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08TRDOFFROAD's 45 Gallon Build

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 08TRDOFFROAD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 09 2011 at 2:53pm
Originally posted by Tanuki Tanuki wrote:

Many religions would say that the ocean was in fact stocked in a day though.  Im lost on the quote.

Looks like that rock is finally starting to take color!
 
Not to go into religion, but was it infact one day, or was in a couple....? Just some food for thought.
 
Yeah, it is finally getting some color. I wish it would be purple coraline encrusted already!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tanuki Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 09 2011 at 3:51pm
^Im sure god could avoid cycling the ocean haha.

Did you get any "purple up" from the reef fest?  You can have my bottle I got if you want it.


Edited by Tanuki - November 09 2011 at 3:51pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ptronsp Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 09 2011 at 7:01pm
Burt has nice stuff! It's great you got two anemones now.. great pics!

 Pam


The only clowns I like are in my tank!



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 08TRDOFFROAD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 10 2011 at 6:29am
Originally posted by Tanuki Tanuki wrote:

^Im sure god could avoid cycling the ocean haha.

Did you get any "purple up" from the reef fest?  You can have my bottle I got if you want it.
 
No I didn't. I didn't go to Reef Fest. I may take you up on that offer!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 08TRDOFFROAD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 17 2011 at 7:35am
I took a few pictures to update y'all on my Rose anemones! They are looking better and better every day since the split. They have been in my tank now for about ten days.



Here is my first casualty. My GBN (or the skeletal remains of). You can only see one tiny spot that still has any sort of PE. Sad day... I have been looking for another frag to replace it, but haven't seen any in months around here.



Edited by 08TRDOFFROAD - November 17 2011 at 7:36am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tanuki Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 17 2011 at 8:31am
^Probably wasn't getting enough light down there.  Sorry to hear!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rufessor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 17 2011 at 3:48pm
Second^  Also, these like LOTS of flow... doubt it had much on the sand.  Also, better to mount on rock, SPS generally not so happy in sand...  Better luck next, we all loose one now and again.
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler -A.E.
57 Gallon RImless build in progress check the thread before if becomes boring and just full of nice pictures of colorful coral!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rufessor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 17 2011 at 3:53pm
Oh... as for replacement... THere are a lot of people with this coral.  Many will frag kinda as demand comes... Just post a LF Green Birds Nest kinda title in the classifieds and you will likely get more than 1 offer.  I would frag mine but its moving to a bigger tank and I want it to be healthy for the transition in the next weeks.
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler -A.E.
57 Gallon RImless build in progress check the thread before if becomes boring and just full of nice pictures of colorful coral!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 08TRDOFFROAD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 19 2011 at 2:58pm
Originally posted by Tanuki Tanuki wrote:

^Probably wasn't getting enough light down there.  Sorry to hear!
It wasn't down there until after it died.... It was situated about 2/3 of the way up my rock work.

Edited by 08TRDOFFROAD - November 19 2011 at 3:00pm
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You can see where it was in this pic.
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 08TRDOFFROAD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 16 2011 at 6:41am

Here are a few updated pictures of the tank!

GSP

Kenya Trees

Xenia

Hammer

Starting to grow new heads from the skeleton

Toadstool Leather

Nuclear Green Candy Cane

Horrible picture of my Zoa's not even open

The twin RBTA's

Lights, equipment, and sump


Couple days worth of skimmate

FTS


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 08TRDOFFROAD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 03 2012 at 9:32pm
Well, I kind of forgot about this thread on here! A lot has changed with the tank in the last six months. I will try to pull some of the major events from posts on other forums to get it up to date.
 
First, I added an MP10 ES that my wife (Santa) bought me for Christmas.
 
I spent a few hours tinkering with it, and have it to a point were I am happy with it, but I am sure there is more tinkering in my future! Ha Ha!
 
The unboxing!
 
What is in the box...

 
On the tank.
 
I mounted the controller on the side of the stand with the included velcro.
I still need to tidy up the wires with some zip ties.
 
After flipping through the instruction manual, it became very apparent to me that Vortech intends these pumps to be used in pairs. 4 pages of the quick start manual are about assembly, and the next six are about pairing two pumps together. I called my LFS yesterday to see if they still had one on the shelf, (because they were still $265 instead of the $280 everyone else is selling them for) no luck. So I will be keeping my eye out on the classified section here and on other forums to try to pick up a second for the other side of the tank.
 
Anyway, here is a short video of the one running on my tank, making a "wave".

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Next, I switched to LED's. I DIY'ed a fixture with parts from Rapid LED. Here is the build.
 
Here is the unboxing!
 
The 2 Color dimming kit.
 
Partially assembled, minus the wiring/soldering.
 
The heatsinks with screws and thermal grease.

 
The Drivers and power cords.

 
Miscellaneous wire/supplies and led tester.
 
All 28 led's convienently labled with black 80 degree lenses!
 
And last but not least, the two led moonlight kit!


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The soldering station I ordered.



It has worked well so far! Hopefully it stays that way!

The moonligths...these were the first ones I tinned so they aren't the prettiest joints!

The rest of the led's.



A close-up!

I had an issue with the faceplate/dc connector on the dimmer kit (the dc connector is broken and doesn't snap securely into the faceplate), so I started working on it to practice my soldering skills, but have stopped because Mike is sending me a new one along with a bit more wire free of charge, rapid has great customer service!!!

There you have it! That is all the progress I have made so far!

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Ok, here is my documented 28 Cree Led  build. It took me probably 25 hours over the course of four days to complete the build start to finish.
I started out by polishing the heat sinks and then wiped them down with acetone to remove any residues that may have been left on them.

Here is the difference after polishing one heatsink.

Both polished and ready to go.

I ran to the LHS and picked up two pieces of aluminum 1" angle along with some chain and "s" hooks for hanging the fixture in the canopy.
All laid out ready to be clapped, drilled and bolted together.

I then measured and drilled the angle to use as a template for drilling the heatsinks (I forgot to take a pic of this step). All Clamped up.


Drilled and ready for bolts.

Bolted together and ready for LED's.

I drilled a hole in each end of the angle big enough to fit the eye bolts I had used to hang my halides in the stand.

Now it was time to start attaching the LED's!

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I started with the blues. I followed the pattern posted earlier in the build for LED layout.

B NW RB CW RB NW B || RB CW B NW B CW RB
--------- ML --------- || --------- ML --------
CW RB NW B NW RB CW|| NW B CW RB CW B NW

The blues attached.

You don't need very much thermal grease when attaching them to the heat sink. If you use too much it just oozes out and looks like crap! (I learned the hard way) I had to take off the led's once and repolish the sink because I used too much and the ^ happened.

Just the right amount!

Way too much! Ha ha!

Next it was the wiring and soldering, sorry to disappoint but there are no action shots as I only have two hands! ;)

The whites on and wired! Along with the moonlights screwed to the heatsink.


I finished up the wiring on the moonlights and the long runs on the leds to the drivers.


I used an insulated rubber disconnect on the wiring from the led's and the drivers to allow the easy removal of the led's/canopy without having to remove the drivers and dimmer switch.

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Next was the wiring the drivers. I repeated these steps for both drivers.

I started by stripping the insulation off the cord to be attached to the driver.

Then I soldered the connections and heat shrunk them to prevent a short or fire.

Then a final heat shrink to make it nice and pretty!

I did this for both drivers.

Next, I finished up the DIY Dimmer wiring.

Final assembly completed.

Dimmer Kit wired to driver. Like above, I soldered and heat shrunk the connections for protection.

All the wiring is complete and it is time for the moment of truth! Plugging them in and adjusting the SVR2! I have to admit, I was a bit like Clark Griswold at this point, although nobody else was there to give me a drum roll as I plugged in the drivers! Much like Clark's experience, the led's did not light…

Nothing happened…nothing lit up…nothing did anything! I quickly unplugged the driver hoping I didn't screw anything up! After several seconds of the driver being unplugged the led's would flash! I was so frustrated at this point after hours and hours and hours of work, it was the biggest let down!!!

I carefully checked each connection on the every led, checked for a ground somewhere on the heatsink and could not find any issues! After more than an hour of tinkering and still not getting the led's to light up I had all but given up when I looked across the counter and say the 10v adapter still in the plastic! I hadn't plugged the 10v supply in so the driver's weren't receiving a signal from the dimmer circuit! Ah ha! I thought, quickly plugged it in and then plugged in the drivers. Still nothing!!!!!!! I was ready to throw the fixture across the room! But, instead I calmly sat and double checked the wiring on the dimmer circuit…somehow I had crossed/confused the +/- dimmer circuit coming from the drivers and had wired the dimmer circuit backwards! I heated up the soldering iron and in a few minutes my stupid mistake was resolved. Hours of frustrations for something so stupid! Ha ha!

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Once again sans drum roll I plugged the blue driver in and….

I soldered my multimeter in line to adjust the voltage from the driver.

I set the blue driver to 750 mA. 

I turned the dimmer down with the meter still attached. It would dim down to 30 mA before the led's would shut off.


I unplugged the driver, waited several minutes and unsoldered the leads and resoldered the wiring.

Then it was on to the whites! I plugged them in and as expected it looked like high noon in my kitchen.

I soldered the leads in the exact same way I did on the blues.

I adjusted the SVR2 to run the driver at 1000 mA.

The whites don't dim near as low before they turn off. I didn't have the meter on so I can't tell you exactly how low they go mA wise.

Here is my fixture in all its glory! I definitely should have worn sunglasses!

Next was mounting it in the canopy. I used the eye bolts that were previously screwed in/installed for the halides. I installed the other eye bolts that I pulled out of my halides that were used to hang them from the rope.I then cut the 3 feet of chain I purchased into 1 foot length.

I fed the chains through the eye bolts and hung the fixture using the "s" hooks I picked up.

I used Velcro to mount the drivers and the dimmer control for easy removal, for some reason these pics didn't make it on my thumb drive, but I will add them later.
Here is everything mounted on the stand. (I still need to find a way to tidy up the wiring a bit)

I forgot to take a pic when I tested the moonlights, but here is one lit up!

And now for what I am sure you have all been waiting for…

FTS's!!!!!! Sorry I didn't realize they are so blurry...I really need a Nikon D5100!

Moon lights only

Royal blues only

Whites and blues

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 08TRDOFFROAD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 03 2012 at 9:46pm

I put the lenses on my LED's!

After talking to Mike at Rapid I picked up some plastic epoxy from my LHS.

I mixed equal parts of the two and spread it out as a thin layer for easy dipping of the lenses.

I then dipped the lenses and placed them on the the LED's.

I then used two "books" as a weight to hold the lenses nice and level/flat against the LED's while the epoxy set. I did half the fixture at a time. I left the books for 20 minutes to allow for cure time. (per the epoxy instructions)

I then repeated on the other side.

Here is one side complete!

Here is a before and after comparison to show how the lenses focus light down in to the tank!
Before:

After:

A few FTS after the lense install!

While I was waiting for the epoxy to set I did a water change! Here is my water mixing! (I was bored so I took pictures)

I also drilled syphon break holes in my loc-line finally!

 

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I added some SPS and lost most it. I struggled to get my alkalinity, magnesium and calcium to stabilize. I switched to Aquavitro Salinity, which seems to have curbed the problem.
 
Once I got the issues straightened out, I began adding more stuff.
 
I went with my wife yesterday to Bird World/Pet Village in Bountiful, which is a bit of a drive so we don't make it there very often. I saw a few things I HAD to have...I couldn't help myself!!!
Some zoa's (I believe they are either Aquaman or very nice strain of radio active dragoneyes)

 
A Green Birdnest

 
And a Bali Red Starfish (he was hiding behind my overflow box this morning, this is the best picture I could get)
 
My Bali Red Starfish poked out from my overflow box the other day. I was able to snap a few pics. These are the best pictures of him I have to date!
 
I also snapped a pic of my candy canes. They are showing signs of improvement!


 
This is what they looked like on February 24, 2012, right after I moved them to the sand bed in the shade.

 


Edited by 08TRDOFFROAD - May 03 2012 at 9:53pm
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