jnam Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Jnam's contest thread The Beta cube. Mehn need to fix the white balance but here is the FTS What I bought last night, the small container on the top will be the fuge So you can get a feel for the relative size of this little cube If you would like to participate ------------> http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=296857 .7 gallons of sexyness. I am going the LED route and more than likely using my DIY controller on this one or building a new smaller version. The plan is for something very clean with nice straight lines. There will be a canopy and a base at some point. I dont plan on detailing to much of the goings on right away you'll just have to check back and see for your self =) Equiptment .7 Gallon Aquaculture Beta Cube DIY .5 Gallon fuge AC50 <----- may change based on asthetics small return pump Theo 50w heater DIY LED lighting 1xCW 2xRB DIY Arduino controller including ATO Everything should hide will inside of the fuge except the AC50 which will be used mostly for flow Stocking <1lbs of LR Who knows how little LS The rest is Ninja status until it makes it into the tank =) If anyone is interested in the breakdown of my DIY components let me know I am happy to provide schematics and coding or walkthroughs on creating your own. Cheers all! Link to comment
jnam Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 The controller I will edit this post periodically to show the progress on the controller for this little tank. Components Arduino328 Nano usb DS1307 RTC I2C Dallas 1 wire Temp 16x2 LCD 2 switchable mains Possibility of Blue Tooth serial conectivity. Functions The controller will display heads up information about the tank on the 16x2 screen: Temp, alarm states, diming percentages, overides and time. The controller will be programed to fade on and fade off the LEDs on a full day cycle and then again for the moonlight channels. It will also control ATO functionality as well as monitoring for alarm states like overfill on the ATO and water/led temps as well as failed restart or possible flood state of the pico. Two controllable mains plugs will be available (possibly more) for switching on and off pumps for feeding time and dedicated ATO use. Any other suggestions? LED on off and fade rate will be editable natively within the controller and should be expandable through I2C for later use. This is all based off of my first controller but I want something with a signifigantly smaller form factor to match the theme of this pico. Soldering and internals contruction is about 80% All lit up. What you see on the screen ignore my crap soldering PLEASE I need a new tip on my iron but the joints get the job done lol So what we have up and running: LCD with display Real Time Clock Temperatures ATO functions I have the coding done for the on and off of the lights just not 100% on the fading Water proofed the dallas 1wire sensor What I have left: Build the case Build the powercenter I cant decide if I want to incorporate the 110V into the box it self or do a stand alone. I am using SSRs which are rather bulky so having a seperate "module" might be the best idea. Finish the dimming for the sunrise/susent effect Decide on user interface, do I want to do an IR remote or hard buttons on the controller????? Create the menu functions to change values natively in the controller Did I mention building a case... lol I cant decide here if I want to just do a standard stand alone case or if I want to incorporate the display and keys into the hood/base or if I want sitting to the side... decisions decisions The Light The components that will be canabalized to create the lighting and interface for the controller Roughin of light mounting with the AC50. The light needs to be changed slightly currently it has 4 CW from when it used to be over a planted FW tank. I am removing 3 of the CW and replacing them with 2 RB LEDs. 3 LEDs should be more than enough maybe even overkill still. And I am not dimming the LEDs on seperate channels so I want a more blue apearance. Link to comment
GTi Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 The controller I will edit this post periodically to show the progress on the controller for this little tank. Components Arduino328 Nano usb DS1307 RTC I2C Dallas 1 wire Temp 16x2 LCD 2 switchable mains Functions The controller will display heads up information about the tank on the 16x2 screen: Temp, alarm states, diming percentages, overides and time. The controller will be programed to fade on and fade off the LEDs on a full day cycle and then again for the moonlight channels. It will also control ATO functionality as well as monitoring for alarm states like overfill on the ATO and water/led temps as well as failed restart or possible flood state of the pico. Two controllable mains plugs will be available (possibly more) for switching on and off pumps for feeding time and dedicated ATO use. Any other suggestions? LED on off and fade rate will be editable natively within the controller and should be expandable through I2C for later use. This is all based off of my first controller but I want something with a signifigantly smaller form factor to match the theme of this pico. Sounds sweet! Following. Link to comment
jnam Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 Sounds sweet! Following. Awesome! Link to comment
boxboy Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Im also tagging along. I wanna see this tank running. Link to comment
GTi Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Awesome! I have a Typhon controller (Arduino based) for my BC29 LED retrofit. All it does out of the box is control the lights but I know it is capable of so much more. Link to comment
iball1804 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 I've always been curious to these tanks. Glass or acrylic? Probably acrylic. Link to comment
Jacob042426 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 I mean plastic plastic, like a cheapo Walmart tank. Link to comment
jnam Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 Yep plastic plastic cheapo walmart tank. Proof of concept more so than longevity of the tank it self. If I like the setup I will remove the cheap tank and make a glass one instead. Cheap tanks are fantastic for these subgallon picos if it crashes and gets nasty I can just huck the whole thing over the balcony. For the purpose of this competition it will suffice nicely. Although after pulling it from the box it does feel of higher quality than I was expecting. I dont know much about the typhoon... but the Arduino328 is a very useful little device. Link to comment
dallasprstn Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 that makes my tank look huge lol! Link to comment
MetaTank Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Woot! Looking good, i'm subscribed! Welcome to the contest, and Good Luck! Contest Judge Meta Link to comment
jnam Posted March 12, 2012 Author Share Posted March 12, 2012 I got some wet water into it today on lunch along with some base rock that I am not in love with. Still working out the lilly pipes for the overflow and return on the sump. What is everyone else using as bulkheads for these little tanks? Link to comment
MGDMIRAGE Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Cool Idea but the plastic on that thing is terrible, its like CD case plastic. Even acrylic cleaners will scratch it up bad. Link to comment
jnam Posted March 13, 2012 Author Share Posted March 13, 2012 Cool Idea but the plastic on that thing is terrible, its like CD case plastic. Even acrylic cleaners will scratch it up bad. Yeah I agree but it's such a small water volume I'll just wipe the plastic off during water changes with a soft towel. Link to comment
Cintax Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I have one of these, my brother scratched it with the lens of his camera trying to take a macro shot. But in reality, its an excellent tool for proof of concept as jnam stated. If successful, it would take no effort to swap this out for a glass version. Link to comment
jnam Posted March 14, 2012 Author Share Posted March 14, 2012 And if it crashes well then I am out 14$ Plus I plan on cutting into the plastic (much easier than glass). Lets call it a mock up shall we and move on. Link to comment
Paigee Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Interesting! So do you plan on just stocking with hitchhikers (I assume that is what you alluded to by the "ninjas"?) Link to comment
jnam Posted March 15, 2012 Author Share Posted March 15, 2012 My stocking plans shall remain secretive for now... PICTURES Dont know how I feel yet about the rocks. A little closer. Still waiting on the LEDs for the lighting. And Yes it isnt level as it is not in its final resting place yet. Link to comment
MetaTank Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Sweeet! I thought about buying that tank like 5 times, but can't get over the plastic...Good deal though, looks pretty cool all set up, can you fit a decent amount of stuff in the drawer?(thats a drawer, right?) Is the stand not quite level? Looks like the water level is a little lower on the right side. Link to comment
jnam Posted March 15, 2012 Author Share Posted March 15, 2012 Sweeet! I thought about buying that tank like 5 times, but can't get over the plastic...Good deal though, looks pretty cool all set up, can you fit a decent amount of stuff in the drawer?(thats a drawer, right?) Is the stand not quite level? Looks like the water level is a little lower on the right side. Its not the actual stand that is going on just a little end table that is leaning from the weight of the water. The drawer is a joke but it is almost exactly the sized of a 16x2 LCD display and will hide my arduino stuff perfectly Link to comment
MetaTank Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Well, the the drawer is going to fit your arduino stuff perfecctly, it's not a joke, it's useful! Haha...Anyway, looking great so far! Link to comment
jnam Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 A little snag, the RB LEDs I ordered happened to be white instead of blue... Dang lighting crap. Got all the parts in for my controller and I will get this all wired up and coded ASAP like. Link to comment
jnam Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 Got the LEDs in and hooked up Sorry for the poor white balance on the iPhone shot Thats at 20% roughly power Link to comment
NanoCuber1 Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Got the LEDs in and hooked up Sorry for the poor white balance on the iPhone shot Thats at 20% roughly power sweeeet! will follow. can we get a stocking list? Link to comment
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