Laurie

Not sure what was going on with the tags, may have been an issue with windows clipboard, just would not paste the url. Will try again on the next update. Thanks for the feedback

Here's the box mocked up with power supplies, drivers & fans. Tomorrow the 72 in heat sink will have the pressurized fan installed along with hangers to attached to the old light set up over the tank. Will keep adding to this as progress in made,

Today the chassis box for the controls/power supplies grew out of the work bench.

Here's the drivers mounted to the heat sink

Looks like IMG tags are not turned on so I'll post one pic per replay. I re-purposed a heat sink from a 1970s stereo amplifier to use with the drivers.

Been wanting to begin converting from VHOs/T-5s to LEDs on my 135 gal display tank. While discussing pros & cons of various brands, setups etc on here there was interest in a build thread so here we go. I decided to get most of the stuff from Steve's LEDs because I like their square tube heat sink with pressurized cooling fan. It will be 63 LEDs on a 72 in long heat sink in 6 colors each dimmable separately & a batch of royal blues as moonlights also dimmable. Last week the parts arrived.

My starting point is 2:1 RoyalBlue and Neutral White. But I want to be able to adjust to enhance colors from certain corals. So I am considering adding blue, cyan, green, red, cool and warm white, UV and moonlighting. In looking at spectrum graphs, there is overlap from some colors. Like warm white will give me red, yellow and green. But it may be too white. So it may be better to do a few of the individual colors instead.

Thanks for your input. I checked out LEDGROUPBUY. Looks like another good source. Matt - I did read your thread and it is full of very helpful info. I was looking at Rapid LEDs kits. But I want to have more varied spectrum than they offered. I also plan to set it up with more dimmer controls to be able to adjust the color groups. Probably more than I will really need. It's like playing with a pic in photoshop. I was hoping that someone out there has experience with the tubular heatsinks, from Steve'sLEDs, that they could share.

I am ditching my VHO/T5 lighting and building an LED setup. My tank is 18"x72"x24"h. The current lights hang 10" above the water level. I have 2 - 72" VHO - 1 white and 1 actinic, and 3 - 60" T5 - all actinic. All my corals, mostly softies and LPS are growing like crazy. I am looking at RapidLEDs and Steve'sLED. Both have good review, technical support and great reference materials available. The questions I have: Heatsinks - From Steve'sLED, they have an aluminum square heatsink tube. And a compatible pressurizing cooling fan that interfaces nicely with the heatsink. Looks very efficient. Any comments about this kind of heatsink. It's quite different from the standard cooling fins. Cree or Luxeon - When I first started researching LEDs, Cree was popular. Now there is the Philips Luxeon too. They both look good and plenty of color choices. Any recommendations, pro or cons. Moonlighting - Do I need a special "moonlight LED" or can I use Royal Blue. Looks like they are the same wavelength. UV - Is it necessary. A while back I read that LEDs don't provide the UV that corals need to grow well and that they fade over time without it. Mixing LEDs with T5s was better than all LEDs. Is this myth or true. What is the general opinion now? I could keep the T5s and replace the VHO with LEDs. But I'd rather get rid of the flourescents altogether. RapidLED sells a UV LED. Do you need an LED specifically labeled UV or is that just a Royal Blue. If I go all LED, should I plan to include UV LEDs. Any comments or experience you can share on these questions would be greatly appreciated.

Plenty of clean airflow. Thanks

Everything is running. Just not cooling.

I sent them a message last night. Hope to hear from them today.

Nice video. Sweet tank.

I have been using a Tradewinds Chiller Drop in for 3-4 years. It has been working great up until a few month ago. we replaced the capacitor after the compressor would not kick on. Worked fine until yesterday. Now it runs, but isn't cooling anymore. Replaced the capacitor again. No change. Instead the temp is rising. Thinking it needs to be recharged. Can I take it somewhere to get done? Or do I have to send it back to Tradewinds. Hate to be without it for long. Hard to keep the temp consistant without it. Any advice!

Good to know. I was wondering about it myself and didn't see anything posted yet.

We have a 25KVW generator hardwired to the house. Installed a transfer switch in the power panel. It is set up to run essentials. 1st and foremost is the fish tank and then water pump(gotta have a shower), computer, AC, TV, frig and some lights. Even my neighbors plug into it when the power is out for long times. The generator can run for 4 days non stop before we have to refuel. It is a godsend when mother nature is fooling with us.

I tried taking on my clownfish and ended up knocking down corals as we duked it out for dominance. I gave up as I got cuts on my hand from bumping into things. I have trained many dogs, but think this fish has got the best of me.

So are all clowns territorial or is it primarily the females?

The camera guy is so close. I would be afraid of getting swallowed and be like pinochio in the belly of the whale.

That is pretty cool. I would like to see what people think of it after it is out in use for a while. Wonder if it has a sensor to keep it from touching the substrate and picking up particles that would scratch the glass.

You may want to introduce them to live food. give them baby guppies, bugs and worms to eat. If you let them go in the wild they will need to learn to feed themselves. Many years ago, I had turtles in a tank. After offering them food that they had to catch for themselves, I released them into a nice pond. Don't know how long they lasted. Probably until it got cold out.

well I guess I have to decide how attached I am to the clown. Finding it an acceptable new home is key. Anyone want a Cinnamon tomato clown? It coexists with the other residents just fine. Thanks all for your input.

I have a beautiful cinnamon tomato clown that has dominated my tank for nearly 10 years. Whenever I put my hands in the tank it goes into attack mode. Very unnerving when I am trying to do some aquascaping. So I have devised some dividers that sort of keep it at bay. Over the weekend, when I removed it's favorite host frogspawn to do some fragging, I was able to catch the clown. I have often thought if I caught it, I would get rid of it. I was considering replacing it with a pair of Oscellis clowns. I have read and heard they are more docile. And more social in their community.Can anyone substantiate that. Or would I likely be trading one cranky fish for 2. I have somewhat of an attachment to the tomato clown as strange as it may seem. It's name is "MF" which has multiple meanings. To the grandkids it is "Mean Fish".

Nice Pics

I was a little late for the GB. Bought one anyway. Thanks for your help!