XSiVE's 120 in-wall

[XSiVE]

So I decided that since I had my slide rails already ordered it would be silly to re-hang both pendants so I just re-hung the one on the right for purposes of spread testing and color temp adjustment.

nothing exciting about eye bolts and turnbuckles so I didn't take any pics, especially since I will be switching it up in a few days.

First: a word of advice. Be careful if you're adjusting the pots inside of a meanwell driver to set maximum light output. The heat sink by the pots is safe, but the other one is not... as seen below.



Yellow tang and blue throat trigger hanging out near the front glass. the bottom rightmost rock in this pic is actually almost touching the right panel of glass and about 2" off the front glass, maybe less.. but you can see how much light is still on something in that far of a corner.



and here's how it looks as a full tank. remember, the left side is still not properly hung, you can tell by how defined the shadow is from the center brace on the left, whereas on the right it is much more hazy.


I took some macro shots of the frag rack but nothing turned out quite right. but the corals are adjusting nicely it seems.. The poreites(sp) and some purple/blue acro i got from kee's in particular have significantly more polyp extension compared to under halides.

Im fairly pleased with the color temp I came up with.. but that's personal preference... in any case It's better than the super-purple hue I had yesterday
q5 strings are running at 830mA, RB's at 760mA, 50/50's are at 970mA

[adalius]

A live heatsink? Is that because of some modification made for the pots or does it come like that stock? Maybe it's just me, but that sounds like an engineer that needs to get his *** strung up.

[BriGuy31+]

SWEET!! I love the fact that you can change color temps. Any shots with all blues on? Great build!!! And the tank looks great with the new lights. Keep those updates coming..........

[XSiVE]

A live heatsink? Is that because of some modification made for the pots or does it come like that stock? Maybe it's just me, but that sounds like an engineer that needs to get his *** strung up.

the meanwell drivers are in the condition they came from the factory from, the only change i made was turning a pot up or down... Really you probably shouldnt have them open when you have them supplying power but how else are you going to fine-tune current output while they are off?

[XSiVE]

SWEET!! I love the fact that you can change color temps. Any shots with all blues on? Great build!!! And the tank looks great with the new lights. Keep those updates coming..........

Thanks Brian, once I get the pendants on the slide rack, and then we're all done with colin's birthday party arrangements I'll have you over to check them out, see how it looks up close.

[adalius]

the meanwell drivers are in the condition they came from the factory from, the only change i made was turning a pot up or down... Really you probably shouldnt have them open when you have them supplying power but how else are you going to fine-tune current output while they are off?

Exactly why I think the engineer who designed them could use a kick in the pants. Why would you make something that you can only really service while under load right next to a large live metal part?

[ReeferRob]

Wow man this is one sweet build thread. Im glad to see people moving forward with the DIY LED stuff. I kinda gave up on mine due to current financial woes, that and being a bit nervous to play with electricity!

[XSiVE]

Wow man this is one sweet build thread. Im glad to see people moving forward with the DIY LED stuff. I kinda gave up on mine due to current financial woes, that and being a bit nervous to play with electricity!

Thanks for the compliment. The initial cost is definitely high but long term it should pay off in cost savings and hopefully better coral growth

As for playing with electricity, it's not too bad really.. The only thing that hurts is the occasional stupidity of a 110 jolt from an open meanwell. The ~48dcV put out by drivers is just a little tingle, and 10-12v from the wall wart for dimming is nothing at all.

I'll take a pic of the inside of the project box/junction box where all the wiring comes together for the dimming circuit, and post it up this evening. It's not very scary.

[XSiVE]

Welp, I got my roller track in from McMaster-carr... holy cow they ship fast!

I ordered item # 1223A8 plus two additional packs of two rollers each - http://www.mcmaster.com/#roller-tracks/=8axe2i

The floor joists above the tank were positioned perfectly for my needs so I just hung the tracks right from them, then I replaced the little bolt fitting in the wheels with an eye bolt, but before I screwed it in, I cut some 1/8" aluminum bar stock to the length of the fixture then drilled it to line up with the eye bolts on the fixture to let the eye bolts pass through. This aluminum is to ensure the two carriers on each track for each fixture slide together instead of independently.



I hung the lights using S-Hooks and turnbuckles, this allows me to do fine adjustments if I need to.



Align them the way you want and bam! perfect.

[BriGuy31+]

Looking good!!! How high above the tank are they?