zygote2k July 13, 2013 Share July 13, 2013 I have a feeling that the LED light is going to be way too much light for that tank. 87) 3w? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM July 13, 2013 Author Share July 13, 2013 Yep. 29 of them in each group and 3 groups, so 87 of them. I know it's a lot of light, but every color is on a dimmer, and only the neutral white and royal blue will go up to 1000mA. The rest peak at 750mA even at full power. I don't want someone coming to me at some point to say "I don't think you can grow X because you need more light." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef July 13, 2013 Share July 13, 2013 I think as long as they are dimmable you are going to be very happy with them..I love my leds and still only have my whites ramped up to 50% for my 2 units.I imagine you'll have no problem growing whatever you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime July 13, 2013 Share July 13, 2013 I don't know how you've been so patient. It's obviously paid off, this is a clean build. I'm sure once you start stocking it, the same patience and style will follow, can't wait to see what you end up with! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM July 17, 2013 Author Share July 17, 2013 Got my lights hung. Some cabinets are going to go around it, so it won't be so exposed. I still have some wire management to do. Came out nice, though. It's hung with 80/20. Fired up at 25% on all colors: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef July 17, 2013 Share July 17, 2013 Oh I'm in love with that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme July 17, 2013 Share July 17, 2013 Can you link to that wall bracket? The light slides back and forth, correct? I also see a slot for a slight vertical movement? It looks nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM July 17, 2013 Author Share July 17, 2013 (edited) I made it out of 1inch 80/20. Black would be even nicer looking, so I may switch to that at some point. Here's an example of the material. It is easily gettabble from the manufacturer on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/80-20-Inc-1-x-1-T-Slot-Aluminum-Extrusion-10-Series-1010-x-24-Black-/400528103829?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d4155d995 It's two 5" pieces attached to the wall with toggle bolts through holes I drilled through the center of the extrusion. Then an L bracket that's actually the wrong size. It's for the 1.5" track instead of the 1" track. I need to get a different one. Then two pieces of 18" sitting on top of it. You're right that the light can slide forward and back on the horizontals, and the horizontals can be moved up and down in the track, even though I put the horizontals on top of the verticals so they don't go up and down, they can go the other way. The connection bolts and L brackets are really strong and 4 toggle bolts in the drywall should be way more than enough to hold it in place with no flex at all. Edit: by the way, the top of the Makersled heatsink has tracks for 1/4-20 bolts and nuts, so it can even slide from side to side. Edited July 17, 2013 by AlanM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkiboy July 17, 2013 Share July 17, 2013 that looks awesome, sir. i'm eager to come check it out. making awesome progress - keep it up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt July 17, 2013 Share July 17, 2013 Very cool build, this is going to be one I subscribe to. btw - can you give more details on the LEDs? what kind of color/mA layout do you have worked up there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkiboy July 17, 2013 Share July 17, 2013 (edited) Very cool build, this is going to be one I subscribe to. btw - can you give more details on the LEDs? what kind of color/mA layout do you have worked up there? here's his DIY link: http://www.wamas.org/forums/topic/54200-diy-led-build-for-75-to-90-gallon-tank/ Edited July 17, 2013 by monkiboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme July 17, 2013 Share July 17, 2013 I made it out of 1inch 80/20. Black would be even nicer looking, so I may switch to that at some point. Here's an example of the material. It is easily gettabble from the manufacturer on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/80-20-Inc-1-x-1-T-Slot-Aluminum-Extrusion-10-Series-1010-x-24-Black-/400528103829?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d4155d995 It's two 5" pieces attached to the wall with toggle bolts through holes I drilled through the center of the extrusion. Then an L bracket that's actually the wrong size. It's for the 1.5" track instead of the 1" track. I need to get a different one. Then two pieces of 18" sitting on top of it. You're right that the light can slide forward and back on the horizontals, and the horizontals can be moved up and down in the track, even though I put the horizontals on top of the verticals so they don't go up and down, they can go the other way. The connection bolts and L brackets are really strong and 4 toggle bolts in the drywall should be way more than enough to hold it in place with no flex at all. Edit: by the way, the top of the Makersled heatsink has tracks for 1/4-20 bolts and nuts, so it can even slide from side to side. Thanks, Alan. Perhaps black anodized would be better? You can always just paint the bars. I don't mind this current aesthetic at all though. I wonder if stainless would work, more expensive though.... Do you think the 2 L brackets are enough to hold the horizontal (and the fixture) as a cantilever? Are the L's enough to prevent the side of the horizontal closest to the wall from turning up? Again, very nicely done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM July 17, 2013 Author Share July 17, 2013 (edited) They're really strong. You're right, that it's cantilevered out, but the verticals will pull the toggle bolts out of the wall way way before the cast aluminum L brackets will start to bend or turn loose. They're held on with Stainless steel hex head bolts and nuts that fit into the tracks of the aluminum. 87 3W led's total. in each of three groups I have: 10 Royal blue Cree 1000mA 5 Neutral White Cree 1000mA 2 405nm violet Exotic brand 750mA 2 430nm violet Exotic brand 750mA 4 Cool blue Cree 750mA 3 660nm deep red Exotic brand 750mA 3 cyan Exotic brand 750mA I don't think the 80/20 comes in stainless. It does come in much larger profiles. 1.5 inch is the most common, actually. Edited July 17, 2013 by AlanM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM July 17, 2013 Author Share July 17, 2013 (edited) I'm filling it!! I have a blowhole 1450 on the floor downstairs and am pushing it to about 5 foot high upstairs. Filled about 4 inches in 1.1 minutes so that's 13.8 gallons in my 75 gallon tank or almost exactly 750 gallons per hour which is what I was shooting for and exactly what the 1450 is rated for with that much head. But now I can bounce on the floor in front of it and see how much the water moves. I need to do some reinforcement, not because I think it will fall through, but to remove bounce. Would appreciate advice on that. I have 2x8 members underneath parallel to the long axis of the tank. It sits on 2 of them. Edited July 17, 2013 by AlanM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkiboy July 17, 2013 Share July 17, 2013 only reefers like us would find a video of a tank filling with water exciting, haha! that's awesome! i might just have to fill mine today, too! what power heads are those? i like how they articulate and you hid the wire as best you could in the black of the seam and back. also, sorry if you mentioned it, but did you paint your back, tint, or is it tinted glass? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef July 17, 2013 Share July 17, 2013 whoot!!! WATER!!!!!! YOUR SON IS HYSTERICAL...YOU CAN SEE THE SHOCK IN HIS REFLECTION WHEN THE WATER STARTS...HA HA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM July 17, 2013 Author Share July 17, 2013 Painted it black with many many coats of I think Rustoleum Premium or something like that. Spraypaint. Powerheads are Tunze 6095s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt July 17, 2013 Share July 17, 2013 If you have easy access to the floor joists, then sister them up. Congrats on the water! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM July 17, 2013 Author Share July 17, 2013 If you have easy access to the floor joists, then sister them up. Congrats on the water! Ok. I do have easy access from underneath. They are in the finished part of the basement, but it is just drop ceiling. I know, basically, how the support joists give stiffness by resisting stretching on the bottom of the joists in the center of the span. I am considering sistering the two joists under the tank with 2x8s from sill plate to the center steel beam (13 feet). I would cover the new ones with glue on the top and side, hammer them into place nextto the existing joists, and then screw them. Then I would make the whole thing a box joint by gluing and screwing a 4x6 piece of 3/4 plywood to the bottoms of the joists. I feel that doing both of those things should give a pile of stiffness to the joists. Any structural engineers here agree? Heh. Think it would add enough stiffness if I skipped the sistering and just did the plywood panel? Any value in the extra expense of putting LVL beams in there to sister those joists instead of 2x8 pine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime July 17, 2013 Share July 17, 2013 only reefers like us would find a video of a tank filling with water exciting, haha! that's awesome! Yep! YOUR SON IS HYSTERICAL...YOU CAN SEE THE SHOCK IN HIS REFLECTION WHEN THE WATER STARTS...HA HA That was the first thing I noticed as well, haha, it's cool he was so excited. I felt the same way finally watching you get this wet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM July 17, 2013 Author Share July 17, 2013 Thanks for the comments about the son. He's a goof and also super excited about the big tank getting full. Really wants to see fish in it. One other complication that I only noticed after firing everything up is that I have 500W of heater plus 220W of LEDs, plus 100W of return pump. All of it is on the EB8. That's fine for the EB8 because it's well within the load limit, but it's also all on the UPS output because I have the EB8 plugged into a UPS. Now I don't intend to run it all if the power is out and it's being supplied by battery. I'll only run the powerheads in that case, but it's really convenient to just have the whole strip plugged into the UPS. Unfortunately, the UPS maxes out at 600W of power and makes a terrible shrieking noise if you go over that. Looks like I have to figure something else out to do. I could buy another EB8 or 4 and put the higher wattage stuff on there, I guess. Any other suggestions for what else I could do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef July 17, 2013 Share July 17, 2013 Why are you plugged into the ups? Doesn't the eb8 have it's own gfi? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM July 17, 2013 Author Share July 17, 2013 UPS supplies power when the wall power goes out. The UPS is plugged into the GFI at the wall and so is the 12v for the Apex main unit and the EB8 is the sole thing plugged into the UPS. If something trips the GFI at the wall or if we lose wall power the Apex main unit senses the loss of 12v power and goes into power failure mode which turns off everything but the Tunze powerheads and itself. I am risking that it was the powerheads that caused the trip, but I am ok with that risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM July 18, 2013 Author Share July 18, 2013 Anyone know a good lumber store, hopefully out here up 270, that would carry 1-3/4" x 7-1/4" x 12' LVL trusses? I'm concerned that if I ask them for it at Lowes they'll look at me funny. I think after googling for a bit and talking to my architect father in law, two of those would fix me right up. Online Menards has them for around $50 each, so it would be a fairly cheap way to do it too, but we don't have those around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM July 19, 2013 Author Share July 19, 2013 I figured out what I'm going to do to keep the heaters controlled by the EB8 while keeping the Watts on the UPS below the max. I already had a Crydom A1225 solid state relay in my parts bin from my other hobby (espresso machines). It takes 120VAC as a control input and can switch up to 25A of 120V AC. I only have around 4A of heaters, so I will plug them into the wall directly with the SSR on the hot wire and will plug the control side of the SSR into the EB8 which won't see the current anymore, but will control them just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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