440 Gallon Custom Drop-Off Reef Tank

[fjr_wertheimber]

For those of you asking what I mean by curving the LEDs, here's what I'm referring to. The LEDs will be mounted on strips (as denoted by the spreadsheet diagram above) that are on a curve over the tank, so that all the LEDs are equidistant from the center of the tank. This way, as the LEDs following their ramp up/ramp down schedule, the light will appear to come from a light source (i.e.- the sun) passing overhead throughout the course of the day, rather than from a fixed position. Or, at least that's the plan. LOL

[fjr_wertheimber]

For those of you asking what I mean by curving the LEDs, here's what I'm referring to. The LEDs will be mounted on strips (as denoted by the spreadsheet diagram above) that are on a curve over the tank, so that all the LEDs are equidistant from the center of the tank. This way, as the LEDs following their ramp up/ramp down schedule, the light will appear to come from a light source (i.e.- the sun) passing overhead throughout the course of the day, rather than from a fixed position. Or, at least that's the plan. LOL

[maxxII]

Ahhh...makes sense now.

Nick

[fjr_wertheimber]

Yeah, that's actually one of the reasons for the pillars, Nick, so I have a place I can put some e. quadricolor and not worry (as much) about them wandering.

[dahenley]

question.
the arched LED this is sweet.
a down side is that they are all pointing to the middle.
this hinders anything outside the middle as well.

LED's have a narrow beam. even though you can use optics, you still have a majority pointing to the middle.

one option, is to have every other point to the middle in a arch, but
have the skipped ones pointing down to the bottom. (vertically)
this will allow you to sun rise and sun set like you talk about, but about 9:00-10:00AM, you can have all the lights turn on, and at 3:00PM you can have the verticals turn off, and continue to have the sun set.

just a thought?
unless you think there will be enough light spill the feed the outside corals.
(any opinions on this? )

[adam82]

very cool!

[drolic]

Wouldn't it be a more efficient use of hardware to articulate the panel the LEDs are mounted to -vs- having more LEDs turning on (brighter) / off (dimmer).

Think about it like the opposite of a solar panel tracking the sun... the sun (panel of LEDs in this case) would tilt. What do you think 30 degrees off of center (flat / level) in each direction?

The shadows moving across rock work / corals throughout the day would be a cool effect. I know my SPS's have a 'bright side' / 'dark side' effect caused by uneven lighting.

I don't know the specifics of the apparatus but I am sure one could be constructed using VDM (0-10 vlts) output from a controller. -or- even more simple... pivot the panel from a a geared down motor on a timer.

It would / could obviously be synced with the panel brightness too. For example say it tilts 30 degrees to the 'right' at 8 AM with LED's being at 20%. At noon the panel would be flat (level) and LED's would be at 100%. At 8 PM, the panel would be at 30 degrees to the 'left' and output could be 20% again.

For bonus points... bring on heavy reds in the evening for a nice 'sunset' effect.

Have never seen it done before...

[fjr_wertheimber]

Actually, drolic, the original plan was to either pivot the fixture, or move it using a stepping motor or hydraulic actuator throughout the day, but the issues I found in those plans was a) access to the tank without having to basically disassemble that whole assembly b) angles available without a HUGE canopy c) one more level of mechanical complication (I hate having to rely on motors unless absolutely necessary. I'm definitely a solid-state kinda guy.) and d) I like the flexibility of that many LED circuits, i.e.- if it's 2pm and the lights are on the "west" side of the tank and I choose to have a "lightning storm", I can dim the "west" side and have the lightning flashes come from either the "east", "west", or a combination of the both. And yes, trust me, the color balance will change, with more of that afternoon "golden light" that photographers love so much showing up in the early morning and late afternoon.

[drolic]

Good points.

With more LEDs installed on a curved surface your still going to use up tank top realistate quickly and require more canopy. Correct? A hydraulic / electric lift would help but that is more moving parts to fail. Getting back to the same flaws with a pivot system.

What material are you planning to build the arched light structure out of? Fire up those mad Sketchup skills and show us please!

Thanks for the thought provoking build thread. Let us know if we can help.

[fjr_wertheimber]

Yeah, it uses more canopy than a flat layout, drolic, but about 1/3 the amount of space a pivot would in order to get the same angles. And yeah, working on a Sketchup, er, sketch of it. :-)

Thanks for the offer of help! Hope everyone is enjoying the planning as much as I am... Now to get back to the building! Speaking of which, the room is almost done, we're doing our paint touchups tomorrow, getting some drapes for the room, the electrician is coming on Wednesday, and the custom floor should be in sometime in the next couple of weeks! Woohoo!

[rpjaws74]

voted! tagging along sweet set up

[75pxatr]

Subscribed

[pco1988]

I can't wait to see this come together! I have been seeing more and more of this style tank coming to life! I really want to build one! The concept is just awesome! I will be tagging along with this build!

[lotusstar]

Love the arch led light idea. Can't wait to see sketchups of that.

[wilsonline]

Like arch led idea too. waiting for f5!

[Crazy_Beaver]

This is going to be epic!!!!!!!

[fjr_wertheimber]

wilsonline, what is "f5"?

[fote03]

cant wait to see more pictures as it comes together!

[bbart12]

I have been inspired by your build and would like to thank you for sharing your vision.
Could you talk about your plan for assembly? I had thought about using angle iron but could not come up with a way to get all of the pieces into the welded box.

[fjr_wertheimber]

Thanks, bbart12, glad to see it's been worth it putting out all the info.
So, the idea is that once all the frame is built, the lower bottom glass piece will be siliconed in against the powdercoated steel, followed by the lower upright rear piece, the the upper bottom glass piece. The two side pieces will be slid in from the front at an angle (they're being cut 1/8" "short" to allow room for them to be angled into place), siliconed into place, then the front and glass pieces siliconed into place against the steel, then silicone lined along all interior glass surfaces (just like a regular tank). Spreader clamps will be used to press all the pieces into place until the silicone cures. Make sense? Feel free to ask away if I didn't explain it well enough, or if you have any questions on the how/why I chose to do it this way.

[fjr_wertheimber]

The electrician and his apprentice just left here, and I've got to say I'm absolutely THRILLED with the quality of their work, their awesome price, and the speed with which it was all done. In less than an hour they had run the conduit outside, run the new circuits through the ceiling, into the wall, and installed the boxes and faceplates (I'm WAY oversimplifying all they had to do in order to get the circuits run). So, I now have all the electrical I should need for the tank (three dedicated 20amp circuits), woohoo! One step closer!

Now, if we could only find a couch and drapes we like for the room...

[fjr_wertheimber]

Okay, so one change to the overall design and specification of the tank... I've decided to go with the Reef Angel controller. Why, you ask? Well, let's see: DIY LED control... check. Vortech ES control... check (well, on the way). Dosing pump controls (and dosing pumps)... check. Open source for tinkering and really cool $#!*... check. Oh, AND it's cheaper than 99% of the other controllers out there? Yup, count me in!

[fjr_wertheimber]

Oh, and on a (semi-) side note, if you're ever looking for a good primer when painting a room, Kilz is it. We used Kilz2 in the fish room, but then figured we'd just use the Valspar primer for our daughter's room, since we're not worried about any moisture in there. Bad idea. Coverage with the Valspar (which is actually a very highly-rated primer) is about 1/2 that of the Kilz. From now on, whether the room will see moisture or not, we're going to use Kilz for our priming needs.

Just opened up the vinyl plank flooring we special ordered from Lowe's and it's PERFECT. Looks great in the room, we can't wait to get the carpet up and put the "wood" down!

[Plato]

Who are you looking at building the tank?

[fjr_wertheimber]

I'm having the stand and frame made by a local metal fab shop that does a lot of tight-tolerance medical and military equipment, the glass is coming from glasscages (I'm buying it slightly oversized, then) cut to exact size (+/- .003" LOL) with a CNC waterjet by the shop that's doing the metal fab work.