Stephensx04 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Thanks alot. Good read. I have been proven wrong. Link to comment
SpainKenya Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Lighting upgrade? What? Who said that? Where am I? I'm so confused. (hee hee ) I smell a dimable custom diy led setup!!!! Cant wait to see your skills on this one Mr.M Link to comment
Funktastic Wint Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 I smell a dimable custom diy led setup!!!! Cant wait to see your skills on this one Mr.M sounds sexy Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 I smell a dimable custom diy led setup!!!! Cant wait to see your skills on this one Mr.M You smelled correctly... Looks like the cat's out of the bag. I'm getting very close to finishing. Here's a teaser: Link to comment
Klink67 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Looks like 2 dimming drivers for the CW and RB, and a smaller constant current driver for UV leds. Thats going to be one awesome light. Why are you upgrading from the par38? Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 Looks like 2 dimming drivers for the CW and RB, and a smaller constant current driver for UV leds. Thats going to be one awesome light. Why are you upgrading from the par38? Close, but you're way off! Link to comment
Funktastic Wint Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Close, but you're way off! maybe he's building a new tank for his new light? Link to comment
straydog Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 maybe he's building a new tank for his new light? No way it has to be the prize for the next contest :D Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 Hello All! So, here it is. The big secret revealed. Drum roll please. .. . . . . . . . Tuh-dah! I'm in the process of writing a DIY thread complete with a bugdet, more how-to-step-by-step stuff, and lots more images of all the steps and materials used, but I thought I'd let my friends in the Pico Forum in on the reveal a little early. (BTW, I'll be entering this build in the DIY Contest on CR. Come vote for me in May if I make it to the semi-finals! I ) I finished the final touches this weekend and installed it yesterday. The one thing I wasn't sure about is if it would actually fit over my tank and be stable. Thanks to careful planning and the use of SketchUp to design the light, it fit perfectly in place. Here's a little movie of the design. In the later part, it shows the small assembly I made to put the drivers in the housing. Here are some specs: LED's: All Cree XR-E 2x Neutral White on 1000mA dimmable BuckPuck 4x Royal Blue on 1000mA dimmable BuckPuck 1x Cool Blue on 500mA dimmable BuckPuck The blue LEDs and fan are on one timer and the white LEDs are on another timer so that I can get a dusk and dawn effect. Pots: Salvaged Pot knobs: Hand-crafted with polymer clay Acrylic: The white was salvaged from an old lightbox and the clear was purchased. Everything was cut with a small hand-saw and the edges were sanded down to soften them. Special Note: Using a hand-saw to cut acrylic is a SERIOUS PITA and took many weekends to accomplish. Any further builds I do will be made with precut acrylic, or I’m getting some sort of power saw. Heat Sink: Salvaged from old computer Fan: 80mm clear with blue LEDs. I originally planned to use the 60mm fan that came attached to the heatsink, but later found out that it was dead. So, I needed to get this. Luckily, my housing is 85mm wide. Power Supplies: 24v from old iBook, 18v from old PC laptop, 2x12v wall warts Here it is all wired up from the top. Finally, some coral pics and discussion: Here’s and example of the pop I’m getting out of the Royal Blue/Cool Blue combo. I gotta say, the cool blue addition really adds a nice effect. But be warned, one cool blue can go a very long way. It’s more than enough for my array of seven LED’s. If it's turned up too high, the tank gets way too cyan. Here’s a shot of my Crown Royals with all three colored LEDs on it. You can see I’m getting a much warmer effect from the Neutral Whites. The purples of this coral look much nicer and the all of the warmer colors such as reds and oranges are really showing up much better. I’ll never go back to using Cool White LEDs. I found them to make the tank too icy feeling. Link to comment
WRH Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Holy crap look at the size of that thing. Woah. Link to comment
jdl Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 gawd dayyum son!! that thing is sweet, great build micro you are an animal for cutting all of that by hand.. Link to comment
.Newman. Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 woah at first i thought I'd see your Par38 inside there lol. Link to comment
Stephensx04 Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Do you plan on painting it? Link to comment
gritchie4 Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Looks awesome. The blue led really makes those colors pop. Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 Holy crap look at the size of that thing. Woah. LOL! Yeah, it's kind of a beast, but that's because of the massive heat sink in there. One of the LED experts said that I could probably pack the whole thing with emmiters and they'd still last forever. I've haven't felt any heat coming out of there. I think they are running very cool. gawd dayyum son!! that thing is sweet, great build microyou are an animal for cutting all of that by hand.. Thanks man! My arm got sore at one point from all the motion. My wife gave me a hard time about it ("Sure! Your right arm is sore because of all the, "sawing".) woahat first i thought I'd see your Par38 inside there lol. Naw, I think I'm going to keep that around in case something happens to this one. ill buy the par!! Sorry jdl. I'm gonna keep it for now. Do you plan on painting it? No! I love white acrylic! I'd line all my walls with it if I could. I'm planning to do that when I get a house. I'll recess some LEDs behind them and make my rooms look like a space ship! LOL! Looks awesome. The blue led really makes those colors pop. Thanks gritchie4! It's really amazing in person. Images just don't do it justice. Link to comment
jdl Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 as much as i hate emoticons and text lingo that last reply made me lol! i almost choked on my turkey sandwich. jk about the par too. Link to comment
kidninja Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 i met up with Mr. Microscope today and that picotope is crazyyyy great work man! Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 Thanks Kid Ninja! Those frags are looking great already. I hope the palys work out for you. Link to comment
gritchie4 Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 Quick question. How do your corals like the flow from the AC70 and from the hydor powerhead? I got both too and am trying to see if it might be too much. Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 Quick question. How do your corals like the flow from the AC70 and from the hydor powerhead? I got both too and am trying to see if it might be too much. My AC70 is on pretty low. I have the intake over all the way to the right with the tab stop broken off on the bottom. I also used to have it raised slightly which slows down flow considerably more. The reason I don't now is because the AC pumps slow down a little over time. I have the Pico Evo on about half power. There is a decent amount of flow in there. I'd even call it a little on the low end. I used to have the Koralia Nano, and I didn't really like that as I thought it was too strong for the tank. The KN would be great for something a little larger though. Say between 5-8 gallons. In my three gallon, I thought it produced too much of a whirlpool. Though, that's just my opinion. I've heard of people using two KNs in a pico. I'm mostly into zoas and palys which I think do well in moderate flow as opposed to SPS that requires higher flow. Link to comment
.Newman. Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 I give my vote to AC70 on full blast and K-nano in my JBJ Link to comment
Mini-Dude Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Wow wouldnt the KNano take up a lot of space in that aquarium? I would do the Hydor Pico pump IMO Link to comment
.Newman. Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 not a lot of space if you hide it with a coral. I'm testing a monti cap on my K-nano. hopefully it will take lol... Link to comment
rockhead01 Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Yer tank looks beautiful! Love those palys! Link to comment
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