Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
Ever since I bought a 92 Corner Bowfront tank and started maintaining the tank owned by the guy I bought it from, I've been itching to set up my first saltwater tank. So far, I've just been maintaining for others.
Priority right now is to take my Professional Engineering Licensure Examination on April 8th, which in case you don't know that is an 8 hour exam that requires about 300 hours of study for most people, and about 65% pass it on the first try. This is job related, if I pass then I can stamp & sign plans & spec for construction projects, studies, reports, etc related to the commercial construction industry (I work at a Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing consulting firm). If I don't pass, I have to take the test again in October. I have made a pledge that I will take on no big projects until I pass this test. This project (in addition to advancing my career) is my motivation. Plus, who really wants to take an 8 hour exam twice?
However, timing is never perfect...
Last month, a new LFS was started up by a couple guys in the local Reef Society, and they kicked it off with a big tank sale. This inspired my local LFS / Club Sponsor to do that same.
Last week, I paid $355 for an All-Glass / Aqueon 120G tank, 24 x 24 x 48, black trim, undrilled (I'll get into why). The tank will be available for me to pick up TODAY!!!
Next, I decided that since I'm a EE and a good % of what I do is lighting design, I might as well put all that to work and DIY my own fixture. So sometime in the next 2 weeks, I'll be dropping some $$ for that project.
Then, I get to sit there and look at it...and suffer while I study...
So this is my project outline:
1) Overflow & Return
The tank will be drilled for external beananimal style 3-pipe tuned full siphon system. It will have an internal black acrylic coast-to-coast overflow box, an external clear acrylic box for the 3-pipe system, and 4 bulkheads joining the 2 sections together, based on a design I saw on the big thread (and got a bunch of detailed pics from the builder of that one). This may be done on one side of the tank, as my original evil scheme was to knock a hole in the wall (actually, this was jokingly suggested by my wife, but I took it QUITE seriously). After thinking about it, I would like to have the tank against the wall for space reasons and frame around the sides of the tank. The returns would come up the other side, and a series of pipes and jets would distribute from there. Perhaps 4 jets.
2) Sump
Likely a 40 Breeder, maybe a 75. Don't know on this one.
3) Filtration
ATS. Possibly LED, but likely T5HO.
4) Other circulation
I have been considering installing a closed-loop system. However, I am also toying around with wanting a wavemaker system also, so I'm leaving this one on the fence. I'm leaning toward power heads because it allows more flexibility.
5) Lighting system
Ahh, yes. I will be making my own fixture.
5a) Lights: The base design as of right now consists of 96 Cree LEDs. 60 XP-E Royal Blue and 36 XP-G Cool White and 60 degree XP-X lenses
5b) Driver Board: 3 DIY Driver Boards. Thanks to TheFishMan65 for filling me in on how his works. In case you don't know, here's a quick run-down and feel free to correct me if I have this wrong Rob. Each board is capable of driving 48 LEDs (8 strings of 6). The reason for 3 boards is because you can't mix RBs and CWs on a board (well, you CAN). The boards are essentially dual-boards - each side of the board is powered by an independent power supply connection point, so you can run the whole board on 1 PS or 2 PSs. I'm going to have one board for only CWs, 18 on each side running on 1 PS, then the 2 other boards will have the RBs, which will require 2 PSs total, however I end up configuring it. Actually I may go with 1 per side, for a total of 6 but we'll see. I will have expansion capability to a total of 144 LEDs.
5c) Lighting Control: The DIY boards have PWM dimming inputs, and I will be purchasing an Arduino board to perform lighting control. Each board is configured so that there is quite a bit of flexibility. Each side (4 strings of 6) can be configured for 2 dimming channels of 2 strings each, or split into 1 and 3 strings, or 1/1/2. So with 3 boards, I could have up to 18 dimming channels. Bwahahaha! My vision is to run my tank lights to music like that guy that did his Christmas lights on his house to "Wizards of Winter" or whatever that was.
5d) Heat Sink: I will buying these heat sinks http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=wT7LY0lnAe3hVEsFt1WZEQ== for each LED and building a framing system out of aluminum channel/angle/square. Thanks to terahz for pointing me to his build
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1880113
As for the arragement of the LEDs, I got a chance to do a preliminary layout. The pics below show the Cool Whites in Green (works better than black) and the Royal Blues are in...Blue
All LEDs
Cool Whites only
Royal Blues only
I tried to position everything so that the Blues had a maximum of 3 adjacent blues and the Whites a maximum of 2. I think it will be fine no matter what, since I should be able to tweak the position and angle of each LED then lock them down. Just trying to keep that tweaking to a minimum.
After thinking about it a bit, the pattern may be a little tighter. I haven't taken into consideration the rim of the tank and the crossbar, but since I will have aiming control over each LED, this may not matter much (and doesn't matter at all at this point). I haven't decided on the height of the fixture above the tank but it will likely be at least 6 inches if not more like 12. The canopy will enclose the fixture, but will likely be open on top all the way to the ceiling and vented (see more about canopy below). I have thought about lining the walls between the tank and fixture with mylar or something to reflect any sideways light component back into the tank. This could make the fixture very efficient and powerful. Perhaps too powerful?
6) Stand & Canopy
I will be building my own stand out of 4x4 posts and 2x6 framing. I would, if at all possible, like to make a skin to cover it all up that would match the wainscoting in my office/study. As for the canopy, it will likely go to the ceiling and match up with the crown molding. My goal is to have everything blended together so it looks like it was original to the house, without cutting things all apart. At least for now. Insert evil laugh here.
7) Controller
My latest obsession is the Arduino based controller. This little thing totally intrigues me. I will be getting my hands on a Reef Angel Controller eventually, and rigging this in to the system to control the ATS Lighting cycle, heating, cooling fans, pH and temp monitoring, dosers, etc. There is also a wireless module so I can rig up one of those cool footers that says what's going on in your tank. I will have to figure out if you can wire 2 Arduino controllers to talk to each other, since the RA only has something like 4 or 6 PWM dimming channels. Or I might just scale back my evil 18 channel dimming project. Or NOT.
8) Ramp-up
Once I get all of this together, I plan to follow Randy Holmes-Farley's advice. I will probably try to find members of The Greater Iowa Reef Society and buy up about 250 pounds of LR and probably some substrate also. Then I will set everything up and play with it for a couple of months, decide on the best arrangement, let the tank cycle up and settle in, and let the ATS screen get established. Then once a couple of months have passed, I'll get a clean-up crew and let them get a foothold.
9) Corals
This one will probably not be up to me, at least not completely. I think I'm going to let HER pick the corals. I remember one comment she made after going to a Frag Fest was "can we have a tank with just corals?". Of course, she'll want fish too once she sees how much cooler they are than FW fish. I'm thinking I'll want LPS and SPS, with a few softies, but this is by no means set in stone. I'll be getting a few books on the subject and do some dreamscaping before settling in on anything. However, I would like to do some really exotic corals. And there must be at least one Giant Clam. Those are soooooo cool.
10) Fish
No idea yet. But I do have a wholesale connection so I can get whatever I want really. And I've got plenty of time to plan that out, so there's no rush. Plus, I really do plan on not introducing any fish into the tank for at least the first 6 months. I really need to also figure out what I'm going to do for a Quarantine tank, since I don't think it would be wise to add any fish to this system until they've been isolated for a good long time.
It would be REALLY nice if I was ready for corals by the time MACNA comes around, because there will be a TON of awesome corals available there. In case you didn't know, MACNA 2011 MACNA 2011 > Home is in Des Moines September 9-11. I live in West Des Moines, so I'll be working the event. Remember to mark your calendars, and remember that general admission for kids under 18 is FREE for the first time ever. There will likely be tours of the Des Moines Central Campus Marine Biology Department's aquarium room - 16,000 gallons of saltwater! I believe there will also be free admission to the Blank Park Zoo with admission to MACNA - they have several marine systems also.
Priority right now is to take my Professional Engineering Licensure Examination on April 8th, which in case you don't know that is an 8 hour exam that requires about 300 hours of study for most people, and about 65% pass it on the first try. This is job related, if I pass then I can stamp & sign plans & spec for construction projects, studies, reports, etc related to the commercial construction industry (I work at a Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing consulting firm). If I don't pass, I have to take the test again in October. I have made a pledge that I will take on no big projects until I pass this test. This project (in addition to advancing my career) is my motivation. Plus, who really wants to take an 8 hour exam twice?
However, timing is never perfect...
Last month, a new LFS was started up by a couple guys in the local Reef Society, and they kicked it off with a big tank sale. This inspired my local LFS / Club Sponsor to do that same.
Last week, I paid $355 for an All-Glass / Aqueon 120G tank, 24 x 24 x 48, black trim, undrilled (I'll get into why). The tank will be available for me to pick up TODAY!!!
Next, I decided that since I'm a EE and a good % of what I do is lighting design, I might as well put all that to work and DIY my own fixture. So sometime in the next 2 weeks, I'll be dropping some $$ for that project.
Then, I get to sit there and look at it...and suffer while I study...
So this is my project outline:
1) Overflow & Return
The tank will be drilled for external beananimal style 3-pipe tuned full siphon system. It will have an internal black acrylic coast-to-coast overflow box, an external clear acrylic box for the 3-pipe system, and 4 bulkheads joining the 2 sections together, based on a design I saw on the big thread (and got a bunch of detailed pics from the builder of that one). This may be done on one side of the tank, as my original evil scheme was to knock a hole in the wall (actually, this was jokingly suggested by my wife, but I took it QUITE seriously). After thinking about it, I would like to have the tank against the wall for space reasons and frame around the sides of the tank. The returns would come up the other side, and a series of pipes and jets would distribute from there. Perhaps 4 jets.
2) Sump
Likely a 40 Breeder, maybe a 75. Don't know on this one.
3) Filtration
ATS. Possibly LED, but likely T5HO.
4) Other circulation
I have been considering installing a closed-loop system. However, I am also toying around with wanting a wavemaker system also, so I'm leaving this one on the fence. I'm leaning toward power heads because it allows more flexibility.
5) Lighting system
Ahh, yes. I will be making my own fixture.
5a) Lights: The base design as of right now consists of 96 Cree LEDs. 60 XP-E Royal Blue and 36 XP-G Cool White and 60 degree XP-X lenses
5b) Driver Board: 3 DIY Driver Boards. Thanks to TheFishMan65 for filling me in on how his works. In case you don't know, here's a quick run-down and feel free to correct me if I have this wrong Rob. Each board is capable of driving 48 LEDs (8 strings of 6). The reason for 3 boards is because you can't mix RBs and CWs on a board (well, you CAN). The boards are essentially dual-boards - each side of the board is powered by an independent power supply connection point, so you can run the whole board on 1 PS or 2 PSs. I'm going to have one board for only CWs, 18 on each side running on 1 PS, then the 2 other boards will have the RBs, which will require 2 PSs total, however I end up configuring it. Actually I may go with 1 per side, for a total of 6 but we'll see. I will have expansion capability to a total of 144 LEDs.
5c) Lighting Control: The DIY boards have PWM dimming inputs, and I will be purchasing an Arduino board to perform lighting control. Each board is configured so that there is quite a bit of flexibility. Each side (4 strings of 6) can be configured for 2 dimming channels of 2 strings each, or split into 1 and 3 strings, or 1/1/2. So with 3 boards, I could have up to 18 dimming channels. Bwahahaha! My vision is to run my tank lights to music like that guy that did his Christmas lights on his house to "Wizards of Winter" or whatever that was.
5d) Heat Sink: I will buying these heat sinks http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=wT7LY0lnAe3hVEsFt1WZEQ== for each LED and building a framing system out of aluminum channel/angle/square. Thanks to terahz for pointing me to his build
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1880113
As for the arragement of the LEDs, I got a chance to do a preliminary layout. The pics below show the Cool Whites in Green (works better than black) and the Royal Blues are in...Blue
All LEDs
Cool Whites only
Royal Blues only
I tried to position everything so that the Blues had a maximum of 3 adjacent blues and the Whites a maximum of 2. I think it will be fine no matter what, since I should be able to tweak the position and angle of each LED then lock them down. Just trying to keep that tweaking to a minimum.
After thinking about it a bit, the pattern may be a little tighter. I haven't taken into consideration the rim of the tank and the crossbar, but since I will have aiming control over each LED, this may not matter much (and doesn't matter at all at this point). I haven't decided on the height of the fixture above the tank but it will likely be at least 6 inches if not more like 12. The canopy will enclose the fixture, but will likely be open on top all the way to the ceiling and vented (see more about canopy below). I have thought about lining the walls between the tank and fixture with mylar or something to reflect any sideways light component back into the tank. This could make the fixture very efficient and powerful. Perhaps too powerful?
6) Stand & Canopy
I will be building my own stand out of 4x4 posts and 2x6 framing. I would, if at all possible, like to make a skin to cover it all up that would match the wainscoting in my office/study. As for the canopy, it will likely go to the ceiling and match up with the crown molding. My goal is to have everything blended together so it looks like it was original to the house, without cutting things all apart. At least for now. Insert evil laugh here.
7) Controller
My latest obsession is the Arduino based controller. This little thing totally intrigues me. I will be getting my hands on a Reef Angel Controller eventually, and rigging this in to the system to control the ATS Lighting cycle, heating, cooling fans, pH and temp monitoring, dosers, etc. There is also a wireless module so I can rig up one of those cool footers that says what's going on in your tank. I will have to figure out if you can wire 2 Arduino controllers to talk to each other, since the RA only has something like 4 or 6 PWM dimming channels. Or I might just scale back my evil 18 channel dimming project. Or NOT.
8) Ramp-up
Once I get all of this together, I plan to follow Randy Holmes-Farley's advice. I will probably try to find members of The Greater Iowa Reef Society and buy up about 250 pounds of LR and probably some substrate also. Then I will set everything up and play with it for a couple of months, decide on the best arrangement, let the tank cycle up and settle in, and let the ATS screen get established. Then once a couple of months have passed, I'll get a clean-up crew and let them get a foothold.
9) Corals
This one will probably not be up to me, at least not completely. I think I'm going to let HER pick the corals. I remember one comment she made after going to a Frag Fest was "can we have a tank with just corals?". Of course, she'll want fish too once she sees how much cooler they are than FW fish. I'm thinking I'll want LPS and SPS, with a few softies, but this is by no means set in stone. I'll be getting a few books on the subject and do some dreamscaping before settling in on anything. However, I would like to do some really exotic corals. And there must be at least one Giant Clam. Those are soooooo cool.
10) Fish
No idea yet. But I do have a wholesale connection so I can get whatever I want really. And I've got plenty of time to plan that out, so there's no rush. Plus, I really do plan on not introducing any fish into the tank for at least the first 6 months. I really need to also figure out what I'm going to do for a Quarantine tank, since I don't think it would be wise to add any fish to this system until they've been isolated for a good long time.
It would be REALLY nice if I was ready for corals by the time MACNA comes around, because there will be a TON of awesome corals available there. In case you didn't know, MACNA 2011 MACNA 2011 > Home is in Des Moines September 9-11. I live in West Des Moines, so I'll be working the event. Remember to mark your calendars, and remember that general admission for kids under 18 is FREE for the first time ever. There will likely be tours of the Des Moines Central Campus Marine Biology Department's aquarium room - 16,000 gallons of saltwater! I believe there will also be free admission to the Blank Park Zoo with admission to MACNA - they have several marine systems also.
