sammy113 Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Great! very clean tank from the utside with the fan intake and knobs! Link to comment
SbCaes Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Awesome build, but could you include the circuit diagrams?thanks! Link to comment
Bonsai Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 A couple of questions that I think I missed while looking through this thread: What are the dimensions, and how deep, did you machine out of the fins to accommodate the fan? What is the machined chunk in the front, center removed for? I see the backs were cut to facilitate the fan areas, but I can't figure out the middle front. Link to comment
C Jerome Posted June 12, 2009 Author Share Posted June 12, 2009 I will look through my stuff to see what I can pull together to scan for circuit diagrams to scan at work on monday. I am not a sketchup CAD artist so these are dirty pencil drawings that may only make sense to me. I will have to look at the hood, its in storage now as I am not ready to set it up yet, but I think I left at least 1/4 to 1/2 inch at the bottom of the fins for the fan to sit on, I wanted to make sure there was enough space for the air to flow. If you are going to use the same size fan I just figured out the center of the heat sink then measured a rectangle out that would provide a little play up and down and side to side. The fan is attached to the hood so having that little extra left me with a fair margin of error in positioning the heat sink. That little cut out in the front is so that the heat sink can sit as far forward as possible, there is one of those screw mounting posts there for the splash guard. I would also recommend reading over this post, I learned a bunch from it prior to doing my build. I know its not a BC but its all similar. Also note he only used one power supply so no dawn dusk with timers. I used two so I could have this. Minadin Post Check this out too from his post, simple but it gets the point across for one power supply. Minadin Simple Wire Diagram Link to comment
firebirdude Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Dude..... this message board rules. Solid post C J Link to comment
Bonsai Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Does the stock splash guard cover the LED Setup entirely? Link to comment
C Jerome Posted June 12, 2009 Author Share Posted June 12, 2009 As mine was put together yes it will cover the set up, with out lenses, with out modification. If I want to uses lenses I added a little 1/4 inch thick foam weather stripping tape to raise it up a bit so they fit. I dont think I will be using optics given my experience with the pico set up and others here with their LEDs. Link to comment
firebirdude Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Has anyone on here used optics on their nano LED lighting system? If not, I won't even consider using them myself. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Sure. C Jerome does in this very thread. Depends on the tank setup though. Adding optics bumps PAR levels up considerably in a small area, so you have to be careful with them. Link to comment
firebirdude Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 But it would seem to me everyone would want to use atleast the wide angle optics. Basically harnessing otherwise lost light. Use a couple less LEDs and achieve the same result. Obviously LED placement/application taken into account... Link to comment
C Jerome Posted June 12, 2009 Author Share Posted June 12, 2009 I purchased 6 60degree and 6 80 degree to have incase I want to use them. I think the only place I would consider using them is in a area of the tank, the front row for example, where I wanted to magnify the light level at the bottom of the tank. I like LPS and keep them on my sand bed some like high light so in this case I may use some. Though as I said given my experience with the LEDs on my PICO I dont know if they will even be necessary in this case. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 But it would seem to me everyone would want to use atleast the wide angle optics. Basically harnessing otherwise lost light. Use a couple less LEDs and achieve the same result. Obviously LED placement/application taken into account... We really don't have an issue with needing to reclaim "lost light". The PAR levels even without optics on most tanks of this size are still quite high, even at the sandbed. Any optics you use will reduce the area covered. Not using optics allows us to use fewer LEDs. Once you start going to tighter optics, the distance between LEDs goes down, and the number used goes up. Link to comment
firebirdude Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Understood. I guess I just assumed everyone was using so many LEDs to increase the total light output. When in fact, as you say, it's simply to cover all the area. Link to comment
SbCaes Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 I wonder what the operating temps of this tank is gonna be? And if an ICA 2.0 could possibly be enough to cool this tank. (could be incentive to get ppl to LED due to the savings on a chiller?) Link to comment
firebirdude Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Thats one of the main reasons I'm doing it. Can't get my tank below 80 degrees. Even at 4:30am. I've removed the heater months ago. Certainly no need for it. With the lights on, I've seen temps in the 84-85 range easy. Hoping this will keep the temps a little lower. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 It can help. One thing to keep in mind is that the heat is now being radiated into the air. This can still cause heating issues, but can be controlled a lot easier. Something as simple as a ceiling or room fan can take care of that additional heat. Link to comment
C Jerome Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 I think this is going to run cooler than the PC. In my BC14 I have the 3.24 lighting upgrade and now on warm days the temp can get up to 82, but I have made a summer time feeding hatch that has two 60mm fans on it that blow down onto the water, with these guys going it keeps the tank below 80 and normally at the 78.x where I like to keep it. If its really hot and humid then it can get warmer. The large central fan and additional fan should provide plenty of flow to keep hot air from building up in the hood. I will have two additional fans in the stand to circulate and vent air off of the power supplies. If necessary I can add the two fans on the feeding hatch to cool things down more. Link to comment
C Jerome Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 Here is the one wiring diagram I could find for my project box. Disregard the ground wire as I found it this is not necessary with DC. Link to comment
djprofd Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Here is the one wiring diagram I could find for my project box. Disregard the ground wire as I found it this is not necessary with DC. it's great! d. Link to comment
davidr2340 Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Here is the one wiring diagram I could find for my project box. Disregard the ground wire as I found it this is not necessary with DC. Engrish prease. Serious bro... Great thread! Link to comment
C Jerome Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 It works for me! This was just for hooking up the project box and the molex connectors. If anyone is doing a similar project I would recommend taking the time to think out the project and then put some drawings like this together or what ever helps you organize your plan and thoughts. As you can see the above drawing probably does not make much sense to you, but it does to me because I made it for my self not with the intent to post for others to use a template. You dont need to be a computer sketchup wiz to make a useful project outline. Jerome Link to comment
TheStar Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 BioCube29Heatsink - 'Medium size' 7.29x14 inches. HeatsinkUSA - $29.17 Nice Build & Thank you for sharing! I was just about to order the same size heat sink from heatsinkusa.com when I noticed you cut yours to fit. Do you think that same heat sink could fit in the BC29 hood without making the mods that you made? Were those the stock fans that were getting in the way? If not, could you possibly recommend a size....Maybe 6 X 14? Link to comment
C Jerome Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 The size I ordered will not fit without modification. As you can see in the earlier posted photos I cut out those notches, which you could do with a hack saw if need be, so that it will fit between the fans at the top and permit the wider area below the fans so I could spread out the LEDs for max coverage. I am not sure of the measurements of one that will fit with out mod, you can take a look at your hood and measure the space between the bottom of the right hand stock fan and the front to find out how much space you have, or take a look at my template and that should give you an idea too. Jerome Link to comment
fsu1dolfan Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Jerome just wanted to say that your build was amazing....the hood looks OEM from the outside!! Cant wait to see more pics with coral and fish in it!! Hoping to do something like this in the future myself. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.