My name is Bryant and I’ve been reefing for almost 5 years now. For those that have been coming to the meetings lately, I’m the guy with the long hair. I started with a 12g nano cube, then a 110, and now I’m on a 180g. Here is some tank specs:
180g mixed reef
hippo tang
percula clownfish
fire shrimp
coral banded shrimp
cleaner shrimp
brown brittle star
pink serpent star
Large bubble coral
lots of euphyllia, mostly hammer and frogspawn
lots of teal candy canes
large war coral colony
pretty big green poci colony
2 types of duncans
seasons greetings monti
red monti
some small sps frags
~30g 2 chamber sump
protein skimmer
Cal and Alk dosing pumps (mag manually)
DIY algae turf scrubber w. mag 9.5
DIY, web-connected arduino controller
DIY wavemaker with 4x Koralia evolution powerheads
2x K4 powerheads
Mag 18 return pump
2x 175W halides (I have 3 D120 led fixtures, but I’m waiting to get the controller on them before I hook them up)
I just moved myself and the tank to New Castle and am within walking distance to William Penn HS, so if anybody is looking for some frags, hit me up before or after the meeting. Sadly I lost my yellow tang and powder blue tang in the move but the tank has stabilized nicely since then. I took advantage of the move and drilled my rock for 3/16" acrylic rods. So far I absolutely love this system and will never go back to the 1/2" frag plugs again. It’s so much easier to move coral around to different flow/lighting spots now. Anyway, enough about me, here are some older pics (no new pics since the move).
This has almost doubled in size and I have that same 1.5" square plug ft, >15 eyes
Welcome to the DRC . Hope to see you at the meetings left this year, the frag swap and then on to summer events, like trips and barbeque. your tank looks pretty darn good for just having been moved. It should brighten up quite a bit when you get the LEDs on.
This is the tank before the move. I added another 100 lb of lr. I ordered 50lb of flat shelf pieces from BRS that gives the tank a lot more depth and more coral placement options. I’ll try and get some new pics soon.
btw… i was shooting for the “guy with the long hair” label. guess I’m just stuck being called the incredibly good looking guy in the wheelchair, since you called it first
Hey Bryant welcome to the club. And for the easy identification at the meeting, as long as I can remember I already know wheel chair John and Metallica Scott you should be easy to pick out YahoO
If you’re that close to William Penn we may have to schedule a field trip to see the new tank.
And if you’ve got hammer frags talk to ne about prices and options … still trying to replace a colony.
[quote=“reefman66, post:4, topic:6373”]
:Welcome) to DRC Bryant. Even pics from the old tank looks good. Please do post some current ones too.
What do the D120 led fixtures look like? How are you planning to hook it up to a controller?[/quote]
Here are some pics of the fixture. I got it off alliexpress.com. They are your typical Chinese dimmable led fixture with 90 deg optics and cost $170-180. What’s great though is these fixtures were completely custom. I just sent them a layout and that was that. I ended up with 14 blue, 14 royal blue, 4 violet, 2 green, 2 red, 8 3500K and 11 6500K.
The fixture came with nobs for dimming, but I want to do a sun rise/set program with a lunar cycle. So I took the fixtures apart and was shocked at the quality inside, everything was laid out well and they were even using Texas Instruments ICs. The downside though is that the drivers only take in 0-10V control signal not PWM that most controllers output. So I have 2 options to hook them up. The one I’m currently pursuing is to just buy some brushed speed controllers for RC planes/cars. I’m just going to buy 2, one for each channel. These take in a pwm control signal and output an analog voltage. This option is simple and takes the least amount of work. The backup plan is to make my own simple circuit which would consist of an RC low pass filter (converts pwm to analog) and an op-amp (takes the 5V from the board and gains it to 10V). I’ll keep you guys posted as things progress. I’m trying to pull this off before the swap.
Wow, first of all I would like to say I have no idea what in the heck you are talking about. I’m guessing you know a bit about electronic. The reason why I ask about putting these fixture on controller is that I was told it could not be done because of the type of drivers they use. So, you’re saying that some of these fixture/drivers can be converted some how? I would like to get with you some time and if you can show me if mine can be converted to 0-10V to be able to be use with APEX controllers. Thanks for the info Bryant.
[quote=“reefman66, post:9, topic:6373”]
Wow, first of all I would like to say I have no idea what in the heck you are talking about. I’m guessing you know a bit about electronic. The reason why I ask about putting these fixture on controller is that I was told it could not be done because of the type of drivers they use. So, you’re saying that some of these fixture/drivers can be converted some how? I would like to get with you some time and if you can show me if mine can be converted to 0-10V to be able to be use with APEX controllers. Thanks for the info Bryant.[/quote]
Same thought here A, Not a clue what your talking about. I was just telling a friend today that someone would eventually pull one of these apart and figure out a way to make them more controllable. Good luck with the project and keep us updated, i know a few people here have the same type of light and would love this idea.
Bryant would you be willing to share some knowledge at a meeting? I bet that would be a great discussion… awesome affordable lights, and if the guys could control them they’d be happy as a clam!
[quote=“reefman66, post:9, topic:6373”]
Wow, first of all I would like to say I have no idea what in the heck you are talking about. I’m guessing you know a bit about electronic. The reason why I ask about putting these fixture on controller is that I was told it could not be done because of the type of drivers they use. So, you’re saying that some of these fixture/drivers can be converted some how? I would like to get with you some time and if you can show me if mine can be converted to 0-10V to be able to be use with APEX controllers. Thanks for the info Bryant.[/quote]
Unfortunately the APEX controller (as with most COTS reef controllers) is a “black box” controller meaning that I can’t access the code. However, you may be able to get some control using a built in LED control function. It’s probably putting out a pwm signal, but it probably won’t be the right pwm signal (ie. 60Hz vs 300Hz or 800-1500 ms pulse width vs 1200-2100ms). There may be a LED control function that outputs 0-10V though. In that case you could just plug it into the driver and run it off the APEX. My recommendation is to spend $35 and buy an Arduino and real time clock and run it off that. This will add system redundancy as well. Say for instance something happens to your APEX (water spill, somebody unplugs it, bolt of lightning, etc.) then the lights would still work. I keep my lights, return pump, and skimmer on one circuit and controller/wavemaker on another for this reason.
[quote=“saltcreep, post:11, topic:6373”]
Bryant would you be willing to share some knowledge at a meeting? I bet that would be a great discussion… awesome affordable lights, and if the guys could control them they’d be happy as a clam![/quote]
I’d love to, maybe we can do a group build/programming session at a meeting. Let me work out the kinks first with mine though before everybody goes and disassembles their lights.
[quote=“Hudzon, post:12, topic:6373”]
Hi Bryant , since you have had them open, what are they using for a power supply, was looking at maybe just replacing their drivers with Meanwell LDDs[/quote]
That would be an easier solution, but cost more $$.
[quote=“jtnova13, post:13, topic:6373”]
Bryant, the drivers in those are capable of taking a 0-10vdc input?
My drivers will only take a resistance (potentiometer). Do they have a separate input for external control as well?
If that is the case, i need a part # for those drivers immediately, as I want to replace mine so I can use a 0-10vdc input.[/quote]
but the tank has stabilized nicely since then. I took advantage of the move and drilled my rock for 3/16" acrylic rods. So far I absolutely love this system and will never go back to the 1/2" frag plugs again. It’s so much easier to move coral around to different flow/lighting spots now. Anyway, enough about me, here are some older pics (no new pics since the move).
