LVReefer Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Great start! I have a new bc29 that I can't wait to get going. Link to comment
JLwaves Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Sweet let's see the purple firefish! Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted May 22, 2009 Author Share Posted May 22, 2009 Thanks LVreefer, hurry up and start it up haha! Sorry JLwaves.... it hasnt came out of hiding yet i hope he dosent starve to death! its been 2 days already!! So a little update, i got a sweet deal on another BC29 hood for 40 bucks on craigslist!! woop woop! it came with the ballasts too! the only thing that wasnt working is the right fan. i couldnt pass this up. So soon i will attempting a similar version of the nanocustoms 4.36 kit lol if this goes well i can hold off on spending hella money on a new fixture! and more on my livestock. Now to get technical for those of you who know the internals or have taken apart their biocubes... so if i connect the black and white wire together from the ballast (the ones that go to the switch) the ballast will stay permanently on? correct? because i really dont care about having it switched because theyll be on timers anyways. This seems like an easy diy since oceanic is so nice to have everything with connectors so this will be as soderless/spliceless as possible. From the looks of it i just need to connect the green wires to the light and the black and white ones together, then viola! 144watts of heaven. im gona try to copy the instructions from the nanotuners site haha and see how they placed their lights. well ill probably be attempting this tonight as i am very excited about the nice wattage. ill probably post a step by step when i finish (if done correctly!). Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted May 23, 2009 Author Share Posted May 23, 2009 Alright so last night when i was working on my hood i was able to make it 3.36! i got too tired to do the fourth one so here a writeup of how i did it. its really simple. Tools extra hood (complete with lights and ballsts) lol wire connectors screw driver nuts and bolts wire cutter wire stripper i think thats it? haha Wire color coding 2 green wires - power the light and connect to the bulb connector black and white wires - These go to the swtich turn it on. i connected them together to complete the circuit so the ballast will be on when pluged in so a timer is needed. brown wire - Powers the fans i believe? it connects to the transformer. not needed though so make sure its closed off at the end. yellow wire - ground wire Step 1 take off cover, reflector, moonights, lights etc. Step 2 remove right side ballast wire from hood i just slide everything through the two holes in the plastic with keeping all the plugs on it. but you have to snip the green wires since they wont fit through the holes. and reconnect the green wires and splice the black and white wires and connect them together. plug in the bulb connector and bulb. Step 3 test it if it works. plugged it in and it works! Step 4 Drill holes in the rear reflector about an inch and a half down from the folded side of reflector and use nuts and bolts to attach bulb clips. (note: you should cut off the grill ends of the reflector since they get in the way of the bulb plug. i did this later on after trial and error) Step 5 Place light to see if placement is good. Step 6 Remove splashguard and rear reflector in other hood. drill extra holes in the hood for ballast wires to go through. idk what size the drill bit was but it was the biggest one i had. add the rubber seals from old hood to new holes. detach whatever wont fit through the holes and slip the wire through the two holes and reatach wires after. Step 7 Tuck wires neatly and add modded rear reflector, dont forget to add ground wire (yellow wire) and screw under with the reflector. and place bulb (i used the actinic) and you may want to fold the capacitor under the bulb connector out for more clearance. and test it out Step 7 if all turned out well then screw in the splash guard and BAM you now have 3.36!!! BUT a flaw with what i did was that the rear reflector holds it too high so the splash guard kinda pushes on the bulb connector. i tried trimming the connector but it didnt do much. so since it pushes on the connector the other side of the bulb kinda touches the splash guard. Today i didnt notice any bad effects from it though maybe because the fan is right on top keeping it cool. But if you want to make it even neater you can do what i will soon do, and that is buy the almond bulb connector since it is smaller and BC29 4.36 heatshield from nanotuners. and by buying that heatshield it allows for the 4th light to be easily placed! and there yah have it! comments and questions please! Link to comment
marinebiologist Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 thats SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! great job Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted May 24, 2009 Author Share Posted May 24, 2009 thats SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! great job thanks mann! Alright so today my purple firefish was peeking out during feeding so i was able to snap a pic of him!! here yah go! i just hope he starts to stay out soon lol i think i have done a good job of not scaring him myself. but this guy is scared of anything and everything , he darted back into his hole when he saw a hermit crab walk by lol Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted May 24, 2009 Author Share Posted May 24, 2009 So today i walked back into my room and i found my firefish out!! so i fed some flakes, and he ate them! so he seems pretty healthy and everything. So my rockscape has changed slightly so heres a newer fts, sorry its kinda blurry i rushed because the firefish was finally out. Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted May 25, 2009 Author Share Posted May 25, 2009 So does anybody know what kind of corals i can keep under the 108 watts? is sps and clams out of the question? i also have an rbta in my 14 that im thinking about moving to this tank, would the light be sufficient? Link to comment
latteslave Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 There are more people on this site with a LOT more knowledge than me - but i would start with this forum: Coral Guide What is it you want to keep? B Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted May 27, 2009 Author Share Posted May 27, 2009 Thanks for the link latteslave, but idk what kind of sps i want. just wanted opinions about keeping them under my lighting and like if i were to get a sps which one should i do. same question for a clam, maybe a corcea? Link to comment
vincienzo45 Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 you might be able to get away with some Montipora and Pocillopora but you would need to keep them in the upper half of your tank. I also wouldn't anticipate alot of growth with your current light arrangement though. I don't think you have enough light for clam because those need more intense light. I've seen some folks try and "wing it" by putting a clam under PC lights. They survive for a couple of weeks, but eventually start to fade in color and eventually die. Nice mod work on your hood though, but maybe you should read up on modifying it to hold LED lights instead. I still have my stock hood and will eventually add some LEDs in it when I have the $$ and time. I think LEDs are the future for tank lighting because of their efficiency and cost benefit in the long run. Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted May 27, 2009 Author Share Posted May 27, 2009 Thanks for the tip vincienzo! so sigh.. no clam haha but its cool i guess ill stick to softies for now. what about an rbta under my lighting? i want to get the one i have in my 14 outta there. Link to comment
Kraylen Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 That clown is gonna cause terror down the line. Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted May 27, 2009 Author Share Posted May 27, 2009 That clown is gonna cause terror down the line. ahh! really!? mann that sucks.. well hes ok for now i guess since hes behaving, but i got my net ready just in case. ill be sure to keep my eye on him. thanks for the heads up. Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted May 28, 2009 Author Share Posted May 28, 2009 so today i was staring at my tank and noticed something new! i saw some purple on my koralia 1!! i came for a closer look and yes it is coralline algae! im suprised it has already started to spread. but the rocks i bought have a good amount of coralline which probably speeded the seeding up. check it out Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 Alright heres a slight update! i finally retrofitted the 4th bulb from my spare hood! Out of curiosity.. will it be a good idea to put sps or clams under this lighting? 144watts seems like alot to me haha. 4.36 kinda like nanotuners =] crappy pic with my phone lol. looks like the 10k needs to be replaced.. oh well it came from the spare hood. Link to comment
TuRDBuRGLaR7o7 Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 free bump! id like to know too! Link to comment
mg4015 Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 um i can tell if you need to replace the bulbs by pics, u gonna have to tell by output/algae growth. before you put that new retro on the tank, alternate the bulbs. white blue white blue. better looking without a blue back, white front. the problem with PC's and sps/clams is lack of PAR. more pc's means some more output, but more heat than anything. the best retro would have been a sheet of glass cut to fit the surface of the BC inside rim, and a sunpod or other halide. more output, and the heat is manageable with a clip on fan. even better without the glass sheet, but evap is an issue. Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 Thanks mg4015, the retrofit is already in though haha. ill switch the bulbs around soon though. but the new 10k (the one above the moonlights) looks way dimmer than my original 10k. I guess just softies still for now oh well lol. but one thing forsure is this tank is as bright as hell now! compared to the stock lighting. Link to comment
TuRDBuRGLaR7o7 Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 FTS! FTS! FTS! bump for the nice mod. that mushroom in the middle is a really nice centerpiece very very beautiful Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted August 13, 2009 Author Share Posted August 13, 2009 Looks like the crash deleted alot of my postings. anyways heres an updated fts. Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted September 13, 2009 Author Share Posted September 13, 2009 UPDATED PICS! Link to comment
GOODgREEF Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 Hey mayne. I think imma try to come by this week to cop some zoa's Link to comment
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