415 Gallon Plywood Tank Build

[2quills]

Yep. To be honest, after looking at it on paper I'm not entirely convinced that they would even need to pivot. 180 Leds looks like it's going to be alot of light. Probably going to need to tone them down a bit with that many of them. And depending on your rockscape you may want to get creative with placement the optics. Maybe even just using wider optics on the leds around the parimeter of the tank would probably give you what you need under the euro brace. And then T5's ofcorse, if you wanted to use them would help. Wider ones over the areas where your rock work will be high and narrower ones over the deep spots. Could always incorporate some insulated quick disconnects to link the strips together for easy removal and mainenance.

 

[acrylic51]

Thanks Corey!!!! Sorry I had to go last night had the birthday thing for my oldest....the drawing is really good better than I could ever do. I Luke the idea of being able to adjust and angle the strips like we had discussed earlier. I did fin a source on eBay that could actually cut heat sinks any length and dimension as well will have to send the guy an email for pricing.

 

[al&burke]

Hey guys following right along, Corey your drawing is great if it works it does the job. One thing that I am really bad with is electrical. One of these days you guys need to put a list together of everything you need to make a DIY LED set. I would like to try but I am a bit leary, I would like to build something for my lion tank (36" X 18") and then eventually my horse tank. If someone could put an itemized list together I would really appreciate it, thanks Al - I hope I am not hijacking this thread. Happy Sunday everyone

 

[2quills]

Good deal, Shawn. Will they drill and tap them as well?
I'm sure we could help you out, Al. Lots of good build threads over on the bigger site, definately worth looking into.

 

[acrylic51]

Hey Al, by no means are you hijacking the thread!!!!!
Corey the drawing is good!!!! Maybe Al can work some of his magic with his awesome drawings.....I found the place on eBay with the heatsinks. The longest length the guy has is 73". Not a big deal. He has several different widths, and prices aren't bad IMHO... He doesn't get involved with tapping and drilling that would be entirely on us!!! Still not a big deal. I was considering buying a drill press; since I stupidly gave my floor model craftsman away since I never used it!!!!!!! I will send you a link to the guy if you want????
Josh and luck on the driver end of things? The TR's appear all but impossible to get and the MeanWell I'm looking at is a hard item to get as well...

 

[1snapple]

No luck yet, I will pm you when I can give you some information on it/ where to get it.

 

[2quills]

Yeah would definately like to get the link. I'm still probably going to go with some pre drilled ones from rapid just because I could easliy encorporate their sizes into my build but you never know....I change my mind alot and would still like to check them out.
Al, we'll have to jump over to your thread and see what we can work out. I have confidence in your ability to build. I've got your measurements and I'll start kicking around some ideas.
Josh, have you talked to that guy over on the other site with the 210G build that you've been following? IIRC I think he said he was in the business of working with led and he used those drivers, perhaps he knows how to get a hold of some.

 

[al&burke]

Right on Corey - i appreciate it

 

[acrylic51]

Cool will be watching!!!! Did email a company this afternoon while I was broke down for 3 hours about the MeanWell HlG 185 48b and they aren't available yet, but he did say the HLG 240 48b is. Any info on those Josh???

 

[1snapple]

This is what I found.
Quote:




Originally Posted by 1Snapple
Where did you get your LED driver?
I need 2-3 of these.
TRC-200S070DT




I purchased them direct from TRC but you need a sales tax form. They won't sell to the public directly unless you have your sales tax resale form.
I understand that people are getting the drivers from nanotuners.com. They have some TR drivers however I have heard that they are ordering others for people with different specifications.

 

[acrylic51]

Hey Corey....Did you get my email that I forwarded to you this morning??? Not sure if you did something got sent back to me, and I didn't notice it today till it was late in the day. Didn't have time to sit and play on the phone today.
Anyways the guy I spoke with said that the HLG 185H - 48B should be in within 2 weeks, and he broke down pricing depending on the quantity of drivers ordered.....I didn't ask him about running it through my business to see if it would be any cheaper or not. He did ask me, but never got a chance to reply to him to late this evening so, he'll get it first thing in the morning. There is a model HLG 185-48B and HLG 185H - 48B. The difference is the H model is more for industrial. The AC range on the 185-48B is 90-264vac whereas the 185H-48B is 90-305vac......These are 90% dimmable; whereas the HLG 240-48B are 50% dimmable which really isn't that bad.
Pricing is $146.75 for 1 driver and for 5 the price drops to $117.40 a piece.....I will definitely need a couple, so.......He also figures they would/could easily run 60 3w LEDs.....This is the driver a lot of people have been waiting and searching for......
Corey I got emails back from the 2 people with the heatsinks.....I forgot the 1 place was HeatSinkUSA and the other I forget, but their prices were pretty close for the size I had them quote me on....HeatSinkUSA could drill and tap if you wanted for a fee of course......I had both places quote me on a heat sink 10"W x 55"L. Both places were around $230. The other place had heat sinks 11"W and same length, and roughly $7.00 more......
Josh I did read that on the thread over on RC that he had to buy directly from them, and it wouldn't be an issue for me to deal with them. I just have to give them a call and get an idea on pricing....

 

[2quills]

I don't believe I got the email, no. I didn't see it in my folder. It's possible that it got sent to my spam folder and I deleted by accident but it probably would have jumped out at me had it been in there. No biggie since you posted the info here.
Those drivers sound perfect. I've been wanting something like that ever since I first start kicking design ideas around.
I knew that heasinkusa would cut the lengths you wanted from the sizes that they had. I wonder how much they want to drill and tap...I'll have to shoot them an email. I thought your initial concern with the heatsinks though was going to be the weight issue?

 

[acrylic51]

Yeah that is my real concern with going with solid panels like that per say.....He said they would weigh roughly 62lbs a piece, which means I would have to scrap some of what I've started on the light rack and redesign which really isn't a big deal IMHO.........I could always break it down into smaller panels as well.......but going with the wider panels I think I could get away with using 2 solid panels or I could get the panels cut to roughly 29" and run them front to back as well, but more panels, about the same cost????

The drivers do fit the bill.....I think they will have to be run parallel if I'm not mistaken and there are a few more steps in the build process running it that way.....Hopefully Josh will chime in on that issue.......

 

[acrylic51]

Ok guys.....promised some pics when I got the old laptop up and running.....Today seems to be my lucky day.....After a somewhat grueling first part of the week I got a chance to take a couple pics.....
Nothing better after a long hard day at work and getting home and having a "cold one"......NO.....not beer.....A nice cold juice box with my granddaughter......

She usually doesn't share her juice boxes with anyone.....Must be my lucky day!!!!!!!

 

[2quills]

Sounds like you could do 4 heatsinks @ 50 leds a piece, 4 drivers, 5 strings of 10 leds in parallel perhaps. I think it would work.
Edit: Juice boxes are good stuff

 

[acrylic51]

Ok down to business.....I had posted that I had gotten all the black epoxy work done. That has been complete and I finished scuffing it getting ready for the final coats of clear epoxy to be applied.....Here is a shot of the inside of the tank with the black epoxy scuffed. Sorry didn't take any before I scuffed, but before it's scuffed it is a high gloss black.....Looking at the pic and even in person it appears a tad gray......but when you apply the clear epoxy over top of it, it takes it back to it's original high luster black color......I was kind of nervous when I started sanding and seen it turn gray, but then I got curious, and sanded some leftover stuff and applied clear over and was AMAZED!!!!!!

Excuse all the mess on top of the tank and such.....to busy and tired to really clean up before taking pics........

This pic gives a little better look as to some of the sanding and how it takes it from a high gloss finish to a gray color.......

Again another shot of the back wall and you can also see the 3" bulkhead holes already drilled out and need epoxy work. I coat all the bulkhead holes with epoxy leaving nothing to chance. Even though the bulkheads would seal that area of exposed bare wood, I feel better knowing that there is epoxy between water and wood. You can also see the work done where the water will exit the tank and drain into the external overflow.....I'm toying using egg crate, and was in Lowes over the weekend and stumbled upon some drainage grate for yards that might work a little better......
In this pic excuse all the mess and sloppy work....These are the bulkhead holes cut out for the return lines from the sump. These bulkheads will be 1 1/2".

 

[al&burke]

Shawn that is going to be one nice tank - hurry up and get this thing running.

 

[acrylic51]

Some more pics for the guys that are beating on me!!!!!!!

This pic gives a pretty good closeup of the sanding down for the next coat of clear epoxy.....Corey already knew about the sch 80 PVC fittings being epoxied into place in the eurobracing of the tank to make mounting the OceansMotions revs easy......You can see a spot I missed with the black epoxy.....HMMMMM more work!!!!!!! These are in both back corners of the tank......
This is a pic of the other side in the back corner.....Know that I'm looking at it I might have to mask off the area behind the PVC fittings and shoot them with a bit of Krylon Fusion paint so they blend in perfect with the background of the tank.

 

[acrylic51]

My wife is going to kill me.....I bought the wrong size PVC fittings to use for my molds when I poured the bulkhead holes......She had what I thought some empty little containers laying around....Needless to say I taped them up with packing tape so the epoxy wouldn't stick.....Well this morning I went downstairs before work and wanted to remove them....They were a little stubborn, so in 1 of the pics you see the dead blow hammer laying there.....I gave the little containers a couple good whacks destroying the containers and as they blew apart I realized there were little crystal figurines inside them......Somehow by the grace of God they weren't destroyed......I told you my week is getting better!!!!!!!
Thanks Al.....I need a vacation to put a real hurt on this thing.....This weekend I have to show my brother-in-law how to lay hardwood floor, and Saturday and Sunday help my sister move into her new office!!!!!!!

 

[meowzer]

HAHA......boy did you get lucky....sorta