Light Retro on NanoCube

[bevans]

I have been reading many posts about lighting mods for a Nanocube and have a couple of questions before I order the parts. Here is my current plan..

 

32 watt Hellolights.com ballast kit w/ 10k bulb $40.00

Plastic Endcap from hellolights.com $4.75

 

Now, on to the questions.

 

Is there any advantage to going with the CSL Retro vs. the hellolights ballast kit? I think that since there is already a 50/50 stock 24 watt in there, the 10k will be a better option, and to do this with the CSL, it will cost $30 more than from hellolights.

 

I have heard that the endcap will make the light fit a bit better, so I am planning to include it to save a bit of length.

 

Finally, for a remote ballast, I will be mounting the new ballast as well as the stock ballast in a box below the tank. What kind of wire (gauge) do I need to use for these extended leads? I will be able to match what they have included when it arrives, but I am trying to purchase everything up front.

 

Thank you for any input you may have.

Bryan

[just dave]

If you go with the CSL unit make sure the place you get it from will warranty it as CSL is no longer .

[Kool-cat]

Just get anyother 50/50 bulb. I just ordered two 50/50 bulbs for my 20 gallon long tank.

[bevans]

Thank you for the comment about the warranty. I knew that CSL was out of business, but I had not thought about the warranty issue. Since the hellolights unit is a clearance item, they are not offering much other than a DOA ballast, so I am probably out of luck either way.

 

There are no other kits which I have seen.... Are there retrofit kits by other manufacturers which I have not found or heard about? I would guess that it will have to be a 32 W, since that

is the longest buld which will fit in the cube (in the same direction as the stock). I do not want to turn the bulbs as I saw on another post, so that is not really an option at this time.

 

Thanks again for the comments.

Bryan

[BiGGj711]

i'm in the same position as you. i currently am about to upgrade my lights in my Cube and i'm not sure what route to go. anyone know of any current options availible for the nano cube? anyone know anything about hamiltontechnology.com? they have a retro kit that i think will fit, its 28w 10000k white and 7100k blue. 13.5" x 5" x 2"

[bevans]

This may end up being a discussion between two people who have not made the retro move yet, but here is what I "think" that I know. If someone finds something incorrect in what I say, please let me know so that I do not have any surprises later.

 

The 28/32 Watt CF bulbs are the same size, about 11", and this is a standard, whoever manufactures the kit. The issue with whether the kit will fit comes in when you include the plug for the light to go in. The CSL has a relatively large plug, and the hellolights unit has a molded plug, which is also not small. These plugs push the length of the unit to 12-13.5" or so. This looks to be the same on the hamiltontechnology.com unit. I saw that someone had replaced the stock plug with one from hellolights.com, which can be found in the DIY section, and this plug is smaller (connections going to the ballast are on the bottom rather than the back), so it reduces the length of the plug / bulb combination to around 11.5" or so. This will allow the bulb to look more like the stock bulb and have space on each end. The other option is to find a plug of some sort which will allow you to connect the wires directly to the bulb as the stock unit does. Once again, someone on this site tried to find them without success.

 

That is what I think that the situation is (in very long form). Now, the options are 1> Buy CSL kit or hellolights kit and cram it in there as is, 2> modify one of these kits with the plug from hellolights and make it look better and not touch the sides, or 3> buy a ballast which can put out 28 or 32 W PC lighting, plug, wires, etc and build a kit yourself. The reflector from the kits are not needed, nor is a cover since you will most likely use the ones in the hood now, so a stripped down kit may save a few dollars. If you want a choice of lights wavelengths, then hellolights will save you some money. It looks like the Hamiltontechnology unit is similar to these others, but it is a 2x28W ballast, so you just power the 2 bulbs from there. I am not sure what the plug on that one looks like, so you may have trouble fitting it without changing the plugs to a smaller design. At that point, I would say that hellolights (2 * $40) versus hamilton's $130, I would save the $50.

 

Hopefully I have summarized the issues and possible solutions well here. As I said, if i have anything incorrect here, please let me know so that I can rethink my gameplan.

 

Bryan

[oliver1071]

I'm using the Hamiltontechnology unit 2x28W in my nano cube it fit perfectly under the hood I just needed to shave about a 1/4"

off of the end of the reflector and about 1" off the hight to make it fit under the stock splash gard that comes with the nano.

With two fans in the hood I don't have any heat problems.

[Sushi]

i wanted to add, somewhere, there's a post about a hellolight 28/32w upgrade in a nano-cube, and in that thread they mentioned that the wiring between the ballast & light socket was really short, which made it an inconveniece since he couldn't wire it in a way that the ballast was "outside" of the cube. if you DO get a hellolight retro, i'd be cautious about the length of wiring, since it'll be an issue once you get down and dirty to start and wire these things in. the only 2 ways i can think of solving the "short wire" problem is to buy extra wire, and strip the original wiring to make it longer, OR... just get the 32w CSL retros (whose wires are long enough to do whatever you need).

 

just thought i'd point that out, might or might not be a big issue for you, but convenience (and a bit of laziness) led me to get 2x32w CSL rather than 2x28w/32w hellolight kit.

 

32w CSL's can be found here:

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp...L1311&ast=&key=

 

here's a pic of my 88w (2x32w CSL + 1x24w Original NC lights)

oh yea, forgot to mention... after adding 1 fan, my temp stayed a stable 79~80 degrees... before that, it was hitting close to 84... so make sure u add a fan!

[dyceskynes]

I have the Current USA 2x32w and it seems very well built. They took over for CSL and offer very similar products.