My LED Zeppelin

[Chris023]

Thanks everyone!!!
Nick, I am using 2 drivers (Mean Well HLG-150H-48B).

[JohnnyAirtime]

Ya know... that's one of the cleanest DIY LED builds I've ever seen!

Excellent work, top notch... you should be overly proud of yourself. Like... to sit and stare at the craftmanship... layout, design, and all the simple yet effective perks. I mean, sit and stare for hours!! I know I do when designing something, let alone when complete and am asking the Mrs. for her input. LoL

... I do have to ask ONE question (elephant in the room); Why not hidden hinges on that canopy?! All that HARD work, money spent, and great craftmanship... and then those hinges. Sorry man, I hope you don't take it the wrong way. I just had to ask.

[Chris023]

Ya know... that's one of the cleanest DIY LED builds I've ever seen!

Excellent work, top notch... you should be overly proud of yourself. Like... to sit and stare at the craftmanship... layout, design, and all the simple yet effective perks. I mean, sit and stare for hours!! I know I do when designing something, let alone when complete and am asking the Mrs. for her input. LoL

... I do have to ask ONE question (elephant in the room); Why not hidden hinges on that canopy?! All that HARD work, money spent, and great craftmanship... and then those hinges. Sorry man, I hope you don't take it the wrong way. I just had to ask.

Thanks, I really appreciate it!!! I am very proud and do plenty of staring =).

Hinges...I know. I definitely spent plenty of time contemplating how to mount the doors. The thing is that in order to keep the entire canopy on the light side, I used mostly just plywood and molding on the doors, and 1 inch thick wood on the frame. The hinges would have required a thicker area to mount to the inside of the doors/frame. I also wanted as little of a gap between the frame and the doors so light wouldn't be visible through any seems. I would have had to recess the hinges into the frame and door in order to make it fit really snug, and I did't plan for that nor have the proper tools to carve out areas for the hinge plates. The front doors are very long and these large hinges were the best ones I could find that I felt confident in holding the doors up.
The tank room isn't all that bright, and I think it is an acceptable bulky hinge look. Anyways most people are just too amazed at the tank contents and barely look at the canopy anyways ;-)

[JohnnyAirtime]

.........
The tank room isn't all that bright, and I think it is an acceptable bulky hinge look. Anyways most people are just too amazed at the tank contents and barely look at the canopy anyways ;-)

I hear ya... I'm sure it looks great in person.
And I too hate light when it escapes through (between doors or what have ya). For this, I usually back the seam with a small piece of wood or 1/4" masonite. That way your seam can be a bit larger yet still no light escapes.

And no kidding. I could have my tank on Cinder Blocks... nobody would even notice!!!!

[RussM]

Sweet build!

How is the temperature of the aluminum channels?

[Chris023]

Sweet build!

How is the temperature of the aluminum channels?

Thanks!
With the fans on the temp is just warm to touch. Because they are enclosed in the canopy they get quite hot without fans, even though the back of the canopy is open. I think they are just too close to the top of the canopy. If I remove the canopy top and turn off the fans, it is very cool to touch. I may need to drill a bunch of small holes in the top of the canopy to give the heat a better way to escape, in case of fan failure.

[JohnnyAirtime]

............ I may need to drill a bunch of small holes in the top of the canopy to give the heat a better way to escape, in case of fan failure.

How about doing what N2REEFS did?
http://www.sdreefs.com/forums/showpo...21&postcount=2

... large hole cut and eggcrate counter sunk in the top of the canopy. Once painted to match, looks pretty cool/industrial.

[Chris023]

How about doing what N2REEFS did?
http://www.sdreefs.com/forums/showpo...21&postcount=2

... large hole cut and eggcrate counter sunk in the top of the canopy. Once painted to match, looks pretty cool/industrial.

Definitely a possibility...

[SamDiego]

amazing! great job

[Chris023]

amazing! great job

Thanks!!!

[naso tang]

wow, chris, I missed this thread until now, haven't seen you since you were drilling the heatsink. How's everybody doing? The B/W blend seems quite good to me if I trust the photos...I heard LED can be challenging to photograph...can't wait to see it!

[AJ858]

Damn that was awesome. You got some skills! Thanks for posting this thread. I hope to see this tank in person some day!

How did the corals take to the change? Did you ever measure and compare the par rating between the t5s and leds?

[whatever]

Incredible build. I'm outside, let me in so we can start on my build.

[Chris023]

wow, chris, I missed this thread until now, haven't seen you since you were drilling the heatsink. How's everybody doing? The B/W blend seems quite good to me if I trust the photos...I heard LED can be challenging to photograph...can't wait to see it!

Thanks... Selling frags (cut on demand) at the moment, you are welcome come by and check it out.

http://www.sdreefs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83141

[Chris023]

Damn that was awesome. You got some skills! Thanks for posting this thread. I hope to see this tank in person some day!

How did the corals take to the change? Did you ever measure and compare the par rating between the t5s and leds?

Thanks...
Corals adapted very well. I did have a small adjustment period (like 2 weeks) where I slowly increased the intensity.