240 Gallon "Rectangle of Life" Tank Diary

sweatervest13

sweatervest13

Active Member
Love the light rail, it is very handy to be able to move left and right AND up and down. The speakers are very cool idea.
How many GPH are you pushing thru the return pump??
Looking forward to seeing some pics of the live stock. I think your school of chromis is sweet looking.
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by sweatervest13 http:///t/391220/240-gallon-rectangle-of-life-tank-diary/20#post_3469560
Love the light rail, it is very handy to be able to move left and right AND up and down. The speakers are very cool idea.
How many GPH are you pushing thru the return pump??
Looking forward to seeing some pics of the live stock. I think your school of chromis is sweet looking.
I would say the pump dialed back about 20% so close to 4400 GPH.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rickross23 http:///t/391220/240-gallon-rectangle-of-life-tank-diary/20#post_3469589
How did u make the light rail?
Ohh boy, I took two 8' long aluminum L rails. For the wheels to sit on. Then I took two aluminum bars and cut them to make "legs" to attack to the wood. At the bottom of the legs are L brackets in the middle and another L rail on the ends to hold it up. These are all bolted together.
Believe it or not, the hardest part of making the light rail was adjusting the hex nuts so that they were even otherwise the tension on the wheels were not even and they wouldn't roll easy enough.
I can take more detailed pictures if needed of just the light rail. It's actually put together pretty simply.
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
As requested here are some close up shots of the "light rail."
You can see in this picture that I cut an aluminum bar and put 4 wood screws through it to keep it in place. I then drilled a hole near the bottom to mount the horizontal L with bolts. This L rail is steal as it will basically be holding the entire fixture up and I didn't want it to bow.

In this picture you can see that I drilled a hole in the other L rails to attach it to the side L rail this one is an aluminum rail.

Once again I cut the aluminum bar and this time I attached L bracket to the top center brace of the canopy. This is simply a middle brace because with the length of the tank it would bow from the weight of the light banks. This also also provides you with a good view of the moon light LEDs for the Lunar Sim Module of the Apex.

This is the bottom part of the center brace. It is basically the same as the top on, except I mounted it to where there is clearance for the wheels to pass through without any problems.

Well that's it. The actual light rail took about 30 minutes to make. The individual "light banks" took 4-5 hours to make due to the epoxy, soldering, waiting on the silicone for the lenses to dry and testing. All together I would say it took me about 22 hours to make.
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by rickross23 http:///t/391220/240-gallon-rectangle-of-life-tank-diary/20#post_3469764
Was it confusing to make or did they send a instruction guide?
Only instructions is what each wire is. There is multiple ways to "light" the LEDs, multiple controllers, etc. So there is no actual guide to hooking them up. However, as far as wiring the actual LEDs up it's simple 12 LEDs in series or 2 parallel strings of 12 LEDs per driver. You have to "dial back" the driver depending that number depends on your setup. If you can solder you can build one of these. It's + to - .
Rapid LED has plug and play kits not you just connect wire connectors and light up. They have really made it simple for people who are worried.
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Going to the fish store to pick up a harlequin of purple queen anthias. That is if they are eating, I tried these before and couldn't get them to eat, so if the LFS can't prove what they claim, then I will be leaving them to a braver sole. Wish me luck.
Heres a picture of what they look like.
Male in front, females in the back.
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Well, it official I have 3 new members in QT.
3 x Purple Queen Anthias. I've updated my list to reflect the additions.
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
NEW Coral Additions

  • Pink Montipora

  • Ponape Birdsnest

  • Miami Vice Zoanthids
    Mr Freeze Zoanthids
    Rasta Zoanthids
    LE Nightmare Zoanthids
Front page updated to reflect the new additions.
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Made a DIY Apex Breakout Box for open closed switches like float switches.
I then modified my Cleaner 200 and installed one in the lid. Now I don't even have to look at the skimmer until my tank emails me to say that the cup is full... Awesome!
My breakout box has 6 ports, 1 is the skimmer full float switch.
Another will be a quick push button on the side of the canopy that will allow me to push it to turn off everything in the tank in case of an emergency.
Not sure about the rest. I have an all in one sump low, sump high ato so I don't need to program that, however, I am thinking about putting another sump low even lower in the sump to tell the apex to turn off the pump if for some reason the ato fails to keep the water level correct, or in case of a leak and the sump runs dry.
That still leaves me with 3 ports to make something exotic. Maybe a automatic daily water change system.
Updating the front page to reflect the changes.
 
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