FNS40br

[fridaynightswings]

Well, I had a 29g Biocube, and it crashed while I was deployed, so I thought I would start a thread on my 40br that will be replacing it.

Equipment
- Apex
- ATI Bubble Master skimmer w/ Bubble blaster 5000 pump
- Mag12 return pump
- DIY LED's
- MP40
- 2x 100w Ebo Jager heaters


Here is my Biocube in its prime

Then here it is after the crash. I pulled some rock out. But you wouldn't be able to tell it was rock. It was all covered in caulerpa, cyano and GHA.

Well, I started with a bunch of rock I had sitting outside and decided to nuke it to make sure I didn't have ANY chance of caulerpa growing on it. I hate the stuff with a fiery passion.

First, I started by soaking the rock in bleach for about 24 hrs. Then I rinsed its a few times in RO/DI water. Then I soaked it in RO/DI water and Muriatic Acid

If Muriatic acid and bleach come in contact, it makes some volatile fumes, so just to be safe, I took some precautions. Probably freaked the neighbors out a bit too.

Here it is soaking

Meanwhile, I built the stand. It's about 36"tall, 48" wide, and 24" front to back. It could definitely fit a 120 if I wanted. I did this so I could fit my 40br sump underneath.

 

[fridaynightswings]

I made the sides removable for better access. I'm so glad I did too. To hold them in place, I used some velcro.

I mounted lights underneath so I could see what I was doing when I am playing around in the sump

Done!

I drilled 2 holes in the back of the tank to fit 1.5" bulkheads. The holes are 2 3/8" I believe.

 

[fridaynightswings]

I snagged some RTV-108 for my external overflow box, and internal weir

Here is my rough plumbing that is in the external box

and my bulkhead layout

Here is the external overflow box curing up

and the internal coast to coast curing

I started my aquascaping using these yard markers. I just sawed off the reflector, and since the rods are fiberglass, it wont hurt the tank.

I also used some putty i found at Menards that is reef safe, and a little cheaper than the stuff sold for aquariums

I mounted up all my electronics

 

[fridaynightswings]

I found some HDPE, and cut strips of it and velcroed it to the back of the tank so I could easily remove it and see behind if I ever needed to. I also siliconed a strip to the internal weir to cover that up.

There is the external overflow box in action.

I put some gutter guard on the internal overflow box to keep livestock out.

Here it is all filled up.

Here is the sump

I made a mesh top for the tank since I plan on hanging my heatsinks from the ceiling.

Here is a video of the Beananimal overflow in work. You can actually hear the hum of the pump over the water.
[video=youtube;RP_YFSPFo0w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP_YFSPFo0w&list=UUbkWPEcO59NNXwSMdUEr9cQ& index=1&feature=plcp[/video]

There are a few things I would do differently on the overflow, but It works well. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

 

[Jake1]

Looking good!

 

[WestOhooligan]

Look at that dork and his tattoo...cute kid though.

 

[revsgirl]

New set up looks great!! 1smile1

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Very nice bro! New tanks are so exciting! Love the aquascape as well.

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

Nice DIY Build for sure

 

[fridaynightswings]

Thanks everyone!

 

[fridaynightswings]

I thought I'd drop an update. My ammonia is 0, but my nitrates are pretty serious. I'm not sure the number since I lost my color chart, but if anyone has a salifert test kit, its a pretty dark magenta. This past weekend, I added some live rock from a friends tank, and a small scoop of live sand. i also got a piece of live rock from a LFS for a little diversity. I ghost fed the tank today some old frozen I had, and watched the food swirl around. By the looks of it, I have no dead spots in the tank since my rock scape is so open. I'm happy about that. Some plans for the near future are plumbing my manifold so I can connect up an RDSB. I plan on using a trash can as my RDSB. and it isn't round, so I can dig through my plumbing stuff and use up some old bulkheads.

 

[creefer]

Very nice set up! I was considering doing what you did with your overflow in my new tank, but was fearful that my DIY skills would produce an undesirable result! Nice work!

 

[larryl]

Looks darn good!

 

[fridaynightswings]

Thanks guys! This is a product of years of learning from my mistakes. If I could, I would even do a few other things differently. I probably would have raised my drain plumbing a hair just to reduce the little noise my internal weir makes, and drill a 3rd hole on the back of the tank so I dont get dead spots in my external overflow box. I also would have used RTV-103 rather than 108. The black sealant would have blended better with the black back ground. I was a little weary about adhering the external box to the back of the tank at first, but every thing I read and have seen with my own eyes says it will work. But hey, everyone gets a little nervous trying something like that out for the first time right? I definitely recommend the beananimal style overflow with and external box. Its pretty dang quiet, and i get awesome flow, and no salt creep from exploding bubbles in the sump.

 

[fridaynightswings]

Some life!

I called a buddy up and asked for a little bit of chaeto, and he decided to thin out his crop. I am just using a shop light, and a 5000K LED bulb.

I picked it up at lowes
Shop Utilitech 40-Watt Equivalent Indoor Daylight LED Light Bulb at Lowes.com

 

[fridaynightswings]

I'M BACK FROM CURAÇAO!!! on to tank stuff!

Well, I started my LEDs. Here is what I'm working with (more pictures to come)

ELN-60-48D 2ea
Cree XT-E 28 ea
Cree XP-G 20ea
BJB Solderless connectors
2ea MakersLed 1ft sections
I did that so when I set up my frag tank in the future, it will give me better coverage over the tank than a single 2ft section would

I am wiring the LEDs in a parallel circuit. If you are unfamiliar with the difference in parallel and series, it allows you to have more LEDs at a lower amperage on one driver. For example, the driver I use pushes 48v and 1300mA. The forward voltage of the individual LED (can be found on the data sheet of the LEDs) is 3.0v. Well, I take the 48v and divide that by what the forward voltage is of the led and I get 16. In a perfect world, I could have 16 led's per string. BUT since we want to have some room for error, it IS a piece of electronics, I cut that down to 12. Now, part 2 of this parallel business. Well, The LEDs have a max rating in mA. for both of my bulbs that would be 1500mA. The max my driver pushes according to the manufacturer is 1300mA. Well, it can push more, so don't assume thats all it will give then crank on your leds and blow out your bulbs. I digress. Let's just say the driver is kicking out 1300mA. I want 2 strings of LEDs. we know I can have 12 LEDs in each string right? So that means we take that 1300mA, and divide it by 2 (or the amount of strings we have). That means, we can run 2 strings of 12 at 650mA. Or for example 4 strings of 12 at 325mA etc.

And wiring them in a series means you only get 1 string of 12 at 1300mA. Honestly, I've done the math, and the lumen you get with more LEDs and less amperage is better than Less LEDs and more amperage. You get a better light spread as well.


LET THERE BE LIGHT!!! After narrowing down that I had a bad connection in one of my blue strings, I got them all working.!

From left to right, you have the terminal block with a jumper wire that connects both strings together to make it a parallel curcuit. This is also where I wire in the positive side from the driver. Next you have some quick blow fuses. If a bulb blows, we dont want the entire power load on one string, it might blow them all out. So I'd rather replace a ¢25 fuse than $100 worth of bulbs right? Next, my 5w 1ohm resistor. Then , that last terminal block goes to the respective + end of the LED string. On the far right, that is where the - end of the respective LED string connects to, and the - end of the driver.

Any questions?

 

[cdrewferd]

Very nice build all around. LED's look great. How do you like the Makers Mark heatsinks?

 

[fridaynightswings]

For the price, those MakersLEDs can't be beat. They thought of everything when making them. They come with a lot of goodies you kinda need for the build. I would definitely do it again for my next build. I am still in the process of balancing my strings. Hopefully that goes smoother tomorrow than it did today.

 

[fridaynightswings]

all ddone

 

[fridaynightswings]

Well, About 20 minutes after I mounted my drivers to the underside of my tank with adhesive velcro, they fell into my sump, and are toast. I had no idea the drivers got so hot they would melt the adhesive. Well, long story short, I got new drivers and the lights are functional. I Also picked up some Jumbo Nassarius snails, a turbo snail, and some hermits.

There are the drivers all burned up

The fts again with new drivers