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Innovative Marine Aquariums

Small NanoBox Retro for 14g


Hig789

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Can't wait. My small retro with moonlights and bluefin shipped today. Can't wait for it to get here. Thanks a bunch Dave for the quick service. Can't wait to give it a go.

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itsyahboydanny

Can't wait. My small retro with moonlights and bluefin shipped today. Can't wait for it to get here. Thanks a bunch Dave for the quick service. Can't wait to give it a go.

Nice what fixture is it? Is it an ATI?

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No light at all in the hood right now, it was a custom tank with a acrylic hood, I bought it used and have no idea what they used for lighting. I'll need to mount some acrylic blocks so I can screw it to the acrylic and cut some holes for the cooling fans. So at least I can make it look how I want to.

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Did Dave post a pic? Sounds like an interesting build.

This is a RETRO kit that I sell. I do the wiring and all for the customer. They get creative. :)

-Dave

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This is a RETRO kit that I sell. I do the wiring and all for the customer. They get creative. :)

-Dave

Yes I am going to have to get creative. With the blank slate of the hood and the acrylic being thin I had to come up with a mounting option and how to rig a splash guard on it. Well I ended up going to hobby lobby and finding some 1/2" thick acrylic blocks, some Plast-I-weld, and a .20 thick sheet of acrylic.

 

I've got some ideas, but was wondering how far the heat sink needs to be raised off the acrylic. The other Tetris use the factory reflectors between the and the hood?

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Yes I am going to have to get creative. With the blank slate of the hood and the acrylic being thin I had to come up with a mounting option and how to rig a splash guard on it. Well I ended up going to hobby lobby and finding some 1/2" thick acrylic blocks, some Plast-I-weld, and a .20 thick sheet of acrylic.

 

I've got some ideas, but was wondering how far the heat sink needs to be raised off the acrylic. The other Tetris use the factory reflectors between the and the hood?

Add ~ 3/8"1/2" in between the heatsink and whatever you have.

-Dave

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Rough sketches of what I have came up with. The blocks are 1/2" acrylic. Two are 3x3 and the other is going to get cut up for the legs of the heat sink mount. Then I'll screw some tabs coming off the blocks to mount the heat sink to. I might have to use something other than acrylic to attach the heat sink to the legs. I was going to mount some small acrylic legs under the driver board also but I'm not positive how hot it will get either.

 

The splash guard is going to have legs of the 3x3 blocks on their edge and will get some .220 acrylic screwed to it for a splash guard. But doing it that way it will only be a little more than a 1/4" off the top of the tank so I might have to cut the 3x3 legs down some. There is 3.5" of space from the top of the hood to the top of the acrylic piece that rests on the tank

 

Depending on how the heat is I might put a fan on one side of the hood sucking air out. The back of the hood is open right now.

 

Any opinions are welcome.

 

Sketches.

 

Side view.

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Looking down on it.

 

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The materials and actual hood.

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Top of the tank. Don't mind the micro bubbles. Im working on that. Haha.

1497DCE3-29E6-4440-932A-5A721AFFCDFD_zps

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Looks like great plan. Just don't rush. :)

-Dave

So you think it will be okay to mount the heat sink and driver board to the acrylic Dave?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Alright I totally forgot to post some pictures of how I mounted my retro to my hood. First off, it is not pretty and isn't completely finished yet. I still need to enclose the back of the hood to prevent light spilling out the back and cut the holes for the air intake on one side and the hole for the exhaust fan on the other side. Waiting on the fan and the covers for them that I ordered. All I have at the moment is a flat piece covering the light while staying over the opening in the top of my tank. Yes the cut on the flat piece is terrible haha, Blame that on a dull bandsaw blade and not bothering to square it up until I see if it is going to work well. Right now I am still running the lid on my tank.

 

The main thing I am worried about is that the evaporation will condense on the splash guard and then drop on rim of the tank and run down the side. I doubt that it will though especially when I get the fan mounted on the side of the hood.

 

I will be enclosing i the hood where the supports are near the back while leaving the back compartment open.

 

Dave is this sufficient coverage for the light and drivers? Or should redesign it? I bought a 2 pin computer fan, can I just wire it in where the other fan is hooked up at?

post-82754-0-26872700-1434312367_thumb.jpg

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