts and noise. -Remove drip plate & bioballs from 2nd chamber -Increase water level in 2nd & 3rd chamber -Add protien skimmer -Add Phosguard, Purigen, and ChemiPure filter media -Add Fission nano skimmer -Add dosing pumps for controlling additives Oh and here's a couple pictures of the tank as it looks tonight.... Any and all suggestions welcome! Cheers NRG Link to comment
NanoReefGuy Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 OK so tonight I started working on the Rebel LEDs for the improved canopy lighting. Man are those little suckers are hard to solder! I ordered 2 stars with only a single LED on them. I added 2 white LEDs to one and a green and blue to the other. So now I have 2 stars with 3 white and 1 star with white, blue & green. This should add around 1000 lumens to the stock canopy. I started off by using solder wick to remove excess solder from the pads with solder wick. Next add solder paste to the pads Set the Rebel LED on the solder paste and use the iron to heat the pads. Here is the finished product I also picked up a fresnel lens sheet from our local dollar store to see if using it narrows the beam and keeps more light in the aquarium and less on the floor! The first picture is 2 stars (6 LEDs) running at 300mA. Note how even the light is out past 2 feet. Here is the result with the lens about 2" from the LEDs Here is a side view of the light without the lens and with The lens seems like a good way to concentrate the light for only a dollar! Can anyone tell me how many lumens a 10K 36W PC fluorescent puts out? I'll start on the overall controller system while I wait for the rest of the LEDs to arrive... Cheers NRG Link to comment
snowlancer2720 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 nice idea for the lens. If you ever solder small led's again, i found it much easier to use a butane soldering iron that uses a hot air attachment.. like this http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_0...yword=soldering all you have to do it tin the pads on the star, and set the rebel on top and blow the heat at it for a few seconds and it will be good. i broke a few the way that you did it; this way works a lot better Link to comment
controlsreefer Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Hey NRG, it looks like you have everything plannned out good for you. you got a long list of todo's but you will get through it and if you need any help or advice about electrical componets or idea keep me in mind. i do have one question though what was the wattage of the soddering iron. you want to use a lower wattage and be careful when using a hot air gun i burn the living s%@t out self a few years ago when i dropped one. well good luck Link to comment
NanoReefGuy Posted January 18, 2008 Author Share Posted January 18, 2008 Hi All Thanks for the feedback. Snowlancer thanks for the idea of using hot air to solder. At work I have access to a hot air soldering system. With the regular iron I just heat up the connection pads until the solder paste flows. Actually once the aluminium in the star is warm both LEDs solder at the same time. ControlsReefer thanks for the offer of help. If I get stuck I will definately drop you a note! I have a Hako iron at home. I think its 60W. I just dialed up to 400C. With the large solder tip it heats up the star to soldering temp in 5-10 seconds. I know what you mean about being careful with hot air. My other hobby is glass blowing so I'm used to working with hot stuff Anyone know how many lumens from a 10K 36W PC light? Cheers NRG Link to comment
NanoReefGuy Posted January 24, 2008 Author Share Posted January 24, 2008 Bump Still trying to get an answer about how many lumens from a 36W PC Fluorescent light Anyone have the details?Also wondering how light output depends on temperature. Thanks in advance NRG Link to comment
NanoReefGuy Posted February 7, 2008 Author Share Posted February 7, 2008 Over the weekend I put together the LEDs on a heat sink, soldered the buck pucks onto a prototype board and played with some tiny fans that I am hoping will work well to pull heat away from the sink. So far so good... Here is the LEDs running at 350mA. With 2 micro fans on the heat sink the temperature only hits 28C The pic really doesn't show the brightness well. Trust me they are blinding! 2 x 1000 mA BuckPucks. I chose the adjustable version and have it dialed down to 350/400mA. Still room to go up in the future if better LEDs become available or I can figure out a better way to get rid of heat from the canopy. Note theres enough room for a 3rd BuckPuck to accomodate future plans Back of the heat sink. I have 2 dime sized fans that blow air across the fins. I may increase this to 4 fans to manage more heat. Power supply 24V and a whopping 14A!. Lots of room to add more LEDs here. Now I need to drill and tap holes for the fan mounts and re-install the LED stars with silver based heat sink compound. Note that in spite of the recall of the blue Rebel LED mine is still going strong. Cheers NRG Link to comment
FiReBReTHa Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Joining thread to keep an eye on updates! Link to comment
coolwaters Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 how do you know when to stop the iron that heats the pad? i want to get my hands on some square boards to try this in the future. Link to comment
NanoReefGuy Posted February 20, 2008 Author Share Posted February 20, 2008 how do you know when to stop the iron that heats the pad? i want to get my hands on some square boards to try this in the future. Hi CW Sorry not to get back to you sooner. I suspect you have already got the answer your looking for but just in case here's my method. I use solder paste to attach the LEDs. When there is enough heat to melt the solder I see the LED pull into position from surface tension. I hold the heat on for 4-5 more seconds and I'm done! Send me a PM if this isn't clear. I can video the next time I am soldering and send you a link to a clip. Cheers NRG Link to comment
evilc66 Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Looking good NRG. Have you tried kicking the power up to 700mA yet? The heatink you have should keep the temps in check. Have you thought about mounting a low profile 60/80mm fan on top of the heatsink? It will have considerably more airflow that the tiny little fans you are running, but at lower noise. Link to comment
spanko Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 I would suggest forgetting the Fission skimmer and go for the Oceanic BioCube skimmer. Link to comment
NanoReefGuy Posted February 21, 2008 Author Share Posted February 21, 2008 Hi CW At work we have these great little fans. They can be loud if I run them at full power, but my plan has been to run them from a temperature controlled PWM driver so that I can slow them down and make them quieter unless the heat starts to build up. In that case I say let em rip and get rid of the heat! By putting them on the side of the sink I can work with less space above them and direct the heat towards the exhaust fan. This also meets my goal of fitting the lights into a stock looking BC 29 hood. Haven't tried 700mA yet, I haven't been planning to go that high because I get good light levels at 500mA with less heat. This will also leave me with 200 spare mA in case I want more light later on . Spanko I hear what you're saying about the Fission. At the moment I have been pulling out the bioballs from chamber 2 about 15 bioballs per week. I added a plastic corner filter full of chaeto with an LED to keep it growing and have really liked the results (dropped Nitrate ). At this point I'm not sure if there would be much advantage to having a skimmer. In any case I need to wait until I have finished removing the BB in chamber 2. Cheers NRG Link to comment
coolwaters Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 its pretty clear its just one last thing where do u put the soldering iron? to heat up the board. Link to comment
spanko Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Just so you know the Oceanic skimmer fits into chamber #1. Link to comment
NanoReefGuy Posted February 22, 2008 Author Share Posted February 22, 2008 Hi CW To heat the board I just put the soldering iron on the solder pads where the wires connect and kept it there until the aluminium board heated up enough to melt the solder. Cheers NRG Link to comment
coolwaters Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 thanks for sharing that. =) Link to comment
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