Gyre Nano

[kwirky]

woot! it's up and running. lots of DIY on this system

Right now it's a mj1200 on each end still on the 15 minute coralife light timer. They alternate 15 minutes each.

I'm just about done soldering up my DIY wave maker. It's done with a 555 timer, and it's adjustable from 4 seconds to 60 seconds. When the wavemaker's ready, I'll be getting 2 more MJ's (one on each end) and I'll probably alternate it 10 seconds per side.

These are the parts I used for the 555 timer wavemaker:
555 timer
2 x 10uF tantalum capacitors (for timing capacitor, ran in parallel to work as a 20uF capacitor)
0.01uF tantalum capacitor
5.6kohm resistor as R1
R2 consists of the following in series:

• 200kohm resistor (always on)
• 1mohm pot
• 2x1mohm resistors on switches

high speed 2A diode as snubber for relay
125VAC 3A DPDT relay

here's the program that gave me the calculations nessesary and the schematic to use the components:
http://555-timer.clarkson-uk.com/program.html

After I get the alternating wavemaker going, I'll make a second device that'll turn off the pumps for 8 minutes at the touch of a button, then turn them back on automatically.

It's tapped into my 120g's sump, and a 100gph pump feeds the gyre-nano from the sump. There's a 150W stealth heater hidden under the platform as backup heating because of the low flow to the sump.

But here are some pictures in the mean time. It's lit with a 150W HQI giesseman 13k megachrome marine. the PAR of the best 10k's, but with a true 10k colour. It's a DIY pendant from a 500W halogen outdoor fixture. I really like how it's hung. If there's interest, I'll let anyone know how I modified the light to work as a pendant.