drummereef
Team RC
Those LEDs look killer Alex. I also love how you can direct them as needed. And you got the PAR numbers to boot. Nice job. :thumbsup: Can't wait to see it with the "real" camera when you get it back. 
Taqpol's 220 gallon custom Miracles tank!
- Thread starter Taqpol
- Start date
110galreef
New member
The LED setup is awesome indeed!
drummereef
Team RC
updates? It's been 3 days! When do you get the DSLR back?
When do you get the DSLR back?
ReefEnabler
Premium Member
Those number look really good Alex. I wouldn't worry about the lack of high intensity in the center; you dont have any high rocks there that would benefit from the intensity and the numbers seem to converge pretty evenly across the bottom. Optics on the center wouldn't hurt, but then you won't have as many mediun lit areas for LPS to thrive.
That 1/255 brightness range actually looks surprisingly good. Much better than the pre-wired pots that you can get with buckpucks. Those seem to turn off at almost 25% brightness.
That 1/255 brightness range actually looks surprisingly good. Much better than the pre-wired pots that you can get with buckpucks. Those seem to turn off at almost 25% brightness.
chrisfowler99
Premium Member
Awesome build! I got a quote the other day on a Miracles tank of the same dimensions (end overflow, though) and your shots/build has convinced me that I will definitely get quality if I order from them.
Chris,
I had Miracles build me a custom 180-gl last fall. Their build quality is off the charts and they are unbelievable to work with. I spoke directly to the builder during the whole process.
Good luck.......
SWINGRRRR
Premium Member
05/06/09
They grow up so fast!! I just read this one all the way through and Im on page 9 of the old 120 thread, the 10g just broke and flooded the basement!!! Yes I am bored at work, but great job so far.
They grow up so fast!! I just read this one all the way through and Im on page 9 of the old 120 thread, the 10g just broke and flooded the basement!!! Yes I am bored at work, but great job so far.
Taqpol
New member
I love that picture of her! I basically got her when I setup the 120, which would put both of them at about 1.5 years if the 120 still existed.05/06/09
They grow up so fast!! I just read this one all the way through and Im on page 9 of the old 120 thread, the 10g just broke and flooded the basement!!! Yes I am bored at work, but great job so far.
Taqpol
New member
I got the DSLR back on Friday, right before I left for the weekend to go to a mandatory "ethics retreat" for Duke. I start my first day of grad school tomorrow, but I should find some time to squeeze in some tank pictures in the first week while its still slow.updates? It's been 3 days!
Me too!
There are a lot of reasons to build the DIY drivers besides the lower cost. The full range dimming and 5v PWM input are amazing, and the Arduino is super easy to code.
Taqpol
New member
Thanks!WOW nice tank with the lights
You won't be disappointed!
Taqpol
New member
Well, I had promised myself I would take some tank pictures tonight, so I open up my camera that Canon claims was fixed just to find out it is still being weird. I'm going to try and troubleshoot a few more things before I call Canon but I'm pretty unhappy right now.
The good news is that I got my frag tank plumbed into the system as well as a bunch more electronics, including my APEX controller. More about that when I can finally give a picture update.
EDIT:
I also lost my last surviving clam to Pyram snails I did not know I had (technically it probably died due to the freshwater dip I gave it for "pinched mantle", but thats when I saw the pyram snails fall off). The person holding all my corals for me said she started losing all her clams back to back, and now I think I know why. I have no clams left, so my question is does anyone know how long pyram snails can last in a tank with no clams or is my system permanently infected?
The good news is that I got my frag tank plumbed into the system as well as a bunch more electronics, including my APEX controller. More about that when I can finally give a picture update.
EDIT:
I also lost my last surviving clam to Pyram snails I did not know I had (technically it probably died due to the freshwater dip I gave it for "pinched mantle", but thats when I saw the pyram snails fall off). The person holding all my corals for me said she started losing all her clams back to back, and now I think I know why. I have no clams left, so my question is does anyone know how long pyram snails can last in a tank with no clams or is my system permanently infected?
sps aquaria
New member
looks awesome
Taqpol
New member
Good news, I guess. My DSLR is not broken at all, it was the battery grip that was broken and causing "erratic button pressings". This is good because it means that my camera is fully back up and running (even though I haven't taken any pics with it), but a little bit annoying as I spent $250 on sending it to Canon when they didn't fix anything as well as the fact that if I had caught this earlier I probably could have taken more SLR pictures in Bora Bora. Hmmph.
I finally did get my butt into gear to take some point and shoot pictures of what has been done for awhile, just to document the build. Over a month ago I got all the electrical work done, including the Aquacontroller APEX.
Head unit inside the fish room:
Fish room EB8 on the opposite wall from the head unit. This will control my return pump, skimmer, heaters, ATO, and automated two part dosing:
I put a second EB8 underneath the display tank's stand, it is connected to the head unit by an extra long USB cord that runs through one of the holes I already made in the wall. This unit will control the Anemone tank's LED light (fan and two LED channels), two Tunze stream pumps in the main tank, and some cheap LED moonlights over the main tank. One of the cooler parts about the APEX is I have it controlling the moonlight schedule to conform to the actual phases of the moon.
I also added DJ power strip under the main tank for plugs that are just ON or OFF. I.e., Arduino power, vortech battery backup, and the vortechs themselves.
And a second DJ power strip for the fish room. Once things are more or less in their permanent positions I promise i will do something about all those wires, but for now I just have them setup where they can't drip into the power outlets.
My fish room is pretty tiny, even with the point and shoot and cant get back far enough to get the entire sump in one shot. Use your imagination.
I worked so hard to make sure it was parallel, but the manifold still came out crooked. Good thing I'm not too much of a perfectionist.
I finally did get my butt into gear to take some point and shoot pictures of what has been done for awhile, just to document the build. Over a month ago I got all the electrical work done, including the Aquacontroller APEX.
Head unit inside the fish room:
Fish room EB8 on the opposite wall from the head unit. This will control my return pump, skimmer, heaters, ATO, and automated two part dosing:
I put a second EB8 underneath the display tank's stand, it is connected to the head unit by an extra long USB cord that runs through one of the holes I already made in the wall. This unit will control the Anemone tank's LED light (fan and two LED channels), two Tunze stream pumps in the main tank, and some cheap LED moonlights over the main tank. One of the cooler parts about the APEX is I have it controlling the moonlight schedule to conform to the actual phases of the moon.
I also added DJ power strip under the main tank for plugs that are just ON or OFF. I.e., Arduino power, vortech battery backup, and the vortechs themselves.
And a second DJ power strip for the fish room. Once things are more or less in their permanent positions I promise i will do something about all those wires, but for now I just have them setup where they can't drip into the power outlets.
My fish room is pretty tiny, even with the point and shoot and cant get back far enough to get the entire sump in one shot. Use your imagination.
I worked so hard to make sure it was parallel, but the manifold still came out crooked. Good thing I'm not too much of a perfectionist.
Taqpol
New member
I also started running Warner Marine EcoBAK as a form of pelletized carbon dosing. My Nitrates have risen to 15ppm due to heavy feedings and overall a very "new" tank, so this will be an interesting test to see how well they control my nutrients. Unfortunately, I plan on running 1 liter of pellets but 500mL almost fills up my re purposed TLF 150 phosban reactor:
Especially with the flow on, I don't think i could fit more pellets in there. I don't really know what to do at this point because I didn't particularly want to spend over $100 on a specialized reactor.
The really big news is that I got my frag tank set up! Its just a standard 20g long (12"x30") lit by my old Current Sundial 4x24 watt T5 fixture. Its fed off my manifold and two 1" overflow pipes return back to the sump.
Three tiered egg crate frag rack. I took PAR measurments on marked them on the tank so that I know where to move my corals to acclimate them for a transfer to the main tank.
Egg crate lid with feeding/manipulating hole:
Especially with the flow on, I don't think i could fit more pellets in there. I don't really know what to do at this point because I didn't particularly want to spend over $100 on a specialized reactor.
The really big news is that I got my frag tank set up! Its just a standard 20g long (12"x30") lit by my old Current Sundial 4x24 watt T5 fixture. Its fed off my manifold and two 1" overflow pipes return back to the sump.
Three tiered egg crate frag rack. I took PAR measurments on marked them on the tank so that I know where to move my corals to acclimate them for a transfer to the main tank.
Egg crate lid with feeding/manipulating hole:
Taqpol
New member
North Carolina had a really cool frag swap/expo on Saturday called ReefSMART. Professional vendors and hobbyist's set up booths and overall the prices on everything were really good. Here are some teaser shots of what I was able to pick up to start restocking my tank:
Also getting ready for my next big project, skinning the stand! This really should be part of a Mazda commercial, but I am very impressed at the capacity of my wife's new Mazda3.I ended up getting a lot of eight foot boards, since I need ~74" for some of my cuts and the next smallest size was 72". Can I fit multiple eight foot boards in a small sedan? I don't see why not...
Start back here:
Put the back seats down:
And then rest everything else on the shifter knob:
The next step was to never slam on the breaks for fear of a 1x8x8 projectile flying through the windshield, but the boards ended up having enough mass they did not shift at all!
Hopefully I'll get some work done on the stand this week as well as take some SLR pics of the tank and livestock, but we'll see what school has in store for me this week.
Also getting ready for my next big project, skinning the stand! This really should be part of a Mazda commercial, but I am very impressed at the capacity of my wife's new Mazda3.I ended up getting a lot of eight foot boards, since I need ~74" for some of my cuts and the next smallest size was 72". Can I fit multiple eight foot boards in a small sedan? I don't see why not...
Start back here:
Put the back seats down:
And then rest everything else on the shifter knob:
The next step was to never slam on the breaks for fear of a 1x8x8 projectile flying through the windshield, but the boards ended up having enough mass they did not shift at all!
Hopefully I'll get some work done on the stand this week as well as take some SLR pics of the tank and livestock, but we'll see what school has in store for me this week.
Taqpol
New member
Well, I finally got around to taking the true color pictures I promised a long time ago. Let me just say, taking nice pictures of a LED driven system is MUCH harder then my previous T5 system. With the T5's I would shoot in the RAW mode on my camera (Canon T1i) and then adjust the white balance in kelvins to 14000 to 18000 to match the lighting in Photoshop. It turns out that for some reason my cameras sensor can not get the kelvin right under LEDs, it can't even get the tint right! In the photoshop RAW editor the auto white balance would set the images around 6500K and a tint of -10 (towards green). After fiddling with all the different settings for an hour before finally trying Photoshop's auto white balance eye dropper I discovered that a Kelvin of ~14000 and a tint of -120 (that is not a typo) matched the colors of my tank almost perfectly!
FTS
Right Island complex
Green Birdsnest
GARF Purple Bonsai. It is a miracle this tiny piece survived the shipping fiasco, but its coloring back up fast.
Platygyra
Zoanthids
Sunset Montipora
Pavona
Rose Bubble Tip Anemone (In the anemone tank)
FTS
Right Island complex
Green Birdsnest
GARF Purple Bonsai. It is a miracle this tiny piece survived the shipping fiasco, but its coloring back up fast.
Platygyra
Zoanthids
Sunset Montipora
Pavona
Rose Bubble Tip Anemone (In the anemone tank)
