C Jerome Posted May 11, 2009 Author Share Posted May 11, 2009 Thanks for the complements, I have to do a few things to finish it up including painting the fan control knob, attaching the trim piece to the point where the cables hang from, making some supports to hold the hanger at the height I want and picking up a nice heavy brick for the base to keep it from tipping over. I have been really happy with the progress of this tank, I set it up last summer to replace my 2.5 gallon. I have a goby shrimp pair but sadly enough, the shrimp died two weeks ago. Any one know their life span, I had him since september 2008 but who knows how old he was when I got him. A side note, I went to boston this weekend to see the Volvo Ocean Race and Puma is the sponsor of the US Team and they have this awesome structure build of modified shipping containers that is a store and bar club on the upper floor but I noticed that the whole thing is lit by LEDs and they had LED flood lights lighting the outside too. I am sure they chose the LEDs for their 'greenness' but also they are moving this thing from port to port and I wonder if its easier with the different voltages around the world. More to come... Jerome Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 13, 2009 Author Share Posted May 13, 2009 I set up the LED over my pico for good this morning, it looks great. I am running it at about 25% to acclimate the inhabitants. I will have to wait until tomorrow to take photos of the tanks as things are a little agitated and not looking their best after messing around with the lights all morning. I will also take a few photos of the gear. Jerome Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 14, 2009 Author Share Posted May 14, 2009 I have the photos of the finished set up ready but I will have to wait a few more days to snap some of the tank, the leather is still closed but most everyone else is looking good. I used the knobs listed in my shopping list but then partially spray painted them mat black to match the project box better and the other will better match my hood on my bc29 build. I took a piece of masking tap and stuck the knob top side down onto it then trimmed most of the extra off the edges. I used the 98 cent black mat spray paint from home depot and it worked great. I think the silver with red accent looks a lot better than the whole thing being red. I painted the silver fan knob the same way Used my label maker to make some nice labels. I used a 6 circuit molex connector to run from the power supply project box up to the fixture. I picked out the panel mount one because I thought I could cleanly mount it but that did not exactly work out because the wall of the box was too thick for how I think the mounting tabs work, any ideas? Looking up Similar view Looking down, I used this desk lamp I picked up at target as the hanger, I removed the lamp part and attached a piece of trim to match the fixture. I am using those little triangles in the corners to hold it now but I need to modify it a bit as I dont really feel comfortable with the lack of overlap. I think I am going to use some L aluminum once I have a chance o pick some up. Side View Looking down Close up of wires gathered from LEDs and Fan as well as the suspension cable connection. Also note to connect the fan to the heat sink I did not want to use really long screws and drill into the heat sink because it would be a pain so I used some plastic hollow wall anchors I had around and stuck them into the space between the fins and then used screws just long enough to grip them, its works perfect and holds securely. The fixture is quite a bit heaver than the little lamp head that used to be on there so the stock springs could not support the LEDs, it would just drop to the desk under the weight. Obviously this is no good as it would fall in the tank! I thought about how to fix this issue and came up with a few stupid ideas before thinking about the mechanics of how the lamp works. I realized you just need to control the distance between the two pegs that the springs were attached too. I used some cable ties to test it and it worked but I don't trust them long term so I made some from the left over cable. The only disadvantage is that the height is semi fixed but I figure thats okay, I can always swing it to the side for maintenance for it will lean back several inches for feeding with out issue. One other issue dealing with the added weight is a need for increased counter weight. I imagine the included was a little light even for the lamp, so I picked up one brick to sit on top of it and spray pained black to match, still is not enough so I have the ream of paper on there for now until I can pick up another and paint. The whole deal. I am really happy with how this fixture turned out and I feel ready to take on the larger one. Everything is finished, though I need to fix the molding I made for the top edge of the tank and see if I like how that looks I am not sure if I will use it or not. Also the fan I am using to cool the project box is a little loud so I might order one that is 10mm larger or 20 if it will fit that will hopefully run a little quieter. The large fan on the heat sink is virtually silent, and I would recommend its purchase. If you have any questions or ideas for improvements I am open to hear them! Link to comment
shouldabenacowboy Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Good look'n setup. SBC Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 14, 2009 Author Share Posted May 14, 2009 Thanks! I cant wait for the corals to color up more, should be interesting to watch over the next few weeks. There is one LPS I have that was maroon when purchased but turned this light brown color under the PCs, hopefully it will start to change soon. Jerome Link to comment
thecowkid Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 J you did a great job on that. So when are you gonna make one for my aquapod????? Ok so how did you ever fit a ATO into that little chamber. I had a hard enough time making it that small much less stuffing anything into it. Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 16, 2009 Author Share Posted May 16, 2009 It was easy! I also have the return pump in there. I will post a picture monday. Jerome Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 18, 2009 Author Share Posted May 18, 2009 Here is a quick shot of the return pump compartment. I have a dual float switch Battery powered ATO in there along with the mini jet return pump the straw coming over the side is the top off line and the two coming from the tank act as a bypass to ensure there is enough water for the return. Back to the LEDs The pico tank looks okay today, the galaxy coral and piece of plate coral at the top of the tank are a little receded and not fully open today. I lowered the LEDs some and will have to take the acclimation slow. The leather was open almost fully this morning. I purchased the aluminum L stock this weekend and will add it to the fixture this week. Start of BioCube29 Retrofit Last evening I laid out the location for the large 120mm cooling fan on the hood. It will in the center left to right and a little toward the front of the tank. I put masking tape down and measured out the location and cut out with my dremel. The fan will be mounted on the inside of the hood(remember I machined the heat sink down some in the middle to accept the fan) with a nice black fan guard on the outside that looks almost OEM with the hood. I have photos to post later. Also I put all the LEDs down with the dot of thermal paste and put all the screws in part way, I need to tighten them all this evening. I did break one screw off nice and clean at the surface of the heatsink so I drilled and tapped a new hold this morning. I also drilled another hold for the one LED where I broke the tap off so the two holes are further apart on the LED for better pressure. Once everything is screwed down soldering can start! Jerome Link to comment
rvadub Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 how much did you remove for the fan and which fan do you pan to use? So you will have 3 fans total now right? Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 How much did I remove from the heat sink or the hood? I am going to be using the 120mm fan to blow down onto the heatsink with air sucked in from the room. I will be removing the stock hood fans and leaving one of the locations empty for passive out air flow and the other I will mount one of the new fans blowing out into the room. The two other fans will be used in the stand one to blow across the power supplies and the other mounted in the round hole to exhaust air out of the stand. Total of 4 fans, two sets run in series. Evil Will the one power supply have enough power to run the two blue strings of LEDs and all 4 fans? I would prefer to have all the fans on the blue LED power supply. Jerome Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 FANtastic! I was working on soldering the LEDs together last evening and only have one string of whites left plus the long leads on all four. Hope to finish this evening and work on the mounting brackets and holes for the pots in the hood. Jerome Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 I bought a few 60 and 80 degree optics incase I want to use them on the front row to increase the lighting on the sand bed. I did a little dry fit and it looks like they add just too much height to fit under the splash guard. I think I will end up buying some of this weather stripping you would use to put on the sash of your old windows to winterize them, its really foamy and comes in different widths so I can run a little line of it around the edge then put the splash guard on and screw down to make nice seal and add that tiny margin I need. Link to comment
rvadub Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Ahh makes sense, I have not tried them yet with the guard as I am waiting for them. Also, what are you doing for moon lines? I had two hoods so I have 6 of the stock moonlights and I am trying to figre out if I should use those or not or what others have used. Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 I think I probably will just use the old mood lights and maybe stick them on the heat sink between the new LEDs or try to mod their case a little since they are so big. Link to comment
rvadub Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 That is what I was thinking too. If for some reason you need any extra parts from the hood give me a yell. I have so many extra parts from the two hoods haha. Link to comment
fsu1dolfan Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Great work and very clean looking!!!....cant wait to see the 29 gal project.... Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 Thanks for the offer on the extra parts, if you dont plan on using the PCs you should try to sell them, I sold my to a guy on RC for a profit of about $75, not bad considering I purchased the tank used for $175. Thanks for the complements, I cant wait to get the 29 set up. Jerome Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 24, 2009 Author Share Posted May 24, 2009 Does the fixture (heat sink with LEDs mounted) need to be grounded via the power supply ground? If YES, since I am using two power supplies one for blue and one white does the fixture need to be grounded through both? If NO, why? If I only need to ground one, then I can just attach wire to heat sink and the other end to one of the power supply ground screws. If both need to be grounded can it be through one ground wire that is split and run to both power supplies or do I need to run two ground wires to fixture? I just want to make sure everything is put together right and my GFI and everything will work together to advert any catastrophes down the road. Running out now to pick up the last few things I need to finalize the wiring for this afternoon! Jerome Link to comment
evilc66 Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 You don't need to take the same precautions wih DC as you do with AC. Just make sure the power supply is properly grounded. Link to comment
BeerNuts Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 Are you going to post the photos/how-to to your bc29 led mod? Id love to see what you have done. Link to comment
LVReefer Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 Can't wait to see it! Once you get it finished, can you post a list of parts? Link to comment
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