dmasterx1x Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Hi everyone. This is my second reef tank, and this time i'm going smaller. I have a 12 gal fluval tank that is starting to become overcrowded. So instead of giving away or selling corals, i decided to make another tank just for them. This will be a Fluval spec 3 clone, just a smidge bigger, at 10.5"x12"x9". I was really close to buying the tank from my lfs but held off and decided to build it myself. Glasscages.com is selling me the sheet glass for a really sweet price, even worth the shipping all the way from TN (to NJ). I tried to check with local glass shops but they were actually even more pricey than the finished product itself (NJ is sliiightly overpriced). Besides making the tank myself, i'll also go with another diy led setup. I think i'm gonna go with a "3 up" star board with 67% blues and a neutral white. I may change that to 1 rb, 1 cyan/turquoise, 1 NW. Looks like ebay has plenty of 3 3w-drivers for around $5. Some of them even claim to be dimmable. As far as corals, this will be mostly zoas and palys, and maybe eventually ricordeas and acans. Livestock will probably only consist of some crabs and snails. Not sure of any tiny fish that would bode well in such a small tank. That's it for now. Everything needed is ordered. WIll post pics of the build. oh yeah.. any opinions on what leds(only 3 3w luxeon) to use? I prefer the bluer look and this tank will be beside my bed so i don't want a brighter, whiter light coming out of it. Current FTS Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 This seems like it's going to be a fun and interesting build. I'm currently building a tank myself, a .9 gallon to be exact. Sounds like you've got it pretty well planned out,so that's good. If you're looking for a more customizable led 3-up Steve's LEDs has some you can put whatever colors you want on them. I think they are about $11 ech. I'd do something like ( NW,RB,TV ) ( RB,B,TV ) ( NW,RB,TV ) if you're doing 3 3-ups. Link to comment
dmasterx1x Posted March 27, 2014 Author Share Posted March 27, 2014 This seems like it's going to be a fun and interesting build. I'm currently building a tank myself, a .9 gallon to be exact. Sounds like you've got it pretty well planned out,so that's good. If you're looking for a more customizable led 3-up Steve's LEDs has some you can put whatever colors you want on them. I think they are about $11 ech. I'd do something like ( NW,RB,TV ) ( RB,B,TV ) ( NW,RB,TV ) if you're doing 3 3-ups. Well i'm hoping only 1 3up would be enough, although i've never run them. I actually got the Cree (2rb,1 Nw) from Ledgroupbuy. Still waiting on my driver(s) to get in, once i hook it up i'll decide if more light is needed. Anyways, this is what i've done so far. And this is where the tank will go. Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Oh okay,this is going to be clean. Honestly,even for such a small footprint of a tank I'd go with 2-3 to get a good/decent spread of light. That's just my .02 though. Can't wait to see this progress though Link to comment
dmasterx1x Posted March 30, 2014 Author Share Posted March 30, 2014 Well... here's some progress. Man i love Saturdays. Overflow/divider is cut and drilled. DId a crappy job with the grinder but i guess it'll work Cree 3-up led with optics, hooked up to cheapo ebay 3-3w driver (600ma). Light mount. Hand bend aluminum stick. The back end is just velcro-ed on. This is it so far. Waiting on some of the silicone to dry. Still have to make a media rack for the back. Link to comment
dmasterx1x Posted April 11, 2014 Author Share Posted April 11, 2014 added rocks. I think i'm happy with this scape. For now. light box. 3up led, heatsink, fan, mini driver, and some resistors to quiet fan. All in a 2.5"x2.5" box. Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Nice job man,this thing is looking sleek !!! I love the color Link to comment
JR! Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 what a cool little tank. cant wait to see more! Link to comment
dmasterx1x Posted April 20, 2014 Author Share Posted April 20, 2014 Cycle done! I put in a tiny CC from my other tank and transferred all the zoas and palys i could as well. Should also get some more polyps in the mail this upcoming week. I decided to go with a screen cover on this one. Pretty much the only ones open right now. media rack finally done. Link to comment
kylhcky Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 nice job, looks pretty damn good Link to comment
dmasterx1x Posted April 23, 2014 Author Share Posted April 23, 2014 i'm seeking a dimming solution for my 3 leds. Obviously, i want the 2 blues on one channel and the single white on its own. This driver i'm using claim to be dimmable, but i just don't see how. And even if it is, i would need anther one a 2nd channel. So i'm looking into other small drivers that would run 1-2 leds wup to 700ma. I know MW LDD700's would work, but i haven't seen a setup using them with analog dimming (with no controller). Can you just hook up a PWM dimmer to the end of an LDD and dim it that way? my current driver. If anyone knows how one of these can be dimmer, please share. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-Dimmable-3X3W-9W-Watt-LED-600mA-Power-Driver-Supply-Transformer-110V-220V-/261460183667?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ce03dca73 This is an example of a dimmer i found on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Dimmer-Controller-12V-Single-Color-Adjust-for-5050-3528-LED-Light-Strip-US-/141264856729 or this http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-12A-3-Key-Mini-Controller-Dimmer-for-RGB-5050-3528-LED-Flexible-Strip-Light-/201077134905 and this is another type of driver(i think?) with dimming http://www.ebay.com/itm/input-7-30V-output-700mA-3W-LED-driver-Support-for-PWM-dimming-/181352774989?pt=US_Lighting_Parts_and_Accessories&hash=item2a3977bd4d How would one go about dimming one of these with a potentiometer? Anyone care to chime in which way would be best? Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 The best solution I would suggest would be go on amazon and find a power supply around 25w's and just wire up 2 700ma LDD's and call it a day. From my understanding since the LDD's use pwn to dim and not resistance dimming ( pots ) you'd need a typhon or storm controller to dim them. I have some steves led digital drivers I don't need and pots to go with them if you're interested just PM me an I'll give you a good deal on them. Link to comment
dmasterx1x Posted April 23, 2014 Author Share Posted April 23, 2014 The best solution I would suggest would be go on amazon and find a power supply around 25w's and just wire up 2 700ma LDD's and call it a day. From my understanding since the LDD's use pwn to dim and not resistance dimming ( pots ) you'd need a typhon or storm controller to dim them. I have some steves led digital drivers I don't need and pots to go with them if you're interested just PM me an I'll give you a good deal on them. Well that's the thing.. i want to avoid shelling out $$$ for another controller and just want this to be as bare as possible. And as far as power supply, i think the one i'm running now should be fine. It's just a 12 dc adapter but since its running these leds already i don't see why a change of drivers would require a different power supply. Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Very true. Just switch the drivers then,you can't beat $15 for the LDD's. You'll just have to find a way to dim them. Link to comment
dmasterx1x Posted April 23, 2014 Author Share Posted April 23, 2014 That's the key. Hopefully an led wiz will chime in and help out. Btw how are your lights coming along? Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 That's the key. Hopefully an led wiz will chime in and help out. Btw how are your lights coming along? Maybe message JediBen,Evil or Milad ? It's going good,the light I bought I stripped all the leds,got rid of them,used my girlfriends leds plus I'm going to use the ones that came in today to wire them into my existing leds. I just need to get my typhon wire in but I've emailed boostled 3 times with no response.. Smh. Link to comment
dmasterx1x Posted April 23, 2014 Author Share Posted April 23, 2014 Maybe message JediBen,Evil or Milad ? It's going good,the light I bought I stripped all the leds,got rid of them,used my girlfriends leds plus I'm going to use the ones that came in today to wire them into my existing leds. I just need to get my typhon wire in but I've emailed boostled 3 times with no response.. Smh. There's a special wire needed for the typhon? What's it for? i use the Storm controller on my other tank, no proprietary wires needed there. Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 There's a special wire needed for the typhon? What's it for? i use the Storm controller on my other tank, no proprietary wires needed there. From what I was told by a few people,I need to wire the white wire from my driver which is the dim wire to a positive wire on the typhon lead and splice a black typhon lead into the negative wire on my driver. I wired up one string to the typhon and all the settings work besides the start and end times... Weird. Link to comment
andi.rahl Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 How's the light and the z/p's? Link to comment
dmasterx1x Posted May 19, 2014 Author Share Posted May 19, 2014 its working out pretty well i would say. Most of the frags are opened up and liking the light seemingly. I actually ordered a real camera this week so i'll post up some pics of what it all looks like. There's about 5 new frags from PlanetZoa that i put in since the last picture was posted up here. oh btw, i figured out my dimming solution, Ledsuppply sells 700ma buckpucks with an attached pot for dimming AND they can run a single 3w led. So now i have two buckpucks on a 12V 2A power supply with one running the single white led and the other takes care of the two royal blues. Link to comment
dmasterx1x Posted May 25, 2014 Author Share Posted May 25, 2014 New camera, new pics. zoas.jpg by davebal28, on Flickr https://flic.kr/p/nrQoXZ'>https://flic.kr/p/nrQoXZ'>pico.jpg by https://www.flickr.com/people/124086116@N04/'>davebal28, New goby. Is this a trimma? Cana? Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 Tanks looking awesome man,I'm glad you found a way to dim the light. I believe that's a trimma,which I WANT,so bad. I want like 4 of them for my tank. They are awesome little fish. Did you have to get your lfs to order them or did they have them ? Or did you order them offline ? Link to comment
Kijho Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I like it! Especially the Goby, very cool! Link to comment
dmasterx1x Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 Tanks looking awesome man,I'm glad you found a way to dim the light. I believe that's a trimma,which I WANT,so bad. I want like 4 of them for my tank. They are awesome little fish. Did you have to get your lfs to order them or did they have them ? Or did you order them offline ? Yeah i'm really happy with the color mix i have now after dimming the channels. I actually got the goby from my lfs. They have another, its a bit smaller and also red, but with a horizontal black line going across the body. Might get that next if they can't order me a trimma tevegae like this one: http://www.marinelifephotography.com/fishes/gobies/trimma-tevegae.htm Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.