140 Gallon DSA Build

[T Diddy]

love the meteor shower.

Thanks PowderBlue


That meteor shower is one of my favorites.

The hair algae is beginning to go away. My sea hare has been working overtime, I have reduced feeding, done a water change here and there, and changed up the flow a bit. All of these things have helped, but I still have a ways to go. The skimmer I added is still churning away, but very little if any skimmate has been collected. I seem to have the skimmer sitting too high in the sump. Dropping the skimmer a couple of inches may solve the skimmer problem. Right now there is a dirty ring around the riser tube, but no dry foam makes it into the cone.

Speaking of the skimmer, the adjustments I made to the plumbing in my overflows have made the skimmer the noisiest single item in the set up. What an improvement that was. I haven't posted any pics recently due to the embarassing amount of HA, but I'll have some updates soon.

:fish2:

 

[T Diddy]

Well it has been a little over two months since I changed to the T5. The initial color of everything was great. However, now I am beginning to think that the T5 revealed the color of my coral grown under MH...the T5 was not the reason for the color.

I say this because the corals in my tank are looking less than stellar. Yes they are all doing fine and most are still growing (at a reduced rate). But I am afraid that my high light requiring pets are suffering. ALL of the corals seem to have lost the great color that they had immediately after switching from the MH to the T5. The porite and a small monti digitata seem to be slowly fading out.

This is not to say that T5 is not good enough for coral. My problem is water depth. The arrangement I have prevents me (and this was by design initially) from placing corals up high in the aquarium. The water level is 5" higher than the top of the viewing window. I did it this way for aesthetic reasons, and went with MH due the need for PAR at depth. I chose to switch to T5 after a light malfunction that scared me.

Either this fixture, or T5s in general, are simply not capable of producing any significant PAR at this depth. I don't have a PAR meter, but I don't think I need one to figure out what is happening here. I'm not going back to the MH, but the T5 won't support some of the critters I have or want in the future (not at this depth). I am looking into supplementing the T5 with some real live LEDs, not the over rated trulumen mistakes I have there now.

Sorry for the long post!

Does anyone have a recommendation for where to purchase a DIY LED kit?

 

[T Diddy]

So does anyone have any thoughts on the LED/T5 set up? I was thinking of using my T5 fixture for nothing but blue + and fiji purple. If going that route I would add my LED in white only.

Has anyone ever done this?

 

[cbrwheelieguy]

LED DIY source

LED DIY source

Hey man, I just ordered a DIY LED kit from Rapidled.com, They have kits you can buy and the customer service is really good. you can browse the site or you can email them and tell them what you have and they can rec a set up for you....its expensive to set up but you will save so m uch they will prolly pay for themselves in the first year. i cant wait to get mine and build it. There are videos on youtube.com just search ricketts reef LED on you tube and he builds an entire fixture in a few videos. I am also waiting on rocks to build a rock/foam wall. I cant wait! You can email me direct or give me a ring if you want more info or to BS....cbrwheelieguy@msn.com 219-712-1948

Love your wall btw one of the 2 best Ive ever seen!

 

[T Diddy]

cbrwheelieguy,

Thanks for the info. I did buy the ultra 24 kit from rapid with a 1:1 mix of cool whites to royal blues. I'm in the process of building the new light rig now. I'll be using the T5 and simply adding the LED to it.

 

[T Diddy]

I used the aluminum U channel found at the box stores, and cut it to fit inside my spare fixture. The existing fixture was modified and no longer has individual reflectors for the T5s. I did this so that the bulbs would be closer together and not waste light over the overflows/etc. It seems that the loss of individual reflectors may have done more harm than a closer grouping of T5s did good.

The new fixture will have the reflectors, and the 2 strips of LEDs between the bulbs. Here is a pic:



The wires are wrapped over and into the channel for a cleaner look:



...and from the face (without optics):



I placed the blue and white LEDs in close pairs because they are going to be close to the water with 60 degree optics. This was done in hopes of a more uniform coloration. Spacing of the pairs is approximately 6.5" center to center, and 4.5" between pairs...

BW----BW----BW----BW----BW----BW

 

[T Diddy]

Here is a sneak peek of the soon-to-be finished fixture with the two LED rails. Depending on how this turns out, I may add two more...

 

[T Diddy]

I've tested all the connections and everything looks good so far. Now I need to wire up the drivers and the daylight controller. After that I plan on adding an acrylic splash guard to the whole thing since it will be within 5" of the water surface.

:artist:

 

[1st timer]

looks good. Have you been running it yet? If so where are the pics???

 

[T Diddy]

looks good. Have you been running it yet? If so where are the pics???

not yet...haven't had the time to devote to it. I hope to have it finished this weekend. Pics will follow as soon as it is running.

 

[T Diddy]

I was trying to come up with a good way to mount my splash guard, but the optic lenses prevented my from mounting it flush with the fixture. I ended up drilling a few holes and using rubber grommets with nylon screws. I'm using PVC glue to attach the spacers onto the screws so that they don't get pushed back into the fixture when the splash guard goes on...

Here is the spacer in place with the acrylic splash guard held on by nylon wingnuts. I'll obviously have to go back and remove the protective film from the acrylic.

I also used one of the grommets to pass my LED wires through at a strategic point...

 

[T Diddy]

Light is finished !!!

Light is finished !!!

Unfortunately, while tinkering around I unplugged the return pump in my sump...now it is locked up and won't turn over again. I suppose I'll be getting a new pump tomorrow. Luckily I have a decent amount of flow in the tank without it.

As for the light, it is finally finished. I did ghetto it up a little by adding my little blue moonlight strips, but it is going to be great nonetheless.

Here are a few pics without the splash guard in place:

 

[frankpayne32]

Very nice light fixture and foam/rock wall.

 

[T Diddy]

Very nice light fixture and foam/rock wall.

Thanks frankpayne,

I'll have to post a new pic in the next day or two. Everything looks good so far, but one of the strips ended up almost on top of the rock wall...I'm not getting my money's worth out of the new rig yet. That one will have to move forward a little. The T5 bulbs may need some swapping around too. I'll just need to play with it.

Meanwhile, my return pump failed last night. I wasn't able to get a replacement on there until just now. Koralias and in wall powerheads were still working fine, so I hope everything will be OK. The corals do look a little stressed, so I'll hold off on the pics for now.

Wish me luck! :fish2:

 

[T Diddy]

LED Day 1

LED Day 1

I was worried after the pump failure, but the corals all seem to have perked up again. The new pump is a MAG 18. After head loss, it actually provides a little less flow than the pump that failed, but it'll do.

As for the LEDs and daylight controller, I love it. The shimmer alone is worth it...been missing that since ditching the metal halide. The corals all responded well today and looked great considering the lack of a pump or lights for a day. T5s are still over the aquarium. I don't know that I'll ever completely phase them out. I most certainly will add a couple more LED rails after the corals have had a chance to adjust to the new light rig. Pics will come tomorrow.

:fun4:

 

[T Diddy]

Here are a few shots from today. It is really a much prettier than what shows in the pics. White balance???

Anyway, this frogspawn has been doing well. I've got 9 distinct heads now, started with five:

This is one that has fallen from its original perch...I'll find a new home soon:

Another shot of the sand

This purple goniopora has been doing well, but I found a bad spot on it after the pump went out for a day...they like some water movement:

...more to come

 

[T Diddy]

...one more shot of the light in action. I'll be adding another 24 LEDs at some point

Here are a couple of acan shots:

sorry for the poor quality...

 

[T Diddy]

...and a few more

 

[T Diddy]

 

[T Diddy]

The lights look great. I see that I'll be getting another 24 LEDs in the near future. Right now, the T5 bulbs are one each of the UV 454, ATI Blue +, Aqua Blue Special, and Fiji Purple. I'll be keeping a close eye on everything to look for changes in the corals, but this is a great upgrade to the tank.

:thumbsup: