My modded 24g cube (pic intense) and updates

[ycrazyy]

Hi guys, just thought I'd share my modded 24g JBJ with you. I finally got tired of the weak lighting in there, 72w PC was just not enough for me and seemed very dim. I decided to follow suit of another member and added a 70w MH into the hood which replaced one of the 36w PCs. Please note that this is just a step, and I have other plans for this hood. I want to add some additional 9w PCs and need to add some fans to counteract the extreme heat this MH produces (melted my splash guard already, had to replace it with glass). I know people will ask, what are the heat issues. With the top completely closed, I was reaching up to 82.4 degrees with a light cycle of about 9 hours. With the front door of the hood open, it stays around 80 - 81.

Now here are some pics of my tank inhabitants (most of the pics are under the PCs, still acclimating these guys to the MH)
My small blastos colony (5)

Frogspawn

Green bubble

Purple Nepthya (not a dendro)

Torch

My brain, GSPs and zoa's

And finally my green sinularia (one of them at least)

Additional tank inhabitants are: false perc, royal gramma, skunk cleaner shrimp, emerald crab, some hermits and misc snails.
Future inhabitants: helfrichi firefish (getting him this week), yellow watchman goby (to replace my late YWG) and 2 sexy shrimp

Any comments, suggestions, questions are welcome! Will keep this updated as I change the hood some more and finish it up.

 

[Buckeye ME]

Where do you buy the 70W MH? I'm thinking about doing something similar.

 

[ycrazyy]

I got the 70w MH from aquabuys.com. Installed pretty easily and straightforward. The bulb is ok, a little yellow even with my 50/50 PC in there which is why I want to add the 9w's and put true actinics in. All in all, I'd say it's a decent kit and the only MH DE 70w one I could find that came with a reflector (couldn't find a separate reflector anywhere)

 

[Timothy01]

nice you could put that other light on the other side, just swich it out for some scintics. i know that nano tunners sells a pretty inexpensive kit without the relector, but you could make you own for prtty cheap


what did you use to attach the glass to the acyrlic

 

[Anthony King]

Very nice! :thumbsup:

 

[ycrazyy]

Yeah I was trying to figure out a way to get the other 36w behind the MH but it involves moving the circuit board under there and bending the reflector, I was also worried a bit about the heat but I suppose adding the additional fans should help alleviate that problem.

I looked at the nanotuners kit but really wanted a reflector...

As for the glass and acrylic, I just used aquarium safe silicone on the bottom of the glass / top of plastic and then did a bead of silicone around the edges on the underside to seal it up some more.

 

[Timothy01]

yeah i took my hood apart one day just to see what it lloks like, theres lots of places to remount the circut board, but if you dont wanna move it you could also slice so wires, you could also up grade your heat shield to absorb some of the heat as well

 

[wills]

All thise pictures and no full tank shot

It looks really good. How long have you had it up and going?

 

[ycrazyy]

haha, yeah sorry forgot to put up an FTS. I will try and do that tomorrow, although since I put this MH in I have had to move a couple corals around temporarily until they get adjusted. I have had this tank up since about December, just put the MH in last week though.

As for moving the board, I looked around and there's definitely room. I would love to upgrade the heat shield, but with what? I also realized that I don't think I can do another 36w PC behind the MH because of the arms that hold the top from falling back when open.

 

[55semireef]

Can you get a full tank shot. Looks great.

 

[Timothy01]

forgot your running a 24 dont know about a heatshield up grade for the 24.. as far as adding the other light nano tuners has kits that add 4 bulbs in there with min. modifications so it should be possable

 

[Timothy01]

check this img out it's one of thier upgrades with 3 36wt bulbs and 2 t-5's . they have another upgrade that has 4 -36 wt bulbs .http://www.nanocustoms.com/catalog/images/10630Moonlight.jpg