Gobie74's wide peninsula 200
- Thread starter Gobie74
- Start date
Gobie74
New member
No issues with humidity thanks to the dehumidifier my sister got me for christmas in anticipation of the tank.
I just finished upgrading the lights. Took a bunch of pictures, will post after I get some food in me, starving right now...
....on the light side excited to see how these lights turned out
Gobie74
New member
Here's the pictures...
So first things first, take the lights down and prepare the 'work area' aka kitchen table. Notice the mess those cables make.
The next step was to remove all the modules from the rails and take them apart. I decided to take them apart one at a time and learn how to do the upgrade on one module first before committing to the other five. This is what a Gen 1 looks like completely stripped down to parts.
As you can tell, some of the parts got a little dirty over almost three years I've had them, so a little cleaning was in order. Best way to clean things? With high pressure water, of course.
Initially when I was attaching the LED pucks to the circuit board, I was putting them in the wrong side, and for some odd reason the circuit board didn't line up with the holes in the plastic end cap. It took a good ten minutes of pondering to figure out my mistake and get back on track. You can see why I made the mistake, shown is the top of the circuit board, so your first instinct is to plug the pucks into the top of the board, the side with the writing and stuff. Nope, they plug into the bottom side.
The fans are different in Gen 2 in that the leads go through the heat sink and plug into the circuit board inside the unit. I found it best to pull the leads through the heat sink as much as possible so there is no slack to the fans on the top of the heat sink. Probably the most time consuming part of the job was removing and reinstalling the 24 screws that hold down the LED pucks. I did it by hand with the screwdriver shown rather than a powered drill or something similar so that I didn't strip the screw heads. Right next to the white fan connector you can see a small hole in the circuit board. The only difficult part of the upgrade is having to drill a small hole in the heat sink so you can attach the circuit board to the heat sink. It doesn't really seem necessary, but AI says 'for optimal performance' or something like that, so I did it.
So first things first, take the lights down and prepare the 'work area' aka kitchen table. Notice the mess those cables make.
The next step was to remove all the modules from the rails and take them apart. I decided to take them apart one at a time and learn how to do the upgrade on one module first before committing to the other five. This is what a Gen 1 looks like completely stripped down to parts.
As you can tell, some of the parts got a little dirty over almost three years I've had them, so a little cleaning was in order. Best way to clean things? With high pressure water, of course.
Initially when I was attaching the LED pucks to the circuit board, I was putting them in the wrong side, and for some odd reason the circuit board didn't line up with the holes in the plastic end cap. It took a good ten minutes of pondering to figure out my mistake and get back on track. You can see why I made the mistake, shown is the top of the circuit board, so your first instinct is to plug the pucks into the top of the board, the side with the writing and stuff. Nope, they plug into the bottom side.
The fans are different in Gen 2 in that the leads go through the heat sink and plug into the circuit board inside the unit. I found it best to pull the leads through the heat sink as much as possible so there is no slack to the fans on the top of the heat sink. Probably the most time consuming part of the job was removing and reinstalling the 24 screws that hold down the LED pucks. I did it by hand with the screwdriver shown rather than a powered drill or something similar so that I didn't strip the screw heads. Right next to the white fan connector you can see a small hole in the circuit board. The only difficult part of the upgrade is having to drill a small hole in the heat sink so you can attach the circuit board to the heat sink. It doesn't really seem necessary, but AI says 'for optimal performance' or something like that, so I did it.
Gobie74
New member
So here's the module with the lenses installed. There's two types of lenses on the Gen 2 so you have to install the right ones in the correct spot. They make it easy by putting a molded dot on the ones that go on the outside. The lenses are separate from the splash plate as you can see which is different than the Gen 1. ( or maybe mine just got stuck together over time, who knows )
After the final pieces were attached, I let each unit run while I was upgrading the next one.
During the test of the fifth module I finally figured out I had been putting the fans in upside down. Seeing the red sticker was bad. So I had to go back and swap them all around. Didn't take long. Could use a hint in the upgrade instructions about that tho.
All together it took about 3 hours up to this point. It took about an hour to do the first upgrade, then I got progressively faster after that. But the real challenge was still to come.
The real challenge? But Dave, all you have left is to hang them back up and plug them in? Yup, and hanging them back up turned out to take a long time.
So the wire that hangs down from the ceiling initially came about 6 feet long. Obviously I didn't need all that wire up there when after I had installed it so I trimmed it down to a more reasonable length. However that left the end a bit frayed. So taking the connector to the lighting rack off wasn't a problem, but putting it back in with the frayed end really proved to be quite difficult. This was when I was really saying to myself "you really f'd it up this time".
Eventually I did get it through by cutting the wire again but that cost me a bit of length of the hanging wire so I had to prop up the lights on a box over the tank so I could attach it. In the end it worked, but not fun.
After the final pieces were attached, I let each unit run while I was upgrading the next one.
During the test of the fifth module I finally figured out I had been putting the fans in upside down. Seeing the red sticker was bad. So I had to go back and swap them all around. Didn't take long. Could use a hint in the upgrade instructions about that tho.
All together it took about 3 hours up to this point. It took about an hour to do the first upgrade, then I got progressively faster after that. But the real challenge was still to come.
The real challenge? But Dave, all you have left is to hang them back up and plug them in? Yup, and hanging them back up turned out to take a long time.
So the wire that hangs down from the ceiling initially came about 6 feet long. Obviously I didn't need all that wire up there when after I had installed it so I trimmed it down to a more reasonable length. However that left the end a bit frayed. So taking the connector to the lighting rack off wasn't a problem, but putting it back in with the frayed end really proved to be quite difficult. This was when I was really saying to myself "you really f'd it up this time".
Eventually I did get it through by cutting the wire again but that cost me a bit of length of the hanging wire so I had to prop up the lights on a box over the tank so I could attach it. In the end it worked, but not fun.
Bigjoe2531
Premium Member
Hi Dave, That upgrade certainly was a huge undertaking. Could you have shipped them out to be done? You proly could have but saved a ton of cash in the long run. What was the purpose of the upgrade? I see that you did swap out the lenses....I'm assuming that the lenses "bend" the light to provide a less focused beam so you will get more of a dispursed beam.
Gobie74
New member
Remember I said notice the mess of wires on the lights before, well due to the lack of large jumper wires and the small size of the power supply wires, the units look a lot more neat now. If I can figure a way to hide that control jumper, it'll look really clean.
I did run into on issue while trying to get the lights powered up and controlled by the Profilux. For a while it just wasn't controlling the lights, until I checked all the control cables and found one that wasn't fully plugged in. Then magically it all started to work.
Speaking of clean, this is the exact opposite, this needs SO much work...
This doesn't truly capture how awesome the upgraded LEDs are, but it'll give you an idea.
And a FTS from a not often used angle
I did run into on issue while trying to get the lights powered up and controlled by the Profilux. For a while it just wasn't controlling the lights, until I checked all the control cables and found one that wasn't fully plugged in. Then magically it all started to work.
Speaking of clean, this is the exact opposite, this needs SO much work...
This doesn't truly capture how awesome the upgraded LEDs are, but it'll give you an idea.
And a FTS from a not often used angle
Gobie74
New member
At the moment, I only have the whites up to 70% power and I think I'm going to have to lower that a bit to not bleach the corals. These LEDs are so much more intense than the Gen 1, or at least from what I can see the intensity is much greater. I'll have to try to borrow a PAR meter or something to really figure it out.
That said, I can see why the are selling the 1 white, 1 blue, 1 royal blue pucks now. If you like the blue color and want to run at 100%, it would be better to go with the royal blues in my opinion. Should I have gone royal blue? I'm not sure yet, we'll see how things grow before making that judgement. I'm betting / hoping for some crazy growth now.
That said, I can see why the are selling the 1 white, 1 blue, 1 royal blue pucks now. If you like the blue color and want to run at 100%, it would be better to go with the royal blues in my opinion. Should I have gone royal blue? I'm not sure yet, we'll see how things grow before making that judgement. I'm betting / hoping for some crazy growth now.
Gobie74
New member
It wan't that bad. I could have shipped them out. That would involve taking them down, packaging them up, shipping them out to AI, let them upgrade them for a few days, ship them back, reinstall them. That's a lot of time. I originally had the very first unit they produced and had them upgrade it to the Gen 1 ( the naming is confusing ) and it took about 2 1/2 weeks all together to get the lights back. I lost a bunch of corals and basically had to start all over again. Easier? Maybe. But much more costly in my opinion.
About the lenses, the lenses are to focus the light into a narrower beam than what the LED, if left alone, would produce (180 degrees). I believe the lens angles are 40 and 80 here, with the 80s in the middle and the 40s on the outside, at least thats what it looked like. The spread looks really nice tho.
Bigjoe2531
Premium Member
The tank looks awesome, the colors look very natural to me. Not to much blue, like natural sunlight. I'll be watching for that explosion of growth. Very clean tank. I love the school of chromi's...
Bigjoe2531
Premium Member
Hey Gobie, Who built your stand? I need one and i know your sort of near me, proly an hour or so drive...
mnswreefer
In Memoriam
The LEDs light look great. I have a Gen1 and about 10" above my tank(24" H). I'm only used 60% of the white. If more than that it will bleach my corals on the top:-(. After you upgraded your LEDs, what do you like a n don't like about it? Is it worth the money to upgraded?
Gobie74
New member
A friend of a friend built the stand for me. I could ask him if he's interested in doing another if you'd like?
So far, the only thing not to like is how crazy powerful they are :eek2:
I definitely can not run them at 100% right now for fear of bleaching the corals, and frankly I think at 100% the whites totally overpower the blues and the light looks a bit more toward pure white. I think this might be why they made the white/blue/royal blue option. I might try to talk to AI and see if I can switch them. Other than that, love them! Is it worth the money for you to make the upgrade, if you're happy with how your Gen 1s are doing, there's probably no immediate need for you to upgrade. I needed to because of the size difference in this tank compared to the old one.
Bigjoe2531
Premium Member
Could you ask your friend if would be interested in refurbishing the stand i've recently aquired? I'd really appreciate it...-Joe
Gobie74
New member
Last Thursday my second BRS deluxe reactor finally came in.
So this means I'm finally able to start running the NP biopellets I purchased a while ago.
And here's a shot of the whole thing installed. Was a PITA getting it in there with everything else built up around it. But its working and the pellets are tumbling. No cloudiness like some people report.
I tested phosphates last night and they are the lowest they've ever been ( 0.01 on the Hanna Phosphate Meter ) but I really doubt they've had enough time to reduce phosphate that much. For reference, I usually read about 0.04 but I have been carbon dosing lately with Brightwell's Reef Biofuel.
So this means I'm finally able to start running the NP biopellets I purchased a while ago.
And here's a shot of the whole thing installed. Was a PITA getting it in there with everything else built up around it. But its working and the pellets are tumbling. No cloudiness like some people report.
I tested phosphates last night and they are the lowest they've ever been ( 0.01 on the Hanna Phosphate Meter ) but I really doubt they've had enough time to reduce phosphate that much. For reference, I usually read about 0.04 but I have been carbon dosing lately with Brightwell's Reef Biofuel.
tkrause9899
New member
Thanks a lot man i think i am going to do some thing like this but a little bit smaller.
Thanks again
Having had the tank for several months now, questions for you...
Are you happy you went with acrylic? (your previous tank was glass right)
Have you ever thought about staggering your light modules in a zig zag pattern for broader coverage? Overall, are you happy with SPS growth with the LEDs?
I am planning a 72x36x28h tank and am debating the durability of glass vs the strength/clarity of acrylic and I am considering switching from T5 to LED so your feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thanks- CJ
Are you happy you went with acrylic? (your previous tank was glass right)
Have you ever thought about staggering your light modules in a zig zag pattern for broader coverage? Overall, are you happy with SPS growth with the LEDs?
I am planning a 72x36x28h tank and am debating the durability of glass vs the strength/clarity of acrylic and I am considering switching from T5 to LED so your feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thanks- CJ
Similar threads
