Dwolson's 135gal Build

meet? did you mean me?

First layout of drivers:

Is that just a mock up to see how it all lays out? Then your going to seal the wood later?

Yea, I don't want to go through the trouble of sealing it if I have to remake it, which i think I might have to.

Why? What are you going to do different?

I think I an going to need a wider board. I still have to add three drivers. I can fit one on the end, but I still need room for two more( for the multi- chip.)

This is going to be an awesome setup.

If I ever finish it...lol My wife was saying last night that she can't wait to set it up....at our new house. I was really surprised, she seems to look forward to it!?! Hopefully she stays that way!

So here's an update. Over the week and weekend, I finished wiring the LED's on the heatsink. Made plugs for the wires, made a harness for the plugs, painted the inside of the canopy white(with my daughters help...yea...) and have purchased most of the necessary equipment to hang it(decided to add some way to quickly take the fixture out) The drivers are installed in the canopy, and almost all wired in(only the signal from the apex and a powerstrip for the drivers are left)

And some pictures:
There are plugs like this on each end, so I can remove the fixture as needed.


LED's all finished


Canopy painted, yes lots of drips... but she is only 4. With the canopy closed no one will know


Wiring up the drivers and harness:

lets see those bad boys lit over the tank with that wave box making a wave!

Probably won't be up on the tank till later this week. Still need a few things before I put it up, and one of them is in the mail.

Im not sure i would put the drivers inside the canopy. Then you have to worry about heat from them as well as the leds and i dont know how good all the water is for them ether.

clownfish14 wrote:Im not sure i would put the drivers inside the canopy. Then you have to worry about heat from them as well as the leds and i dont know how good all the water is for them ether.

It will be fine. They are water proof drivers, And the amount of heat isn't going to be an issue.

yea nick what do you know!

coryg wrote:yea nick what do you know!

Not that, I just looked into it before making that decision.

ok sounds good. cory i was just making sure he at least knew what he was doing before he did it. and its not like i already built all my lights or anything

dwolson2 wrote:

coryg wrote:yea nick what do you know!

Not that, I just looked into it before making that decision.

but you didn't consult Nick about it though.

haha

hahahahahahaha

dwolson2 wrote:

Canopy painted, yes lots of drips... but she is only 4. With the canopy closed no one will know

oh yeah, I like that, If you don't mind, i'm going to use that one. when I mess up I'm going to say, "my daughter did that part".

sisterlimonpot wrote:

dwolson2 wrote:

Canopy painted, yes lots of drips... but she is only 4. With the canopy closed no one will know

oh yeah, I like that, If you don't mind, i'm going to use that one. when I mess up I'm going to say, "my daughter did that part".

You caught me I should take a picture of her paint brush and post it up. Its pretty funny.

how are we going to know its not yours?

chances are it was me that dripped, but only I will know for sure. If my cables come in tonight, and I get them figured out tomorrow morning, The tank may be lit for you guys on monday!

Here are some pictures
Paint brush picture I said I would post:


Its a lot brighter that what it looks in the picture.


The first time I've had all the lights on at once:


Here is the wiring as it sits right now:

Lights are UP!!!!! I am Very excited!


First photo is of the lights in the canopy:


A close up of the heatsink


The fans on the top of the heatsink


Everything on


Whites


Blues


4 reds with 3 blues(red channel)


4 greens with 3 blues(green channel)


So now that its finished, I can take a deep breath and relax. I still have a lot of stuff to do on this tank, but this is one very large hurdle overcome!
Also, if you were wondering, its 51-3w chips, which puts this fixture at 153w. I am going to be adding some multi chips down the road, and those are each going to be run at 80w.
Total lighting will end up being 213w. Should be more than what I need.

Sweet! cant wait to see those monday!

Back on reeftronics if you want to see my code(although its not finished):
http://www.reeftronics.net/dwolson2/apex-status

how come it still says 75 gallon? is that something you can change or is that something Russ has to change?

Russ has to change it. I emailed him to reactivate the account, but he must not have caught the "upgraded to a 135" part of that email.

Updated picture of my sump area. I stuck my CA reactor in there and am working on running my ATO aqualifter and the aqua lifter for the CA reactor. Still have to figure out where I want it. Also, I will be using black tubing, hopefully will give the stage effect for the tubing.

thinking about redoing the canopy. Here is a VERY rough drawing. What do you guys think?

wheres the fans going?

Two on the back. Also, I may counter sink the speed Apex into the canopy. Haven't decided yet though.

Speed Apex?

Cause its high speed.... LOL
Auto correct on my phone....

Lights are sickk

LOL, and they are for sale. I have to downsize due to my move. I can't set this up at my next home.

ahhhh that sucks! you have put a ton of work into this

Actually, blawson just talked me into putting them on the new tank, so I guess I'm keeping them.