440 Gallon Custom Drop-Off Reef Tank

[kroth0322]

As a Structural engineer your previous post made a lot of sense, do you have an engineering background?

[fjr_wertheimber]

Hey kroth0322, nope, not an engineer (well, not that type of engineering, at least). I spent part of my pre-military career designing fault-tolerant high-availability internet and database systems for the federal government and financial institutions. As for this stuff, just lots of research and trying to learn whatever I can... Thanks for letting me know I'm on the right track... Do you see anything I missed, or anything that seems "off" to you? Please let me know if you think I should change/improve anything in the design.

[kroth0322]

Very cool, I've been following the build and everything looks awesome. That's going to be one solid structure.

[ChadTheSpike]

Originally Posted by fjr_wertheimber

Okay, so here's the planned setup of the LED lighting for the tank. It will be built in a curve over the tank so as to mimic the natural change of lighting angles throughout the day, and allow gradual ramping up/down across the overall fixture for more gradual lighting changes. Well, that's the plan, at least. LOL

Originally Posted by 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...

First off, fantastic planning and great progress so far... nice to see another out there who puts an extreme amount of up-front thought into all this.

Reading through your thread is eerily odd for me! All design issues that I thought about and considered in my current LED build you are tackling on yours... One of my goals was to be able to cast shadows one direction in the morning and the other direction in the evening.

I originally started by thinking about a curved fixture like yours... But in the end, my form design goals "flattened" it (I didn't want to have a klunky fixture atop my tank), but left the strings at an angle toward center, then my manufacturability goals took the angles out and just put wide angle optics on it and programmed a moving Gaussian curve to the string of LEDs (I was working with a 2.5D CNC machine, so the angles would have been very tough to do without a lot of hand work)... I have yet to find out if the changes took out the ability to cast shadows, but it is fascinating to watch another tackle the same design problem in such a similar way. Here is my LED build thread, btw.

Also contributing to the eeriness, I just wrote an article for my local reef club about designing things to be more fault tolerant.

Weird.

[Allmost]

Im really enjoying your build process its going to look amazing once done.

you last post made me think of facts ive never thought of before !

I always had the "dream" of same concept, but with dropp off going all the way to the floor level, and longer so I could have stingrays there, and SPS on the shallow side. so will have be following your thread if I decide to make my dream come true one day


thanks for sharing with us.

[fjr_wertheimber]

Originally Posted by ChadTheSpike

First off, fantastic planning and great progress so far... nice to see another out there who puts an extreme amount of up-front thought into all this.

Thanks, Chad. Awesome to see you following this build thread; I've been drooling over your DIY LED fixture for a while now. I've actually contemplated how to encapsulate the LEDs within a similar fixture while retaining the functionality and design I'm looking for. The LEDs will be enclosed in a hood, so I'm not (as) worried about how pretty the whole thing looks, or if it's clumsily large, as I would be if it were an open top tank.

Yeah, I've definitely spent quite a bit of time (too much, if you ask my better half... LOL) planning out this build. I'm curious to see how ramping up your LEDs works out for you the way you've got it. I had thought about doing so that way, but worried that for the size of the tank I'm building it wouldn't work.

[fjr_wertheimber]

Originally Posted by Allmost

Im really enjoying your build process its going to look amazing once done.

Thanks, Allmost! Glad you're enjoying it!

[91Atrac]

If you want some views on other drop off builds my buddy jut got his running a few weeks ago. He has. 300g drop on his main floor.

http://winnipegfishforum.info/forum/...hp?topic=39534


Sent from Q's iPhone using Tapatalk

[Michael B]

This is simply EPIC, will be tagging along & wishing all the very best with this build - please keep us updated

[ChadTheSpike]

Originally Posted by fjr_wertheimber

Thanks, Chad. Awesome to see you following this build thread; I've been drooling over your DIY LED fixture for a while now. I've actually contemplated how to encapsulate the LEDs within a similar fixture while retaining the functionality and design I'm looking for. The LEDs will be enclosed in a hood, so I'm not (as) worried about how pretty the whole thing looks, or if it's clumsily large, as I would be if it were an open top tank.

Yeah, I've definitely spent quite a bit of time (too much, if you ask my better half... LOL) planning out this build. I'm curious to see how ramping up your LEDs works out for you the way you've got it. I had thought about doing so that way, but worried that for the size of the tank I'm building it wouldn't work.

What you could maybe try if you have the tools available is to cut out stepped holes for optics in a piece of clear plexi and then heat treat that pice of plexi to bend it... that way you still get the arc but also are able to protect the LEDs and electrical components... I don't know.. just a thought.

I am looking forward to seeing more progress and pictures!

[LONGATTO]

nice build! it seems drop offs are the "in" thing! I've seen that first picture posted in multiple places as the "inspiration" picture. I'll be tagging along! keep the updates coming!

[fjr_wertheimber]

Okay, so speaking of over-engineering stuff, I'm trying to replicate the big tank as much as possible, and that includes making a Bubble King über-mini clone powered by a modded Maxijet 1200 (and yes, I know that the MJ is turned the wrong way, but I realized that after I built the rest of the skimmer so I'm just gonna leave the model as-is for now...). So, here's the plan for it:

[fjr_wertheimber]

And a sketch of it under the mini-tank:

[hugorsf]

sweeeet!!!

[ChadTheSpike]

Will the little tank be acrylic?

[Southsid_reefer]

wow this is nice idea for an aquarium setup

[fjr_wertheimber]

Yeah, Chad, the little tank will be acrylic.

Oh, and speaking of the tanks, I just came from the metal fabricator's shop... Things are definitely progressing!

[mjhall85]

Gonna be an awesome big tank and just as awesome mini tank of it. glad things are progressing!

[fjr_wertheimber]

Thanks, mjhall!

[Bushpig_2]

The little one is like drop-off tank training wheels lol

It's pretty impressive with all this stuff you have goin on at once, hat's off. I cant wait to see all your different ideas come together and the LED "curve" is going to pretty sweet, GL!

[Bushpig_2]

The little one is like drop-off tank training wheels lol

It's pretty impressive with all this different stuff you have goin on at once, hat's off. I cant wait to see all your different ideas come together and the LED "curve" is going to pretty sweet, GL!

[fjr_wertheimber]

LOL Bushpig_2, on top of all that my wife is making me setup a nano for her, too. LOL Definitely a busy bee...

[mjhall85]

Well why you are at these 3 tanks can you also setup my 670 gallon tank here in Arizona! LOL

[TheFishTeen]

Awesome build! What do you use to render your sketch up models? Do you use mac or pc?

[coondog]

This is going to be really nice. Cant wait to see it all come together. I like seeing people think outside the box!!!!