Barry's 120 Gallon Reef

[Grassman]

It's not bleach white. It's a creamy beige colour with green tips. When the lights go out, it turns more white, and when the lights turn back on, it colours up right away. I had people over this weekend that have had nems for years, and they all agree that it is perfectly healthy. (None of them were the person I bought it from, or friends of mine. They were from a Reefing club in Sarnia that came on a tank tour of Tillsonburg and Woodstock.)

 

[little_fish]

Thats good then!

 

[Grassman]

It's been awhile since I've posted anything new. I picked up my green star polyps finally. I'm going to glue them to my right overflow to cover the acrylic.

Here's a couple updated photos of the tank.

I was also given a very sick nem to see if I could bring back to life. Here's the sick pic of it. It looks a lot better now and is moving all over the tank. It wanted to be friends with my frogspawn but as soon as my lights came on and the wave marker kicked it, the friendship was over and it was on the move again. Guess it didn't like being stung. I'll post an update pic later.

I finished the stand last weekend. It took me a couple days, but it's well worth the extra time. My boys are happy since they no longer have to turn the volume on the tv & computer up as the tank is quieter. I have to keep looking to see if everything is running since I can no longer hear it. I hinged the side of the stand so I can look for MIA fish on the floor, and to make sure the plumbing doesn't spring a leak.

I'm hoping to finish the canopy this weekend since my LEDs came in today after waiting almost 3 months for them. I ordered a 108 LED kit. 4-Red, 4-420NM, 10-4500K, 36-10000K, 54-Royal Blue, 6 dimmable drivers, and 80 degree optics. A friend of mine built me 4 heat sinks roughly 39" long by 2" wide. He was also bored one night and laid out the configuration I should use in CAD. I duplicated it in Paint Shop. His layout looks a lot better then mine. ;)

LED Layout.

 

[beeguiles]

Looks great Barry! Keep up the great work! :)

 

[Smitty]

Looking good bro.

 

[little_fish]

Looks really great! Keep an eye on the wandering nem, it means they arent happy

 

[Mr.D]

Great idea on the side hinge! As for the nem, of course he's not happy, he's sick.

 

[Grassman]

Looks great Barry! Keep up the great work! :)

Looking good bro.

Looks really great! Keep an eye on the wandering nem, it means they arent happy

Great idea on the side hinge! As for the nem, of course he's not happy, he's sick.

Thank you. My Nem has found his place in the tank and is doing very well. He's no longer a sickly green/red/brown. Nice and white with purple tips and a pink base. It's a pig when it comes to brine feeding.

 

[Grassman]

I roughed up my heat sinks tonight so the paste will stick. I did a dry fit of the LEDs so I can see what the spacing is like. I still want to play with them a little to make sure I get them spaced out evenly.

 

[little_fish]

Thank you. My Nem has found his place in the tank and is doing very well. He's no longer a sickly green/red/brown. Nice and white with purple tips and a pink base. It's a pig when it comes to brine feeding.

He looks very good!

 

[chichimom79]

That light will be nice! I'm glad the nem is doing well! :D

 

[Grassman]

I was playing around with the LEDs to see what the colours looked like. The kit came with a battery pack to test them with.

Royal Blue.

10000K.

4500K.

Red.

420NM. (This is the colour most people over look when the buy a LED DIY Kit.)

I also played around on a scrap piece of V-Match pine on how I was going to mount my Pots. (Dimmers.)

Front View.

Back View.

 

[Grassman]

LEDs are finished. Here's my video I made.

DYI LED Light Fixture - YouTube

LEDs on lowest setting.

LEDs on full blast.

Dimmers mounted without knobs.

 

[Grassman]

Video of my old 36" 6 tube T5 fixture.
Old Lights - YouTube

LED lights on dim.
Old Lights - YouTube

Some pictures I took the next day.

Hood open.

Stand, hood and tank.

Full tank shot.

End tank shot.

Fighting for Prime Real Estate.

Out of focus Nuclear Green Paly's. These things look awesome under the LEDs.

My old Candy Cane now forming 3 mouths on each head right now. It looks awesome too.

 

[kevdogg]

The last pic, what are the little dots under the pots?

 

[Grassman]

I'm thinking on adding another 18 Royal Blues to my LEDs. That'll give me 126 LEDs. I have room for 2 more bars. I'm not sure how many LEDs I could cram onto one bar, but I just might have to find out. I'm also going to pull the fixture off and rewire it so all the different LEDs are on their own dimmers.

 

[charlieB]

that looks awesome

 

[Grassman]

The last pic, what are the little dots under the pots?

It's where my drill bit went too far down and started to poke threw the wood. I have to fill those so the light won't shine threw. I'll do it this weekend when I put the finish trim on it.

 

[Grassman]

that looks awesome

Thank you Charlie!

 

[chichimom79]

Great job!!