MDK's S650

[Mdk16]

Hi All! I've been reading the posts in this forum for months and finally took the plunge and purchased the 650. This is an upgrade from our current 110. We're super excited to get started and should take delivery within a few weeks.

I have been researching LED options and have been reading through all of your builds and the mods you have done. I would really like to use the existing canopy as we love the look of the complete matching system and its one of the reasons we went with this tank.

I like what Nob has done but would like to have the light more evenly distributed. Has anyone installed a DIY retrofit kit from one of the online suppliers such as Steve's or rapid led? I was thinking about installing all LEDs in the center portion of the canopy and using a few of the t5's on the front and back units to cut the light and heat from 10 to 4-6 t5's. I'd rather put the money into LEDs rather than a chiller and the electric bill.

Any thoughts?

 

[goma]

Welcome to RS!! You've come to the right place for RSM information! Looking forward to your build. I'm sure some of the 650 owners will chime in to help you out.

 

[harveymeister]

Welcome to RS Owners! You came to the right place. There are a lot of really good people here that will help you whenever you have a question.

Looking forward to seeing pics of your build!

 

[BTimmons]

I recently took my canopy off and put an LED light on. I packaged the canopy carefully in hopes that some company like Steves will offer an LED package for the bigger RSM tanks. I think someone said they consulted Steves about a 650 build, maybe Choff? There are so many choices, and more by the day it seems.

I liked the looks of the canopy online, but I'm not opposed to leaving the canopy off now. At 6'4", I look down on it and the silver almost looks out of place with the merlot color we chose.

I like the way Nob mounted the Vegas in the canopy but I don't know if I can justify spending double on the lights to keep the canopy. He's running four Vegas and talking more light, while 3 at the suggested height should be more than sufficient for a 60" tank.

There's a lot to consider. We have our first child due in November, so I'm waiting until next tax season to do a major upgrade.

Welcome to RS and best of luck with your tank build!




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[Mdk16]

Btimmons, happy first Father's Day. We have 2 kids so I can relate. What LEDs did you decide on? I'll go back and look at your posts. I don't recall seeing any pictures. Thanks for the response.

 

[FishOuttaWater]

Even if you go with LEDs you should invest in a chiller. This tank runs very hot even with the lights off. With that said, we just ordered the Pacific Sun Metis Hyperion S 3x145 watt LEDs. I am not interested in paying 600 bucks a year to replace t5 bulbs. The fixture is 2k but will save money in the long run on bulbs and electricity. I will probably be taking the canopy off and hanging the fixture from the ceiling. This is not a problem to me because its a slick looking fixture. Plus, the canopy gets hotter than the fires of hell when it's running 800 watts of t5s. I've burned myself on many occasions. I will not miss that part of this setup.

With that said, I love the Red Sea 650 and hate to remove a pretty hood but for me it's the best way to go.


Matt

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

to ReefSanctuary and the RSM Club, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

 

Congrats on the new beautiful RSM 650 - we love pics

Here a RS forum tip (if you have not found it already) you can click on a members name, then click on view profile, then click on Find latest started threads - if a member does not have a "Reef Chronicle" link, you can still usually find it to see pics - assuming the have posted some

to add a link to your thread... here how - http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...77569-link-your-chronicle-all-your-posts.html

 

[Mdk16]

The Pacific Sun appears to be a sweet package. I'm looking forward to seeing how they perform. Researching led technology is a bit dizzying. It appears to be constantly changing and evolving. For now I think I will get the chiller, as it appears this system requires one, and use the t5's for a year or so. Maybe at that point RedSea or another company's will have a retro kit.

 

[BTimmons]

Thank you. I got the 60" Green Element Quad Evo. It looks just like the Marineland Reef Capable LED but it uses 3W LED instead of 1W. Cost me about $325 on eBay.


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[Nob35]

Congrats on the new tank and welcome to RS. As far as I know no one has come up with a retro kit yet. I'm happy with the Vegas for the most part. If I was doing it again I think I could have done either 2 Vegas and 3 nano's or 3 Vegas and 2 nano's and had the entire tank covered. I have looked at all other led options and the Vegas are still the only ones that can be mounted in the canopy with some modifications. The nano looks like it will fit in the center area of the canopy with the center section removed, the only concern I have is to where the plugs for power and controller are.

I have also spoken to AI and they told me the parts list will be available soon for the Vegas, if this is the case I may gut the center section and mount the circuit board and drivers for 2 Vegas inside. They also told me that all new pucks ordered from them are coming with the new XML LEDs that are in the new light unit Hydra so as I get pucks I will be able to also change to the new lenses and get better blending of colors.

 

[Mdk16]

Today I picked up the JBJ 1/3 chiller. What feed pump are you all using with this chiller? Any issues inside the rsm cabinet?

Is anyone running uv in addition? I have a turbo twist uv that I used years ago on my 110 and its been the attic. Debating if I should hook it up on the new tank?

I also bought 80lbs of caribsea special grade arg dry. I'm looking for about a 1" bed. I plan on seeding it with a handful of my current live sand and about 180lbs of existing live rock. I'm hoping my livestock may the move ok.

 

[FishOuttaWater]

We use a mag 18 to supply the chiller and a biopellet reactor. It's a bit overkill but it works. If I decide to add something else later, I have enough pump.

I will also tell you that I have placed a fan to the side of the aquarium pointed at the back to blow the hot air of the chiller away from the tank. It's cut my chiller run time in half.


Matt

 

[goma]

I will also tell you that I have placed a fan to the side of the aquarium pointed at the back to blow the hot air of the chiller away from the tank. It's cut my chiller run time in half.
Matt

That's a good idea!

 

[Nob35]

I run a water blaster 5000 for the chiller and UV. You do not want to run UV until the tank has cycled and is stable.

 

[Choff]

I also run a mag18 for my chiller + bio reactor + dual brs media reactors. I used an eheim 1262 (900gph) when it was the only thing on it. I would suggest at mag12 or 18 though.

As for lights.... I could write a book. I researched many different ways to install leds in the stock hood. Like you, I also like the look of the canopy and wanted to keep it. I finally decided full DIY was the way to go. I placed my order with rapid led and was all set to begin construction, but there was one obstacle to overcome. Inside the hood is not flat. I planned on mounting a flat sheet of aluminum to make it flat, but I was worried about the half moon air gaps that would be between the sheet and the rest of the hood which is essentially a heat sink. I feared there would not be enough air movement properly conduct heat away from the lights. I started to look for a thermally conductive material that I could use to fill the void. It was at this point I read a post on here about these Kessil lights that would fit almost perfectly where the center section of lights went. This seemed perfect because I actually wanted an led /t5 hybrid set up. This would allow me to keep 2 to 4 t5 bulbs.

I shipped back the rapid led lights and picked up 3 kessils. I soon learned I needed a 4th and I think you need to run at least 1 pair of t5s with them as the front and back of the tank are not fully covered because I have the lights lower than suggested mounting height.

I am very happy with them, great shimmer, I can control them with my apex, I still have my hood and the impact on the overall look is minimal. I can't speak yet to growth as I have not had them that long and my tank is in a state of neglect due to a pending move in the middle of July.

If you want to go totally devoid of t5s, full DIY custom is the way to go right now. Rapid led has a pretty nice solderless kits too.

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[Mdk16]

Thanks Choff. I also spoke with Rapid. They suggested 96 LED's total and 2 of their 48-solderless led retrofit kits. In addition, 2 of the 6"x20" heat sinks and fans. I have not had an opportunity to dig into these kits and I'm not sure in what configuration they would be set up in the canopy. Is this what you ordered and then returned? Do you think going this route would still require a chiller?

I would be interested to see a picture of your Kessils on the tank. I understand you are in the process of moving so a pic may not be possible.

To your knowledge is there any difference in the quality of the LED's between Rapid, Kessil, AI etc?

 

[Choff]

I actually went with 2 48s and a 24. 2 additional drivers were needed because of my channel set up and I planned on 2 or 3 fans per wing. You do not need the heat sinks, they won't fit and our hood is the heat sink.

Here is my led ratio. I tried to emulate the Radions pros ratio as best I could. I feel those are the best lights on the market. I went high on the # of leds because they are so close to the water that we most likely will not be using any focusing optics. Again I also tried to match the wattage of the Radions.

24 x Violet UV LED
32 x CREE XM-L Cool White U2 LED
6 x CREE XP-E Red LED
6 x CREE XP-E Green 3W LED
52 x CREE XT-E Royal Blue LED

I never got to actually working up a layout.

If you end up going this route, PM me your # if you want to talk it through a bit before taking the plunge and I can fill you in better on some of the challenges with this approach.

There should be picts of my lights on my thread (link in sig). Right now I am using the gooseneck supports, but when I move I plan on rigging them directly into the hood. The goosenecks don't look bad at all, but if you ever need to raise the back wing you have to keep move all the lights. Worse yet is the lights end up at a slight forward angle so they don't point straight down. You can't tell visually, but it's not optimal. I can take more picts if need be, I just have tried not too because my tank looks terrible right now.

EDIT: If you have central air in your house, I don't think you would need a chiller. I'm hard to gauge though, I just doubled my water volume with a 125G sump and 40g FT in my nice cool basement. I'm still running 4 t5s and my heaters are on almost all the time. Of course it has not been all that hot here in mass. I'm curious to see what will happen in august

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[Mdk16]

Thanks Choff. The more I research this topic on this canopy the more I think I'm going to wait it out. I would like to speak with you as it seems you had it all mapped out but pulled out at the last minute for good reasons I'm sure. I'll certainly PM you as I get closer to making a definitive decision.

We're you planning on installing all the LEDs in the center compartment only and use the t5's on either side? Part of my indecisiveness at this point is that I don't have the tank yet to look at. It's hard to think about ripping it apart before it's built. I also did not realize that the inside of the canopy was not flat. Now I understand why you were considering a false "roof" made from metal to mount them on. I just finished watching youtube videos on the DIY kits and it appears simple enough. The hard part on our tanks is making it all look clean and still be able to use the cool features like sliding and flipping the fixture for Maintance.

On a different note, is there enough depth in the fixture to mount the kessils inside and will you get adequate coverage that close to the water surface. Are fans required? Also, how wide is the center light? Is there no fixture that can simple be mounted in its place?

Thanks

 

[Nob35]

Hope you do not mine me chiming in but the only complete unit I found that may fit in the center section besides the kessils is the AI nano's. I'm not 100% sure they will fit only because I'm not sure where the power and wireless controller plugs in.

 

[Mdk16]

Thanks Nob. I will look into the nanos. Any particular reason why you installed the vegas only in the front versus putting a few in the back for more even light distribution. Are you still planning on ordering more LEDs.