Biocube 14 LED Retrofit done!

[Maddevil1]

What AWG wiring did you go with and where did you get your power cords for the Power Supplies? Tyrying to compile a list of materials and where to get them. Thanks!

[crs2k]

What AWG wiring did you go with and where did you get your power cords for the Power Supplies? Tyrying to compile a list of materials and where to get them. Thanks!

 

I used 22 gage wire. I got the power cords from a local electronics store, they were like 6 bucks each. I think you can find them online for cheaper though.

 

If you need any other help with parts, just let me know. I'd be happy to help.

[Waterproof]

I used 22 gage wire. I got the power cords from a local electronics store, they were like 6 bucks each. I think you can find them online for cheaper though.

 

If you need any other help with parts, just let me know. I'd be happy to help.

Any change in the temp?

[crs2k]

HUGE change in temp. I went from almost 110 to about 84!!! I couldn't believe it. So yeah, running much cooler, and the heat sink is now cool to the touch. I just feel all the heat being pulled out by the fan. Pretty cool.

 

I tell you what, the biggest pain about this project for me has been the soldering. I think I finally got it all sorted out, but I've had to resolder numerous times. But the nice part is, it is soooooo easy to take this thing apart, it only takes a couple minutes.

 

Waterproof, did you ever set up some moonlights? And have you added any SPS? I think I remember you adding one. How's it doing? I went to the LFS today and bought some orange zoas, but haven't taken then plunge on any SPS yet.

 

Chris

[Maddevil1]

Chris, where did you get your heatsink from? In comparing yours to WPs, your edges are raised on the sides. I only ask because I was planning on moving all the outter LEDs more towards the edges. Wondering if this is a new design from heatsinkusa.

 

Where did you get your fan, newegg.com? I was planning on going with WPs layout of the fans, but since you are getting such great results with 1 fan mounted above, think I will go with this option.

[crs2k]

My heatsink came from heatsinkusa.com, same as Waterproof. Maybe my picture is just funky. I'll have to check, but it should be just like his. The top side is totally flat, no raised edges.

 

I actually bought my fan from Fry's Electronics. It was only a couple bucks more there, and I could have it right away, so I went that route. But yeah, the top mount seems to work really well. After flipping the fan and drilling the bigger holes, the temp in the hood is sticking right around 84 to 86 degrees. That is just putting a glass thermometer right on the fins. I don't have a probe to put inbetween the fins, but I'm sure it's still close.

 

Chris

[Waterproof]

Waterproof, did you ever set up some moonlights? And have you added any SPS? I think I remember you adding one. How's it doing? I went to the LFS today and bought some orange zoas, but haven't taken then plunge on any SPS yet.

Good to hear the temp has dropped. I decided to save some $ on the moonlight and stuck a coralife moonlight unit in there. It's good enough for now. Maybe someday I'll try building a controller.

 

I added a green mille at the end of February. I think it's doing great. It's looking healthy and gaining size. The foot is spreading very quickly to cover the epoxy. Here's a pic. It's actually 3 pics...when I first bought it (Feb 23), a month later (March 26th), and then today (April 15th). Ignore the color balance of the 2nd pic. It's been a healthy green the whole time.

 

Don't fear the SPS. The LEDs deliver.

[crs2k]

That's awesome! Glad to see it is working so well. I don't know anything about SPS and have no idea what I would get. I'll have to look around a little.

 

Where'd you get that coralife moonlight? I definitely don't want anything fancy, just something cheap and effective.

 

Chris

[Maddevil1]

How happy are you with the coverage of your lights? Do you wish your heatsink was wider(9"+) or longer (6"+)? Or is the 12 LED layout on a 8.5"x5" heatsink perfect for BC14?

 

I got my tank today, couldnt wait until this weekend. I'll do some tank mods in the meantime. I still need to figure out how to mod chamber 1(remove the tray). Think I'll order everything come Monday, I'll also get in on the group buy that evilc66 is putting together on the LEDs.

[crs2k]

How happy are you with the coverage of your lights? Do you wish your heatsink was wider(9"+) or longer (6"+)? Or is the 12 LED layout on a 8.5"x5" heatsink perfect for BC14?

 

I got my tank today, couldnt wait until this weekend. I'll do some tank mods in the meantime. I still need to figure out how to mod chamber 1(remove the tray). Think I'll order everything come Monday, I'll also get in on the group buy that evilc66 is putting together on the LEDs.

 

Honestly, I feel like the coverage is just perfect. I don't feel like I have any really dark spots or anything. I don't think the extra size would hurt anything though. But you would have to go with more LED's with the bigger size right? I don't know a whole lot about the spacing and such, so maybe Evil will chime in on the different size.

 

Congrats on the new tank. I love this tank. I haven't had any problems whatsoever and I've had it for just over a year now. I do wish that I had done some of the mods before I had set it all up, but no biggie. I still have to cut the little piece of plastic between 1 and 2, just not sure how to do it with water in the tank.

 

Group buy sounds awesome. I'm curious to see what price Evil has worked.

 

Chris

[evilc66]

That small of a change in the heatsink size shouldn't require adding more LEDs. The change in spacing is minimal, and within what I would consider the limits.

 

Group buy details will be posted Monday (maybe Sunday night). The price isn't earth shatteringly good, but it is better than we can normally get from ETG. Also, the price gets better the more we order so everyone wins

 

Maddevil1, do the mods now. Makes life a lot easier. Make sure you swap out the stock pump for something like an MJ900. Much more flow than stock. Doing the mod between chamber 1 and 2 will be required if you add the pump (making the overflow opening continue all the way across the chamber). Take the bioballs out now too. Leave the sponge in the bottom of chamber 3 for the time being, but cut it in half. Once all the dust has settled in the tank you can take it out permanently. I use the tray out of the lower section of chamber 2 to hold floss at the top of chamber 2. Cut the floss shorter than the length of the tray so if the floss gets clogged with dirt, the water will still have a path to escape. It fits nicely under the overflow from 1 to 2.

[Maddevil1]

Honestly, I feel like the coverage is just perfect. I don't feel like I have any really dark spots or anything. I don't think the extra size would hurt anything though. But you would have to go with more LED's with the bigger size right? I don't know a whole lot about the spacing and such, so maybe Evil will chime in on the different size.

 

I am glad you feel the coverage is perfect, that means it will save me money! I would have had to get a custom wide heatsink (was thinking about 11" wide by 6" length). This would have allowed me to get the maximum spacing(3" between each LED) with 3 rows and 5 coulmns. This size heatsink would also require more work to get it to fit and more holes to tap. Not to mention another buckpuck and more LEDs. From you pics of the tank, it does look like there is enough lighting, plus I dont want to over illuminate the tank since I would like to also keep some low-light corals. I am thinking about going with 7 RB LEDs and 5 Cool Whites to see how that looks, trying to go for the 20K look.

 

Maddevil1, do the mods now. Makes life a lot easier. Make sure you swap out the stock pump for something like an MJ900. Much more flow than stock. Doing the mod between chamber 1 and 2 will be required if you add the pump (making the overflow opening continue all the way across the chamber). Take the bioballs out now too. Leave the sponge in the bottom of chamber 3 for the time being, but cut it in half. Once all the dust has settled in the tank you can take it out permanently. I use the tray out of the lower section of chamber 2 to hold floss at the top of chamber 2. Cut the floss shorter than the length of the tray so if the floss gets clogged with dirt, the water will still have a path to escape. It fits nicely under the overflow from 1 to 2.

 

I definitely plan to do all the mods now. I already gutted the BC14. In chamber 1 - I removed the stock filter. I might gut the filter out and put some kind of filter pad in there. I made the mod to get more flow and I still need to remove the tray at the bottom- I think by taking a screwdriver and knocking it down? I will place the heater in here. In Chamber 2 - all bioballs are gone. I think I want to run purigen and chemipure as well as filter floss in here. I think I understand what you are talking about with the trays. I will play around with the trays tonight to see if I truely understand. And in chamber 3 I will add the MJ900. Did you remove the L adapter and just connect the tube from the MJ900? I'll also put my Pinpoint Ph probe in here.

 

Another mod I was thinking about was to block all the grills on the lower right to make all the water go thru to top grills and into the back. I assume this will help with top skimming - not sure if my thinking is right on this.

 

I will be adding a MJ400 (I have the natural wave timer outlet) to help with the flow inside as well as the hydor flow nozzle. Dont think I will do the fuge mod unless I have problems keeping my numbers down or instability. Did I miss any other mods?

[Maddevil1]

I actually bought my fan from Fry's Electronics. It was only a couple bucks more there, and I could have it right away, so I went that route. But yeah, the top mount seems to work really well. After flipping the fan and drilling the bigger holes, the temp in the hood is sticking right around 84 to 86 degrees. That is just putting a glass thermometer right on the fins. I don't have a probe to put inbetween the fins, but I'm sure it's still close.

 

Chris

 

Chris,

 

I think I will hit Fry's up as well. Which 80mmx15mm fan did you go with? I think they have 2 - one thats 11db and one thats 14db. Could you have fit a 80mmx25mm fan?

[evilc66]

I am glad you feel the coverage is perfect, that means it will save me money! I would have had to get a custom wide heatsink (was thinking about 11" wide by 6" length). This would have allowed me to get the maximum spacing(3" between each LED) with 3 rows and 5 coulmns. This size heatsink would also require more work to get it to fit and more holes to tap. Not to mention another buckpuck and more LEDs. From you pics of the tank, it does look like there is enough lighting, plus I dont want to over illuminate the tank since I would like to also keep some low-light corals. I am thinking about going with 7 RB LEDs and 5 Cool Whites to see how that looks, trying to go for the 20K look.

 

 

 

I definitely plan to do all the mods now. I already gutted the BC14. In chamber 1 - I removed the stock filter. I might gut the filter out and put some kind of filter pad in there. I made the mod to get more flow and I still need to remove the tray at the bottom- I think by taking a screwdriver and knocking it down? I will place the heater in here. In Chamber 2 - all bioballs are gone. I think I want to run purigen and chemipure as well as filter floss in here. I think I understand what you are talking about with the trays. I will play around with the trays tonight to see if I truely understand. And in chamber 3 I will add the MJ900. Did you remove the L adapter and just connect the tube from the MJ900? I'll also put my Pinpoint Ph probe in here.

 

Another mod I was thinking about was to block all the grills on the lower right to make all the water go thru to top grills and into the back. I assume this will help with top skimming - not sure if my thinking is right on this.

 

I will be adding a MJ400 (I have the natural wave timer outlet) to help with the flow inside as well as the hydor flow nozzle. Dont think I will do the fuge mod unless I have problems keeping my numbers down or instability. Did I miss any other mods?

 

The stock tube and elbow from the stock pump will fit on the MJ900. I'm not sure that blocking off the bottom intake grill will do much for you. The only way that would benefit you is if the top intake actually overfloweddown into the first chamber instead of just flowed into it. The drop down from chamber 1 to chamber 2 will take care of pulling surface scum in, and the floss will be there to catch it.

 

Why an MJ400? I will guarantee you will want more flow in the not too distant future. I'm running an MJ900 in the back, with Koralia Nanos up front. There are times that I wish I had just a teeny bit more flow.

[Maddevil1]

The stock tube and elbow from the stock pump will fit on the MJ900. I'm not sure that blocking off the bottom intake grill will do much for you. The only way that would benefit you is if the top intake actually overfloweddown into the first chamber instead of just flowed into it. The drop down from chamber 1 to chamber 2 will take care of pulling surface scum in, and the floss will be there to catch it.

 

Why an MJ400? I will guarantee you will want more flow in the not too distant future. I'm running an MJ900 in the back, with Koralia Nanos up front. There are times that I wish I had just a teeny bit more flow.

 

 

I have read that the elbow reduces flow. It was recommeded to remove the elbow and just connect the tube. Good catch on the drop down from chamber 1 to 2. Its hard to visualize how the water will flow with no water in it.

 

As for the MJ400, I have had Koralias with the natural wave timer outlet and they "pop" everytime they come on. They advertise the MJs with that outlet, so I am going to try a MJ to see how they work. I was going with the MJ400 because I dont know what temp my tank will be running at and didnt want to introduce too much heat. I guess I could go with a MJ600 or add another MJ400\600 to get a dual pulse motion. Do you have a pic of your BC14?

[evilc66]

No pics just at the moment. You are right about Koralias on a wavemaker. They don't tend to last long. BUT, the flow from them is much better than any standard power head. You can have higher flow rates than you normally could because the flow is more gentle, but I'm sure you already know that. Koralias would still be a good idea, even if that means ditching the wavemaker. You could always wait for an MP10

[crs2k]

I have read that the elbow reduces flow. It was recommeded to remove the elbow and just connect the tube. Good catch on the drop down from chamber 1 to 2. Its hard to visualize how the water will flow with no water in it.

 

As for the MJ400, I have had Koralias with the natural wave timer outlet and they "pop" everytime they come on. They advertise the MJs with that outlet, so I am going to try a MJ to see how they work. I was going with the MJ400 because I dont know what temp my tank will be running at and didnt want to introduce too much heat. I guess I could go with a MJ600 or add another MJ400\600 to get a dual pulse motion. Do you have a pic of your BC14?

 

I had tried to ditch that elbow because I had read that as well, but when I tried, the tube going from my mj900 would just bend and crease creating even less flow than with the elbow. You'll have to let me know how that works out for you. I also have a koralia nano that I trimmed the propeller on for a little less flow, and also added a rio 180.

 

As for the fan, I'll have to check on which one I went with. I can't remember at the moment. But the 15mm has plenty of room. I think the 25mm would be mighty close to hitting the heatsink, that thing just looked huge to me.

 

Chris

[crs2k]

Chris,

 

I think I will hit Fry's up as well. Which 80mmx15mm fan did you go with? I think they have 2 - one thats 11db and one thats 14db. Could you have fit a 80mmx25mm fan?

 

I just checked my fan, and unfortunately I can't quite see the label as it is up against the hood. But I'm almost positive I went with the 11db 18cfm one. They only had one at Fry's when I went, so I just grabbed it.

 

Chris

[Maddevil1]

What do you think about if I flip-flopped the RB and White LEDs in your config? Would that change anything, or is the config you have the best config for illumination and PAR?

[crs2k]

What do you think about if I flip-flopped the RB and White LEDs in your config? Would that change anything, or is the config you have the best config for illumination and PAR?

 

Hmmm...I don't know. I think either Evil or Waterproof would have a better idea than me. I don't think it would change things a whole lot though. I don't think the coloring of the tank would change a whole lot because of the overlap either way, and I would assume that your PAR would stay the same. Do the different colors put out a different amound of PAR?

[Waterproof]

What do you think about if I flip-flopped the RB and White LEDs in your config? Would that change anything, or is the config you have the best config for illumination and PAR?

Eh, probably not much of a change. You might see better brightness towards the edges, with a little less towards the center. I wouldn't expect much change in PAR. You could always change it back if you don't like it.

 

I had tried to ditch that elbow because I had read that as well, but when I tried, the tube going from my mj900 would just bend and crease creating even less flow than with the elbow.

 

I was getting a bunch of microbubbles from the stock elbow, so I did this:

 

It's just a couple of 45-deg water fittings (Lowes) stuck together, forming a smooth 90-deg curve. You don't need the o-ring. This gets rid of a 90-degree turn, which causes a lot of turbulence & drag. I then attached a small piece of clear tubing to the bottom to position the pump (MJ900) at the right depth.

[zemuss]

Has anyone thought about heat pipes? For instance, they work great on computer North and South Bridges. They are build into CPU fans for computers.

 

For high flow / low noise fans the SILENX or NOCTUA Fans are very quiet, yet push a lot of air. I have the NOCTUA 120MM in my custom computer cases and do not hear the computer at all while idle. The only time I hear it is when i am gaming and that is due to the VIdeo Card Fan adjusting for the rise in temps.

 

Fans

 

"Z"

[evilc66]

Heat pipes are great in certain circumstances. With these arrays, mass and surface area are king. Heatpipes on PC heatsinks go to low mass, high surface area heatsinks that require a lot of airflow (comparitive to what we use on LED arrays). You also can't get "DIY heatpipes", that I'm aware of anyway.

[djprofd]

Chris,

 

If you had used a 9" long heatsink, would it have fit between the stock fans?

Is there anything you would have done different if you did the project over again?

 

Thanks a ton,

 

d.

[sammy113]

Thanks for the awesome step by step build. When I finish my LED setup I will have to thank a lot of LED Gods here. I used your builds as an instructional manual to mine's haha. Your power supply picture help me a lot to find out where the hell was the positive, neutral and ground lol.