Reef nutrition

Reefstud's 50 gal tank 30X18X20

Hello Everyone,

Just got back into the hobby for 9month break. I found this glass 50gal tank on CL with my preferred dimensions and couldn't resist. For the last two months, i got the tank drilled, tested for leaks, got out my old rocks, plumbed everything, and now happily cycling the rocks.

Some of the equipment is from my previous 75gal:

Might need to re-do the rocks. Losing my touch :)

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Still using my old ATB skimmer

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ATO is in

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iani said:
What lights are you running on the tank?

This is my DIY leds. I've got about 40 3W LEDs, 24 Royal Blues and 16 Whites (only 14 are in used). I will add more if needed. I was going to put in the 80 degs optics, but it looks pretty bright.

All 40 leds and only 38 are being used. If need to, i will connect the last 2 whites.
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bunch of wires connecting to Meanwell power supply with total of 4. Two for Royal Blues and two for the Whites.

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There are also 2 heat sinks (6X9) on top as well.
 
phishphood said:
Lol I love the supply shelf. Bionic, seachem, pvc glue...SMIRNOFF :D

I'm browsing dial-up on the road and it's painful to wait for the pics. But when I saw smirnoff I figured I'd go ahead and waif for those pics to load!
 
Good job on the DIY LED lights. I like the Smirnoff DIY trick. May try that.
What are your feelings on the color so far? (my big problem)
It is hard to tell from pictures, let alone pics of white rock.
 
These are Cree XR-E RB and XP-G White

PAR reading:

1 inch above water = 210
i nch under water = 200-205
middle of tank = 175
Sandbed = 135 - 140!!

and this is without any optics at all.
 
rygh said:
Good job on the DIY LED lights. I like the Smirnoff DIY trick. May try that.
What are your feelings on the color so far? (my big problem)
It is hard to tell from pictures, let alone pics of white rock.

Thanks rygh,
I really like the intense blue color for the dusk-dawn look. I installed 4 power supplies for the fixture with
1. 12 blues - atinic look,
2. 12blues 4 whites - dusk dawn
3 & 4 . all whites

My setup is first half hour fires 12 blues, then 12blues with 4 whites for an hour, next all LEDs on for 5-6 hours, finally back to blues &whites and atinic.

Just took this picture with all lights on:

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More like a 20K look. The best thing is it's not heating up the tank whohoo! major plus.
 
Nice!!
Interesting concept of blue sunrise/sunset. Cool - literally.
My personal taste is a bit whiter than the 20K look, but I agree, it does look like that.
Good PAR readings, but oddly I might have expected even higher with XP-G.
Are you only driving those at 700 mA?

Glad to see it worked without optics. I think people over-estimate the need for them.
Really only needed if you have your lights way up above the tank a ways, are really deep, or hate the asthetics of
light spilling out to the sides of the tank.
Plus, in such a small box, you often want a larger difference in PAR, so you can put a wider light-sensitivity-range of coral in it.
The refraction of water helps as well.
 
The XPGs are driving at 1000mA and so are the XR-Es. I run them on a dimmable meanwell power supply just in case. There's so many options you can do to brighten up the tank.

I fired up all LEDs last night and boy it was hot! Even with two 6X9 heat sinks, didn't help. Had to turn on the fan too. If I bring the XR-Es down to 700mA, then it'll be much cooler for sure. I have tried that in the past.

rygh said:
Nice!!
Interesting concept of blue sunrise/sunset. Cool - literally.
My personal taste is a bit whiter than the 20K look, but I agree, it does look like that.
Good PAR readings, but oddly I might have expected even higher with XP-G.
Are you only driving those at 700 mA?

Glad to see it worked without optics. I think people over-estimate the need for them.
Really only needed if you have your lights way up above the tank a ways, are really deep, or hate the aesthetics of
light spilling out to the sides of the tank.
Plus, in such a small box, you often want a larger difference in PAR, so you can put a wider light-sensitivity-range of coral in it.
The refraction of water helps as well.
 
I like you LED DIY. For the topoff water, I'd replace the particle board the jug is resting on with real wood, that particle board stuff won't last and when it gets wet it all but disinegrates.
 
Thanks for reminding me, I'll have to replace that particle board someday. :)

CookieJar said:
I like you LED DIY. For the topoff water, I'd replace the particle board the jug is resting on with real wood, that particle board stuff won't last and when it gets wet it all but disinegrates.
 
Thanks Mike! For me the parts costs 400+. It all depends on where you buy your leds and accessories. You can get it cheaper if you go through dealextreme dot com, but it will take up to 4 weeks or more before they ship out. I couldn't wait that long and so got them from Nanotuners, rapidled, and ledsupply and RC. The parts were leds, heat sinks, Meanwells power supply, optics, and wires.

The pros: It'll last me for at least 3 years without buying new bulbs. :)

Coral reefer said:
Sweet lookin lights! How much in all do you think it wound up costing you to make?
 
I bought a set of cheap drivers from dealextreme - took forever, and really poor quality.
I am not sure I will use them.
Definitely like the usual vendors mentioned above.
Plus www.cutter.com.au - the only place to get bin sorted XP-G and XP-E. Only took an extra week.

--

With decent cooling, and running at such low power, I would expect a lot more than 3 years.
BTW: What you can do since the power supplies are dimmable/adjustable is increase them
by about 3% per year. They degrade fairly linearly. Especially easy if you have PAR/LUX measuring tool.
 
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