Finally some pics, tank has been plumbed and the stand has been skinned

Equipment
Tune ATO
MSX 160 skimmer
Vortech mp40's

lighting
16 PAR38 spotlights (will have this done in 2 months hopefully)



















Enjoi!

Is this in a museum or something? Looks like an alter built for the tank to be shown in. 16 PAR38's is gonna be blazing!
Tagging along.

nope just in my basement, lol the tank is sitting where a TV entertainment stand went, the raised platform was already there me and my dad just cut the center out of the platform and then rebraced it and slide the stand into place

believe me i can't wait to get this thing up and running, i'm hoping to have my aquascape done by this weekend and hopegully 3 or so weeks after that i'll be working on the PAR38 rig

Had you considdered other lighting options?
As far as ease of instalation it will probably be tough to beat the Par38's. And dont get me wrong, that should have your tank looking great, but as far as cost... i believe you would be paying almost double per LED compared to if you were making your own d.i.y. LED setup. (the par38's come in at $20 a LED while you could spend as little as $10 per LED for a d.i.y setup with optics and heatsinks) check out this site if you have not, i am under the impression that it is where many reefer's order their LED's: http://www.cutter.com.au/products.php?cat=Cree+XPG
and heatsink's from here:
http://heatsinkusa.com/

Just something to think about.

Gorgeous tank by the way!

I've looked into DIY led and me and my dads thinking it would be a lot harder to replace 1 led on a heatsink with 48-60 other leds on it attached to the ceiling or mounted on the tank or hanging, this would probably be a 2 person job, plus you have to unsoder and re-wire a new led in which is more probably more difficult than replacing 1 of the leds on a PAR38 or replacing the PAR38 lamp altogether

i looked into DIY led and for the setup it would most likely cost around 1700.00 for a tank this size but that is to cover an area that doesen't need to be lit 100%

The Par38's will be a little more expensive, 16 bulbs= 1600.00 + track lighting rig= 300-400
So for about 200.00-300 more than the DIY you can do PAR38's and to me you have a little more flexability as in how you angle and light your rockwork

When i do the aquascaping you'll understand what i'm going for pretty much they will be shaped like the letter U the back of the rockwork is the bottom of the U so pretty much that puts the spotlights right over all the rockwork so i really don't need to light up much more than that area, at the bottom i'll keep softies and Zoa's and pretty much Sps will be in the center focus of all the PAR38's

this will be my first tank with Led's and it will be a learning experience, i've always used MH's in the past but am definatly looking for to less heat, more flexability, long bulb life, and with that many Led spotlights it will definatly be a dream tank for me

Glad to see I'm not the only one lighting a large tank with Par38's. I'm only going to have 6 or 8 though, can't wait to see your setup!

I should have guessed given your experience on this forum and with a 2 year old Biocube.
good to know that you thought about it.

edit: i just found some of your comments over at reef central about LED's on widmer's thread... should have know i am not the only one bouncing between forums.

Oh yeah i was on RC in 2005 when i had my first 20g high tank....lol god how far i've come from that disaster, hahaha too bad i don't have any pics of that tank, but it was defiantly a good learning experience for me

yeah my 29gBC is the best tank i've ever run and i'm hoping to make this 200g just as impressive, actually i should take some pics of the 29g in the next week or two before i get to the point on transfering corals over, which will probably still be a month or more from now

thanks for all the great comments i should have some more eye candy this weekend or next week, i should have the right side aquascape done by then, though i think the tank will only be half ful since me and my dad are still leveling it out

Are you going to paint or otherwise seal the inside of the stand to protect it from moisture?

i'm pretty sure i'll be leaving it as is, the wood isn't 100% flush with the iron stand so there are gaps at the back and top of the stand but you can't see them unless your right up on the tank so there is room for some ventalation inside the stand, the front panel of the stand is held on by magnets and there are 2 3 inch holes drilled in the back of the stand for ventalation and cords, but i might add more once i see how well it performs

the tank will be run with Led spotlights and i'll have 2 300w heaters on it so i'm think evaporation won't be too insane since the heat is mainly comming from the heaters and not the lighting, though if it does get a little too moist i'll add some fans and more holes, the top of the tank will be uncovered so most of the evap will be off the top and not inside the sump

I love the tank! It's exactly what I imagine I'll want when I finally upgrade to something huge in a few years. I like the wide and deep tank better than the thinner long ones most people have.

What are the dimensions on that thing? Is there someplace that sells them or is this a custom job? And what's the DD stand for? Double Deep?

I can't wait to see this with the lights on it.

DD stands for Deep Dimension. Marineland makes them.

Can't wait to see this...

i would rethink the return pump loaction, instead of having it right smack in the middle and infront of the sump. going to suck if you need to do something in the sump and the plumbing and pump is in the way.

only thing that will be in the sump is my skimmer and an ATO will be hooked up, as well as 1 heater, so honestly i won't have much in the way of equipment under the tank, so it shouldn't be too hard to service if need be

tank dimensions are 48*36*27

it's a 200g marineland deep dimension tank, this setup ran me a little over 1k but i got it used from someone who wanted out of the hobby, not sure what the price on it new would be, around 3k i assume depending on what type of stand you wanted to go with

Looking sweet beeker. Can't wait to see the PAR38s over that beast.

I'd love a tank of that size. I'd much rather have a deep tank rather than a long one. That's why I like the 40B so much. Great proportions. I would have to move to even consider a tank of your size though.

thanks for the comments evil, i just posted on your thread, didn't see you already posted here, lol

Yeah i can't wait for the lighting, this will truley be a dream tank for me and hopefully it all goes acording to plan, granted the plumbing took me and my dad 3 days and about 6 hours of fun, i'm just hoping the lighting goes a little smoother as it should be a lot less intensive

Hopefully in a month i'll have half the tank lit by PAR38's i'll pretty much be lighting 1side of the tank to start and then i'll slowly be adding bulbs to the left side of the tank

i do plan on adding some powerbrite moonlights or something similar after the main lighting is up and running

I'd look at the Ecoxotic Stunners for that. About the same cost as the Powerbrites, but much smoother light output.

Cool i'll look into those still about a month or more away from getting any moonlights but i'll definatly check those out

Aqauscape pics, the right side is done the left side isn't finished i have to wait until my corals are unmounted from my main 29g before i can transfer the rock over to build up the left side









Left side view of aquascape


Enjoi!

I should have lighting up in 3-4 weeks from now, i have 1 piece of coral in the tank already and it's looking good so when everything is done i'll have some more eye candy :]]

That's a sweet setup you have there. It so totally looks like a museum or something. It's got so much potential and you're already off to a great start. Looking good. Can't wait to see it develop.

looking great

Me and my dad just got the track lighting setup, hopefully in 2 weeks i'll have the first set of PAR38's over the tank

I'll have pics up as soon as possible after i get the lighting :]

I just got word the PAR38's were shipped out yesterday, i should have some pics of the setup next week after i recieve the bulbs, should be a blast

should got some better lighting

hahah you're kidding right? the light i took the pics with is only a 96w quad PC light, believe me when i say that my lighting will put your lighting in choke hold when it's all said and done, lol

Cell phone pics i took at lunch this was just to see the spread across the front of the tank, these are 4 12k's with 40 optics, bulbs are about 2 inches off of the water







First impressions, these bulbs are just awesome, can't wait to get the whole tank lit with these

That is totally outrageous with just (4) of them puppies, I can't imagine twelve!
Could it possibly be TOO MUCH LIGHT?????

Never too much light

Damn this is a ridiculous build already ... definitely going to be following this tank!

Oh yes, it is when it bleaches all of your prize coral!!!!!

I'm glad this is a competition!

Anyways, what I meant was... for the money you spent, you could have gotten a lot more LED for your buck.

Also, it does not matter how much lighting you have... it's how you use it

every DIY led setup i looked at is only 300-400 less than going this route, the good thing about spending that extra 300-400 dollars means i have tons of flexability and tons of upgrade potential

i'm also not trying to light 100% of the tank, mainly just the rockwork and some of the glass around the rockwork i'm not lighting the backwall or the side glass or the front glass, so the effect is dramatic and exactly what i was going for :]]

i'll have 16 bulbs total, yeah it will be a ton of light, but then again i hate to skimp on the most important part of a reef tank so to me 16 is nesscessary though 20 might be in the works if 16 doesen't please me, lol

i somehow misplaced the S hooks so i couldn't get the 4th track up last night, lol

i raised the lights to about 5 inches above the water, the spread is better now and the spot effect isn't as great, i'm going to be leaving them here until i see how the sps frag on the bottom of the tank does over the next week this will be my gauge to wether the lights have a high enough PAR at the bottom of the tank

here's some new shots

this is with 6 bulbs over the right side and 2 over the left

I'm just saying, you spend over 2 thousand dollars and you can't even dim, or adjust your color.

why dim?

i want the most PAR i can get, if that PAR is 1000 then i'm where i want to be, lol

Why adjust color?

the color on these is beautiful, there would be no other color i'd want to adjust them too

if i wanted a bluer look i'd just add some 20k PAR38's and switch out some 12k PAR38's, to me the options are endless with this setup

and i could even add another 2 bulbs to each track and up the count to 24 bulbs so flexability with this system is endless, so many options and the LEDs that will come out in the next 7 years when i go to replace these bulbs will be even better and there might even be an upgrade to these PAR38's in the future, so to me i got the setup i wanted and that is all i care about

Dimming isn't nesscessary to me i'm going for PAR

Color mixxing is null and void once you see how great 3 white led's look with 2 royal blue leds honestly you'd have to see them in person to understand, my cell phone pics do the setup no justice

just look at the color of that Green duncan, it's the bee's knee's, lol

Interesting theory.

I highly doubt you will get 7 years out of these while over driving them.

Also, don't you think a dimmer knob or switch would be easier than removing and replacing light cans? Very costly, but some people have the extra money to throw around like that. If you were interested on lighting certain areas of the rock for whatever reason, I would consider flexible necks on the lights so you can "octopus" the par38s into whatever spot or intensity you like. Assuming you do high light SPS at some point, you can point a bunch of the par38s into one SPS area, or rock for maximum use.

Overall, I think for the money invested you could get really creative with it.

they aren't over driven per what i have read from Evilc66, so 7 years before led decay (luminous decay) sets in but in 7 years i'm sure the Led technology will be insane just look at the last run of stuff nanocustoms has come up with, it's only going to get better from here on out, which makes me a very happy reefer :]

i might end up putting 12 bulbs over the right side and 8 over the left since the right side will be heavy sps when i get done

but right now i'm trying to find out how low in my tank i can keep sps happy and thriving under these bulbs, after i figure that out the rest is easy, lol

Awesome...

Overdriving LEDs doesn't kill them. Heat does. With the drive currents we are running the LEDs at, the whites are at spec, and the royal blues are a little overdriven. All are still within the temperature tollerance. The heatsink on these lamps is extremely efficient and keeps the LED temps way below the maximum rating. We run the LEDs cooler across the board than any other manufacturer of almost any other LED fixture (AI could be the exception).

Beeker, don't be afraid to run less than 16 lamps. These are powerful, so take it easy Don't want you bleaching corals.

I would expect the creator of a product to jump in and defend, define "At spec"

Well Evilc66 i put 2 maxima's into the tank last night, the blue maxima is under it own PAR38 same with the Gold maxima, the blue opened up about 80% and the Gold only opened about 30% of the way extended, both cam from under a 150w MH 10 inches from the bulb and are now both at the bottom about 32 inches away from the PAR38's

Not sure if that means the PAR38's are still too intense at that hieght which to me isn't a bad thing just means i need to raise the rig up a little which i can do easily, please give me your insight Evil if you can, not sure if you have experienced the same with clams or not

i know clams can be blasted with light and take it just wasn't sure if their reaction was becuase i'm still getting higher PAR than they got under the 150w 32 inches below the PAR38 bulbs which is what i'm thinking though i have no PAR meter onhand to test this, really wish i did, i've been trying to get one from my local reef club but that may take awhile

i don't expect evil to have to defend anything, to me he has answered all of my questions i knew the lights were driven below spec i think that is 700Ma per led right? but they can take up to 1000Ma The blue's may be at 1000Ma while the whites are at 700Ma this to me doesent matter all that matters to me is that i'm getting 100-200 PAR at the bottom of my tank, i know his lights can do this and seeing the reaction of my clams tells me they are a lot brighter than my eyes think they are

finding the right hieght for the rig is the only question i have left at this point, lol

Some new shots with my "Real" Camera

I don't think a FTS will ever be possible they all come out like the sun, lol

Oh, come on now. Anyone that has known me for long enough around here will tell you that I will tell you the facts, regardless of whether I sell/make a product.

So what if I did defend what I make? You made a statement knowing nothing about the inner workings of the lamp. You stated clearly that overdriving shortens the life of the LED. That is only true if heat is not managed correctly.

As for the "spec", Cree rates the XR-E cool whites up to 1000mA drive current, which we are just under (about 950mA IIRC from the the manufacturer), and the royal blues at 700mA. Now, like I said, junction temperature is more important, and we keep them under 110C (Cree spec is 135C for all colors) at an ambient of about 75F (about what my room temp is typically all year). With keeping the junction temp 25C under spec on the royal blues, the overdrive isn't a concern. I've been running royals at 1000mA for over two years with no notable issues or lumen/PAR drop.

Get em evil, lol j/k

Hey evil want to answer my clam question? i'm more interested in that info than the specs of the bulbs, hahaha

Like anything else, watch for signs of stress, and adjust accordingly. With the clam so low, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Black Mark, don't think that I'm attacking your for the statements you made earlier. Just trying to clear up some confusion on LED operation in general, and of our products operation.

ok evil i'll see how the clams look tonight when i get home and turn the lights on and mentally configure what i should do, i think i'll raise them another inch or two spread would be better and i doubt i'll lose much light

they've only had about 3 hours under the PAR38's but had about 6 hours of MH before i moved them so that might be why they aren't 100% epanded as well, i'll keep an eye out

I'm getting my hands on a PAR meter this weekend from my reef club so i should have numbers up by next week and that will help me with the Clam placement as well

Not a problem Evil, you actually know me. Knowing that, you would know I love to find out all the details I can

Forgive my ignorance, but we know each other? I have no problem giving details to those who ask. Neither myself or Chris (Nanocustoms, who I work for) are one for keeping secrets, especially Chris