asiankidd2 Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 well as some may remember i had to take down my old tank (see link in signature) well i got bit by the nano cube bug again as my friend was getting rid of his nc24 and i figure i would redo it all over again since i missed my old nc, i had pretty much the same exact build but this time with a 150Watt MH and 2 32 watt pcs. ive been cautious of leaving the light on so i manually turn it on and monitor the tank's temp. Today i was confident that the tank is stable and left it on the whole day. Came back from work and the tank is 79.7 degrees solid. Ambient temp of 76 degrees. well here are the pics: pics of the simple under hood, i have mini reflectors im going to add in soon to help with the optics but the light output is already awesome close up of the xm15020k under hood with the lights on...bright screen shot of the RK2 doing its job....(79.7 all day long) fts with the 150 oh yeah its BRIGHT! ignore the PH my probe still need to be calibrated its should be at 8.3ish last i check Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 that's awesome! im going to retro fit a 70w mh light in my hood as well. question: are those uv glass needed if you're going to be using mh? Link to comment
asiankidd2 Posted October 4, 2006 Author Share Posted October 4, 2006 that's awesome! im going to retro fit a 70w mh light in my hood as well. question: are those uv glass needed if you're going to be using mh? tempered uv glass is almost impossible to come by, but i have done a few 70 watt mods with tempered glass and it all works out fine, most de bulbs these days come with a UV shield on the bulb...but even then tempered glass filters out most of it. Link to comment
Brick Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 Looks great. Did you use the stock fans to keep the temp down? I have a 70 watt over 6 gallons and I used two opposing fans to keep the fixture cool. Simple to do and worth the effort for metal halide. Also the glass or some form of UV filter is mandatory for metal halides. Link to comment
shao-lin nano Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 Looking good. I never got my splash guard cutout that nice. How come 32W and not the 36W? Is it to make room for the fans? The rear fans used for evap cooling? The hoods of the old NC have more potential than the new ones don't you think? Looks like there's some room left for more lights but probably at the expense of air flow? Link to comment
asiankidd2 Posted October 4, 2006 Author Share Posted October 4, 2006 Looking good. I never got my splash guard cutout that nice. How come 32W and not the 36W? Is it to make room for the fans? The rear fans used for evap cooling? The hoods of the old NC have more potential than the new ones don't you think? Looks like there's some room left for more lights but probably at the expense of air flow? yep, your right, i could add more lights, but thowing a 150 in there was aleady gutsy for me, plus i want to keep my pcs away from the mh so they last longer. Air flow also an issue. But yes the glass cut out was necessary otherwise you get serious yellowing from the plastics due to the uv from these lights. The old hoods are just more fun to work with especially since the rear fans can be used for evap unlike the new ones since they are enclosed. I didnt go the 36 watt route cus of their length, lumen wise there isnt much of a difference from 32 to 36. and these were cheaper for me to get . Link to comment
mullman Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 how do you like the ReefKeeper? Link to comment
asiankidd2 Posted October 5, 2006 Author Share Posted October 5, 2006 how do you like the ReefKeeper? i would not start up another tank with out one!!! its AWESOME although i had lots of problems with it rk1 and rk2 the customer service more than makes up for it. its a small price to pay for what you get. Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 in the picture i cant seem to spot our your tempered glass (probably because i dont know what tempered glass looks like ) is it the splash guard? nevermind i think i see it. is it that glass that's connected to your splash guard? Link to comment
asiankidd2 Posted October 5, 2006 Author Share Posted October 5, 2006 in the picture i cant seem to spot our your tempered glass (probably because i dont know what tempered glass looks like ) is it the splash guard? nevermind i think i see it. is it that glass that's connected to your splash guard? yep thats it! Link to comment
Mini_GBR Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Hey Hey, So you're back in it, awesome. I hope the new job up north is treating you well. I just hit the 9 month mark. I need to get some new bulbs and do a little overhaul to the hood, but I am loving all the mods, thanks for the help in the begining, I'm glad I did all the research and upgrades from the begining, it has saved so much headache down the road, and it's great now because its so automated I can go for 2 weeks without issue. I can't wait to see how your tank matures, Mike Link to comment
maxdout Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 you've inspired me to go ahead with this lighting upgrade. Link to comment
maxdout Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 btw, where did you pick up the reflector from? i can't seem to find them at HD or lOwes. Link to comment
jafoca Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Is tempered glass necessary for the splash guard modification? I am going to have to do something similar on my BC29 I think. Thanks for the idea, I was worried that melting the plastic splash guard would be a problem.... Link to comment
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