ruks biocube

[user 26995]

So i added 2 big snails and my tank is almost looking new again.. they are pretty big, so i figured they had a big appetite, not sure which kind they are but they eat hair algae. they snail itself looks like it has tiger stripes on it... They pretty much cleared up the top rock, and putting a dent on the other one.

well im going out and about, today is my 31st bday.. woohoo... ill get a pic up, of the difference in the top rock... its crazy clean.

First HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
second...you need to rent those snails out!

 

[rukis]

Thanks Lorrie for the bday wishes!! and i may have to get rid of one of these snails, i am worried i wont have enough to feed it.. they have cleaned up so much, they might starve...

So now that its tax time, i am just waiting on my deposit to start this build which should be any day.

So i wanted to get some input from all y'all amazing folks here..

So here is the start of my build plan.

LED's
12x 3Watt Philips Luxeon ES Cool Whites
- luxeon star
12x 3Watt Philips Luxeon ES Royal Blue
- Philips Luxeon ES ROYAL BLUE 3 Watt LEDs

Now here is my first set of questions..
- I been seeing alot of people wishing they added some Warm Whites and Plain Blues, or just plain happy they did.
- Should i reduce each to x8 and add 4 of each, WW and Blue?

Now i plan on purchasing 3 of the MeanWell ELN-60-48D and 2x 2 Color DIY Dimming kit
- http://www.rapidled.com/mean-well-eln-60-48d-dimmable-driver/
- http://www.rapidled.com/diy-2-color-dimming-kit/


So now, i been seeing these StevesLED dimmers... anyone used these yet? any feedback?

Had me looking at the Quad
- http://shop.stevesleds.com/The-Quad-Dimming-LED-Driver-The-Quad.htm



Also, my wife, thinks its a waste to buy the peices and do it ALL myself..
She thinks i should grab the biocube kit. since it was "designed" for it.. any input here?

RapidLED's 29 Retrofit kit, looks cool... but they are currently out of stock.
Plug-and-Play Biocube 29 Dimmable Retrofit Kit - Rapid LED
StevesLED's also looks cool, but i am not fond of the heatsink used...
- Biocube 29 Gallon LED retrofit kit

I will ultimately spend about the same as the kit, so not like its saving anything...

So i just wanted to see if anyone has used one of these kits, and if they felt they should have done it piece by piece or just went with the kit...

And as far as LED Layout, haven't put anything in stone... I have seen a few where they layout was more of a circle, and have seen comments of people wishing they did it as well..

So any help or input, or just plain .02 Cents would be greatly appreciated...


thanks!

damien

 

[rukis]

couple shots, thought yall might wanna see..

 

[tat2z_21]

I would definitely add some color variation in there. Is this going into the hood if so then Optics are not needed especially with that much light.

As far as the Digital drivers, I find that they are awesome because if the one driver goes out then all you need to do is replace that chip. I am currently running a dc to dc digital driver and find that they work awesome. Not sure why you are getting 3 of the meanwell drivers though. You really only need two. Two of either the meanwells or the digital drivers.

 

[rukis]

What color variation would you put together?

I was think 8x cw 4x ww 8x rb 4x blue

The third driver was just incase I added a moonlight setup..

I saw a tank that had a storm simulator..
Thought it was pretty cool...

Sent from my HTC Sensation using Tapatalk

 

[tat2z_21]

That would be one powerful moonlight setup. I would also say that the configuration you have on there is about right. With the ability of dimming this would be awesome. Have you thought about going with a smaller footprint driver for something that you can keep managed inside of the hood itself. Look up

700mA Dimmable buckpuck with Leads

The lighting simulator is cool, however not beneficial in anyway, but definitely cool. You would need some sort of a programing controller for that. Something like an Arduino with shields. Arduinos are cool because you can do so much with them and go farther then any off the shelf controller could get you. However knowing and understanding code would be a huge necessity. There are forums out there that people love to help with the design and architecture of the code.

 

[tat2z_21]

Also there are other LED drivers out there that have a smaller footprint and also have a built in 0 to 10vdc reference voltage, eliminating the need for an added pot and circuit. Just something to think about when you are building this thing

 

[rukis]

Ok, so after a bit more looking into it, I still am wondering about the whites..

should I do
8x cool white
4x warm or neutral white ?
8x royal blue
4x blue
2x green
2x UV

Now that is 28 LEDs, is that just crazy overkill for the biocube?

But i find that most people aren't getting past 30% power when running LEDs

I am trying to plan the layout of the LEDs, I am curious to if anyone has placement strategy when planning the layout...

I seen a couple threads of people planning a circular layout, which seemed cool.. any thoughts on that?

When looking online for retrofit kits, the heatsink is 5.9" x 10" so I need to plan around that size so that I can still mount it in my hood..

I really like the black heatsink from rapidled, so I could do a hanging fixture, but the hood saves so much with evaporation.. and keeps a clean stock look..

But am surely open to suggestions..

Sent from my HTC Sensation using Tapatalk

 

[rukis]

So I have an 8 gal biocube as well, and i planned on making it a eel tank some snowflakes So I had this cut



Does this cause any hindrance to my system?
It fits flush on inner lip of the cube...

Am thinking about cutting another one for my 29.. while I'm topless during my led build... But before I did, wanted to see if this would hinder the tank not being directly exposed to air or anything..


from my HTC Sensation using Tapatalk

 

[rukis]

Snails at work



Sent from my HTC Sensation using Tapatalk

 

[rukis]

Current FTS

4/4/12



from my HTC Sensation using Tapatalk

 

[rukis]

A video update, YaY!

 

[NC2WA]

video is not showing or access is denied is the message I get when trying to play this

 

[rukis]

video is not showing or access is denied is the message I get when trying to play this

ACK!

It was set to private for some reason....

here is the fixed link...

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/5614/ybdn.mp4

ohh kirk, BTW im back @ microsoft, v-dagibs *YaY*

 

[NC2WA]

nice.

im surprised that you are able to keep two different kind of clowns in a 29g cube..i would thought you would have territory aggression..whatever it is, keep it going..

 

[josh88]

That's really cool, nice tank. Even cooler you have 2 different kinds of clown in there.

HTC EVO

 

[Rothany]

Nicely done! I had a bc29 also lit with less. Keep it up

 

[rukis]

Thanks Guys! Sooooo... i know its been a while, things have been hectic, but starting to calm down now... and i thought i would post some pics, for all you pic lovers out there...

Here is a current FTS

Pom Pom Crab

Clowns loving the anenome

A Mushroom that started growing an old crab shell.. there are 3 i think on the shell... crazyness..

an upset GSP, I was messing with the flow and it didnt like that too much.

So some how this ricordia started growing on the big rock, when my actual ricordia is on the complete other side of the tank.

My shelf of corals..

The original ricordia on the floor up front

A brand new Acan from the great BRA Sale

My Hammer

Hadn't seen the pom pom in since i put it in.. but here is a quick vid.

 

[rukis]

ohh and i added a sexy dancer shrimp.. here is a quick vid
[img=http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/6778/file8633.mp4.frm.jpg]

 

[user 26995]

That looks like a fun little tank. Looking great!