jdl Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 that is one of the nicest tanks ever and it just started. Link to comment
RK_tek Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 A cover makes a huge difference in evap. I think I might go through a gallon in 2 weeks on my 20L. I think my water changes affect it also though. I use about a gallon to a gallon and a half on my 20 with no top. It depends on humidity and temp. I actually removed the top so I could dose more calcium through top off that is one of the nicest tanks ever and it just started. Thanks jdl. I'm just trying to do justice to deli's tanks. Link to comment
JarekS Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 I've build the same controller but mine is laid out differently (all buttons are on the left side of the board) . I like the faceplate a lot! Link to comment
RK_tek Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 I've build the same controller but mine is laid out differently (all buttons are on the left side of the board) . I like the faceplate a lot! I separated the screen from the other board so the buttons are in the same plane as the screen. And then I just turned the board 180° to have the buttons close to the screen and joined the screen to the board with a ribbon cable. Do you have any pics if your setup? Link to comment
RK_tek Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 Rather than run a 12v power supply for the controller and a separate 24v laptop supply for the LEDs, I decided to add an LM317 regulated to 13v onto the led driver board. I found a $4 power cord extension on fleabay that will get cut up to provide the connector between the boards. Anything to eliminate excess power cords and clean things up a bit. Link to comment
BoricuaNY Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Really nice tanks, the pico is awesome,. and nothing better than doing it yourself. Nice job on the controller and led flood lights. Link to comment
RK_tek Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Got the power cord to go from the LED driver board to the controller so I cut a piece of acrylic and tapped it for some standoffs, then mounted everything to the inside o the frame. I decided that I've modified the controller board so many times that I just need to build a new one with new parts. I touched up a few areas with stain, when that dries i'll get a coat of polyurethane on it and then when I get the parts for the new board, this build should be wrapped up and the big waiting game of things finishing their cycle and growing out begins. Link to comment
kchisler Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Nice setup, any chance you will put a schematic for the controller in this article? Link to comment
RK_tek Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 The controller is built on a custom printed board, I suppose if you want the schematic to build one on a proto board or something, you can find all the information on google code. just search for typhon controller. Link to comment
JarekS Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I separated the screen from the other board so the buttons are in the same plane as the screen. And then I just turned the board 180° to have the buttons close to the screen and joined the screen to the board with a ribbon cable. Do you have any pics if your setup? Ah that makes sense. So far I have just the controller by itself, LEDs are soon to be ordered. I'm in no hurry since my tank is running with stock lights at this time. Link to comment
iball1804 Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 How is the tank doing? Link to comment
RK_tek Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 http://i554.photobucket.com/albums/jj434/rk_tek/fbedd91a.jpg I should really be keeping this up to date The tank is doing well. I've been battling some algae mostly due to over feeding. A month ago I was in OR and found a purple firefish (Mondrian)and mandarin dragonet(Pollack) for a good price and flew them home to find a hyposalinic tank because something made the ATO keep running. Everything checked out and I never found out what caused it. I lost a small ric, my Superman monti, and the peppermint shrimp but everything else pulled through Fuego the fireshrimp died in June of unknown causes and has been replaced with Shrimpador Dali the skunk cleaner. I don't even know how many corals have been added since the last update but the only thing not really growing is my green toadstool leather. The fans on my lights are going out so they are going to be replaced soon. I actually got a quote on glass for a Starphire rimless 32x14x14 which will add about 10 gallons of water and double the current sandbed available. Hopefully this will get done around Xmas when work slows down. I'll also be building 3 more light modules to double the light output. Link to comment
iball1804 Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Nice! Yeah keep the updates coming! Link to comment
ajmckay Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Lookin good still... The algae problem doesn't look too bad (in that lighting). Link to comment
RK_tek Posted November 14, 2011 Author Share Posted November 14, 2011 Spent the day building a new mounting fixture for my lights. It's really more along the lines of what i wanted in the beginning anyway. The aluminum is a thinner gauge than i wanted, but it was all that was available at the HD. I used channel for 3/4' plywood trim. The bends are reinforced on the inside with right angle brackets. I will be reusing the 3 light modules I currently have as well as adding 3 more. So far I have in hand or on order all the parts I need except the LEDs themselves. I ordered glass from cdelicath (picoaquariums) to build my new tank today, so the LEDs will have to wait another week or two. I have more work making mounting brackets and building the wiring harness before I get to mounting the LEDs anyway. The new tank will be 32x14x14 which will double the amount of sandbed I have and add about 8-10 gallons over my current tank. I'm really excited to build the tank as it's the only part of my current setup that I haven't built myself. I'll be keeping this thread updated more often now that some new things are happening. On a side note, I came home with 6 new corals on Friday. 2 Kenya trees, yellow green palys, some gorgeous blue-green tye dyed zoas, a purple ric, and a green monti with blue polyps. I had to bring them all home to get an awesome deal on them, but they're worth it. I'll have to put the coral buying on hold to continue funding the tank upgrades. hopefully I'll be able to get an MP10 by the end of the year as well Link to comment
RK_tek Posted November 20, 2011 Author Share Posted November 20, 2011 In anticipation of my new tank, I've been working on expanding the lights. The fixture is 3/4 aluminum U-channel. last night I built the wiring harness that each light module will plug into. This will make maintenance, service, or upgrades much easier. I hooked all my new Silenx fans to the harness last night an found that one of them was DOA so it will have to be exchanged. I have yet to come up with an elegant bracket for the light modules, but have a few designs rolling around. The LEDs will probably be ordered this week so I can get them mounted and their side of the wiring done. Link to comment
RK_tek Posted November 20, 2011 Author Share Posted November 20, 2011 A picture of my 4.5 picO with my plate corals. They have both been eating target fed mysis and sometimes catch a pellet. Some recent additions to the 20 are the green monti, the yellow green palys on the frag disc (ID?) and the purple ric. Link to comment
RK_tek Posted December 29, 2011 Author Share Posted December 29, 2011 Finished my new LEDs last night. One blue lost its lens and then self destructed so a replacement is on order. Each pod has 2 royal blue and either 2 neutral white or 2 cool whites. The neutral whites are from my original lights. A 60mm silenx fan cools each heat sink. They are whisper quiet and worth the $12 apiece price. This is my current tank with the new lights running at 75%. With the lights complete, all I have left is to build the new tank. Lucky for me UPS brought 5 sheets of 3/8 glass today. I got everything taped up and bit the bullet. I used Momentive RTV 108 clear silicone and lots of cross fingers. 1 seam came out perfect, the others are not too bad for being my first tank. I should have used a thicker bead to fill the seam better. Many thanks are due to cdelicath at PicOaquariums. I know we were both worried about 90 pounds of glass arriving safely during the holiday season. I'll let the tank cure and then leak test it. Hopefully my seams will hold and I can transfer everything soon. Link to comment
JR! Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 loving all the diy stuff. Link to comment
RK_tek Posted December 29, 2011 Author Share Posted December 29, 2011 3656579[/url]']loving all the diy stuff. Thanks, now that I have the tank built I have built/modified every aspect of my tank. Stand, led controller, LEDs, ATO, tank, AC 70 with inTank media basket(I modded the top for my heater and DIY fuge light and refit the basket and lid so everything fits like it should. Link to comment
imlocke Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 How do you have that vodka bottle set up as an auto top off? My 20L has a hell of a lot of evap, and would love a simple solution for ATO, and it doesn't look like yours is very complicated... Link to comment
RK_tek Posted December 29, 2011 Author Share Posted December 29, 2011 3656619[/url]']How do you have that vodka bottle set up as an auto top off? My 20L has a hell of a lot of evap, and would love a simple solution for ATO, and it doesn't look like yours is very complicated... I used a battery air pump with an old cellphone charger soldered in instead of batteries. This allows the float switch to run at low voltage without relays. The cap of the bottle has two tubes, one short one that air is pumped into and one that reaches the bottom of the bottle and goes to the tank. Air pressure pushes the water out of the bottle and into the tank. It is a bit noisy bc of the little motor that runs the pump, but in my tank it only runs for a few seconds every few hours. I have noticed that with a larger bottle, the water over fills some because of the air pressure in the bottle bleeding off after the pump switches off. Even in my 4.5 gallon this is not enough to create measurable changes in the salinity. HTH Link to comment
RK_tek Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 With the tank not having silicone fillets in the corners, the tank cured quickly. Especially with the warm damp weather we've been having. So I started leak testing the tank this morning. it did not go as planned. I was concerned about 1 spot near the top of the tank but had completely overlooked a lower corner that was mosly devoid of any silicone. I started pumping in 5 gallons of freshwater and the slow trickle started. So I dumped the water and at first though I might be able to fix the leak no problem. But I wasn't happy overall with the seams on this side of the tank anyway so I found a stainless steel brake cable and pulled a strand of wire from it so I could cut the entire panel free. After using a razor blade to take apart a 10 gallon, I was surprised at how much better the wire worked. 10 minutes later I had the panel off and spent the next hour cleaning the old silicone off. Because the rest of the tank was assembled, I was able to lay it on its back and put a generous bead down and then set the pane down into it. A quick squeegee to remove the excess silicone and I pulled the tape off to reveal a perfect seam. So what was going to be the back of the tank will now be the front. Now I just have to wait for this silicone to finish curing before leak testing again and making the tank switch Link to comment
RK_tek Posted January 7, 2012 Author Share Posted January 7, 2012 Latest pics I traded some Xenia frags for the two LPS in the foreground and picked up the green/red chili monti and superman monti frag behind the green leather to replace the frags I lost when my tank crashed. So far, I love this tank. Everything just looks better in it and I have room to grow now. Link to comment
Singlefin Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Updates? Great DIY tank. Wish I had the time for more DIY stuff. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.