Johnny Bananas Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Regret giving me all that rock yet? Link to comment
Clavius85 Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 Regret giving me all that rock yet? I gave you like two pieces. Link to comment
Johnny Bananas Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 It was more than that Link to comment
Mitch619 Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 JEALOUS! I've been wanting a sump. I'm liking the solana, but I really want a sump! I'll be following this as I do most of your threads. Link to comment
Clavius85 Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 Decided to sell the Viper locally and I'm going to instead build an LED fixture. Link to comment
Clavius85 Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 OMG. I just started working on my stand... and apparently I can't measure worth a damn. Just wasted two 2x4's. Link to comment
Clavius85 Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 I am not cut out to be a carpenter. To make a long story short, on both of my previous tanks (the Solana and the Aquapod) my grandfather helped me build the stands. They turned out great and were rock solid. This time, however, I wanted to see if I could do it myself. No such luck. I just wasted three 8ft 2x4's attempting to build a simple frame. Link to comment
Coastie Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I don't know how you ruin 24 feet of 2x4s but I am sure I will find out when I get home and get to working on my tank stand! I can't wait! You figure out the lighting situation yet? Link to comment
Clavius85 Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 I don't know how you ruin 24 feet of 2x4s but I am sure I will find out when I get home and get to working on my tank stand! I can't wait! You figure out the lighting situation yet? Believe me, I learned A LOT in the two hours it took me to build that frame. As for the lighting, I'm still planning on building an LED fixture with one of the RapidLED kits. I just don't have the money or time at the moment to do it with school having started. Link to comment
Coastie Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 have you looked into stevesleds? Link to comment
Clavius85 Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 have you looked into stevesleds? Nope never heard of it. Link to comment
Coastie Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 do a search they are apparently comparable to crees but for like 1/3 the price.... Link to comment
Clavius85 Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 So... back on the 6th I placed an order from John at Reefcleaners for 10lbs of small pieces of dead rock. Just a few minutes ago I see the UPS truck pull up and the poor guy is hauling this huge heavy box to my front door. I just received about 50lbs of medium/large size pieces! Like, I'm not mad or anything. It's just weird. I wonder if he got my order mixed up or something... Link to comment
M1A1 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 do a search they are apparently comparable to crees but for like 1/3 the price.... This statement is false. Do more research on the quality, spectrum, and lumen output of his LEDs before considering them. They are cheaper, for good reason. Link to comment
ry05coupe Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I know it was over the top for your tank, but I still think MH>LED. Link to comment
Clavius85 Posted January 15, 2011 Author Share Posted January 15, 2011 I know it was over the top for your tank, but I still think MH>LED. I honestly love MH. But what I don't love is paying $50-60 every year to change the bulb. So I'm willing to give LEDs a try. It would save me potentially hundreds of dollars over the years. But this is assuming I still setup this tank. I really want to do a 40b with T5's over it. Link to comment
ry05coupe Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Yeah I dont blame you for wanting the 40, I loved mine and only upgraded because the deal I got on the 75 was way too good to pass up. If you do go with the 40 look for a 6 bulb fixture. I used 4 bulbs and it was enough to keep SPS alive, but not really let them thrive. I agree with you on the cost drawback with MH. If it is between T5s and MH though MH all day, as blb cost replacement is about the same. I think there are too many LED fanboys and thats the bigest thing that puts me off those lol. Plus a lot is still unknown about them... Growth is another drawback from what I've been reading. Link to comment
Clavius85 Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Ok, I've put aside building the stand for a while and am trying to figure out how I'm going to light this thing. I definitely want to do LEDs. I have two plans that both involve kits from RapidLED.com. Plan #1: Just order the 14 Ultra Premium LED Nano Retrofit Kit, build it and then stick it in a canopy with a plexiglass shield between it and the water. Plan #2: Order 12 Premium LED DIY Kit with Dimmable Drivers, Drilled and Tapped 4.25" x 9" Heat Sink for 12 LEDs, 60mm Vantec Stealth Fan Kit, 2 Color Dimming Kit with Multimeter, AND 1x Mean Well LPC-35-700W constant current driver and 3-Prong Power Cord. The idea behind ordering all of this is that I would have 10 of the LEDs (6 blue/4 white) be dimmable. These would be the "main" light. Then 2 other blue LEDs on a separate driver/power cord would be the nighttime lights. All of this would be mounted on the heatsink linked to above in this format: B - B - W - B W - B - B - W B - W - B - B where B = a blue LED and W = a white LED, the two blues in the center would be the nighttime LEDs and would have wide optics or none at all. The rest of the LEDs in the array would have 60 degree optics. So, if this makes any sense... thoughts? Link to comment
jerzsky Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 plan 2 sounds like a good idea! Link to comment
Clavius85 Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 plan 2 sounds like a good idea! It's what I would really like to do. I just hope it's not too complicated. Link to comment
Clavius85 Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Ok, I think I'm going to do Plan #2 with a few minor adjustments. I will not be using any of the LEDs for moonlighting. From what I've read I can manage to rig up a moonlight for much cheaper (and have it be less complicated). Second, apparently my ReefKeeper Light can control LED drivers with an extra module, the ALC (advanced light controller). This would allow me to have far greater control over the LEDs like having them "ramp up" over the course of an hour, etc. That sounds pretty cool to me and based on what I've read it shouldn't be too difficult. But to do this I have to have a minimum of 8 LEDs per dimmable driver. So I will end up with 16 LEDs total. With the 8 Royal Blues on one dimmable driver and the 8 Cool Whites on another dimmable driver. This will give me total control. As the blues and whites will be independently controllable. I will also be using this heatsink instead of the one I planned on using. The heatsink is 3x8 in terms of LEDs, so they will be arranged in this array: - W B W B W B - B - W - B - W - - B W B W B W - where W=a white LED, B=a blue LED and -= an empty spot for an LED Link to comment
Clavius85 Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 Alright, going with dimmable drivers and the ALC for the RKL looks like it's going to cost quite a bit. So I think I'm going to go with a constant current 12 LED DIY kit from RapidLED along with an extra driver. That way I can wire up the blues and whites to be independent of each other. Link to comment
bulldogpet Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Sounds good make sure you take pics along with the build. I just got a PAR 30 bulb from BOOSTLED and love it... Link to comment
10gnano Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 I've also been looking into RapidLED's setup for my tank, while doing some research I came across a four part video series on the rapid led diy kits. These videos show a nice step by step on how to set one of these kits up. Hopefully this helps. http://www.youtube.com/user/1mkwiet#p/u/10/4I_5uh4R_QQ Link to comment
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