DIY Rimless Starphire and Stainless Kiddy Pool (PICS!)

[liveforphysics]

Also, the floppy wires you see there have been all mounted. I snapped that picture when I had just made them light for the first time and hadn't finished yet.

I will be changing the LED lighting around on the tank, and getting my hands on a 100 pack of the new CREE Q5 LED's. Each CREE Q5 is able to produce aproximately 5 times the light of the LED's used in the solaris... It is the first white LED to exceed 100lumens/watt. You could actually use them to make your own solaris unit that was just a single hanging strip rather than a 5 wide thing. They would draw about 1/3rd of the power of the solaris to make the same amout of light.

The downside is that high power white LED's make light in nearly entirely useless spectrum to corals (this is why most everything slowly withers and dies under the solaris) and plants. There are LED's made which can produce light around 420nm and 670nm (the light that chloroA needs), but they are so poor at making light that you are much better off to stick with T5HO.

I'm going to be mounting some very high power 670nm LEDs under the tank to use for night viewing of animals, as most all marine animals are entirely blind to this spectrum, yet our eyes can still see things OK under it.

 

[drauka99]

nice build dude.
I love it that your MH have been moved over to acentic rather than main lighting

 

[jnarowe]

Love that design Luke. Perfect for a tank like yours.

 

[kodyboy]

very nice The plumbing job just frightens me by looking at it
The IR pics are cool, makes me feel like a "Predator"......
Nice job.

 

[MrWizardno2]

Luke, you are a DIY master. I love the VFD pump idea. Now for some new pics of the lights actually ON the tank

 

[wmfsoll2]

Great Set-up! Some cool innovative ideas. Looking forward to following your progress. Keep it up.

Bill.

 

[juliovideo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10535155#post10535155 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by liveforphysics


I had played with eductor nozzles before, and found them to be an absolute no brainer requirement for any large reef. This actually isn’t even all of them… I think 4 were still sitting in the tank when I took this shot…

[/B]

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Hi ...........where did you buy your eductor ?




thanks !!!!!!




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[liveforphysics]

I appreciate all the kind words.

I have so many things to update, I think I should make a new thread.

Juliovideo- I bought them from DT's aquarium online store. I think I paid $24-25/eductor. Money well spent.

Best Wishes,
-Luke

 

[melev]

Luke, we're already subscribed to this one. Update away.

 

[JCTewks]

agreed with marc...keep it in this thread so we don't have to find the new thread and subscribe to it

 

[juliovideo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10931716#post10931716 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by liveforphysics
I appreciate all the kind words.

I have so many things to update, I think I should make a new thread.

Juliovideo- I bought them from DT's aquarium online store. I think I paid $24-25/eductor. Money well spent.

Best Wishes,
-Luke

Thank you !!!!!




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[Discustopia]

I've just bought a VFD with ramping ability but I'd like to know about the Timer you run on it. This is the only problem bothering me.

Where is is from? - if it's DIY can you post plans?

Also:
Noise, does it squeal or whine?
is your VFD PWM based ?

My controller is a Eurodrive/WEG Easydrive 10. Made in 2006
• (V/F) Control• IP20 safe enclosure• Single-phase 200-240 input voltage• 150% current overload capacity• DSP controlled PWM output• 2.5 - 15 kHz adjustable switching frequency• Four isolated programmable digital inputs• Programmable relay output
• One isolated programmable analog input
• Control features: Linear and “S” ramp acceleration and
deceleration, local/remote control, DC braking, torque
boost, motor slip compensation, electronic pot, preset speeds, maximum and minimum adjustable frequency
limits, adjustable output current limit, JOG.

Great price too only $51+12ship on ebay for the drive and $39+$35ship for baldor 3 phase. All in: $325 including a refurb Baldor Dart pump.

 

[liveforphysics]

I haven't made any DIY plans for it. I will take a couple pics of the little digital timer I use and post them online for you.

Amazing prices on your stuff! You know, you can actually just buy the pump heads bare directly from sequence. I bought 3 spare baracuda pump heads just to have extras around to experiment, but the first attempt works so well I haven't seen the need to change anything around yet.

If you just buy a bare pump head, it only costs something like $45 for houseing, impeller, seals, and bolts. This would have cut your costs for a VFD controlled pump down LOWER than just buying a regular sequence pump! Outstanding!!! Please share the link where you sourced the motor and VFD for such great prices!

Best Wishes,
-Luke

 

[Discustopia]

Thanks,
Actually,
I already owned 3 Dart pumps. Ordering direct from Sequence cost me $100 in UPS charges. Next time I'll get a friend in the US to order.

Pump motors do not come in 1/8HP and 3 phase at the same time. So what I have to do is pull the core from my Dart and rebuild it into the 3 phase housing. Easier solution would be stick with the barracuda.

VFD was from Ebay - search for VFD and then look at the listings within the VFD catagory. Be carefull not to buy an old unit just to get a cheap price. Mine was Ebay Item number: 330172592658
3 phase motor was: 110137990171

I love a great deal, but I hate junk. I am always on the lookout for quality

 

[Raynman]

Incredible build! I have been lurking for years,........ this thread drove me to register just to say, fine job!. I am so driven by your DIY, and intuitive ideas. I only wonder about the longterm strength of glass against bowing, I know you have done your homework, will it withstand the test of time? I am looking to replicate what you have done when our new house is built, plus adding a fish room. very nice............ Raynman

 

[melev]

Raynman,

[welcome]

No more lurking for you!

 

[ScarabRa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10892653#post10892653 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by liveforphysics
...The downside is that high power white LED's make light in nearly entirely useless spectrum to corals (this is why most everything slowly withers and dies under the solaris) and plants. There are LED's made which can produce light around 420nm and 670nm (the light that chloroA needs), but they are so poor at making light that you are much better off to stick with T5HO.

PUR as those wavelengths falling between 400-550nm that are usefull to corals and plants. and I have read that the Solaris Has that exact spectrum, thats why it uses the different colored lights:

Someone else mentioned incorect info. The correct info is that its a 75-watt Solaris measured against a 250-watt XM 20,000K lamp (not 200-watt vs 200-watt) so it is less power consumption.

Its all about the PUR...

..."PUR is that fraction of PAR that is absorbed by zooxanthellae photopigments thereby stimulating photosynthesis. For our purposes, we will consider PUR as those wavelengths falling between 400-550nm (absorption bandwidth of chlorophylls a, c², and peridinin) and ~620-700nm (red absorption bandwidth of chlorophylls a and c²).

When all LEDs are on, their emission peaks at 458nm. Without the 4 LEDs that can act as ‘moonlight’ the spectral peaks shifts ever so slightly to ~459nm. This is well within the absorption bands of and other photopigments founds within zooxanthellae

Photosynthetically Usable Radiation of LEDs and metal halide lamp."...

Other benefits:
No Heat transfer to the aquarium
Practically non-existent ultraviolet radiation.
(Heat and UV are known causes of coral bleaching.)

Blue LEDs have been shown to trigger expression of a pink coloration (a ‘pocilloporan’) in the stony coral Pocillopora meandrina.

LED array (multi-point source) evenly spread intensity vs. metal halide lamp (a single point source)

*An important comparison point of LEDs is invariably that of lamp longevity. Philips maintains their white and blue Emitters have an expected life of 50,000 hours. The lamps are reportedly at 70% of original output at that point. If the daily photoperiod is 12 hours, then a 30% reduction in intensity could be expected in about 11 years.


Info from:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/review2#h5

 

[chk4tix]

Wow that tank is amazing.

 

[jnarowe]

More from that article:

"PAR measurements taken 50mm below the LED array."

How about in 35 inches of water? Or even 20? Not an arguement, but I would assume my Ushios shed more light at the bottom of my tank right?

 

[ScarabRa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11002310#post11002310 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
More from that article:

"PAR measurements taken 50mm below the LED array."

How about in 35 inches of water? Or even 20? Not an arguement, but I would assume my Ushios shed more light at the bottom of my tank right?

Well it is hard to measure a point light against a multi point light.
I think that distance was used as a measuring point on both lights.

I have them on a 24" off the bottom of my reef (200 gal) and its totally bright at the bottom. It is a new tank though.

Its a very detailed article, and Im not a specialist, but that was totally opposite what I had read about them, thats why I looked it up and posted. People read opinions, and soon they are taken as fact.

I also Very much like this tank, the reason I read the whole thread.

I don't want to thread jack on this nice build thread. I was only correcting what I saw and thought was an false statement.