a miracle delivery... need advice

[solRNY]

a few more number updates,

here some numbers of a single cannon 80W center to the tank, this give me a idea its spread,

here some numbers of both the cannon 80W adjusted 4" torwards the center of the tank,
overall the numbers are a bit higher towards the middle as the two spreads overlap, means more light for the tank,
but still need a lot more work as there still is a lot of light spill,

 

[solRNY]

here are some more numbers with the already adjust cannon 80W and readjusted the east plasma reflector,
measurements were taken on the bottom of the tank,

some numbers where mesaurements were taken 12" up from the bottom of the tank, i really dont like the distrubtion, like i should have left reflector building to the professionals
maybe i will install the stock reflectors as i know they will put out a more even spread,

 

[pascal32]

how about some numbers with water just poking you!

 

[solRNY]

how about some numbers with water just poking you!

ha, filling it with water seems to be even further away...


unfortunately i discovered some cracking in the overflow box, the cracks seems to run parallel to the drybox where it is glue on the back side, its starting from the bottom and heading up, the overflow box is made up of 1/4" acrylic, which seems thick and looks quite strong so i am not sure how this can happen.

pic of the two parallel cracks,

a neg pic,

 

[solRNY]

here a closer up pic of the left side cracking,

a neg pic,

 

[solRNY]

right side cracking,

its neg pic,

tried emailing Derek @ Miracles for advice but havent received a response yet,
i dont know much about acrylic so please let me know what you guys/gals thinks, any advice is much appreicated.

 

[pascal32]

that's wild - you said it follows the line of where the drybox is welded on in the back?

 

[Gravesj1s]

Lang,I dont know what could have caused that,but if its not getting any worse you can use weld-on to repair it.I dont have any left or I'd give you some.Weld-on #16 (thicker and better for repairs especially vertically) would be my first choice,#3 second #4 and in that order if you can find it locally.

I've been trying to spend an hr or so a couple times a week to edumicate myself on the LED topic.
A few times now Ive seen responses where folks are starting to question the Quantum meter and if its really suitable to guage par ....I 'm not sure but thought I'd throw it out to you in case you didnt see it being brought up.From what I gather it does seem to be questionable.
I dont have a link but know of one thread starting up in the advanced forum.

-be in touch soon Lang.-Steve

 

[solRNY]

that's wild - you said it follows the line of where the drybox is welded on in the back?

yup the two line looks like its running along where the drybox is welded, maybe the weld caused a weak point in the acrylic, didnt realize acrylic was so brittle, fragile...

Lang,I dont know what could have caused that,but if its not getting any worse you can use weld-on to repair it.I dont have any left or I'd give you some.Weld-on #16 (thicker and better for repairs especially vertically) would be my first choice,#3 second #4 and in that order if you can find it locally.
I've been trying to spend an hr or so a couple times a week to edumicate myself on the LED topic.
A few times now Ive seen responses where folks are starting to question the Quantum meter and if its really suitable to guage par ....I 'm not sure but thought I'd throw it out to you in case you didnt see it being brought up.From what I gather it does seem to be questionable.
I dont have a link but know of one thread starting up in the advanced forum.
-be in touch soon Lang.-Steve

i think the cracking will get worst bcuase there no place for it to stop, that i believe it has to run the entire length of the overflow, wish it was a simple repair. i can not tell rather if it is a hairline, just below the surface crack or that it has cracked all the way thru.

i always have noticed that the front face of the overflow had a slight bow in it, it bows towards the back, with this thought, i believe this is a stress crack between the overflow and the drybox, i think it came about during the construction stage, where i believe the acrylic was formed into the overflow and the drybox was then welded on, then probably clamped onto the tank at the face for glueing thus the bowing, becuase the two pieces are rigid they break apart at the weld, being so i dont know what other to do except to replace the entire overflow box...

steve, thanks for the heads up regarding the par meter, i saw a different meter that gave light spectrum and intensity, forgot what it was called, looked like a pretty awesome tool

thanks guys for your advice

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I would at least reach out to the manufacturer before attempting a home repair.

And woah, what did I miss? Why is the tank dry? And what's this about LEDs? Looks like I have some reading to do.

 

[Gravesj1s]

Lang, thats to bad if the whole thing has to be replaced,sorry guy,wish you luck with everything.

And woah, what did I miss? Why is the tank dry? And what's this about LEDs? Looks like I have some reading to do.

- D-w-z-m,
I dont want to derail the thread,but I know your a heck of a knowledgeable guy when it comes to led and the electroncics department.

From what I remember GrimReefer (t-5 Q&A GURU) stating the Quantum 200 meter read par shy in the blue and the red spectrum.Whitch he was able to confirm with Sanjay who had tested the same t-5 bulb with that 4000$ photon meter (cant recall the brand).But I know it was the ATI Blue plus bulb.A descrepancy of 10% was noted and that the quantum meter misreads the blue wavelength,
Assuming this is true,and noticing the amont of folks posting par numbers "in some led fixtures"that appear to be "low-ish",yet report burning,bleaching sps.

My memory isn't that good but,if Par is between 400-700nm's and the Quantum meter only measures between 420-680nm's <---note I can't recall the exact numbers,but this is close.
I don't know where the spectral plots fall when it comes to led ,but Im starting to think even though some of these are fixtures are measureing lower par numbers,the intensity might be alot higher and not noticed being outside the range the par meter can read.

Hope this makes some kind of sense,I'm not real knowledgeable in this area so go easy on me if I've got wrong.
Like to know what you think Wille?

 

[solRNY]

I would at least reach out to the manufacturer before attempting a home repair.
And woah, what did I miss? Why is the tank dry? And what's this about LEDs? Looks like I have some reading to do.

yup, i am gonna wait a few mores days for Derek to respond, hopefully they will come thru, if anything with some advice at least...
you didnt miss much, never had water in the tank, sad isnt it?! hehehe
the LEDs i am using are the Eocoxotic 100W Cannons blues, they really only run @ 80Ws max, another dissappointment...

Lang, thats to bad if the whole thing has to be replaced,sorry guy,wish you luck with everything.

thanks Steve!

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Indeed the cheap meter doesn't weigh certain wavelengths correctly, and additionally "LED PAR" doesn't seem the same to many corals as "normal PAR" - there are tons of stories of corals bleaching under LEDs that produce PAR numbers lower than other forms of lighting that the corals would be fine under. Besides the measurement error thanks to the cheap meter, it is probably due to most LED systems having different spectral distributions than other forms of reef lighting - corals don't respond the same to all light within the PAR spectral range. In the end the takeaway message is, for me at least, trust what your eyes tell you when you look at corals in your tank, vs trying to base things totally on numbers.

Lang, somehow I thought the tank was running already. The pics you posted of livestock must have been from another tank? If it has never been running and tere are already cracks in the overflow I would be worried for sure. Definitely a sign of stress in that area and I would be nervous to attempt a repair without mitigating the stress via bracing or reinforcement. Stressed acrylic responds strangely and it can be tricky to repair without further cracking/crazing.

 

[pascal32]

yup, i am gonna wait a few mores days for Derek to respond, hopefully they will come thru, if anything with some advice at least...
you didnt miss much, never had water in the tank, sad isnt it?! hehehe
the LEDs i am using are the Eocoxotic 100W Cannons blues, they really only run @ 80Ws max, another dissappointment...


thanks Steve!

he might be at MACNA

 

[solRNY]

Lang, somehow I thought the tank was running already. The pics you posted of livestock must have been from another tank? If it has never been running and tere are already cracks in the overflow I would be worried for sure. Definitely a sign of stress in that area and I would be nervous to attempt a repair without mitigating the stress via bracing or reinforcement. Stressed acrylic responds strangely and it can be tricky to repair without further cracking/crazing.

the pics of the livestocks are from our holding tanks, thanks for your advice, it is much appreicated as i never worked with acrylic before


Derek was very responsive and concerned once he learned of the situation,
this i appreicate very much as i did not know how to move forward, again i am feeling that Miracles service after the sale SHINES AGAIN!

at first we assumed that this was only a surface crack, but to make sure, he suggested to shine a light on the crack and observe it from the inside,
heres a pic where i shined the light,

here a pic of the light coming thru the crack,

we concluded that the overflow is cracked, just not 100% sure how, we agreed that this needed to be replaced.

so this weekend i am redesigning the overflow, first thought is to make the overflow acrylic thicker from 1/4" to 1/2",
i perfer to use glass instead but it does not come in black, this is my first time dealing with acrylic and i dont like it already,
so i would like to investigate other materials/methods so please let me know if you have any ideas

i really believe the crack was due to stress from the overflow against the dry box,
so to eliminate this stress, i am redesigning the "mounted drybox" to be a "floating dry box", or several floating dry boxes!!

 

[toddmh]

Uggg this sucks Lang..wish you luck..

 

[solRNY]

thanks Todd, much appreciated

 

[solRNY]

finally got my drawing completed...

have been talking to Derek @ Miracles about the new drawing, we both agreed it is a bit complex...
i have to give much kudos to Derek, thru this he still remained professional, extremely caring, said "i want you to be happy" in such tone, almost like lets do whatever it takes.
we decided it is best if i were to handle this as it is complex, that he will cover some cost, whatever cost, really does not matter to me at this point...

being so...
1st i need to do is a find place that will cut my design
2nd redraw my design with autocad for a machine cut
3rd remove the overflow from the tank
4th acquire all the tools neccessary, silicon, weldon, cleaners, bender, labor, ect...

sigh... all this will take about another year!!

 

[solRNY]

some update

removing the overflow from the tank... oh what a chore! but finally got it done.

here it is removed from the tank,
hmmmm, holes on the right are slighly off vs holes on the left.... thanks goodness for tolerance

here it is on the floor,
it is quite a beautiful piece, lines are straight, bends are clean, Miracles did a very nice job on this piece, will be hard for me to make an indentical,

here is the back side,
i took some time to clean it up well thinking i can salvage it, but the damage was to great,

 

[Conesus_Kid]

You are an incredibly patient person!

I admire your attention to detail throughout this entire process. Very impressive! This system is going to be AMAZING when up and running.