Gilroy 425g Build Thread (All Apex, all the time)

[Terence]

I will be using the 20/20 radium clones. I will be able to add some additional white (warm) light as I desire with the LED.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Excited to see this tank finally get stocked!! I've been waiting alongggggggg time.

 

[E_Aquatics]

So, not everything in this hobby is fun. Once every two or three months I have to clean the filter socks. I have devised a pretty good method. First, I ask my son to turn them all inside out. Then, I soak them with two cups of bleach in hot water for at least two hours. When anyone sees this water after this step they will wonder how people run reef tanks without mechanical filtration of some kind! Next they go into my washing machine on sanitary cycle with two rinses. Once that finishes they come out and the washing machine is put into tub-clean mode. All done!

You store the dirty socks for 2 to 3 months?

 

[Terence]

Yep. The benefits of a fish cave. They dry out in about three days and they don't stink when dry.

 

[gettaReef]

Cool, I use very similar way to clean my socks. I flip them inside out, take off any snails (or chitons and stomatellas), pods, stars, or little guys to put back in the sump, throw them in the washer to wash on "sanatize" cycle with half cup bleach, and lastly run them again on a normal cycle for an extra rinse. May I ask, what exactly is "tub clean" mode/cycle? What is the benefit to the washer? Thanks Terence

 

[Terence]

Tub clean is a mode on my washer that cleans it all out with super hot water.

 

[Terence]

More work this weekend. Little by little.

Yesterday and today it was time to finish the canopies in prep for the lighting. They are now 80% finished until the time I do the final finish wood trim out.

What I did this weekend was to completely seal the inside with FRP and secure 3/8" plywood to the top surface for rigidity and strength and also provide a solid surface to ha he the lights from. I sandwiched the FRP for the top surface in between the frame and the plywood and for the other areas I cut pieces to fit and used construction adhesive to fasten it to the frame.

The last step was to use latex caulk to seal it all in. Thank goodness the caulk will not be seen as this is not an area of expertise for me!

 

[Terence]

So I have made a bit of progress. First of all let me recap where I am lighting wise.

I decided to go with metal halide due to the need for the heat, especially during the winter months. Instead of using less watts on LED lighting and need more watts of heat. With the MH I can get the benefits of MH and take advantage of what for most is a disadvantage, heat.

Metal Halides are much better now than they were back in the day. I decided on the 250W Mogul ended pendants from ReefBrite (http://www.reefbrite.com/product/reef-brite-reef-tech/) matched to their electronic, dimmable ballasts that are Apex Ready. That's right, I said DIMMABLE METAL HALIDE. These will dim from about 50% to 100% but best of all unlike some other ballasts they can actually start up at the 50% setting. Old is new again! I will be running a separate dimming channel for each light. If I want to, I could do sunrise and sunset across the tank. At first I was going to run the 20K bulbs, but given the set up on the LED augmentation I am doing, I opted for the 14K TwinArc bulbs. http://www.reefbrite.com/product/reef-brite-twin-arc/

So, for LED I am going to go with four 44" bars on each side. You heard that right. I wanted total control here. So, I will have two "actinic" bars that have blue and royal blue LEDs that will be dimmable. I will place one of these bars on the backside of the MH and one on the front side. Then I will have one bar of cool/warm white with each color independently controllable. This allows me to tweak the warmth of the light when the metal halides are not on. The fourth bar is one of their 390nm UV bars and it too will be dimmable. So in all four channels of LED dimming and then four channels of metal halide dimming.



So, I already built the aluminum frames and last weekend installed the top and did FRP inside.

Now I had to cut the holes for the venting of the heat, install the hinges, and mount the pendants. The LED will not arrive for a few weeks so that will have to be posted later.

Sadly, once I got half of this installed yesterday evening, I went to fire it up and . . . where are the bulbs!?!? I was like a kid on Christmas with a new remote control car and no AA batteries from the remote - and all the stores are closed! Anyways, one email to ReefBrite and they overnighted me a set. I will get them tomorrow. So, tonight I did the other side. No drama. Tomorrow night I will install the last two ballasts, connect it to the Apex, install the bulbs, and fire it up.


Skippy helps open the boxes - well actually he just likes to eat the corners!










The boss performs the inspection.



Stay tuned - many pretty sticks will be arriving soon!

 

[jonmos75]

Good to know that the Neptune MPR does not just only hold probes, but the box can be used to hold up a light canopy

 

[gettaReef]

Wow I had no idea they had come out with dimmable metal halides, and they can be controlled by the apex! That is awesome. I'll have to check these out...would be fun to use a halide again, esp to see these upgrades. I see the MH hood/reflector is not shaped like a big dome (sorry I don't have much experience with these parts as my old MHs were in a MH+T5 fixture). I always heard the dome shape hood is the best for reflection of light; what's your opinion on this? Do these reefbrite hoods compare to those? Thanks

 

[reefwiser]

On MH Dimming checkout this pdf.

 

[slayerhellfire]

dcmmmmmmmmmmmmm this is redonkculus build !! Just started following

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Gunna be a killer light setup!!

Only thing I would be concerned with is the led placement. I'm thinking you might have lots of blue in the front and back, and too much white in the center. If you look at your tank from the side, i think it will be really noticeable.

If it was me, I would place the halides dead center, and do one blue and one white in the front, and one blue and one white in the back. It will blend much better that way. Just throwing it out there.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Coming along great!

 

[paul01]

Following from Monterey

 

[Terence]

Good to know that the Neptune MPR does not just only hold probes, but the box can be used to hold up a light canopy

Yes the MPR box is quite stout. It is probably under 60 pounds of pressure in that pic!

I see the MH hood/reflector is not shaped like a big dome (sorry I don't have much experience with these parts as my old MHs were in a MH+T5 fixture). I always heard the dome shape hood is the best for reflection of light; what's your opinion on this? Do these reefbrite hoods compare to those? Thanks

I posed this same question to the guys from ReefBrite. They said that the light coverage would be equal. One thing for sure that is nice is the bulbs and reflectors will stay clean because there is piece of glass that slides in front of them.

Gunna be a killer light setup!!

Only thing I would be concerned with is the led placement. I'm thinking you might have lots of blue in the front and back, and too much white in the center. If you look at your tank from the side, i think it will be really noticeable.

If it was me, I would place the halides dead center, and do one blue and one white in the front, and one blue and one white in the back. It will blend much better that way. Just throwing it out there.

Good eye and good thinking.

However, it probably was not obvious from the pictures, and I neglected to mention, that this canopy does not span from front to back (32") of the tank. Due to wanting easy access to the overflows, ventilation, and also interference issues from the seaswirls, the canopy is just 24" front to back. This is why the MH are offset to the back (even then they are about an inch forward of center-tank). If I had room for two strips in the back I might have done exactly has you suggested. I understand the trade off and we will see how it is in reality (the side views) once everything is in place. If I need another white bar, I have a couple of ideas.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Oh ok. I see. Regardless of LED placement, it's gunna be an awesome light.

Are you planning on doing only LED for sunrise/sunset, then kicking metal halides on for mid day? What's your lighting schedule gunna be?

 

[lefkonj]

Curious on the details of the hinged side here. Did you attach it to the wall with anything specific? Really like that concept especially on the open top tank.

So I have made a bit of progress. First of all let me recap where I am lighting wise.

I decided to go with metal halide due to the need for the heat, especially during the winter months. Instead of using less watts on LED lighting and need more watts of heat. With the MH I can get the benefits of MH and take advantage of what for most is a disadvantage, heat.

Metal Halides are much better now than they were back in the day. I decided on the 250W Mogul ended pendants from ReefBrite (http://www.reefbrite.com/product/reef-brite-reef-tech/) matched to their electronic, dimmable ballasts that are Apex Ready. That's right, I said DIMMABLE METAL HALIDE. These will dim from about 50% to 100% but best of all unlike some other ballasts they can actually start up at the 50% setting. Old is new again! I will be running a separate dimming channel for each light. If I want to, I could do sunrise and sunset across the tank. At first I was going to run the 20K bulbs, but given the set up on the LED augmentation I am doing, I opted for the 14K TwinArc bulbs. http://www.reefbrite.com/product/reef-brite-twin-arc/

So, for LED I am going to go with four 44" bars on each side. You heard that right. I wanted total control here. So, I will have two "actinic" bars that have blue and royal blue LEDs that will be dimmable. I will place one of these bars on the backside of the MH and one on the front side. Then I will have one bar of cool/warm white with each color independently controllable. This allows me to tweak the warmth of the light when the metal halides are not on. The fourth bar is one of their 390nm UV bars and it too will be dimmable. So in all four channels of LED dimming and then four channels of metal halide dimming.



So, I already built the aluminum frames and last weekend installed the top and did FRP inside.

Now I had to cut the holes for the venting of the heat, install the hinges, and mount the pendants. The LED will not arrive for a few weeks so that will have to be posted later.

Sadly, once I got half of this installed yesterday evening, I went to fire it up and . . . where are the bulbs!?!? I was like a kid on Christmas with a new remote control car and no AA batteries from the remote - and all the stores are closed! Anyways, one email to ReefBrite and they overnighted me a set. I will get them tomorrow. So, tonight I did the other side. No drama. Tomorrow night I will install the last two ballasts, connect it to the Apex, install the bulbs, and fire it up.


Skippy helps open the boxes - well actually he just likes to eat the corners!










The boss performs the inspection.



Stay tuned - many pretty sticks will be arriving soon!

 

[Terence]

Curious on the details of the hinged side here. Did you attach it to the wall with anything specific? Really like that concept especially on the open top tank.

Glad someone noticed. I didn't get into it because I thought no one would really care.

How to mount a canopy cleanly was a huge challenge for to resolve. The tank sits away from the wall about 8" and the ceilings are 15' high. I wanted something that would be easy to get into, very secure, and as easy to open as possible.

I first designed the boxes knowing I would hinge them somehow. But I didn't yet know how I was going to do it. I also knew I wanted to be able to have the outside finish panel go all the way to the wall. Before I pushed the tank back, I found the studs in the wall and mounted four 4"x1" angle pieces to the studs. At least two screws on each were able to hit a stud and then used high-strength anchors on the other two. I still did not know what I was going to do, but I knew I would likely need a support back there. Thinking at that time was I would have something that would rest on those and support the hinged lids.

Fast forward to me building the frames for the tops and when I set them on top of the tank (now pushed back to 8" from the wall) I had a eureka moment. All I needed to do was build something that could bridge from the wall brackets to the tank and then be the same height as the canopies. Then I had another eureka moment - I had all this pressure treated redwood lumber (beams) left over from my deck I had built the year prior. Those were the perfect height and their mass made them super solid resting on the tank and the brackets. So I cut them the right length, screwed them to brackets, and put 3M industrial 2-sided foam tape under them so they could not have any side to side movement. They were the perfect height. Or so I thought. I had forgotten that once I add the FRP and the plywood to the top, I would be adding something. Well it turned out that ended up being 3/4" so I made some 4" x 4" "shims" out of the maple plywood I used for the stand and then glued and screwed those to the tops of the beams.

For hinges I used some heavy duty galvanized gate hinges that have five holes in an X-pattern on the canopy side and a straight four holes on the beam side. I used 2" 1/4-20 bolts for two of the holes so they would go through the aluminum frame. the other three I used 1" bolts. All of them had washers and nylon insert lock nuts on them. The entire system is super solid.

Now, the little secret I haven't let out is that I have a lift assist plan for the canopies. But that will be one of the followup projects once everything else is done. Hope this detail helps.

 

[lefkonj]

Very cool. Have you thought about putting some type of pneumatic on the canopy to make sure it closes nice and slow?