DIY Controller Board

[reefkeeper]

Been in this hobby for many years and got out for personal reasons. My grandson talked me into setting up a Reef Tank for him at our house since his Dad said no way are you having a Reef Tank in his house. Well here we go hook line and sinker and I'm having fun with him and the tank.

I bought an IM Lagoon tank from a ARC member to get him started. I went out and got him a CoralVue Hydros Controller, so he doesn't have to have an MBA in programing. I'm in the process of building him a stand but for now I built a DIY Control Board really quick which eventually will go under the stand.

I looked into purchasing one online and Holy Batman! they want BIG $$$ for a ready to assemble unit. I decided to go to Google University and I got some ideas and built this DIY Control Board from material from Hobby Lobby, Amazon and Home Depot for less than $20. The board is Fiber Hard Coated Foam and easy to work with. I used 1-inch Grommets and Gorilla Glue to attach the sides together. Below is a Pic of the board and I hope this gives others some Ideas so they too can save some $$$.

 

[chaples55]

Looks great! Those grommets are a good idea. How does the back look?

 

[reefkeeper]

Looks great! Those grommets are a good idea. How does the back look?

Right now a mess. I'm working and putting a power strip back there and tie rapping all the wires to make it neat. I put the whole thing together in little over an hour just to get everything off the floor and table

 

[chaples55]

Nice. Something I discovered recently that has been super helpful is these open slot raceways:



Keeps things tidy and the cover comes off for quick access to the cables without having to untie anything.

 

[reefkeeper]

Nice. Something I discovered recently that has been super helpful is these open slot raceways:

View attachment 71719

Keeps things tidy and the cover comes off for quick access to the cables without having to untie anything.

Looks good. I need to do something similar on the back of the controller Board. Thanks for the Pic?

 

[hzheng33]

won't the board break apart over time?

 

[reefkeeper]

won't the board break apart over time?

It shouldn’t it’s hard coated. Now if water gets to it that’s a different story. There’s some hard PVC board that’s on Amazon that I intend to switch to that’s referenced in a YouTube diy video that looks like it will hold up.

However for me right now I just needed something quick and each 20x30 board at hobby lobby was $2.99 ea. on sale verses the Amazon pvc board @ $38.99 for ea board.

I’m going to look into the hard pvc board selections on the web in the future that are out there that will will indeed hold up under any condition. It’s still has to be cheaper than dropping $400 + bucks on a ready to assembly control board.

I can also use a white or black piece of acrylic board as well in which you can get locally.