Monday, February 18, 2019

Day 15, The tank that took 7 years to aquascape..

So I finally got a good weekend, with all the ducks in the proper order, and was able to rescape (or finish scaping) the tank.  Now many many moons ago, when I first started all this, I was purchasing monster boulders one at a time direct from Fiji.  The idea at the time was, put one in, let it cycle up, then do another, and keep this up until a mains breaks and floods the house..  err..  I mean it's finished?

So some detours happened along the way, and I wasn't keeping up with the purchases fast enough, and I ended up with half a tank full of rock.  Which you have seen in all the "lovely" full tank shots, where you can see about 5 feet of bare sandbed.  Exiting stuff that.

Of course, because I'm super creative when it comes to fancy rockwork, my plan was "a big wall of rocks".  So to assist with this wall, I built a PVC frame that goes all the way to the bottom of the tank, so the rocks could sit up on it off the bottom a bit.  This gives the fish a permanent cave to hide in, and keeps the deep recesses from turning anoxic.  One of the main returns curves down there a bit, just to give some flow in there (very gentle), just to keep the water moving about.  I figure the sponges will love it too.

So along my new plan of "just get it done, don't spend 6 more years buying 1 rock every 3 months", I went online and got 240lbs of dry rock.

Now the old me would freak out right now and say dry rock is worthless, only Fiji or Pukani for me.  But that stuff is hard to get now.  And I refuse to use Atlantic rock, because I don't want to deal with the hitchikers.  So dead it is.

I got three boxes from Amazon prime, as I mentioned in a previous post.  Then I decided to get 3 more boxes from ArcReef.  I'm super happy with the Amazon Prime stuff.  Cheap, good rock, nice sizes, good stuff that.  The ArcReef stuff..  eeeehh..

So here is my thoughts on the ArcReef rock, and it's mildly whiny.

  • It is 100% the same rock as the stuff that cost 1/3rd as much off Prime.  After I rinsed all the different rock off, I had a really hard time telling it apart.
  • They shipped 51 lbs instead of 45 per box.  So that was nice.
  • I picked ArcReef because they say on the Amazon page that you can request specific sizes.  So of course I say I want 20-45lb boulders.  (Which the page specifically says they will do.
  • I ordered 3 boxes.  The first one arrived, and they required signature for delivery.  They needed an actual signature for a 45lb box of dead rock.  Completely absurd.  So of course I had to sign the little paper and wait for re-delivery.
  • I get the delivery, and it's only 1 box.  There is a note saying the other two were shipped 1 day later.
  • The rocks were kinda small.  Just a bunch of 8" rocks.  The Prime stuff was all 12" or better.  They obviously ignored my note.
  • 1 week later, no rocks.  Fedex says they don't even have the boxes yet.
  • So I send them a note on Amazon.  "Hey, my rocks didn't actually ship.  Also, I wanted boulders, which you said you would provide, please be sure the next 2 boxes are boulders"
  • Next two boxes show up, signature required of course...
  • Just a bunch of 8" rocks again, with a "we're sorry we forgot to ship them, oops"
 Now don't get me wrong.  They are good rocks.  But for the price, I wanted the specific size.  I didn't get that. I have no issues with the rock itself, just that I overpaid for it, because I wanted big rocks.  And the shipping issues were super annoying.

Either way.. Here is 260ish lbs of rock.  Can you tell them apart?  Hint, the big ones were from Prime.


So because as previously stated, my aquascaping theory is "chuck them in", I asked my wife to design an aquascape.  We watched a bunch of videos together, threw some ideas around, and then watched a particularly good set of videos with various shapes of tanks, and ideas.  One of them was a corner tank, and the concept he called "Sleeping dragon".

So we took this idea, because in essence what I really have is two corner tanks connected together (because there is no side-view), and made a huge dragon.  On the left side of the tank, we have the head, and on the right side, a small tail.




Now..  this was no easy project.  It took a day and a half.  Some of those boulders I originally purchased were in the range of 90-100 lbs each.  There were at least 6 that were 80+, and about 10 more that were in the 40 range.  Moving them around was a nightmare.  And oh the sandstorms we caused.  It would get so bad that we couldn't see what we were doing.

In the end, the smaller rocks weren't all that bad, as the big monsters filled in the majority of the space, and then the smaller ones just fit in perfectly to make various shapes, and fill in gaps all over the place.  We also made a small island on one side, just because there is so much space in the tank.  I feel like this structure uses alot more of the available footprint of the sand, and it's now far more stunning to look at.  Overall, I'm super happy with this.

And to put a kick on the end, I have turned on the main lights finally.  I have them set at 15% of full power, and will run like that for probably a week.

In other news, the GFO completely destroyed the phosphate in the tank.  So much so that I'm now shutting it off, because it's caused the chaeto to die back.  I still have a little bit of Nitrate, but that's all easy to deal with.  Hopefully things will balance out once the ugly phase begins....

Turning the lights on has also shown up some dark spots in the tank.  So I need to figure out a few spots or similar to fill those in.  I might just go with some cheap black boxes around the corners to fill in the dead spots, as I don't think I need a ton of light.  I'm also slightly concerned about the amount of white light..  I might swap the COB's for blues.. not sure..  we will see.

Oh, and since you made it to the end.  Here is the timelapse of us doing the aquascape!


Dreaming of a future shipment of peppermint shrimp.. I crawl into bed, exhausted...

Build a 100 watt passively cooled LED cannon for under $200

If you want to build a DIY LED for your tank, there are plenty of resources on the internet to get you started on the usual setup of a driver, and a bucket full of little 3 watt stars to make your lovely strip-style light.  But maybe the strip lights aren't what you want?  Maybe you want something big and stupidly powerful, with a single point of light and deep penetration into the tank.  If so, this build is for you.

This article will guide you step by step through making a large 100 watt pendant LED.  Some of these steps can be modified easily enough, such as swapping in a smaller 50 watt light, or maybe going with a more custom emitter setup.  If you decide to try something a little different, the majority of the steps will still apply to you, you will just be on your own a bit with the adjustments.  None of this however is complex, nor will it require a degree in electrical engineering or great soldering skills.  This is actually about as simple as an LED gets.  1 driver, 2 wires, 1 LED.  Total build time should be about 4-6 hours.

Important note: The heatsink for this is no joke.  The one pictured below is a CoolBay TERA-A, which is 12 pounds.  You need to figure out how to hang this securely over your tank.

This is what we will be building today:


It is basically, a DIY version of this:  https://orphek.com/orphek-led-revolution-dif100/

So lets start with a list of materials, and I'll try to provide average USD prices for each.

Parts list:

  1. A single COB Led. ($5-$75 depending on type, ebay) (see notes)
  2. A 77mm Lens and collimator (for LED) ($8)
  3. A Mechatronix CoolBay Tera A or Giga A heatsink. ($75-$110)
    1. https://led.cdiweb.com/Products/Detail/COOLBAYGIGAA-MechaTronix/574070/
    2. https://led.cdiweb.com/Products/Detail/COOLBAYTERAA-MechaTronix/582154/
  4. Meanwell HLG100-36B Driver ($41) https://www.jameco.com/z/HLG-100H-36B-MEAN-WELL-100W-LED-Driver-Single-Output-Switching-Power-Supply-36V-2-65A-Model-B_2142758.html
  5. A #10 Stainless steel eyebolt and nut, about 2-4" long ($1)
  6. A #10 Stainless steel nut with nylon insert, and washer to fit the eye bolt ($1)
  7. 4 15mm long M5 screws (stainless steel) ($1)
  8. 4 nylon or stainless spacers, at least 8mm long, 6mm I.D. ($1) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FKNLDPF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_detailpage_o00_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  9. 4 45mm long M3 screws (stainless steel) ($1)
  10. 2 4mm long M3 screws (stainless steel) ($1)
  11. 6 M3 washers (stainless steel) ($1)
  12. A length of 16 gauge 2 conductor wire (long enough to go from your outlet to where you want the device to hang.  I'd just buy a 25'-50' spool for ($5)
  13. An old 3-prong power cord salvaged off any dead appliance ($0, or $1 if you have to buy one)
  14. 14 total Anderson powerpole connectors: https://powerwerx.com/anderson-powerpole-colored-housings
    1. 2 red
    2. 2 black
    3. 2 blue
    4. 2 white
    5. 3 more pairs of colors, doesn't matter what.  I used gray, light blue and green.
  15. 14 Anderson powerpole contacts: https://powerwerx.com/anderson-1332-powerpole-contact-pp15
  16. Thermal compound ($8) https://www.amazon.com/gp/slredirect/picassoRedirect.html/ref=pa_sp_atf_aps_sr_pg1_2?ie=UTF8&adId=A049270710HR7GUGJYW7Y&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FNoctua-NT-H1-Pro-Grade-Thermal-Compound%2Fdp%2FB002CQU14A%2Fref%3Dsr_1_2_sspa%3Fie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1546784071%26sr%3D8-2-spons%26keywords%3Dthermal%2Bcompound%26psc%3D1&qualifier=1546784070&id=662857495550252&widgetName=sp_atf
  17. A 2.5" Stainless steel disc: ($4) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BDL5HHM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  18. Urethane Conformal Coating: ($15) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008OA7AWE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  19. Access to a 3D printer with PETG filament  OR
  20. 5" Stainless steel disc ($4)  https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Steel-Plate-Diameter-304/dp/B076HK95S7/ref=sr_1_10?m=AR88GRBHPCMHU&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1546784522&sr=1-10  
  21. Thermal compound (get some for a CPU)

 Some notes on the bill of materials:

  • For the Anderson powerpoles, you might want extras, in case you mess up.
  • They also sell a nice little package of them that gives you 10 different colors and contacts for $11, maybe just go with that.  https://powerwerx.com/powerpole-connectors-assorted-colors
  • The powerwerx website sells some really nice 2-conductor wire, which is what I used.
  • Aside from the 45mm M3 screws, I actually just purchased a few variety packages of M3/M5 screws/nuts/washers to get everything I needed, it was pretty cheap and I'll use them for other things.
  • All the screws/washers/spacers are readily available at a local Ace Hardware in the USA, or Amazon.
  • We will talk about the LED itself later.
  • The files for the LED holder ring are here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3436607

Tools you will need:

  1.  Wire crimping tool: https://www.amazon.com/VISE-GRIP-Multi-Tool-Stripper-Crimper-2078309/dp/B000JNNWQ2/ref=sr_1_3?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1546783888&sr=1-3&keywords=wire+crimper+tool
  2. Wire cutters and strippers (above link is a nice combo tool if you don't have one)
  3. Screwdriver or hex key for the various screws
  4. Wrench (adjustable will be easier)
  5. A drill and some drill bits
  6. If you don't have the 3D printer, or a friend with one, you will need a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade, and probably a dremel tool or metal file to smooth out the cut.
  7. A multimeter.

Selecting an LED:

There are a TON of LED's to choose from on ebay.  The easiest solution is to search for "100w COB LED blue".  You want to find one that you can buy a coliminator and lens for.  Look at some of the photos of mine in the article below.  That is the form factor you want to look for.  A decent blue LED will probably cost you about $10.  The lenses/coliminators will probably be in the range of about $8.  I used the search string "77mm lens LED" and found a few that would work.  Make sure to get one with the coliminator on the back, so it connects to your LED.

If you want something more fiddly, and expensive, a seller named AC-RC sells a 60/40 blue/20K chip, which is what I used.  http://ac-rc.net/catalog/index.php?cPath=22_28_33&osCsid=4pv7gd54h7cbqor2l2hvkvamr2

He also has some crazy 5 channel chips which you could use, but would require alot more work on the driver-side to get the voltages right.  You are on your own there.

Wire the driver:

Wiring the driver is surprisingly simple.  There are 3 wires that come out of the driver.  The mains input (green/brown/blue), the dimmer pair (blue/white) and the output (red/black).

Let's start with the mains input.  Usually, I just get an old 3-pronged cord, like a computer cable, and chop it in half.  Then connect the wires of the cord to the 3 wires from the driver.  The driver wire colors are:
  • Green/Yellow - Ground
  • Brown - Hot
  • Blue - Neutral
When you look at the outlet on the wall, the one with the larger opening is the neutral.  You can use this as a guide to figure out which wire is which on your chopped off cord.  Don't plug it in for this:  You can orient the plug so you know which prong is the neutral, and then use a multimeter to probe the wires to find which one is neutral and which is hot.  Typically inside the cord, most neutrals are white, hots are black, but inside the confines of a cord you aren't supposed to cut open, there are no guarantees.  Check.


I like to put some heat shrink tubing on the wires before soldering them together.  I also like to put another larger diameter piece of shrink tubing on the entire cord.  Simply solder the wires together, slide the shrink tubing over the joints, and then shrink with heat.  Once all three are done, slide the larger tubing over the whole set, and shrink that into place.

Alternatively, you could use the Anderson PowerPoles to wire the cord to the driver.  I like to do this, because if the driver were to ever fail, I could swap a new one in easily.

Next, get yourself the 16g wire that will make the run from the driver to the LED.  This is another simple splice and solder operation, just like the last one.  Use multiple heat-shrink tubes to seal it all up.  Just wire the red/black pair to the long 16g wire pair, and call it good.  Again, it might be better to use the PowerPoles here.

Finally, we have the dimmer cord.  The really amazing thing about the HLG model B driver, is that the dimmer operation works 3 ways.  You don't have to flip any switches, or wire it differently, just connect it to the source you want to use, and it works.
  1. 0-10 Volt.  This is what an Apex controller uses.
  2. 0-10v PWM.  (Note: this is not 0-5v, which an Arduino uses)
  3. A resistor/potentiometer.  10K = 10%, 100K = 100%.
  4. Nothing connected (wires left open).  Runs at full power, 102-108%.
I can't tell you how to wire the dimmer into your chosen system, you are on your own there.  But the easiest way to set it up is to simply get a 100K potentiometer and solder the blue/white pair to it, and then use the knob to adjust.  I used a small spade connector strip and some spade connectors to wire mine into the Apex, just for ease of future replacement.

At this point, you want to figure out where to place the driver in your room, and where the cord will run, and eventually, where the LED ends up.  This will help you measure out the cord lengths.  Figure out how long the cord needs to be, and cut to length.  Give yourself a little extra.  It's much easier to coil up extra wire than it is to splice on more if you went too short.

Wiring the LED.

Again, couldn't be simpler.  The LED has a + and - side.  It's a little difficult to figure out which is which sometimes however.  Looking carefully at the LED, the top connector is the + side (there is a tiny + sign there).  If you look at how the traces on the edge are laid out, you can see they wrap around to the left side, where the big red wire is.  You can also see the bottom one, wraps around to the right side to where the big black wire is.  All COB's are different, so pay careful attention.


You can wire either to the side-connectors, or to the tiny little spots on the top and bottom.  Using the ones on the top and bottom involves significantly more soldering skill than the side ones, so choose according to your skill level.  Additionally, if you use the top/bottom pair, you might need to dremel the coliminator a bit to get it to fit afterwards.

Cut about 15 inches of 16g wire, and solder the two ends to the LED.  If you have decided to use the side connectors, after the joints have cooled, take the conformal coating, and cover the entire side connector, top and bottom, with the coating.  This will insulate it from any arcs or other issues.  It smells awful and takes a few hours to dry.  Set the LED aside for now.
 

Build a hanger for the heatsink:

This is what we will be building:



Take the 2.5" stainless steel disc, and find the center.  Mark for a hole in the center large enough for the eyebolt to slide into. I found a quick 3d printable center finder and printed it to do this step, but there are other ways.  Draw on the disc an X (be precise!) so you can locate where the other holes go.  I like to use a center punch for the center hole, because it makes the next step easier.  If you don't have one, take a sharpened nail, place it carefully in the center of the X, and then lightly hit it with a hammer to make a small divet.


The diameter of the hole spacing for the mounts was 45.5mm on my heatsink.  So I set the calipers to 22.75, and used the little screw on the calipers to hold them into position.  I then placed the tip of the caliper into the divet in the center, and then used the other end to scrape a line across my X, so I knew where the centers of the 4 holes would be. Once you have the 4 locations marked out, it's time to drill.


Here you can see the disc with the marks for the holes.  I used a center punch to make divets for the 4 outer screw holes.  (The brass tool)


I have access to a wide variety of drill bits, so I used ones that were perfect.  If you don't have numbered bits, you can just find ones that fit the screws you will be using.  For the center, you will be using the #10 eyebolt.  For the outer holes, you will be using the M5 screws.  I used a #15 on the center, and a #6 on the outside.  After drilling the main holes, I switched to a much larger bit, and very slightly drilled the holes, just to clean the edges up, and chamfer the holes a bit.  This removes any nasty little metal strings that will cut your fingers later.



Now simply attach the #10 eyebolt to the disc, using the washers, a simple nut on the eye-side of the bolt, and the nylon-insert nut on the other side.  Don't screw the eye bolt in too far, as it still has to fit onto the heatsink.  No more than about 1/2" - 3/4" protrusion on the back side.



Attach the LED:

For this step, you either need to make a disc for your lens out of stainless, or 3d print the holder I designed.  I used white PETG to print mine, and I would strongly advise against PLA, as it might melt and warp under the heat.

If you decide to cut one out of stainless, the process should be simple.  The lens has a small lip on the ouside, and then moves down into the curve.  You want to measure where the curve starts, so you can place your disc onto the lens, and have it hold against the lip.  If you cut the hole the size of the lip, it will just fall through.

Your best bet here is to draw out the circle, and then use a jigsaw to carefully cut around the inside of the circle to make the hole.  Then use a dremel tool, to grind away the inside of the hole until it's the right diameter.  This might take awhile.  Keep the lens nearby to test it a few times as you go.  Finally, you need to drill 4 holes for the M3 mounting screws.  On my sink, they were 113mm diameter centers.  You can use the same X procedure we did for the back mount to make these.  On the face of the heatsink (the shiny aluminum side) these are the second most outer ring of screw holes.

You are now ready to attach the LED.


Center the LED on the sink, and then cover the back with thermal compound.  Place the LED on the sink in the right place, and thread the wires through the convenient hole in the face of the heatsink.

Now place the coliminator and the lens onto the LED. Don't forget to take the protective blue plastic off the LED before you do this!  Because I utilized the inside attachment points on the LED, I had to dremel out the bottom of the coliminator a bit, so it wouldn't interfere with the wires.  If you use the side holes, you don't need to do this step.  Also note, there are 4 little pegs on the coliminator.  These insert into tiny holes on the LED to line it all up.



Now place the steel disc, or 3d-printed part over the lens, and attach it to the sink with the 4 45mm M3 screws.  Tighten them evenly and gently.  You want to press the LED onto the sink so it has a good thermal connection, but you don't want to smash the coliminator or crush the LED.  Just make sure the screws are evenly tightened on all 4 sides, and holding the LED into place.  Don't go nuts here.


At this point, you should have the two wires from the LED sticking out the back of the sink.  Simply crimp on some PowerPole connectors to this pair.

Final touchups:

Now we just need to connect the hanging plate to the back!  Take the 4 15mm M5 screws, use some washers and the M5 spacers, and connect the plate with the eyebolt to the back of the sink.


Now it's time to test fire the device.  I recommend getting a 10K ohm resistor, and connecting it to the dimmer cable for this step.  It keeps you from going blind when firing this thing up.  The output is no joke on these.  At full power, they triggered the auto-darkener on my welding helmet.  Do *not* look directly into the lens on these.



Simply connect the long 16g wire (with powerpoles on the end) to the wire on the LED, and plug the driver in.  If you've made all the connections correctly, your room should be instantly illuminated.

Now all that remains is to hang this beast.  Please be careful here.  This is a heavy heatsink.  You need to make sure to build a strong support to hang it from.  I bolted 2x4's directly to the rafters using massive lag bolts.


And you are done.  You have a huge LED, single point of light, that puts out tons of power, and was cheap to build.  There are a large variety of LED's to choose from, so if you just want pure blues, buy those.  (The solid blue ones are like $5 on ebay)  If you are concerned about the quality of these, then buy cheap ones, and buy a few.  By utilizing the powerpole connectors, it is easy to take the sink down, and swap them out.  Everything we did here makes it easy to replace and edit your fixture as you see fit.  Try out different LED's.  Try out different mounting heights.  Light up your life.

A final note on the 3D printed lens ring.  I used a small cone as a reflector on mine, to tighten the beam up.  This doubled the measured PAR output from the LED.  However, it also gives the edges of the beam a really hard edge.  This might not be to your liking. There is also a file in my design for the ring without the reflector.  You will also have to play with the height of the device over the water, to give you the spread you want.  Mine are pretty high up, which gives an awesome spread.  If you go with a different lens, you could potentially go lower.  With no lens, the spread on the LED's is 120 degrees. Feel free to play around!

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Day 14, Not as planned..

Full tank shot to start it off..


As you can see, this is not a tank full of new aquascape, as was planned for today.  The wife was sick, and attempting to solo the rockwork wasn't realistic, so, it will be put off until next weekend.

I wasn't to be completely undone however..  I decided to fix some problems today.

First problem.  I wanted to unplug something to test it the other day, just one of the pumps.  I walked up to the EB832, and realized, I had no idea which plug was the pump.  I had to trace the stupid cable!  This is absolutely no good.  In an emergency, with water rushing everywhere, I do not have time to trace cables.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FD4V234/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Problem solved. Cable tags.  For every cable.  The problem became even more obvious, as I basically had to trace every single cable just to figure out what was what.  I'm actually still at it, as I have about 10-15 more cables to label.  But it's getting there...



So we come to the second problem.  It's actually a variety of problems, all with what I hope is one solution..

  1. On the left sump (the Elite), the water flow through the refugium is pretty lame, and so is the growth over there.
  2. Every time I dose vinegar (13ml) to the left side, the pH probe has a spaz.
  3. The heaters are having trouble keeping the temperature stable.
  4. The two sumps aren't staying at the same level.
This is all caused (I believe) by the COR15 I installed awhile back.  I installed it in the skimmer area of the right sump (where the water comes in from the drain).  It takes that water, pumps it up to the manifold.  From there it goes to carbon, GFO, the sponge bucket, and the surge.  What doesn't go into the surge, then comes back into the right sump in the pump area, so it bypasses the fuge there...

This means that the right side had to have the durso tuned to draw more water than the left side.  I feel that the left side just isn't getting the same flow.  Additionally, a ton of water is just bypassing the fuge.  The right side now gets less water movement, and all kinds of knock-on problems have surfaced.

Solution?  Tap into the crossfeed pipe, and draw from there for the COR15!  As astute readers will remember, to solve my sump imbalance issues, I installed a tube from one sump to the other, to allow water to flow across in case of a single pump shutdown.  All I needed to do, was cut that tube, and hook the COR15 to both ends of the tube, and then badda bing, it draws from both sumps equally!

So a manifold was built.


Now those of you who are astute viewers might notice.. I forgot to put the COR fitting on that pipe before I glued the tube into the flange.  Yes, I had to cut it off and re-do it.

So the idea of this manifold is simple.  Cut the tube that connects the sumps in half, connect each half to the T section. Then the pipe feeds down into the COR.  I used a large pipe here at the T, just so there wouldn't be any bizzare flow artifacts in that section.

The only annoying thing, is that I glued the valve on upside down, so, I couldn't plumb it quite how I wanted to.  Argh.

So, with much pain and grumbling, this whole mess was installed, and the pump relocated...



After fixing 3-4 leaks, it seems to be working as desired.  I've tested shutting the pump off a few times now, and it reacts correctly, and re-starts easily.   So far the flow seems much more even, and I feel like the left side is really moving more water.

It also let me re-adjust the dursos, and now I'm getting actual flow from the drain into the fuge area.  Chaeto growth here I come.


This whole mess took about 4 hours, not counting the 3 x 2 hour dry times for PVC cement screwups..  While I was at it, I also threw back on a flourescent fixture I used to have mounted under the sump, which was used to light the sump up when working down there.  I should have done that months ago.  So much nicer to be able to see what I'm doing..

Staring wistfully at the rocks waiting to go into the tank, I climb into bed..