esacjack

hey we're a pretty genius crew, surely we can overcome the containers limitations.

http://reefbuilders.com/2013/08/12/hydrohandle-drilling-glass-aquariums-breeze/

denied! grainger didnt have anything in stock metal wise.. so I'll be hitting westbrook and metals4u tomorrow during lunch. Anyone need anything from either location?

going to hit grainger on the way home to see if they have any stainless, otherwise i'll hit up metals4u on the way to work tomorrow. Im working on electrical tonight, so no big rush on the tubing/rod.

no, they just didnt have them in stock at home depot or lowes I may have to make a trek to westbrook/metals4u. I may even add some cross supports across the ridge of the frame.

yah, sorry, nothing too exciting yet The fun part comes with the initial power-on. Which should be in the next few days.. Definitely this weekend.

The absolute last part i needed to start the build, has arrived! I decided (after buying 10 IEC c14's) to go with a fused and switched IEC C14 for the power input. This will operate as the 'master kill switch' for the entire lighting rig, as well as provide an inline fuse to the lights. Wiring on the drivers and power supplies is complete. So the next step is to tear everything back down and drill/machine out the holes/viewing panels for the controller and power. After that we move onto the actual lamp wiring and mounting. I completed the tank mount last night. The carbon fiber still had too much flex, and by my measurements, would have dipped each outer corner into the water. I had to go with nickel/zinc 1/4" rod. I'm still not 100% satisfied on the tank mount. The makers' heatsinks are pretty heavy, so there is a very slight curve to the tank mount. I cant think of anything stronger that wont corrode when exposed to saltwater. So I may resort to some 1/8 sheets of delrin. Due to the way the fins are extruded on the heatsink, its plausible/possible to use a stabilizer which is of thinner material, if supported by its leading edge. Kind of like sitting a matchbook on its side. So if push comes to shove, i'll break out the delrin and slice up some strips. For now, this'll do ;

haha.. ok then.. not much in the line of pics yet, but here are the connectors I'll be using Sadly the 12p12c headers are no longer available, and the keystones are ridiculously overpriced. So I went with the VGA15 surface mount. I'll use a 2P2C wire to interconnect each side of the socket.

finally after about a month of waiting, the connectors I'll be using arrived. Had I know I was ordering from China, I may have bought it locally... but patience is a virtue.. or some b.s. like that... Now I can get moving on the wiring!

sounds liek the leather is either sloughing off tissue/detritus or its starting to grow some algae. Another possibility is stray food falling onto it, the hermits would readily take it.

start with a few turbo snails 2 or 3 at most unless the algae is wide spread.. Turbo snails are workhorses.. (work-sea-horses?)

hmmm that does look more like bryopsis. But there are hundreds of species of bryopsis, and hair algae is one of them. If your CUC is eating it/picking at it, I would monitor it, but let them go to town. Do you have any turbo snails in the tank?

looks like cladophora to me.. not bryopsis, give a strand a tug to see if it breaks off into segments easily. Bryopsis : Cladophora:

so what were the results of your phosphate test? It doesnt sound like bryopsis. Emerald crabs generally don't care for it. Aggressive fresh carbon, minimizing light, and allowing the tank to progress through its initial algae phase, are key in freeing yourself of bryopsis. However, it sounds more like hair algae, turbo snails are known to eat it, and I generally have great luck with them. Is there a possibility of a picture? Are you certain it isnt diatoms?

have you tested for phosphates?

what about using a venturi to keep the media tumbling? or some kind of air bubble injection?

looks like a nassarius.

hhaha yeah, and thats just the wires you can currently see. There are quite a few more behind the false back. If my measurements are correct (and sometimes they're way off) I should be able to hide about 90% of the visible wiring.

My enclosure came in today, which is actually just a sentry lock box. I had a gift card for home depot, it was 12.99. I made a little headway with the false backing. The backing is going to help me keep my sanity when it comes to wire organization. I'll run all accessory and AC/DC power and couplings behind it, and keep the user area free of clutter. Behind the false back is the power supply for the fan system, 12V power adapter for the Typhon, and all of the wiring for the drivers. Next up is installing my 15 pin adapters under the false back to handle the wiring for each unit + its fan. I've lined all contact areas of the box with foam rubber sheeting, and sprayed the box itself in several layers of krylon, with a rubber top coat. Believe it or not, theres still quite a bit of room left over, and the door completely closes. I plan on mounting it either on the wall behind the tank, or on the side of the stand above the area where the ATO will be. I went to pick up a replacement dowel for the one I apparently lost... I brought it home, and low and behold, it is 1" too short. The tag says 36" but the measuring tape says 35. Dang it! That's fine, as I've decided to go a different route with the mounting system. Still going to use dowels, but I have given some thought behind the weight tolerance of aluminum, at the max-load area of the fixture. Over a period of time, its very plausible that the light would begin to sag due to metal fatigue. So I've opted to go with 1/4" Carbon Fiber dowels in the center, and aluminum outer supports with a 90 degree bend. This should provide an adequate support structure over the long term. Im still on a man hunt to find a telco 12p12c. I know they exist, I used to install them. But apparently the design was discontinued.. Sad. On to the pictures! (Drivers werent wired when this picture was taken)

... well... mother nature found the only way to slow my progress on my lights. Soldering iron failure. Seriously? I just lent my coworker my weller station on Tues, not expecting my stuff to be here till Friday. *sigh* Oh well. At least I'll have my station back tomorrow. Also, I left my aluminum dowels at the office... Yesterday, just for grins, I hooked up one of the lumias without dimmer... It took the better part of an hour for me to see colors correctly after that. Fyi, when powering everything on for the first time, always aim your lights away from you. These things are ridiculous. I don't necessarily mean ridiculous like, wow..thats a lot of light... more like the skinny little guy that eats 150 hot dogs on tv, kind of ridiculous... I honestly can't wait to get the dimmers hooked up. I have to figure out how to cut some square holes into my power box. My 'dremel' doesnt seem to have a blade small enough to do the job. Any suggestions? Is there a 'router' type bit for these little cheapos? On another note, one of the most time consuming aspects of the DIY last time was light placement on the heatsink. With the lumia, and 4 screws, boom, done... whats next? Oh yah... wiring 10 friggin drivers...

At this point not even my fiance running through the house in a bikini, wielding a brisket, screaming FIRE FIRE FIRE, could change the outcome of tomorrow.... This is my second set of these heatsinks. I absolutely love them. I highly recommend them. Word of warning, if you want it to sit across the rim, you'll have to drill a few holes in the end cap (pre-marked inside). The heatsinks are designed to accept 1/4" doweling rods. I'll be using aluminum and a small bender (amazon, 5.00 bucks), to suspend them. Lastly, you'll need to provide your own power supplyfor the fans or order one from ledgroupbuy. The included fan is very very quiet. http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/makersled-designer-heatsink-kit-professional-grade-anodized/ Behold! The Lumia 5.1 Full Spectrum dreamchip! I've been waiting on this chip for a while. The chip is 5 channels with the following color order: Channel 1 - Neutral White (36V @ 700mA) Channel 2 - Royal Blue (36V @ 700mA) Channel 3 - Hyper Violet (38V @ 700mA) Channel 4 - Deep Red / Turquoise (32V @ 700mA) Channel 5 - True Violet / Cool Blue (38V @ 700mA) Coverage on each unit is approximately 24" at 24" depth. (Sorry, no PAR ratings yet) http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/lumia-5-1-100w-full-spectrum-5-channel-led/ The amount of shimmer and color refraction is almost like viewing a diamond. The attached heatsink is approximately 1/8th inch in thickness and is precut to work with the makers heatsink without adhesive. The Typhon controller will be used to control all 5.1 channels. The typhon only officially supports 2 drivers per channel (8 total), but has been used with up to 3 drivers per channel without issue (so far). This is also one of the cooler controllers for PWM dimming available (IMO). http://www.boostled.com/product_p/typhon.htm Drivers are LDD-700LHW's. Initially I was going to use the non-wired models, and use a 5 way PCB to attach them, but the 5 way isn't quite in production. The drivers are PWM dimming (hence the use of the typhon) http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/meanwell-ldd-700h-led-driver/ Power is provided by 2 Meanwell PS180's. Each power supply is capable of handling 5 banks of drivers. They're about the size of a small novel, perfect for the housing I have in mind. http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/180w-48v-3-75a-dc-power-supply/