David's Red Sea Max C130

[dgilbert2]

Be really interested to follow your install mate, as I'm still debating whether to do this or not.

Will post how I get on. Hoping to have everything working and installed on Saturday

 

[Desmond]

So, is central air not the norm in the UK? I've only been there twice and don't really have it down.

I'm in the southern U.S. where it clearly gets very hot. But, I have 4 air conditioners keeping my house cool. A power outage is really the only thing that's going to make my house any hotter than I want it. That's a real possibility, though.

I'm wondering if the fact that my area is so prepared for heat makes me less exposed to hot weather issues than colder climates...

For sure it does. I am actually lucky in my place in Norway. We moved in to are new place last year and weather was so hot that are house all windows were open to try and cool it down. Then i finally woke up and figured the heater on the wall was also aircon unit. It had never dawned on me to check. Never had a problem since

 

[dgilbert2]

My 99% StevesLED's for RSM C130 arrived yesterday

Unboxed and working with the Typhon controller in about 30 minutes on a bench (well kitchen work top!). Well pleased .

The bottom photo shows LEDs at 1% with the dimmers at lowest setting. (More than that and too bright to look at or photograph!)

Hoping to install into the C130 hood tomorrow.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Congrats ! Look forward to your review - looks very nice !

 

[Pat24601]

Off to an awesome start! Tell us how it goes. I think you'll love rhem.

 

[dgilbert2]

My StevesLEDs are now installed in my Red Sea Max C130 and fully working, well chuffed!

It definitely helped by setting up the lights on a bench the night before so that I knew how everything connected and that it all worked. Doing this also allowed me to programme and understand the Typhon controller without worrying about upsetting my tank keeping messing about with light levels.

I had allowed myself Saturday afternoon and evening as I know jobs like this do take time, especially when not having done one before. I had pre-read the instructions a number of times so was pretty clear on what to do.

Starting point ;

I decided to leave in as much existing wiring and components as possible if ever in the future I wanted to put the T5’s back. For the C130, this was quite easy, I just removed the main Ballast by removing the Live/Neutral/Earth connections and unscrewed the T5 light fittings from the hood, leaving them wired to the ballast. Next I removed the stock fans and disconnected the incoming Live/Neutral connections under the timer. Finally I removed the 12V power supply which I would fit in my tank cabinet for the STC1000 controlled cooling fans.

With hood opened before touching;

Existing wiring before starting work;

Wiring after fitting the LED driver and dimmers;

I used the existing hood mains lead to connect to the 24V terminals of the LED power supply, located in my tank cabinet. This then was one less cable to worry about in terms of entry into the hood! For the Typhon cable I utilised the existing cable gland used for the cooling fans.

Cables, existing power lead now for 24V and the Typhon cable using the former Cooling fan gland;

I fitted out the hood in under 4 hours, fully tested.

All working ;

I could have done this in under 3 but had two minor issues;

1) I mounted the lower dimmer control too close to the lower edge of the timer area causing the hood to clash with the nut. I therefore simply slotted the hole to move it up slightly.

2) The “hot glue” bonding of the reflector failed. After a few minutes in its normal position it just dropped down with the weight of the LED assembly. To be honest for the C130 I did not understand why this has to be bonded. For hot glue to work you need to form a strong bead to “clamp” the reflector to the hood. The only place you can do this is the narrow ends. I had also put hot glue around the 4 existing screw posts and holes but this soon failed and the reflector flexed, releasing the end “clamps”. So I could not understand why I was bonding when I could use the existing C130 reflector fixing screws. The only issue I saw was the height of the screws lifting the LED assembly slightly, but the cooling fan screws were already doing that. So I fitted the existing reflector screws and can report no problems and I know the bonding wont fail.

All done, apart from wiring up everything in the tank cabinet which took another couple of hours to reconnect my ST1000 controlled cooling fans, their power supply, the main LED power supply, the Typhon controller and a wall timer for the LED cooling fan.

Tank cabinet top to bottom, STC1000 controller, Typhon, LED power supply with cooling fan power supply piggy backed on top and wall timer at bottom;

Initially I have gone on the side of caution and set the max LED power to 30%. The total photo period is 12 hours with 1.5hrs sunrise / sunset. I limited my T5’s to 6 hours due to all the heat. So quite a change for my Corals - easy does it [ EDIT - 12 hours turned out to be a bad decision and I later changed to 8 hours, more in line with what my Corals were used to! ]

Initially at 30% the tank does look dimmer than my T5’s which were only six weeks old, but at 30% I’m not really surprised. I turned down the blue LED dimmer very slightly and the tank looks virtually as it did under T5’s in terms of colours, but dimmer at the moment. (The tank looked too blue for me, whites no longer white). SO, will see how things go and I’ll work out today the actual % of blue I have reduced.

Overall, really pleased so far and looking forward to increasing 1% a day after the first 5 days [ EDIT - it's actually 10 days in total if you follow StevesLEDs guide ]

Finally, although just fitted its lovely having no heat when my lights are on and the LED cooling fan is so much quieter than the T5 stock fans

Thanks to everyone here on Reef Sanctuary for all your helpful information and to Jeff at @StevesLEDs

Oh, and to my wife who was well upset with how much stuff I had spread out “all over” her kitchen whilst I fitted the LEDs.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Wow David - great pics - well done mate !!! Looks Great !!! Congrats !!!

Added to our "sticky" thread...
Red Sea Max LED Conversions

 

[Pat24601]

Very impressive and excellent pics along the way! I meant to do that, but I got lazy.

Putting it together on a work bench first is an excellent idea. I should have done that.

I had mine at 30% to start and it just looked too dim, so I ratcheted it up to 35 or 40. I don't remember. 30 seems safer, though.

Anyway, impressive work! I think you'll love it.

 

[dgilbert2]

Photos!

This is how the camera saw my tank last week under T5's

This is how it sees it this week with 30% LED power;

Quite a bit bluer but when I tried 70% power on both channels for only a few seconds it looked different gain (less blue) . 50 days away at least till I get there though!

 

[dgilbert2]

Earlier I mentioned that I had turned the blue dimmer down as I did not like so much blue. I've now put that back to maximum and reduced the power level to 22% on the Typhon on the blue channel so it looks the same.

So my setting is currently 30% white, 22% blue. Corals looking really happy but is my power too low?

 

[Pat24601]

Earlier I mentioned that I had turned the blue dimmer down as I did not like so much blue. I've now put that back to maximum and reduced the power level to 22% on the Typhon on the blue channel so it looks the same.

So my setting is currently 30% white, 22% blue. Corals looking really happy but is my power too low?

The look is definitely an aesthetic thing. So, the whatever looks good to you is good.

The power is almost certainly too low to keep it there, but if you wanting to acclimituze maybe it's ok to start. I'd probably bump it up at least 5% and maybe 10% more though (40% white, 32% blue-- plus or minus your personal preference).

 

[dgilbert2]

The look is definitely an aesthetic thing. So, the whatever looks good to you is good.

The power is almost certainly too low to keep it there, but if you wanting to acclimituze maybe it's ok to start. I'd probably bump it up at least 5% and maybe 10% more though (40% white, 32% blue-- plus or minus your personal preference).

Thanks for the advice. I've opted to take it steady due to my acclimatising phase so will see how 22% blue, with 30% white goes by looking at my polyps for the first 5 days then if ok leave a further 5 days as recommnded in the instructions, before starting to increase. Even my eyes seem to have got used to it now, it looks less blue and brighter, but that's impossible, it's just my brain

 

[Desmond]

Really impressive information above and pictures that you have taken. Fair play to you. I started my LEDS at 40% and took them to 55% over 4 weeks and now they are going from 55% to 65% over another 4 weeks. It seems low the amount of light you are using but if this is the way you choose its really up to you Tank is looking amazing

 

[Pat24601]

Thanks for the advice. I've opted to take it steady due to my acclimatising phase so will see how 22% blue, with 30% white goes by looking at my polyps for the first 5 days then if ok leave a further 5 days as recommnded in the instructions, before starting to increase. Even my eyes seem to have got used to it now, it looks less blue and brighter, but that's impossible, it's just my brain

Awesome! Sounds like you are working a good plan.

Also, I had literally forgotten, but when I first put mine in I think I had a moment where I was thinking, "Thus looks really different. Is that good or bad?" It just looked different and I think it took a second for my brain to adjust. The shimmer effect I definitely remember thinking was cool, but I wondered if it was just too much.

Obviously, I got used to it and I love the look a whole lot more.

 

[dgilbert2]

Really impressive information above and pictures that you have taken. Fair play to you. I started my LEDS at 40% and took them to 55% over 4 weeks and now they are going from 55% to 65% over another 4 weeks. It seems low the amount of light you are using but if this is the way you choose its really up to you Tank is looking amazing

Thanks Desmond for your feedback, much appreciated.

It's almost the end of the 3rd full day and "touch wood" things looking good so far at 22/30%. Now I'm used to the light it no longer looks dim either

Many years ago I bleached a tank of corals with a Metal Halide light upgrade so I'm quite paranoid now about not making the same mistake with LED's! Also I've gone up to a 12 hours lighting period with 1.5hr sunrise/sunset so its quite a change for some of my 5 year old corals used to 6 hours of T5's each day.

My logic is its easier to spot low light affects on my corals and make an increase knowing that I will not do permanent damage.

I'l let you know in a few weeks

 

[dgilbert2]

Awesome! Sounds like you are working a good plan.

Also, I had literally forgotten, but when I first put mine in I think I had a moment where I was thinking, "Thus looks really different. Is that good or bad?" It just looked different and I think it took a second for my brain to adjust. The shimmer effect I definitely remember thinking was cool, but I wondered if it was just too much.

Obviously, I got used to it and I love the look a whole lot more.

It's quite true, when I first switched on my LED's I looked at the tank and it was quite an anti climax, not the WOW I had expected. I know that this will come with time though and after only three days its looking much better, but nothing has changed other than initially reducing blue to 22%.

To start with I was also not sure about the "shimmering", it looked more like an annoying "flicker" to me. That has passed though and I love it now! I guess I was used to looking at a T5 lit tank for 8 years so its quite a change

Finally, I love those dancing fairies that have appeared on my carpet and back wall when the room lights are off now. Time for a lie down I think

 

[Desmond]

I agree the leds take a bit of getting used to but i love the way my tank is looking now. My corals are doing really well and all growing at a huge rate. For instance i have eagle eye zoa 5 heads which had grown 1 polyp in a month. The last month alone i have 5 new heads. My Bubble coral has doubled in size and my sps is also growing a a really good rate. Overall i will never go back from the leds and love the way it glimmers now The only downside is its really hard to capture on a video or picture just how amazing all the colours really look when i look at the tank

 

[dgilbert2]

Sounds like your getting amazing results, I hope I can get somewhere close to what you are seeing. As a matter of interest, how long are your LED's on each day?

 

[Desmond]

My LEDS are on 12 hours a day with 1.5 hr ramp up period to 60% and 1.5hr ramp down in the evening

 

[dgilbert2]

Today is the 7th full day since installing StevesLEDs @ Blue 22%, White 30%. So following the guidelines, as the Polyps look pretty normal, will wait another 3 days before starting to turn up the LED power.