The Washington Reef 75/200 Gal Reef Tanks

The new canopy is complete stained and water proof. Here are some pictures with the LED's mounted. I still have some wiring and clean-up to do like removing the hanging cables but the new canopy should be installed on the tank this week.

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A close up of the LED mounting.
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The new canopy is now installed and the LED lights under the control of the Apex controller. The canopy is a perfect fit and went on without any problems. It was more work getting the old one off than putting the new one on (all the wiring to the lights etc.).

Had to do some re-wiring removing the ones that went to the actinic and the 4 MH lights.

As reported by others the LED lights really make the coral colors pop, and the fish as well. I will take some pictures tonight and will be posting them soon.

I am really glad to have this part of the project done it has been a long time in the making.
 
Thanks Brett. One other observation, according to the Apex I am now drawing 6 amps less compared to the Metal Halides. This should save a few bucks especially with summer coming.
 
that is awesome david, im looking forward to some pics and to see how the long term growth goes in your system. i know you have always had good growth so this should be a good test of these LED's. i would love to make the switch, maybe this will be the push i need.
 
@blfuller123 wrote:
Did you figure out how to ramp them with your apex yet? You will love it. said:
I did not know that you could do that with the first released models. Seems that you would have to mod the lights themselves?
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I ramp mine with the Apex. They come on dim and ramp up for 2 hours till full power and start to dime down over 2 hours as the lights go out
I say 2 hours but the LED's actually cut out at about 10% or at 1vdc or about 12 minutes after start and before off

you need a dimable ballast that is controled by 0-10vdc and you use the dc pump controls on the APX. A CAT5 cable is all that is needed to plug into the APEX control module with the other end wired to the ballast
 
That is awesome. Post some pics. Can you tell us your lights schedule.

I don't think that the evolution LEDs can be ramped up or down. I turn my blues on a few hours before my whites come on and then turn the whites off few hours before I turn all the light off. I will love for any other suggestions.
 
Mine are on 5 different profiles, i have a sunrise, mid-day, afternoon, evening and sunset. They are ramping up all the way through afternoon and start ramping down in the evening profile.
 
@washingtond wrote:
The new canopy is complete stained and water proof. Here are some pictures with the LED's mounted. I still have some wiring and clean-up to do like removing the hanging cables but the new canopy should be installed on the tank this week. [img]http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q255/dwashing/DSC091591.jpg[/img] alt=""> [img]http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q255/dwashing/DSC091571.jpg[/img] alt=""> [img]http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q255/dwashing/DSC091561.jpg[/img] alt=""> A close up of the LED mounting. [img]http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q255/dwashing/DSC091551.jpg[/img] alt=""> said:
Very nice canopy built! I wish I had browsed here before building my own canopy.
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@dfwpot wrote:
That is awesome. Post some pics. Can you tell us your lights schedule. I don't think that the evolution LEDs can be ramped up or down. I turn my blues on a few hours before my whites come on and then turn the whites off few hours before I turn all the light off. I will love for any other suggestions. said:
Correct, no dimmable ballast on the Evolution LEDs. I wish! :)

I thought someone had found a way to do it on these, that's why I was so curious.
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I did not think that you could dim them.

Here are some pictures of the new canopy. All that remains is building and installing the trim pieces along the bottom of the tank.

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Full tank view:
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One of the corals under LED lights:
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So far I have not seen any negative effects but it has only been two days.
 
Thanks Bill & Marc, I have been very busy myself this week which is way it took me a while to get them posted but at least it is done now. I will take some more this weekend.
 
whats the huge set of corals in the middle that is shading soo much. it looks like a monti/birdsnest combo. and it looks quite large!
 
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