44 Gallon Pentagon Corner Tank LED Hood - DIY Build + EXTRAS! (Sump & Wave Maker etc)

[TheDOdblG]

STEP 1: Initial Design Ideas (What do You Want Your Hood to do?)

I minus well throw some chum into the water early on to lure you in: Here’s a quick sneak peak of what I’m currently constructing:



Just a light, right? Essentially yes, but actually so much more. I want this hood to not only light my tank, but do so at the proper levels and in a controlled way that mimics the way nature would do it. That is, have a sunrise and a sunset, and have a lunar cycle that changes in accordance with the current moon phase. This hood should also monitor and control the temperature of the heatsink(s) because I want those little guys to last at least a decade. It should also monitor and control the water temperature, and even control water currents (DIY Wavemaker). I also want this hood to feed my fish, and also to control the lighting in my sump/refugium. The hood should be easily upgradeable and expandable. Maybe in a later version it will even simulate cloud coverage & produce the occasional lightning storm (with increased wave action). And finally, while I’m not a big fan of the looks/material of the tank and stand, it’s what I have, and so the hood should match.

After coming up with these general ideas as to what I wanted my hood to do, I decided to devise a layout for the Heatsink and LEDs. I want to maintain ease of accessibility to the tank while maximizing the lighting’s footprint, so I designed a removable door to a small opening smack dab in the front. This little caveat imposed numerous design and assembly challenges that were…let’s just say they were really fun! After completing the heatsink, the next step was to construct the wooden portion of the hood and mount the heatsink to it (while determining where all the “guts” were going to go). Then I could do some of the acrylic work, and finally dig in to the electronics and programing. I should also mention that while working on this project, I simultaneously worked on a mini LED project for the sump (more chum anyone?):



this is what my arduino touch screen controller is shaping up to look like:



My next post will detail the design and build of the heatsink, which will also cover LED choices and layout. The rest of this thread will be located here: http://www.reefcentral.co.uk/showthr...ave-Maker-etc)

[jjmccloud2011]

Updates???