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Ultimate BC14 build


yukongt

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More changes to the lighting coming. I ordered some different LED's from modularled.ca. I did this just becuase the ease of wiring and to make my build look cleaner. I still plan on using the LED's I have now, just for a different project.

 

I am hoping to have my fixed driver and new LED's by this weekend. I am getting exctited to get it all working together so I can finally use my controller to it's full potential.

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I finally claibrated the PH probe on my Reef Angel. My PH was 8.39 when I shut the lights out and 8.14 when I got up this morning.

 

I have never really tracked PH before. Is 8.39 high?

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Did I see you say you want to use a 40B as a sump for a 300? That's scary lol. The 300 at my store has a 65 gallon sump (still undersized) and when the pumps or power go off the water level creeps up to about an eighth of an inch from overflowing the sump lol. It does have long overflow slots though.

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No, I just said that I was originally going to set up a 40B until my wife had her say.

 

I wish i was able to set up a 300! I am goign to do a 300 or larger in the next house.

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No, I just said that I was originally going to set up a 40B until my wife had her say.

 

I wish i was able to set up a 300! I am goign to do a 300 or larger in the next house.

 

40B are so cliche now but they are sooooooo good looking when done right. I still want one. soooooooooooooooooo

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I finally claibrated the PH probe on my Reef Angel. My PH was 8.39 when I shut the lights out and 8.14 when I got up this morning.

 

I have never really tracked PH before. Is 8.39 high?

Exactly what my tank does... :D

 

Perfectly fine, and normal.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I have had a ton of updates recently on the tank, but have not had time to update my thread. I have redone all of my lighting on the tank. I ended up going with modularled.ca. I did this for the ease of use and the option of easily switching out leds in the future for different colors or bins. I currently have the fixture running, but have ordered some neutral whites and a new dimmable driver.

 

So far I have

(4) XP-E Cool white modules (8 leds)

(2) XP-E Royal Blue modules (4 leds)

(1) XP-E Blue module (2 leds)

(1) XPE Neutral White (2 leds) Coming soon!

 

I also built a light for my grow out section of my sump

 

(1) XP-E Cool white modules (2 leds)

(1) XP-E Royal Blue modules (2 leds)

(1) XP-E Blue module (2 leds)

(1) XPE Neutral White (2 leds) Coming soon!

 

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Now a few pictures of the tank. The first picture shows only cool whites, 2nd is the royal blue and blue and 3rd is all the leds on.

 

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Finally, a picture of my sump, the light that I will be putting over the sump and a few other pictures of the tank.

 

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Also, my Yasha Hase Goby has finally decided he wants to show is face and is finally poking his head out of his hole almost all the time. He is the coolest fish I have ever owned. I have also added a Bangii Cardinal and Emerald Crab.

 

Finally, my local club has done a large group Zoa order from Akwarius. Here is what I ordered.

 

1 captain america

1 tequila

1 tequila sunrise

1 hawaiian sticky punch

1 mindblowing paly

1 soul snatcher

1 princess toadstool

1 yellow speckled unknown

1 fizzy lizzy

1 princess Rainbow

 

Here are afew pictures of all the frags my club ordered from him!

 

groupbuy3.jpg

 

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groupbuy1.jpg

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I received my modular led package yesterday. I received my new driver, neutral white leds and connectors. I went ahead and wired in the new led's, but wanted to wait to wire in the driver until I have a few ininterrupted hours to work.

 

Now that I have the neutral whites on, I wish I would have used them for my entire build.

 

While I was working on the tank, I went ahead and cleaned and rearranged my skimmer and did a much needed water change.

 

I think my EuroReef RS80 is a little oversized for my tank. I think I am going to add a fish or two to my sump to add a little additional bioload.

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I pulled all my zoas off their frag plugs and glued them down to my rockwork. today. I will take a few pictures when they get settled in and I have a chance to clean the glass.

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Nice build and nice frags. Do you have the LEDs setup?

 

The LED's have been setup for a while, but I am still working on getting the PWM dimming driver installed. I tweaked the Reef Angel code last night and should get it uploaded tonight. Hopefully, I can get it wired tonight.

 

I will try to post a video when it is done.

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Ok, so it FINALLY WORKS. Wow, what an adventure. My biggest issue was setting the output current of the driver.

 

On the ELN-60-48 drivers and the Cree XPE leds you have to turn down the output current so you do not fry your leds. The max current for these leds is 1A, but the driver will put out up to 1.3A (I believe). Well, I wired all the leds, hooked up my pwm cable attached my multimeter in series with the leds, turned the driver down to its lowest settings and then plugged the driver in........and NOTHING. So, I unplugged the driver, double check all my connections, settings on my multimeter and then plugged the driver in. Once again...NOTHING.

 

Well, this went on for an hour or so and I was starting to get really frustrated. That's when it hit me, multimeters use fuses in the current setting so you can't fry it. Well, I took the back cover off and the fuse had worked its way loose. I reinserted the fuse, reassembled, plug in the driver and....IT worked. I slowly turned up the internal potentiometer until I had an output of 750mA. I chose this setting to minimize heat and maximize LED life. I may adjust this again in the future.

 

The ReefAngel is successfully dimming the driver based on the time of day. I did not see it do a cloud or lighting storm. I am forcing it to do these events once a day so I can atleast see it. I am not completely satisfied with the dimming percentages yet, but I can easily tweak these settings to get the colors I want.

 

On a final note, all my zoas are open except for two. One of the zoas I accidentally superglued over the top of and the other zoa just has not opened. I am holding out hope for both of these.

 

I will try to take pictures tomorrow evening and maybe some time-lapse of the dimming.

 

Any my final final note, how long after using glue and epoxy does it take for your skimmer to calm down? I have carbon running and my skimmer is still wanting to bubble over.

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My skimmer is still going crazy. I have done two water changes and am running carbon. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

On a better note, I am just about done tweaking my coding for my led dimming. I have just been tweaking my max dimming setting to achieve desired color.

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I finally tweaked my pwm settings. I have my whites coming on at 12% and ramping to 40% from 11am to 2:20 and then the opposite cyle will occur with the whites shutting off at 8pm.

 

I also happened to be working on the tank when a simulated cloud passed over and a lightning storm occured. It was pretty cool to see. I am very happy with the functionality of my Reef Angel.

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I just put in a BRS order.

 

Magnesium Sulfate

Magnesium Chloride

1g container

2.5g container

Salifert Mag Test

Saifeter Alk Test

2 200 micron filter socks

and some other random stuff.

 

I am going to get back on my water testing. I think my parameters are a little off causing the stunted growth of my SPS.

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I received my BRS order this morning. I need to run to AW and get a calc test. I forgot to order one.

 

My Mag tested at 1050 and my Alk was 7 dKh.

 

I made one gal on Magnesium per BRS instructions and added 200 ml in order to up my mag by 100. I am aiming to get it to 1300 over the next few days. Once I get the magnesium sorted out I will then does calc and alk to get my parameters to 10dkh and 450ppm.

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I just got back from my local FLS and picked up a Elos calc test, Seachem Calc and Alk booster. I also picked up a product called "Coral Smoothie". I had never heard of this product, but wanted to pick up a liquid coral food. More on this later.

 

As I stated previously I have been trying to get my mag, alk and calc levels back where I want them. I have neglected properly dosing my tank. I had just been dosing kalk and not testing my levels (not a good idea, but with a newborn I did not have a ton on other options.

 

Here are the levels I am shooting for:

 

Calcium: 400 ppm

Alkalinity:11 dkh

Magnesium: 1350 ppm

 

These are the reported levels of Instant Ocean at 1.026. I have not tested all these myself but will be testing on my next water change.

 

There are my current levels:

Calcium: 450 ppm

Alkalinity: 7 dkh

Magnesium: 1150 ppm

 

I am adding 200ml of magnesium (based on Randy Holmes Farleys 1 gal mixture of magnesium sulfate and magnesium chloride) daily until I reach my desired levels. From my calculations this should bring my magnesium up about 100 ppm daily.

 

I am adding 27ml of the seachem alkalinity buffer over the next two days. I am dosing this slowly because it can dramatically affect PH.

 

Finally, when I was testing all my levels I decided to feed my tank and clean the skimmer while I had it off. I fed a combination of Reef Crack, Cyclopeeze and my new found Coral Smoothie. The instructions on Coral Smoothie tell you to target feed all your corals. I decided to mix a little in with my frozen food and then to target feed my sps with a syringe from an old Salifert test. Shortly after feeding my tank all my sps, but one, had all their polyps extended further than I have ever seen. My initial reaction is that I really like the product I will continue feeding daily and report back.

 

I have a blue tort that I have been having issues with. The color is faded and never extends its polyps. I am hoping that will all change once I get all my levels straightened out and with the additional food I am adding.

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Here is an update on my levels. I just tested every thing....

 

Alk : 8.4 dkh

Cac: 400 ppm

Mag 1140 ppm

 

These were my levels last night...

 

Alk : 9.7 dkh

Calc: 450 ppm

Mag: 1170 ppm

 

Just a little note:

My Alk and Mag test are Salifert and my calc test is an Elos. I just realized that there are two different methods to find he calcium level, one is more precise than the other. I have been using the less precise, this is why the calc and alk consumption in my tank appears unbalanced. As a side note, I prefer the Salifert test over the Elos. I think the instructions are easier to read and follow.

 

Using the following dosing calculator and using my alk results I need to dose .36 gallons of saturated limewater to maintain my current levels. With my little tank, I do not think I evaporate that much water in a day. I could run a fan to encourage evaporation, but I don't think I want to do that. I am going to dose saturate limewater for the next 24hrs and then remeasure. I may have to dose 2-part as well to maintain my levels. We shall see.

 

http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html

 

I am going to hold off on dosing any more magnesium. I am going to remeasure after a week to see what needs to be dosed over a weeks period.

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