Brian Ward

Build your LEDs already!

Just follow the "Join WAMAS" link at the top and hit the "renew" button. That should take you to PayPal so you can pay. Once that's done the system should update your membership status.

We're glad you found WAMAS and are asking these questions. That's a good first step. Remember to take everything slow. In this hobby nothing good happens fast. 1- You'll find that everyone has different opinions on what is the "right" thing to do. When you get advice, be sure to understand the why so that you can make decisions for yourself. The hobby has developed a lot over the last 20 years so there is outdated information floating around to confuse you in addition to personal preferences that people like to preach as gospel. If you understand the "why" you'll be able to better understand what's going on and make more informed decisions. 2- Based on the questions you're asking right now and assuming setting up this tank isn't your full time job, don't expect to have water in the tank for at least 3 months. Things could move slower or quicker depending on how much research you do, but I strongly recommend spending time reading, visiting the tanks of some people in your area (most WAMAS members welcome others into their homes regularly), and talking to everyone to understand their opinions. 3- There is a lot of DIY in this hobby - not everything is something you can run to a store and buy. There are people here that can help you understand what you may need to build and frequently people that will either help you build or refer you to someone that will build things for you. 4- Dig through the archives on this site. There is a ton of information on similar topics to what you're asking as we've all been there and asked similar questions. Read through this information and refine your questions so we can give you better answers. Good luck and remember to ask questions when you're confused. We're all happy to help!

A big thanks goes out to everyone for supporting our sponsors! At last weekend's meeting we cashed in receipts totalling $9,101 and gave out 196 raffle tickets and that money was all spent in the last quarter alone! The breakdown per sponsor is: Fins & Feathers - $985 and 21 tickets Avast Marine - $3403 and 84 tickets BRK - $2996 and 58 tickets Premium Aquatics - $1004 and 20 tickets Petland - $276 and 5 tickets The Marine Scene - $161 and 3 tickets Air Water and Ice - $277 and 5 tickets Keep supporting our sponsors and remember to save your receipts and bring them to the meeting!

There's no technical limitation that I'm aware of on our side. If you're inserting the correct URL (ending in .jpg so it's a direct link to the image) then any blocking would be on their side.

Yes, the non-member fee is $5.

If you need help with how to frag it, then feel free to bring it. I believe we have an acan that we will be demonstrating so if you think seeing how it's done will be enough help, then there's no need to stress your colony by bringing it to the meeting.

I can mix new water but I sold all my containers to Chip. If someone near DC has containers to bring by I can supply 30 gallons of water.

The links say the item is no longer available. I strongly recommend that instead of getting one off of eBay that you look at our sponsor, Air, Water, Ice (see their forum here). Many members have one of their units which are of excellent quality and the customer service is unbelievable. Any problem you have, just email or call and they'll help. They've sent many of us small parts that may have broken or gone bad for free even a couple years after we purchased the units. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

The club's meter is in a very slow rotation... i'm guessing this is an attempt to circumvent the line

Definitely check out the previous threads on Roozens. It's a great store and they move a ton of volume with a large wholesale business. It is, however, bare bones. QT is a must and they do run copper in most of their tanks. As many have concluded previously, Roozens is a store for Advanced people - definitely not for the beginner. You must be picky when you go there but you'll see things you won't find at any other LFS.

Fuel stabilizer - available in the automotive dept in every big box store and auto parts store. Also, if you aren't planning to use the fuel up quickly, always fill it up with the highest octane gas you can - this also helps the gas last longer.

I would bet there is a very small mechanical obstruction somewhere along the black tubing. Since this is gravity fed and there's no pressure, it doesn't take much to block it up. I'd rinse out the union and the black tubing - maybe a little vinegar - and see if it happens again.

If you're going to move it from left to right, I would rotate your LED fixture to put the long side orthogonal to the track. That will reduce your empty space and should improve your coverage.

I have an AC Jr. and a DC8 that I could lend but not an Apex.

Robert's offered to build for people. He's basically the expert here and over on ReefCentral, so I think his services are well worth it if you're intimidated about doing it yourself.

Wattage isn't a good measure because the lumens per watt vary dramatically based on the bin you choose. The spectrum also varies based on the bin. For size, I'd go 6x2 at a minimum and probably more like 7x3.

It's not too difficult. One member wrote a summary thread here: http://www.wamas.org/forums/topic/38156-diy-led-questions-answered-here/ I'd read through that. You need an understanding of circuits and electronics but it's basically soldering together the LEDs and putting together the drivers or using commercial drivers.

There's a lot of debate around how much LED lighting is actually required. The general recommendation, based on the actual experience of a wamas user is that 24-30 bulbs are required to light a 24"x24" area of a tank. Hanging 12" above the tank should give you sufficient blending but may not get enough PAR to the sand bed for things like maxima clams. The mixture should be about 2:1 Royal Blue to Cool White (XPG and XPE type). Dimmers are strongly recommended in order to adjust spectrum (color) as well as intensity. For a 48"x24" area, about 50-60 Cree LEDs is appropriate. Expand that to 96" and you're looking at 200-240 total. I see you're not a member, but we actually have a group buy running in the members area to purchase LEDs as well as components to build your own drivers. I strongly recommend you consider becoming a member. We have a For Sale section as well as a Group Buy area that can help you save some money. This is really a great community and you can get a ton of great information and help.

Robert's Oxygen in Vienna. They used to do a WAMAS member discount. Not sure if they still do.

ahh, the joys of RC

I did read about the AquaSurf being successfully used for dimming. I'd rather avoid it if possible. My initial thought was to connect the 4 lines in the phone cord to the Arduino and address it like a DC8. A quick read makes me think that it may send X10 signals over these lines. I'll have to read deeper on how to do this.

How many of these does the AC3 have? I need at least 8. Which plug has the 10V output, I don't remember seeing this?

Jason, I had many of the same questions. Take a look at the pinned LED thread in the DIY forum. I asked lots of questions and got good answers. For your most recent, the spacing recommendation is 2"-3" between each LED. The recommended ratio is approximately 2Blue:1White. It is also recommended that you set everything up as dimmable so you can adjust both intensity and spectrum. I'm going to be building my own drivers and fixtures, so I've been working through many of these issues. Let me know if I can help and definitely join the GB to get your LEDs!

Yes, the Apex supports dimming but the AC3 does not. I'm building controllers into my fixtures and need to supply digital signals to the controllers which will translate the signals and generate the appropriate PWM signal to the CAT4101 chips to provide for dimming.