Current Marine Orbit retrofit into Biocube 29

[exmasonite]

Hey everybody... I have been lurking for awhile as I've gotten back into reef keeping after being out of the game for 6-8 years.

 

Picked up a used Oceanic Biocube 29 about 2.5 months ago. Set it up, things going well but just wasn't happy with the PC lighting. Actually, not terribly unhappy but just wanting more. Like the effect of LED and ability to get a lot more control and flexibility.

 

Also being on a budget, I have struggled with best options for LED. Looked at Steve's and Rapid's systems in addition to reef breeders. Decided to go with the Current Marine Orbit for now to keep costs low. I have some soft corals, a few LPS, and a zoa right now so I figure 1 fixture is enough for now. I think if I get to wanting SPS, i can add a second fixture (am also waiting to see specs and release date on the marine orbit pro).

 

I long ago decided I want to keep the hood on my biocbue for aesthetics and noise. (Lot of pets in the house so trying to limit dog hair migration into the tank as well). I have seen a nifty You Tube video with a completely gutted hood covering this light bar over the tank with a couple small dremel marks on edge of hood to allow it to sit flush. I think i will eventually get to that point if/when i get a 2nd fixture.

For now, I wanted to keep the fans and am not electronically inclined enough to do that on my own. So, I elected to remove my PCs while keeping fans and mounted the Marine Orbit under the plexiglass. Wanted to protect fixture and fans from salt creep. Took a little DIY to flip the metal hanger on the Orbit so the fixture is "suspended" in the hood and still allowing the hood cover.

 

So, i tried to take some pictures along the way. I will admit that I am neither a photographer nor much of an engineer but wanted to share with the world and look for thoughts/feedback.

 

Thanks.

 

Have to work on resizing pics so this is sort of a bust... be back soon.

[exmasonite]

here's some pics of the build... basically, i had to reverse the hanger system on the Marine Orbit which involved some gentle removal of ends. I ended up removing the little plastic washers mounted in unit that provided friction when adjusting the wire hanger. Saved them to add in again later.

 

On one side, I used the pre-existing wire to the fans as the "anchor" for the light hanger. I used some wire to lock it down (out of small zipties). On the other side, i drilled a tiny hole in the frame and used one of the many extra screws to anchor the light hanger in.

 

 

 

pics of the added screw to anchor the light hanger

 

 

 

 

along the way, i taped up the end of the PC cord for safety....

 

 

 

 

Final product... lights on before plastic mounted, then plastic put back on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

before and after pics of the tank

 

 

 

(not sure how this thread is coming out... looks like all my replies and follow up pics are being clumped together)

 

 

 

 

Edit: After pic of tank is 55% intensity on white channel, 75% on blue

[jamescstein]

if you host the pics on Photobucket you don't have to worry about re-sizing them and they'll show up where you want in your text using the IMG tags.

 

 

 

As for the mod, nice. I recently put 4 Current Truelumen strips inside my BC29 hood. Just now starting up the tank but so far I am happy with them and they are only on 25% atm.

[exmasonite]

Thanks for the info on photo bucket. I will have to look into that.

 

Yeah... I looked at the current TrueLumen strips as well. That may be my next option for expanding the system. I am going to see what the temp in the hood is with the fans running. Am wondering if i pulled the fans and plastic shield, how much heat would be generated by running 2 of them in there without fans.

 

I foresee having to brush up on my electrical skills to get some fans retrofitted on top of the hood while allowing 2 Orbit units in the hood.

[jamescstein]

Well my truelumens got up to 106 without the fans running, though they eventually settled down around 96. WIth the stock fans running it stays around 76 right now. Ambient room temp is 70 or so.