First large tank - 180 reef build (1 Viewer)

[tthorn125]

Finally got around to working on the LED's. With the kid on the way, other priorities have slowed me down.

Took me a while just to cut the aluminum, create the sections, clean everything and use adhesive to glue the LED's to the aluminum. I had considered drilling individual holes for each, however the thought of 216 holes didn't appeal to me. I know that I can chisel any LED's that need replacing off if needed. I also learned that a very small tube of adhesive goes a LONG way. If anyone need adhesive, let me know. I have 3 unopened tubes of Arctic Aluminum left over and at least 1/2 of another tube.

Soldering believe it or not wasn't really all that big of a deal. Last time I soldered something was probably 25 years ago. Everything went smooth when pre-tinning the + & - tabs on the LED's.

I still have to cut wire to length and pre-tin the wire. After that I have all the stuff needed for finishing, just need to DO IT. lol Actually, I still need a thin piece of acrylic to use as a splash shield. I will also be using 60 degree optics on the cool whites, and no optics for the royal blues.

Here are a couple pics of the sections going above the three openings. They are four rows of nine LED's each. Total of 108 with 72 royal blue and 36 cool whites. The three sections will be connected to each other with the left over aluminum so it'll be one solid unit hanging from the ceiling. They are 12" wide by 19" long so they should cover the opening nicely.

 

[tthorn125]

No LED's yet. But I do have a video update.

 

[tthorn125]

Well... Baby was born on April 16th, so there has been a delay in working on anything tank related until Memorial weekend. I was able to solder the LED's and attach the 3 pieces together.

The whites:

and the blues:

As many other people have stated before, the blues don't show well under the camera at all. Very blurry in the picture.

One issue that I've seen so far is the whites being over driven when I have the dimmer set higher than 1/2 way. If I go much past 1/2 way, one of them starts to wisp smoke. When testing with a meter, the whites are about 1.3A just below 1/2 way. The blues show about 650mA-700mA around 1/2 way.

When working with the vendor to buy the LED's, they told me that using (2) Meanwell HLG-185H-42B's would be fine as each color could have it's own dedicated driver on a separate dimmer. They stated that the driver would only push 1.43A through the whites at full power. Hmmm... Someone didn't do their math.

Next step's:
Mount 2x4's on the ceiling in the fish room
Use my wire and hooks to hang the light centered over the tank
Start moving 75 gallon over and tear it down

 

[tthorn125]

Pictures with LED's... (Camera phone)

Left side

Right side

Full doesn't all quite fit

Frogspawn and Neon Green Candy Cane

Fuzzy mushroom and Leather

VERY big green nepthia

Red mushrooms with green spots

Lobo, I believe

Foxface

Bubble tip

Smaller leather

Fuzzy Coral Beauty

Acans and Zoas

 

[Taklu]

Well... Baby was born on April 16th,

Congrats! :beerchug: IMO anything else can wait:goldfish: but wont :gay1:

Like the rockwork ,,, nice and open.. once the tank fills out this will be awesome lots of spots for fish and other critters to call home

You may have mentioned but havent scrolled back... what are you using for controlling/dimming the LEDs

 

[tthorn125]

Thanks!

I used the Meanwell 185-42b's, one for white and one for the blues. I have a manual dial for both the blues and the whites with a wall wart, but it's setup for use with my controller if I buy the ALC unit for the RKL. I'm keeping it pretty simple for now with the above mentioned time constraint...

 

[MitchOdds]

CREE LEDs

Hey, I was just reading through this and I saw the mAh that you are running your LEDs at. The CREE LEDs I have, the whites will only work up to 1500mAh (1.5A) before blowing and the blues will only go up to 1A. The Meanwell drivers I got from RapidLED have a variable adjuster inside that you can turn the max down on to around the max of the actual LEDs and then have a potentiometer to adjust them while actually using them... Hopefully I don't find out that you found this all out the hard way as I read on...

Nice build!

-Mitch

Well... Baby was born on April 16th, so there has been a delay in working on anything tank related until Memorial weekend. I was able to solder the LED's and attach the 3 pieces together.

The whites:

and the blues:

As many other people have stated before, the blues don't show well under the camera at all. Very blurry in the picture.

One issue that I've seen so far is the whites being over driven when I have the dimmer set higher than 1/2 way. If I go much past 1/2 way, one of them starts to wisp smoke. When testing with a meter, the whites are about 1.3A just below 1/2 way. The blues show about 650mA-700mA around 1/2 way.

When working with the vendor to buy the LED's, they told me that using (2) Meanwell HLG-185H-42B's would be fine as each color could have it's own dedicated driver on a separate dimmer. They stated that the driver would only push 1.43A through the whites at full power. Hmmm... Someone didn't do their math.

Next step's:
Mount 2x4's on the ceiling in the fish room
Use my wire and hooks to hang the light centered over the tank
Start moving 75 gallon over and tear it down

 

[tthorn125]

Hey, I was just reading through this and I saw the mAh that you are running your LEDs at. The CREE LEDs I have, the whites will only work up to 1500mAh (1.5A) before blowing and the blues will only go up to 1A. The Meanwell drivers I got from RapidLED have a variable adjuster inside that you can turn the max down on to around the max of the actual LEDs and then have a potentiometer to adjust them while actually using them... Hopefully I don't find out that you found this all out the hard way as I read on...

Nice build!

-Mitch

Thanks Mitch.

What drivers do you have? I have not read anything about the 185-42b's that states it has a variable adjuster. I know that the smaller Meanwell's have that functionality.

 

[tthorn125]

Few updated pics.

We put in some "temporary" walls for the time being and framed in the tank.

Some corals picked up today from Flounder.

We'll be on the lookout for some more SPS...

 

[mapierce7]

Really nice looking build. In wall 180 is a great looking display.

 

[tthorn125]

Thanks. I can't take a FTS without it looking so small. The LED's true color don't show correctly either. Added 10 more smaller pieces of coral on Thursday.

 

[Fragtastic Reef]

Looks great! I actually like the OSB wall it really makes the tank "pop" :rock:

 

[tthorn125]

I really like the contrast from the wall as well. We cut the opening a little small in the front of the tank so its a bit hard to get in there, most of the access is from behind in the fish room.

 

[mapierce7]

Thanks. I can't take a FTS without it looking so small. The LED's true color don't show correctly either. Added 10 more smaller pieces of coral on Thursday.

Well the tank being the same size as your couch helps put it in perspective :a16:

 

[tthorn125]

Very true...

 

[tthorn125]

Update

Had a large clam from the fall swap that didn't make it. Very frustrating. Everything else is growing.

Here are some updated pics.

Green Nepthia is growing quite big. Time to frag pieces, it's folding over in the back from lack of light.

Blue / Green Bubble Tip - Started with one now I have four. Split three times, two big and two small.

Frog spawn and hammer are growing quite large. Not sure how many heads are there now.

Right side

Center

Left side

 

[tthorn125]

Full tank shot.

 

[tthorn125]

Start em' young.

 

[eschulist]

Tank is maturing nicely. Those LEDs have added some color to many of your corals and they are definitely growing.

Awwww the curiosity of a child, so sweet.

 

[tthorn125]

Thanks. So hard to get a good idea of the tank colors with LED's. Camera's just don't adjust real well.

My son will sit and watch the tank for hours if I hold him up there.