Hex Tank Build

[n2585722]

Around October of 2021 I got a Hydros dosing pump to try out. I set it up as an ATO pump since that is the most used pump. I am going to need to make a new shelf unit since the Hydros dosing pumps are a little higher than the Intllab ones I have been using. In the mean time I set it on a stand near the shelf unit and hooked it in place of the one I was using for ATO. The 42 ml per minute flow of the Hydros was close to where I had the Intllab set so I didn't need to change any of the settings on the Hydros controller. It was plug and play other than not fitting on the shelf. I guess it was time for another woodworking project. The pump has been running for almost a year without any issue. I have some spare tubing for the pump head but I have not changed it yet. If I loose any of the Intllab dosing pumps I will probably replace them with a Hydros or the new X10 controller that is coming out next year.

 

[n2585722]

I have made a shelf for the pumps that the Hydros pump will fit into. I have one completed and installed. I still need to complete the second one but it is not currently in use. So no hurry on it. This will allow me to use either the Intllab or the Hydros dosing pump in all locations.

I cut some wood for the project on the table saw. I cut enough for both shelf assemblies. Below is a photo of the cut wood.

Below is another photo of the wood. I had not done the back of the shelf section when these were taken.

Below is a photo of the back side of the first front frame assembled for testing. It is not glued or sanded on this photo.

Front side of first frame assembly. The first one had the mtg holes already drilled.

Below is a photo of the front side of the second front frame assy.

Below is a photo of the back side of second front fame assy.

To glue together the shelve unit I used a square with some double sided foam tape. The square used has the corner removed so it does not get into the glue while the glue dries. I used these squares when I was building the sump also. Below is a photo of the square with the tape attached ready for use.

Below is a photo of one shelf section attached to the square with double sided tape keeping it flush to shelf side section. Getting ready to glue these sections together.

Below is a photo after adding glue to the end of the shelf section that attaches to the side section.

Below is a photo of the shelf section in place using a wood block to get flush to then end of the side section.

Now it just has to dry before continuing with assembly, but I can do another section with the other side while waiting. I will continue on another post. To many photos to do in one post.

 

[kharmaguru]

What pocket hole jig are you using?

 

[n2585722]

Continuing from the previous post. Cleaned up excess glue. Now waiting for it to dry before I continue.

Below is the other shelf unit and other side gluing. I used the same process on this one as the other. Once dry I will glue these together.

Gluing one corner using the jar for weight on the joint while it dries.

Below is a photo of glueing the other corner but needed a little heavier weight to keep it in place while the glue dried.

Below is a photo of glueing the center shelf in place. This shelf extends to the front of the front frame assembly. The two wood blocks are used to keep it centered while the glue dries.

Below is a photo of the shelf unit complete except for back.

Below is the shelf unit standing up ready. It just needs the back and some sanding.

Below is a photo of the back side of shelf unit.

Below is a photo of the shelving unit with back attached from the front. It is ready to install to the frame assembly.

Below is a photo of the completed Shelf unit on top of front frame. It is a top view.

I will have to continue on another thread.

 

[n2585722]

What pocket hole jig are you using?

It is a Kreg. I am not sure which one but here is a couple of photos with it mounted to my workbench.

 

[n2585722]

Back side of shelf unit. The 4 holes in the back are for the power cables that go to the pumps from the Hydros controllers.

Below is a photo of the new shelf unit tested in place in the control board. above the one in use.

Below is a photo of testing the pumps in the shelf unit before final assembly. Looks like the Hydros fits with the intllab pumps.

Below is a photo of the shelf unit complete and painted. Adding mounting holes for the tubing holders using a fixture to get them placed correctly.

Below is a photo of using the fixture for the holes for the tubing holder on the top.

Below is a photo of removing pumps and tubing so the old shelf assembly can be removed. I temporarily label the cords to make sure and get them back in the right place on the new shelf unit.

Below is a photo with the first pump in the new shelf assembly. This is the pump used to dose All For Reef.

Below is a photo with all pumps are installed in the new shelf assembly. Tubing all hooked back up. The Hydros pump on the bottom right is the ATO pump. The bottom left pump is the AWC pump. The empty spot above it is for a second AWC pump if I choose to use two separate pumps. I did finally use two pumps and used the built in water change regimen which I will get into later.

Below is a photo of the right side of the control board with the older style pump shelf installed above the new one. I will leave it there until the other unit is finished. That one is for a second tank when I get around to setting it back up.

That is it for now on the new pump shelves.

 

[n2585722]

Back in January I transferred 2 channels of the 6 channels of daytime lighting to the Hydros. The controller with the 0-10v inputs is in the garage 35ft away. So I powered down all the remaining DA modules in the garage so I could use the DA buss cable from the tank to the garage to get the 0-10v signals to the tank. I made a cable to go from the 0-10v output connector to a RJ45 breakout. The connector on the DA buss cable is a RJ11 but it will still plug into the RJ45 breakout Just pin 1 and pin 8 will have no connection. The connector on the X4 that the cable is connected is the lower purple coded one in the upper right of the controller which is on the right. The RJ45 breakout is to the left of the relays on the DIN rail at the bottom. The connector is the one on the right and the terminals are then bottom ones. Pin 7 is ground and pin 6,5,4 and 3 are Outputs 1,2,3 and 4 form the controller.

In the photo below the two boards with the red LED's lit below are the two 0-10v to PWM converters I got to try out. The RJ45 breakout above them is connected to the cable coming from the garage. You can tell I don't get into this compartment very ofter, it is dusty.

In the photo below the PCB with the LDD's has the three LED drivers that will be controller by the Hydros. The top two a LDD-1000 and a LDD1500 drive two strings of 6 royal blue LED's The bottom one on the left a LDD-700 is the other one and it drives 4 UV LED's. So as it is currently wired 0-10v output 3 drives the 2 royal blue dirvers and 0-10v output 4 drives the UV driver.

Below is the output setup for the royal blue output. The converters I have do not change till about 2.5v is applied to them. I don't like this and plan on trying some different converters to see if I can find some that light at a lower value. So for now I have this set for a low point 25% and a high point of 50%. I checked with a scope and at 50% I do have 50/50 duty cycle on the PWM output. 50% was the high setting on the Archon for these strings. The type of output is set for variable light.

The output below is setup for the UV LED's. It also uses the variable light type. It has a minimum 24% and a max of 70%. The max matches the max set on the Archon for this channel.

Below are two screenshots of the light schedule for the above outputs. The type is light schedule. The variable light mode is slope for now since it matches with the Archon schedule. I may change this once I get all the channels on the Hydros system. Start time is set for 9:30am and End time is set for 8:00pm.

The slope is set for 4:00 hours. The lights will get to their max setting at 1:30pm and stay at max till 4:00pm. At that time the lights slowly dim down to off at 8:00pm. The minimum power is set for 0 and the max is set for 100. 1 is the minimum set on the outputs and 100 is actually the max set on the outputs. So the 1-100 is within the minimum and maximum set on the output. Light count is set for 2 since I will be controlling 2 outputs. I left active in mode at their defaults which would be active in all modes. It is set to run every day. It runs all days of the week. The depends on setting is not used here. So far the only issue I have is the turn on light intensity is brighter than with the Archon.

 

[griss]

Following

 

[n2585722]

There was new firmware released back in January for the Hydros that has dynamic dosing and also power monitoring for drive ports and XP8 outputs. It is not available on the wifi power strips since the power monitor hardware is not in those power strips. I decided to try out the dynamic dosing on my All For Reef Dosing pump. Since it takes a while for the All For Reef to break down to affect alkalinity I only made minor changes in the dose related to pH reading. The first screenshot below is the popup that appears if you click the pump tile. You can run a calibration test, manual dose a specific amount or add or set the reservoir amount form the popup. I use an Intllab pump for All For Reef dosing. It is set for 12ml per minute of flow. To calibrate this I use the manual dose instead of the calibration function. I set it to manually dose 10ml I weight it after the dispense. I adjust the flow rate pot on the pump one way are another until I get 10ml. I have the pump set 12ml per minute of flow on the Hydros so this way I am adjusting the pump itself to match that.

Below is the setup for the All For Reef dosing pump. The Intllab is a simple doser. So it is set for that type of pump. The flow rate is set for 12ml per minute. That happens to be about as slow as the Intllab pump can go and still have a stable flow rate. I use one of the drive ports to run the pump. I have the power range set for a low of .5 watts to a high of 3 watts. If it gets out of that range when the output is on it will send an alert according to the orange alert setting in this case. That is a push notification the way I have mine setup. There is also a set up for a low reservoir alert. I have it set to .1 liters. That is the lowest setting. The container I use will only hold .4 liters when full. So I start getting alerts when it is down to 1/4 full.

The next two screenshots below are for the schedule for the All For Reef dosing. This schedule is the Dosing Regimen type. I have Dynamic Dosing set to on. The input for dynamic dosing control is my pH input. Next are the set points for my tank the low set point is set to a pH of 7.9 The high set point is set to 8.3. I have the total daily dose per pump set to 21.8 ml if the pH is at or below the low point. I have the total daily does per pump set to 19.8ml if the pH is at or above 8.3. If the pH input is invalid for some reason it is set to dose 20.8ml per pump per day. This was the original setting before using the dynamic dosing setup. It is set to dose 6 times a day. I only use one pump so the Doser Count is set to 1. Doser 1 is set to the AFR dosing pump. The pump speed was carried over from the pump setup and is 12ml per minute. I left Active In Modes to the Defaults. The All For Reef Pump doses into the same tube in the garage that the ATO uses so it will actually be dispensed to to tank by the ATO. It is set to start at midnight and run everyday. The Depends on setting is set to the ATO OK output. If it is ok for the ATO to run then it is ok to dose. The dependency mode is set to off if off. So if ATO OK is not on the pump will not run. I also dilute All For Reef to 1/2 strength so the actual dose for standard AFR is half of what my numbers here are set. I did this so I would be able to dose more frequently and still have enough dosing time. The dosing pump on the Hydros needs to run at least 2 seconds each time.

Below is the log for the ARF Dosing pump. The range is 3.4 to 3.6ml per dose. That is a range of 20.4 to 21.6ml per day. I think it varies the dose depending on where the pH is between the low and high setting. I had a small difference between the two since I am just doing this mostly to test out the dynamic dosing function. That is about it for the dynamic dosing.

Now on to the power monitoring on the XP8. I have most of the outlets I use on it with the power monitoring setup now. I will go over one for one of my heaters here. The screenshot below is of the popup after clicking on the Heater 1 tile which happens to be on right now. It is a 50 watt heater and is reading 50.1 watts. This popup also shows the voltage, current and various other readings. The power is the one you can set a range for and an alert for. If you click on the gear in the popup it brings up a screen with the settings for the output.

The two screenshots below have the setup for one of my heaters. This uses an output on my XP8. The output type is heater. You could also use the generic output but the heater has the settings geared for heaters. The on temp is set to 76.1 if the temp get down to or below this setting the heater will turn on as long as the minimum off time setting has been met. The off temp is set to 76.3 if the temp raises to or above this setting the heater will turn off as long as the minimum on time setting has been met. The Temperature Input is set to my tank temp input. The Output Device is outlet 6 on my XP8. I have it set to off if the input is unavailable for some reason. Now on to the power monitoring settings. I have the low set to 45 watts and the high set to 55 watts. So the safe range is 45 to 55 watts. If it gets out of that range when the output is on for some reason it will send an alert if it is set to do that. I have the power notification to orange which is a push notification. Push notification shows up on any device I have the app installed on which for me is my iPad and my phone. So as long as I have one of those with me I will get the alert. I left the Active in Mode at the defaults for this output. The Depends On is set for the return pump. It is set to off if off. My heaters are in the sump and the sensor is not in the same compartment of the sump so I don't want the heaters running if the return pump is not running. I have advanced settings enabled and the minimum off time set for one minute. So it has to stay off for at least one minute before it turns back on. The minimum on time is set for 20 seconds. So it will stay on at least 20 seconds if turned on. The maximum on time is set for 8 hours and 30 minutes. Run past maximum on time is set to on so the heater will continue to run but an alert will be sent that the maximum on time was exceeded. Where my tank is it would be unusual for the heater to run that long. The notification level is set to orange so I will get a push notification. I have the thermostats on the heaters set to 3 degrees above the control setting on the hydros output settings. The way things are set if the heating element opens, the heater gets unplugged or the heater turns off I will get a low power alert for this output. Also if for some unlikely reason the power level goes above 55 watts I will get an alert for that also.

I purposely unplugged the heater and below are the alerts. The tile itself turns red and has the alert. The first screenshot has the popup. The second screenshot is after I clicked on the push notification that was sent to the iPad. The push notification has the same basic information on it. That is about it for now.

 

[n2585722]

I got my hands on a Wave Engine V2 to go with my Hydros controllers. Right now the only thing I have that it can control is my two MP10's. To do that I need a EcoTech RF module. Those are hard to come by right now. Since I will not be using my ReefLink after installing the Wave Engine I decided to use the RF module from my ReefLink in my new Wave Engine. I took some photos of the swap out. The main difference between the Wave Engine and the Wave Engine V2 is it uses the same microprocessor as the other Hydros controllers and also has a SD card. It can also be a wifi master which the old Wave Engine could not do. Also you will have to get and install a Eco Tech RF module to be able to control the EcoTech MP series wave pumps.


Below is a photo of the new Wave Engine V2. I will remove the 6 screws.

Below is the Wave Engine V2 opened up. You just have to make sure the white gasket is in place correctly before it is reassemble. The RF module will go in the upper right corner of the PCB.

Ok now to removing the RF module from the ReefLink. Below is the ReefLink with the rubber feet assembly removed.

The back plate had to be peeled away from the bottom to remove the bottom. The flex cable in the lower center of the PCB below has to be disconnected from the connector to get the PCB out of the case.

Below is the PCB removed from the case and flipped to the side with the RF module. The RF module is the small green PCB in the upper left of the PCB below.

Below are two photos one of the top and one bottom of the RF module removed from the ReefLink.

Below is a photo of the Wave Engine with the RF module installed. It plugs in to the sockets on the PCB but you do have to be careful when you plug it onto the PCB.

Below is the Wave Engine back together ready to add to my account and setup.

I will continue with the Wave Engine in another post.

 

[n2585722]

Before adding it to the collective I did set it up in a collective by itself to check out the new features of the v2 versionI had it paired with one of my wifi power strips so it can do that if it is your only controller.The older Wave Engine could not do that.

I also decided that I would use it for the wifi master since it can do that as a test. So once I had it setup in the collective I set it as the preferred wifi master. I also had to enable the EcoTech pumps in the options menu below. The heading is WE Enable EcoTech Pumps. Screenshot of options menu below.

After you enable the pumps you will get the three tiles for the EchoTech pump channels. They are White, Cyan and Orange. The White is same side, the Cyan is opposite side and Orange is back for EcoTech on the MP controllers. You can assign them how you want them on the schedule though.

Since mine are on the same side I am using the White channel for both for now. That is determined by how you setup the EcoTech controller for each pump when you pair them to the Wave Engine. So I have unselected the others on the page for the tank so they don't show.

Below is a screenshot after setting the Wave Engine to wifi master. I actually have 9 controllers in the collective now. The symbol to the right of the name 42g WE 4 indicates wifi master.

I will go over the schedules I created for running the MP10's in a later post. I am trying to set them up as close as I can to where they were on the ReefLink.

 

[n2585722]

I got some photos with the camera instead of the iPad back in April. I figured I would post them here.

 

[griss]

Nice, looking good.

 

[n2585722]

Nice, looking good.

Thank you.

 

[n2585722]

In April I had some LED failures on my tank LED's so I got to checking how long it has been and come across a photo from September 24, 2013 of the LED's in their current configuration. Below is the photo along with another one taken at the same time. They lasted almost 9 years. So I guess I cannot complain. I have ordered some more LED's to at least replace the ones in the strings that are out. The UV string of 4 and one of the royal blue strings of 6 are out. I ordered stars with three LED's per star. So I got 2 stars of each and the lenses that go with the stars. The current configuration has single LED's per star. i will probably order some to go ahead and replace the others also. I want to wait and see how these stars work out before doing the rest. The white LED's are 3 amp LED's but the driver is only a 1.5 amp driver and their maximum percentage was set at 50% so they were no where near max. I will probably leave those for last.

I did change some wiring where the insulation was crumbling on the wiring. So the UV from the LED's can damage things. Photo of wires removed below. The insulation just crumbled off the wires. That happened to the wires at the closest points to the LED's. Changing the wires did not get the two strings running again. Looks like all 4 UV led's are out and two of the royal blue LED's are out. I still have the lower power royal blue string and the white string along with two RGBW LED's and a cyan and deep red LED.So I am not completely down on lighting.

 

[n2585722]

I got some schedules setup for my MP10's on the WEv2 back in April. The first one is the schedule for low power mode. The type is set to flow pattern. The pattern is set to constant speed. I set the speed to10% flow. I was trying to recreate the schedule I had in the ReefLink at the time. I figured I could always adjust it later, which I have made some minor changes since then. The EcoTech interface has outputs White, Cyan and Orange. These can be set for Same End, Opposite End and Back. I don't use all three right now but I setup one for each in all the schedules so if I ever do start using them they are already setup in the schedules. The one that a individual pump uses is setup in the pumps themselves so if they accidentally get changed at least they will still run. Active in modes is set to be active in low power mode all other modes it is inactive.The start time and end times are set to 00:00:00 so it can run anytime durning a 24 hour period that the low power mode is activated. This will usually happen if the power goes off and the controller is running on battery backup. The pumps I have also have their own battery backup supply. The rest of the settings were left at their defaults.

The second schedule is the morning flow pattern. The type is set to flow pattern. I set this one to the LPS Reef pattern. I have the max speed set at 60% at the time. The pump settings are the same as the other schedules. Active in modes is set to be active in all modes except low power mode. The start time is set to 8:00am and the stop time is set to 12:00 noon. The depends on setting is set to the 42g Feed Mode output and set to off if on. All the schedules except two have this same setting. I will get to the 42g Feed Mode output later on in the post. The other schedule that does not have the depends on setting is the low power schedule.

The Next schedule is the noon flow pattern. The type is set to flow pattern. The flow pattern here is set to random. The speed range is set from 1 to 55%. The pump settings are the same as before. The active in mode settings are the same as the morning flow schedule. The start time is the end of morning flow at 12:00 noon. The end time is set to 16:00 or 4:00pm. The depends on setting is the same as the morning flow schedule.

The next schedule is the afternoon flow pattern. The type is set to flow pattern. This uses the nutrient export pattern. It is set for a flow from 1 to 70%. The pulse frequency is set to 1 minute and 10 seconds. I think that is the default setting since I do not remember changing it. The pump settings are the same as the other schedules. The active in modes is set the same as the morning flow pattern. The start time is set to 16:00 or 4:00pm. The end time is set to 20:00 or 8:00pm. The depends on settings are the same as the morning flow pattern.

I will continue this in another post. More to come.

 

[n2585722]

On to the next schedule which is evening flow. This uses the LPS Reef pattern like morning flow. The max speed is set to 40%. The start time is set to 20:00 or 8:00pm. The end time is set to 00:00 or midnight. Other than that it is the same as the morning flow pattern.

The next schedule is night flow. The type is flow pattern. This one uses the sine wave pattern and has a flow rate of 5 to 21%. The Cycle duration is 1 minute. The pump settings are the same as morning flow. The start time is set to 00:00 or midnight. the end time is 8:00am. The depends on settings are the same as morning flow pattern.

The last schedule is the feeder flow. The type is set to flow pattern. This pattern is set to constant speed and the speed is set to 6%. The pump settings are the same as morning flow. The start time and end time are set to 00:00 just like low power mode since this will run only during feed mode. The depends on setting is set to the 42g Feed mode output. The difference is the dependency mode is set to off if off. So if the 42g Feed Mode output is on this schedule will run.

Next is the 42g Feed mode output. This uses a combiner output type since we will use another output to trigger it. The input count is one since we will only have the one input. The input is the 42g feeder output. It is not inverted. Advanced setting are enabled since we want to set an minimum on time. The minimum on time is set to 30 minutes which is how long I want the pumps to run at the lower speed after the feeder runs. The feeder only runs for a couple of seconds so that is why we need the minimum on time set. Since the feeder output turning on triggers the feed mode output. No timers are needed and if I change the timers on the feeder output it will still work correctly without changing anything here. That is about it for now for the schedules I have setup for my flow pumps.

 

[n2585722]

I try to do my testing once a week. Here are some graphs of the different parameters for a little over a year. they are from an Excel spreadsheet.

 

[n2585722]

When I got the LED's I ordered to fix the Lighting on the tank. It made it almost 9 years without touching it. I removed the moon pods from where I will be placing the new stars. The new ones have three LED's per star instead of one like the originals. Below is a photo of the Heat sink after removing the moon pods.

Below is a photo with the new stars installed. Two royal blue and two UV.

In the photo below the royal blues one are now wired up. There are a lot of other wires that will need to be replaced since the insulation is crumbling from some of the wire. The light from the LED's must be getting to the insulation.

In photo below the UV LED's are wired up and some of the stars that are being replaced removed from the heatsink.

Below the old stars have been removed. I also have to glue back some of the lens holders that got knocked loose.

Below the lenses have been installed on the new stars and the other lenses were glued back.

Below are the LED's removed. The ones on the right check bad. The three bad lenses were on 3 of the 4 UV LED's. The ones in the bag check good but not sure it is worth trying to use them again.

Below are the wires that were replaced due to bad insulation.

I decided to change the fans also since they have been in use for even longer than the LED's. Below is a photo with one guard removed on one of the fans. The top frame has to be removed from the heat sink to replace the fans. The connectors are also mounted to this frame and have to be removed from the frame also.

Below is the two new fans. One has the guard already installed.

I will continue this in another post. More to come.

 

[n2585722]

Below is the top of the heatsink before cleaning with the top frame removed.

Below is the top frame flipped upside down on top of the heat sink.

Below is the top of the heatsink cleaned and ready for reassembly.

Below the new fans have been installed on the cleaned top frame assembly.

Below the top frame assembly has been reinstalled on the heat sink and the terminal strips have also been reinstalled on the top frame assembly.

Below the Light assembly has been flipped to show LED's.

Below the moon lights have been turned on and the assembly is back at the tank canopy.

Below the LED's are on except for the UV LED's.

Below the light assembly reinstalled in the canopy with all lights on at low level except for moon lights.

I had to lower the max level on both the UV's and royal blue LED's after installing the new LED's. I guess that was to be expected especially for the UV's since there are 6 of them now instead of 4. That is it on the LED fixture repair.