Mikes 29gal Biocube

[BowieReefer84]

Here are some pictures of splicing the wire. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF IT LOOKS OK OR NOT. Thank you

 

[Larry Grenier]

The last 3 pics look excellent. No over-use of solder yet thurough, and looks like no cold joints. I agree, I prefer good solder joints over wire nuts.

[Chad]

Your joint looks ok, I dont think you will have any long-term issues, and I wouldnt redo it.

 

That being said, here is some feedback on the joint (I am certified to solder to solder on nuclear reactor instrumentation), please take as constructive.

 

Both of your solder joints are overheated (but not badly). The solder on a joint should be outwardly very shiny, almost mirror-like. The duller/grey appearance is an indication of too much heat. As a general rule, the solder iron should only be touching what you want to solder together for 2-3 seconds or less and NEVER longer than 6 seconds or so... long enough to heat the objects up add the solder and let it wick through the wire strands then remove both.

 

The solder joint is too large (likely a contributor to too much heat) and there is a bit too much solder since it appears to have wicked under the insulation (especially on the black wire, where it looks melted) and you can no longer see individual wire strands, to get a good solder connection you only need to meld to two metals together and have a nice concavity of solder between components.

 

If I were going to make a butt connection with wire, I would strip 1/2" or so of the wire, twist it slightly, clean the heck out of it with isopropyl alcohol, put an alligator clip on the exposed wire pushed all the way up against the end of the insulation (heat sink), then tin the wire. Repeat on the wire that it will be connected to. Roll an eye into the tinned wire and then do the same with the other wire. Solder the connection.

 

Keys to a good solder joint are absolute cleanliness, flux, equal application of heat to both components, and adding just enough solder.

 

Again, mostly, this is just me being picky, your solder joint will be fine. If you only take a little from this, clean everything pristinely with 100% isoproply and use a heat sink (alligator clip).

Edited November 4, 2010 by Chad

[BowieReefer84]

Chad,

 

I appreciate your comments. I am new at this, and will take any feedback I can get from those who know what they are doing. I did heat the wire up a bit before introducing the solder. I still need to do the second driver connection and will make sure to heat just long enough. I wasn't sure why my joint wasn't mirror shiny (but did shine). I now realize a little too much heat was involved.

 

I plan on pretinning the wire for the connections to the led's. The starboards are already pretinned. Do you think I can just pretin the iron, wash it on my sponge, and "push" the wire into the solder on the star? Do you think I would have to add more solder if each component is pretinned?

 

Also, is "100% isoproply" rubbing alcohol?

 

THANKS!

Edited November 4, 2010 by BowieReefer84

[Larry Grenier]

Dah-um! I'm out of my league Thanks Chad, I'm about to do a 12-led kit too. I'll tackle a nuclear reactor later

[Chad]

glad to help... I always found soldering fun... kind of an odd combo between science and art to make it come out properly, I wish I still had access to some of the cool equipment I used to have access to... temperature control of the tip with a high wattage power supply and a cool vacuum tool makes the low dollar radioshack version seem inadequate!

 

Mike, just out of curiosity, what kind of solder (thickness, composition, and flux/no flux) are you using? If you dont have it, I would recommend 63/37 led/tin mix since it is a little easier to work with (no plastic stage between liquid and solid => less likely to crack because it gets bumped while cooling). Rubbing alcohol has isopropyl in it, but also has some oils that make it not work as well as it could... I have used some of the high percentage (99 maybe?) versions in the past when in a pinch, but if you can get 100% isopropyl, it will make things easier. Perhaps a hobby shop or paint store.

 

There wont be (or I should say, shouldn't be) enough solder for a good connection between the lead and the starboard connection (what type of connection, btw?). Tinning should only add enough soler to the wire to prevent "birdcaging" of the wire when it is being manipulated... you should still be able to make out individual strands of the wire after it is tinned. There should be enough solder in the final joint to solidly make the connection, but the "curves" between components should still be concave.

[BowieReefer84]

I am using radioshack .031" 60/40 rosin core solder. How do you hold the wire in place when you have the solder in one hand and the iron in the other? I was hoping to get solder on the wire, and with the pretin on the pad to just smush it in . . .My iron is a 40watt from the shack as well.

 

What do you mean by what type of connection? (I was an economics major in college, and have not taken a science course in my life other than bio and physics)

[Chad]

ahh, if we only had three hands!

 

You will have to find a way that works for you, but for me, I need a vise or bench clamp of some sort to hold the board in one spot. Individual compontents can be held in place by wire wrapping, tape, clips, or any other means that you can think of. IME, 98% of soldering is cleaning and setup and the other 2% is applying heat. If you are working with wire, restraining an end will work. To free up a hand, I always take a 8-12" piece of solder and wrap it around the end of my index finger, then pull a piece out to extend 1-2" past the end of my finger. That way, only one of your fingers on one of your hands is used.. you can use the rest of that hand to hold the component and your other hand to operate the soldering iron.

 

What does the connection look like? is it a hole through a PC board to a copper ring, a mounted eye or turret or something like that?

 

I can show you the basics if you want.

[BowieReefer84]

Hey Chad,

 

Here is what the connection will look like. The starboards came pretinned. I have not tinned the wire yet...

 

[Chad]

There is a bunch of excess solder on the starboard... I still think that you will need a little more, but not a whole lot more. Boy, they dont make those things to be very well protected from the elements. Do you know if anyone has tried coating the entire assembly (sans lens of course) with epoxy after it is all put together?

 

On soldering that part, if you do my solder on the finger technique and put the part in a table vice, soldering should be pretty simple.

[BowieReefer84]

Seeing the starboard and wire, do you think my pretin on the wire and smush in style soldering would work? Would you pretin the wire with your solder on finger style? I am not going to have time to do the soldering until next week. I am going to NYC for the weekend, and have a conference in Dulles next Mon-Wedns. I have another week to think about doing this properly I guess.

 

Not sure about covering in epoxy.... In my biocube it will have the acrylic cover to keep it protected.

Edited November 5, 2010 by BowieReefer84

[BowieReefer84]

[Coral Hind]

I'm blinded!! Nice DIY work.

[BowieReefer84]

I'm blinded!! Nice DIY work.

 

That is just the 12 white's..... The blues are not hooked up yet.

[thewire]

a quick suggestion if you have it on hand, use heatshrink on the wire connections...i hate them electrical tape...nice LED works

[BowieReefer84]

OK!!!!! The tank is done as far as equipment goes. Here are a couple final pictures of the LED's for now.... They are NOT that blue. I would say they are crisp white similar to the stock color of the biocube, but a lot brighter. I am happy with the color. Under just the blues my chalice frags show colors I never could imagine, but I still like the "white" color more than the all blue or mostly blue...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't even know why I am posting these pictures. The colors are not even close to accurate...

 

 

 

[trockafella]

Good Job.! Looks great.! Now you need some nice flourescent corals.!!

[Jon Lazar]

I would use heat shrink tubing next time instead of electrical tape, due to the saltiness around our tanks. A piece around each wire, and a third piece around both wires.

[Chad]

Nice work, Mike!

[BowieReefer84]

Nice work, Mike!

 

The solder free connections were key to my success. They truly make this diy simple enough for anyone. The thing is they only work on the drilled/tapped heatsinks, and they can NOT be used with optics. Luckily on nano tanks you do not really need optics. AND, the multimeter helped me finish as well. I would not have been able to diagnose the problem of an incorrectly labeled LED star +/- without the meter.

 

As far as heatshrink. . .Can I use it over top the electrical tape? Also, a lot of the tape you see is only used to keep the wire work clean, and not actually where it is spliced. The main splice is the power cord, which should NEVER see even the smallest amount of moisture. I made sure to get all the wire connections in the acrylic cover under the lid. I sealed the old holes that had the rubber bushings for the original wires as well. Did the best I could to prevent future issues.

[Chad]

The thing with the heatshrink tubing is that it is a tube... meaning that you need an end to slide it over, which I am not sure that you have. That being said, you could use heat shrink over electrical tape, but if I was going to use the heat shrink, I would pull the electrical tape off. Electrical tape does have the issue of becoming soft and sticky over time, though.

 

 

[BowieReefer84]

I have decided the bare bottom look is unnatural and I do not like it. I am going with a 50/50 mix of carab sea arag reefsand 1-2mm and carib sea florida crushed coral. I am going to keep the substrate at 1/2" or maybe even a little less. Just enough to cover the bottom of the tank. I will place all the rockwork first as well so there is no sand under the rocks. I think it will be about 15lb's worth.

[BowieReefer84]

Now that the water has cleared after the move here is an updated shot with my new aquascaping and crushedcoral/sand.. Has a lot of areas for coral placement.

 

 

[BowieReefer84]

I know I said I was going to go mainly SPS, but just got a deal I could not pass up on some chalice. Here are my recent additions from Sikryd (thanks!). Tyree Setosa Monti, Cotton Candy Chalice, Mummy Eye Chalice, Miami Hurricane Chalice, and an Ice Fire Enchinata (browned out but worth a shot considering they are normally $100+ a frag), and an orange one that looks like a chalice but isn't. I forget the name. I also got a frag of cool zoas with about 10 polyps (not posted). All this for $140. I'm happy with that. Very happy actually.

 

The second picture is a frag of Oregon Tort I received from another member for a previous trade I had done. Accidently bumped it, and that's why there is a small frag of it I made in the first picture as well.

 

I am going to place the chalice around the bottom of the tank to let it grow out onto the crushed coral. Should make for easy fragging down the road.

 

As always, sorry for the picture quality.

 

 

 

[BowieReefer84]

Traded for this "jedi mind trick monti." Can't wait for it to grow out. The purple/blue rim is really cool.