Jump to content
Top Shelf Aquatics

CoralVue T5/LED fixtures, $100


farkwar

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 351
  • Created
  • Last Reply

More than likely the outer two bulbs will be physically over the sides of that tank, I wouldn't even bother wiring them in, especially with a 9" depth. You'll have to raise the light so far above the tank to not burn your corals to death that it will just be unwieldy lol.

 

Bluefish can be controlled via iOS or Android.

 

 

This is how you wire the HEP ballasts:

 

t5ho%2520ballast%2520wiring.png

 

 

Keep wires 1/2/5/6 less than 7 feet. You have to use 18AWG 600v rated solid wire. If you don't have any, you can get it here, less than $7 for 25', lots of colors to choose from : http://www.mcmaster.com/#8428t4/=w08jy8

Thanks again, I greatly appreciate the help. I'll order ballasts soon and double check before I do.

 

Regarding burning corals, I was thinking placing 2x Coral+(or a C+ and a B+) on the two inside reflectors (closest to the LED's in the middle), and Actinic's on the outside ones. I figure the Actinic's won't affect PAR that much but they might add some decent pop to some of the colors.

 

Makes me wish I had an ATI retro to just run two 36" Coral+ and a 4x set of Nanobox pucks down the center, that would be sleeker but oh well. I have this so may as well use it.

Link to comment
SpencerShepard

Thanks guys. I was hoping to keep everything internal as I will be using the bluefish mini. Does anyone think that I could take this apart and solder wires directly for a smaller internal relay and no bulky plugs?

Sure you could. Sparkfun sells a kit version: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12920 Just insulate all your connections and be safe.

Link to comment

So will 2x Coral+, 2x Actinic, and 4 Nanobox pucks be too much on 36x8x9? Mr Aqua 12 long. I plan to control the pucks with a Bluefish Mini. I know it will overhang some but that's fine.

 

Initially I'll be running 2x blue+, 1x Coral+ and 1x actinic with the stock LEDs.

Link to comment
jedimasterben

So will 2x Coral+, 2x Actinic, and 4 Nanobox pucks be too much on 36x8x9? Mr Aqua 12 long. I plan to control the pucks with a Bluefish Mini. I know it will overhang some but that's fine.

 

Initially I'll be running 2x blue+, 1x Coral+ and 1x actinic with the stock LEDs.

Two T5HO are overkill over a 9" tall tank lol.

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 weeks later...

Well in less than 12 hours MAX will be here and I will be bringing home either a 75G or 100G Artisan II. Which means it's time to break out this bad boy and mod the crap out of it. I gutted the entire shell and it has tons of room inside of it. I showed the shell to my father-in-law and he said it would be easy to cut 3 holes for 120mm fans on the top of it which will take care of cooling no matter what I throw at it.

 

I am going to try and retrofit the bulb endcaps that come with the LET Miro-4 kit and of course the HEP UNI ballasts.

 

LED section will be 6x nanobox pucks and control handled by a bluefish mini all inside the unit. Power supply will be external. This is for the 4x39W unit.

Link to comment

Well in less than 12 hours MAX will be here and I will be bringing home either a 75G or 100G Artisan II. Which means it's time to break out this bad boy and mod the crap out of it. I gutted the entire shell and it has tons of room inside of it. I showed the shell to my father-in-law and he said it would be easy to cut 3 holes for 120mm fans on the top of it which will take care of cooling no matter what I throw at it.

 

I am going to try and retrofit the bulb endcaps that come with the LET Miro-4 kit and of course the HEP UNI ballasts.

 

LED section will be 6x nanobox pucks and control handled by a bluefish mini all inside the unit. Power supply will be external. This is for the 4x39W unit.

 

DIY thread with pics pls :D:flower:

Link to comment

Okay so Ballasts are here, been busy with other stuff. Will get around to installing them sometime.

 

What should be on my LED shopping list? This is quite possibly an ignorant (read: dumb) question. Right now I have....

 

4x Nanobox V3

1x Bluefish Mini

100ft Black paracord for sleeving

1x 36" heatsink

1x 9"x48"x1/8" sheet of polycarbonate lexan for splash shield

???

 

Honestly I'm very tempted to see if I could just get Dave to make a drop in where all I have to do is install it, I'm horrible at soldering, hands are a bit shaky and I don't really have a good station set up. Thoughts on that?

Link to comment

Okay so Ballasts are here, been busy with other stuff. Will get around to installing them sometime.

 

What should be on my LED shopping list? This is quite possibly an ignorant (read: dumb) question. Right now I have....

 

4x Nanobox V3

1x Bluefish Mini

100ft Black paracord for sleeving

1x 36" heatsink

1x 9"x48"x1/8" sheet of polycarbonate lexan for splash shield

???

 

Honestly I'm very tempted to see if I could just get Dave to make a drop in where all I have to do is install it, I'm horrible at soldering, hands are a bit shaky and I don't really have a good station set up. Thoughts on that?

 

How are you running the fans and bluefish? Are you going to use a separate 12V power supply or use meanwell SCW?

 

Safe to assume you don't have drivers yet? How many channels are you going to do? For either 2 or 4 channel setup you need 4 LDD drivers. Type of LDD is as follows:

 

2 channel config

Max LDD-1000H for blue channel

Max LDD-700H for white channel (this is because violet is on here)

 

4 channel config:

Max LDD-700H for violet channel

Max LDD-1000H for all other channels

 

2 channel config requires a 48V power supply. 4 channel will require more voltage unless you want to do more than 4 LDD drivers as the voltage on the white channel is 52V when running at 700ma when you have 4 pucks. Then add 3V for the LDD and you are looking at a minimum of a 55V power supply. I wouldn't do this and instead would do 6x drivers:

 

2 for white channel - 2 puck per LDD

1 for royal blue

1 for violet

1 for blue

 

I find running 4ch on nanobox kinda useless IMO as the color blending is very good with 2 channel setup already.

Link to comment

 

How are you running the fans and bluefish? Are you going to use a separate 12V power supply or use meanwell SCW?

 

Safe to assume you don't have drivers yet? How many channels are you going to do? For either 2 or 4 channel setup you need 4 LDD drivers. Type of LDD is as follows:

 

2 channel config

Max LDD-1000H for blue channel

Max LDD-700H for white channel (this is because violet is on here)

 

4 channel config:

Max LDD-700H for violet channel

Max LDD-1000H for all other channels

 

2 channel config requires a 48V power supply. 4 channel will require more voltage unless you want to do more than 4 LDD drivers as the voltage on the white channel is 52V when running at 700ma when you have 4 pucks. Then add 3V for the LDD and you are looking at a minimum of a 55V power supply. I wouldn't do this and instead would do 6x drivers:

 

2 for white channel - 2 puck per LDD

1 for royal blue

1 for violet

1 for blue

 

I find running 4ch on nanobox kinda useless IMO as the color blending is very good with 2 channel setup already.

No idea how I'm powering the 12v devices.

 

Yes, very safe to assume.

 

I don't have any of it yet except for the ballasts.

 

I would like to run 4ch just because. lol. I have no issues with running 6 drivers, I assume there the only factor is cost?

Link to comment

No idea how I'm powering the 12v devices.

 

Yes, very safe to assume.

 

I don't have any of it yet except for the ballasts.

 

I would like to run 4ch just because. lol. I have no issues with running 6 drivers, I assume there the only factor is cost?

 

Yes cost is the only factor as you have to get 2 more drivers and then instead of running a 4up ldd board you have to get a 6up.

 

As far as 12V is concerned you can route one of the zillion power cords on the fixture to do 12V. You have the 4 bulb version right?

 

If so, there's 4 power cords. 2 for T5, one for LED, and one for fans. So do something like this:

 

1 - HEP

2 - HEP

3 - 48V PSU

4 - 12V PSU

Link to comment

 

Yes cost is the only factor as you have to get 2 more drivers and then instead of running a 4up ldd board you have to get a 6up.

 

As far as 12V is concerned you can route one of the zillion power cords on the fixture to do 12V. You have the 4 bulb version right?

 

If so, there's 4 power cords. 2 for T5, one for LED, and one for fans. So do something like this:

 

1 - HEP

2 - HEP

3 - 48V PSU

4 - 12V PSU

Can I use the existing wiring in the fixture or will I have to replace the actual cable/junction box going to it too? Yep I have the 4 bulb, hoping to stick with the one big cord as is right now if that's possible.

Link to comment

Can I use the existing wiring in the fixture or will I have to replace the actual cable/junction box going to it too? Yep I have the 4 bulb, hoping to stick with the one big cord as is right now if that's possible.

It's totally doable and it's what I would recommend. All you have to do is trace the wires to the junction box and see what goes to what. You can actually leave the junction box and the power cables intact. Once you figure out what goes to what you can just get an extender cable that comes out of the 48V and 12V power supplies.

 

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10228&cs_id=1022804&p_id=1302&seq=1&format=2

 

13021.jpg

 

You cut the male end and wire that into your 48V and 12V power.

Link to comment
jedimasterben

This may be a dumb question but when I open it up won't I see where the wires are connected and from that know what is what?

I very highly doubt it will be cut and dry like that lol, but why are you asking the question instead of opening it up and looking around? :lol:

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions


×
×
  • Create New...