96 watt 2004 12g Nano Cube dx

[Sinistard]

I had 92watts but was having problems with my t-5 lights so I decided to go to 4 24watt bulbs to make it 96watts. I had the 3.24 kit from nanocustoms.com installed so all I had to do was move all the end caps to make the lights fit. It actually looks cleaner then it did with the 2 t-5s. The downside was there was no longer room in the splashguard for my cold cathode moonlight so I moved it outside the splashguard.

 

First I sealed the end with aquarium silicone to make it is water proof then just drilled a small hole to run the wire back to the ballast. I have not had time to test for heat but as far as I can tell its running as cold if not colder then it did with the t-5s. I do have 2 small fans mounted on top of the heat shield sucking air out from around the bulbs and the stock fans are sucking in. I also cut out more then half the wall between the fans and the lights to help with air flow.

 

I made a ballast box out of an outdoor electric box. I cut a hole in the top plate and installed a switch. I probably should drill some holes in the top of the box for cooling.

 

I have 2 actinic bulbs, 1 7100k, and one 7100/12000k bulb. The actinic that is second from the front runs from 9:00am-11pm, the second actinic that is in the back spot and the 7100/12000k bulb that is in the front runs from 10am-9pm, and the 7100k bulb that is the 3rd bulb from the from front runs from 12pm-8pm. The moonlight is on 24/7.

 

I really like the progression of the lights though the day. I also like the spectrum of the 4 24 watt bulbs over the 3 24 watts and 2 t-5 actinic. I like the look of the 24-watt actinic over the t-5 actinic.

 

Any questions let me know.

 

Old set up with t-5 lights

 

New set up

 

Ballast box

[Fliger]

Looks awesome. What kind of trouble with the T5 were you having? Do you recommend against them? I'm trying to decide what to do, I need more actinic for my ricordea/zoos.

 

Thanks,

 

David

[skilter]

yeah, that looks very clean!

[evolution8888]

Sinistard

 

Is all the room in the front of the splash guard gone or do you think an R2 LED would fit up there?

[Sinistard]

Thanks

 

Fliger - I was having problems with them going out, I had one that lasted maybe 2 months and one that lasted a week. The first one may have been heat related so I added the 2 extra fans to help with cooling. With the new fans installed even with the 2 t-5 lights going temps in the splashguard stayed around 91 degrees, which should be well below problem heat. The second t-5 went out one week after I put it in even with the new fans. I talked to Chris at nanocustoms and he said he had seen some problems with the t-5 but not nearly as bad as the ones I had. He said one would go out here and there. Maybe I just had bad luck and got 2 bad bulbs out of the 4 I had but it was enough for me to try the 4th 24-watt bulb instead. I like the look of the 24-watt actinic over the t-5.

 

evolution8888 - I'm not sure how big the R2 LED is but I would guess there is not room for it inside the splash guard. The 24-watt bulbs go right up to the edges. I think I have seen R2 moonlights installed outside the splashguard kind of like my cold cathode is so that may be an option for you

[Web Guy]

Where did you get the cold cathode light and what did you wire it up too? I just set my DX up and in the next two months or so I am going to do some lighting upgrades. Right now I want to figure out which fan to use to replace the stock ones. My tank right now is running around 82-83. But today I pulled the stock pump out and tried some other solutions. So tomorrow I will check temps.

[Sinistard]

Here is a link to a thread all about my cold cathode light.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=47226

 

I just have the stock fans plus 2 others over the new heatshield I got from nanocustoms.

[evolution8888]

Are the 2 PCs generating less heat than the 2 T5s?

[Sinistard]

I took out the 2 T5s and added one PC and it is running cooler under the splash gaurd. With the T5s it ran around 91 degrees with all the lights on with the PC its running around 87 under the splash guard.

 

I would guess this is do to the t5s having both bulb and ballasts under the spash guard as well as better air flow with only PC bulbs.

[danj]

Hi,

 

How did you manage to control the bulbs individually since the original balast has two bulbs attached to it at the same time.

 

Thanks,

 

Dan.