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

[markstubb]

The CoralCare fixture dims down to a level of 1% (what corresponds to 6mA of the normal 600mA drive current).
At this region the LED’s run very efficient and therefor Philips advises not to use these settings for a constant “night light effect”.

Luc,
I assume you mean they're very *inefficient* at this setting?

 

[joseserrano]

Where did you find this CA media at?

Look what just arrived. I picked it up at the last minute on a deal with Doug from Deltec. I won't need for a little while, but I figured whatever the Marine Aquarium Hobbyist of the Year, Brad Syphus uses on his amazing tank must be the only way I should go!

Of course the pH in this will be controlled by my Apex!

 

[Terence]

Where did you find this CA media at?

I got it when I got the reactor - direct from the USA distributor at the time. I am almost out now and will need to get more - or, convert it to ReBorn and ditch the fluidized stuff altogether. @Brad Syphus was able to obtain some of the new stuff, I have not heard from him lately if it is better than this here which was a bit too dark for my liking.

 

[joseserrano]

I got it when I got the reactor - direct from the USA distributor at the time. I am almost out now and will need to get more - or, convert it to ReBorn and ditch the fluidized stuff altogether. @Brad Syphus was able to obtain some of the new stuff, I have not heard from him lately if it is better than this here which was a bit too dark for my liking.

What do you think of the media in comparison to something like reborn? I have a friend that has that reactor and swears by it. Says, because it is fluidized, the media breaks down more evenly.

 

[Terence]

I don't know about evenly. It does work well but has a bit too much gray byproduct in the effluent. I have used the Revorn before in a Reef Octopus calcium reactor and was quite pleased. We will see if I can get it replaced stateside before I go that route.

 

[Terence]

Hi Terence
Easily done on your Mac, and for free.

1. Download VirtualBox - https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
2. Download the appropriate image of windows from Microsoft: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/#downloads
3. Unzip the image
4. Open virtualbox and do file>import, select the image and fire it up.

Whenever you connect the controller via USB, you'll have to tell the virtual machine to use it. Plug it in, then right click the USB Icon in the VM Status Bar at bottom of screen, OR from Menu go Devices > USB Devices, and select desired device.

This is SO convoluted. I tried to do this. Lost in 10 min of my life (and tens of gigs of disk space) - not giving up any more of either.

 

[markstubb]

Sorry man, I guess my instructions weren't clear enough as obviously something went horribly wrong. It should be quite easy.

The other option, which is a lot more polished, is to use parallels, but you have to pay for it.

 

[Terence]

I am forced to use VMware on another family computer because there is an apartment management app that has no iOS version. I have tried to not have to put more bloat on my main computer. The only issue is that MacBook is the new one that only has a USB-C connection on it and I do not yet have an adapter for the USB-A. Ugh. Time to track down my Dell dinosaur...

 

[RamsReef]

I am forced to use VMware on another family computer because there is an apartment management app that has no iOS version. I have tried to not have to put more bloat on my main computer. The only issue is that MacBook is the new one that only has a USB-C connection on it and I do not yet have an adapter for the USB-A. Ugh. Time to track down my Dell dinosaur...

Terence is a sucker for punishment

 

[Terence]

Terence is a sucker for punishment

Yes, especially since that Dell runs MS Vista!

 

[Terence]

SO I made a slight change so that I think I will get a bit of blue shifting to white and back to blue in the evening. Here is the graph.

 

[RamsReef]

Yes, especially since that Dell runs MS Vista!

That is self flagellation

 

[Fishlee]

I am forced to use VMware on another family computer because there is an apartment management app that has no iOS version. I have tried to not have to put more bloat on my main computer. The only issue is that MacBook is the new one that only has a USB-C connection on it and I do not yet have an adapter for the USB-A. Ugh. Time to track down my Dell dinosaur...

Apple happens to have the usb c to usb a adapter on sale for 9$! Or Amazon is always your friend!

 

[Luc Vogels]

Ok Luc that all makes sense. This is not a thread hijack. At some point someone else will want to do this very same thing and having it here is helpful for them.

Everything above makes total sense. There is just one major problem - I run a Mac!

You guys need Mac OS software ASAP or some kind of hybrid web app. I think I might have a notebook from 2008 lying around here somewhere running Vista. I will see if I can find it.

So far the schedule I had yesterday had both channels on the exact same ramp up and down path and it looked pretty amazing just like that!

I think it would be awesome if you or some other enthusiast with a CoralCare and An Apex started to use our new Scheme feature (we just put this in Apex Fusion a week or so ago) and create a bunch of preset schedules for the two channels (to be used together of course and named to make that easier).

I have already saved mine but it's no big deal since both channels were set identical.

Terence, the Imac version of the CoralCare software is on our development shortlist but the development of the US version has our priority.
This means that the only short term option is to resurrect your dinosaur, install an emulator or just copy the values I shared with you in the above post.
The controller is programmed to listen to the 0-10V interface by default, so no USB connection is required to control it with an 3rd party controller.
But I agree with you that the information in the manual about the 0-10V interface is rather limited, we will update this and also share some examples!
In the meantime I am happy to generate files for your tank (even Apex Fusion if possible).

Luc,
I assume you mean they're very *inefficient* at this setting?

Hi Mark,
LED's become more efficient (lumen/watt or WPE (wall-plug-efficiency in mW/W) what means the amounth of input power that is transferred to optical output power).
This has to do with the die temperature of the LED (the lower, the more efficient the LED generates light), the droop effect (Higher current density (current crowding) results in additional losses) and resistive losses in the conductors (e.g. the wirebonds between the package and die).

In example: A LED will produce 1000mW of light at 600mA. But if the current is set to 1% (6mA), the lightoutput will be more than 10mW.
On the other hand... thedriver will be much less efficient in generating the required output current when you dim down the light!
But because we were discussing the moonlight light intensity, only the WPE was of influence.
Please let me know if this is clear, else i can explain it in more detail !

 

[Mickey]

Terrence:
I just started reading this thread a week ago and have been piling up the questions but I resisted asking them until I got to the end in case you already answered in other posts. But now I got to the end and..............

1. I'm staying with metal halides in my tank for similar reasons as you. I have VHO's right now and am looking to replace them. Did you consider supplementing with T5's instead of LED's?
2. Are the ballasts for the lights mounted under the stand? I assume they are, or did you run longer cords all the way to your fish room?
3. My main curiosity is your canopy and I was hoping to see more details of it finished.

- What did you decide to use as a lifting mechanism?
- I saw the gate hinges earlier in the thread but am not clear on whether they are holding the canopy to the wall, or whether they are attached to the fixed part of the canopy at the back of the tank and the front units holding the lights.
- Any idea how heavy the canopy section is with the MH + Reef Brites? I already know the side with the Phillips light is heavy.
​

I've got a custom tank 72" long x 30" wide by 24" high that's now 12 years old and I'm planning on rebuilding my canopy, and upgrading my lights so lots of great info here. Thanks for sharing.

Mickey

 

[Terence]

Terrence:
I just started reading this thread a week ago and have been piling up the questions but I resisted asking them until I got to the end in case you already answered in other posts. But now I got to the end and..............

1. I'm staying with metal halides in my tank for similar reasons as you. I have VHO's right now and am looking to replace them. Did you consider supplementing with T5's instead of LED's?


I considered it but I am just not a fan of bulb changing and the metal halides were enough to worry about. Also, I wanted some additional ability to easily tweak on occasion to look at corals in different light.

2. Are the ballasts for the lights mounted under the stand? I assume they are, or did you run longer cords all the way to your fish room?

The ballasts are mounted under the stand. There are some pics of it a few pages back I believe. Longer cords would not work as it is ~70 feet away.

3. My main curiosity is your canopy and I was hoping to see more details of it finished.

- What did you decide to use as a lifting mechanism?
- I saw the gate hinges earlier in the thread but am not clear on whether they are holding the canopy to the wall, or whether they are attached to the fixed part of the canopy at the back of the tank and the front units holding the lights.
- Any idea how heavy the canopy section is with the MH + Reef Brites? I already know the side with the Phillips light is heavy.​

​

I have not decided on the lifting mechanism. I think the first job will be to fashion some counter balance mechanism just to make it a bit easier. Then, I see a linear actuator and cable/pulley system as a good contender.

The gate hinges attach to large blocks of pressure treated lumber that bridge across from brackets on the wall to the top of the tank. I think I explained it earlier, but I was lucky enough to have scrap from building my deck, and the height and weigh of these beams was perfect. They are screwed to the brackets and the wood sits on 3M foam adhesive tape on the top of the tank.

As far as weight, my canopy itself is about 15 pounds I think. That means that the philips side is about sixty pounds total. A lot. But luckily the weight is toward the back closer to the hinges. On the MH side right now, it weighs probably half what the philips does, but because it is farther forward (both the MH and all the bars), it feels only about 20% lighter. It will all get heavier when I skin it with a decorative wood facade.

I've got a custom tank 72" long x 30" wide by 24" high that's now 12 years old and I'm planning on rebuilding my canopy, and upgrading my lights so lots of great info here. Thanks for sharing.

Mickey

Good luck on the retrofit. I hope you keep following along here.

 

[Mickey]

Thanks, Terrence. I did see the part about the blocks of wood left over from your deck, but I just can't figure out where the gate hinges came in to play, at the wall or at the rest of the canopy.

I absolutely will be following along. I'm a long time APEX/Aquacontroller user and frequent lurker around here as well as on a few other forums, including Neptunes.

Mickey

 

[Terence]

22 days in with the Coral Care and here is where things are at.

The LED are mounted about 5" from the water. At about day 15 things were starting to look like they were not liking the intensity of the light. So, I broke out my PMK (PAR Monitoring Kit) and put the sensor with the rock on the sand bottom about 6" to the left of the center brace. I then plotted the PAR with the settings in the above post. HOLY COW! 308 PAR at the sand! That's about 33" from the light. So, clearly I needed to tone it down. I made changes to bring it down to 60% max (blue, 40% white) and now that PAR level is about 135. Much better. The amount at the mid level corals was 230. And the peak at 30% down was 275. I think it must be about right because the corals started looking better in two days and five days after that (today) the growth buds on corals are amazing (they were stunted before). Coral colors are also looking like they are changing - for the better.

I do like the idea though that I will be able to run these at 60-70% power - that means maybe less than 275W for both lights!

I will post some more coral pics soon.

 

[Terence]

A little something I get to test...

 

[markstubb]

lucky dog