BioCube 14G 3.24 Upgrade ordered

[sigmachris]

I just placed the order a few minutes ago so hopefully it will arrive next week. Anyone who has done this upgrade please share some tips. I know enough that I probably won't get it right the first time.
Any help is appreciated,
Chris

 

[mojo46825]

I did it about 2 weeks ago. I havent taken any pics yet but it is what it is. Adds one more light.

 

[cowfishrule]

i read the step by step instructions.
too complicated for me.
i dont like that physical mod stuff. doesnt leave any room for "oops"

 

[pdmxb2000]

ccan u tell me where i can get this mod to add one more light? and is it hard to do?

 

[coral keeper]

What is the 3.24 Upgrade?

 

[sigmachris]

The 3.24 upgrade adds a third 24 watt bulb to my 14G biocube for $80 and you do the install. They also have a 29G Biocube upgrade adding a fourth bulb. Both upgrades also give you upgraded fans to keep heat down, and they claim after the light / fan install you will actually lose 2 degrees. They also have these similar upgrades for other major nano brands and you could also upgrade to MH, but that is quite expensive.
As for install it looks easy enough, but I haven't done it yet, hence the subject of this post. Fed Ex should deliver it on V-day for me. It will be a nice Valentines gift for me since my wife will be in San Diego thawing out with the kids.
As to where to get them...it is on a "nano" competitors site so I can't post it. If you have a way to "tuners" yourself to the site eventually it might be worth the upgrade. I will post pictures (and of my tank finally) and a review of the install. I am by no means proficient with electrical but I have hung a few ceiling fans in my day, so it can't be much harder than that. Sorry mods if I bent any rules, this was a little "riddle me this Batman"
Once again, anyone who has done the upgrade please share some experiences. Are the fans really as good as advertised? I got the standard upgrade fans because the premium $12 fans were out of stock. Will these still work as advertised or get other fans from Radio Shack or Comp USA?
Cheers,
Chris

 

[mojo46825]

Ok well I have a little more time to write now. The directions araent all that clear I didnt think after getting the kit. However the end result wasnt too bad. It is a tight fit with the light in there though. The extra light sits closer to the plastic cover than the other two. There has been no heat issue at all. The fans I have set up on my timer. The fans that come with are a little louder than stock but seem to be of a higher quility as well. I ordered mine with the 10k bulb. I wanted the most usable light I could get from the upgrade. I have had no issues at all with it. I did solder my connections. The small heat shield that comes with it doesnt cover the fans like the stock one does.I am guessing htat is why they say it runs cooler. Mine stays stable at 78 all day long. So I am not sure its worth the money or not. It does what I wanted it to do. It added the light I wanted. I am sure once you have it done you will be glad. It does take a litle time to do. But it might be becuase I didnt like the way they did a couple things So i changed a few things. This was mainly for the lunar lights and fan power supplies I am only using one suppl for the fans at the moment. For some readon both more lunar lights didnt work from the beginning. I am doing something different for that. I will get some pics here soon. Thanks.

good luck

 

[matt b]

i have the 4 bulb kit on my 29 and love it!!!!! i sent in my hood and had them do it for free.

 

[liverock27]

I installed the upgrade myself and I am loving it. The fan does make a little more noise, but my temp is staying around 79 and I too put it on a timer to run with the 2 10k bulbs. The only thing that I wish I would have done is gone w/the atleast one 50/50 bulb instead of 2 10K bulbs, my tank is very yellow looking.

 

[sigmachris]

Thanks Rock,
It should be here tomorrow with a 50/50, 10000K, and Acnitic bulb so it should be very balanced.
-Chris

 

[spanko]

I did the 29 2.36 upgrade to my hood befor I went to the metal halide sunpod. Not too hard, directions leave a little bit to be desired though. All in all a good upgrade. Won't get you to the point where you are adding any of the more light demanding coral, bu t certainly some motipora are not out of the question with this lighting.

 

[mojo46825]

How did your updrade go?

 

[sigmachris]

Well I completed the upgrade on Thursday but went back in on Sunday. Oceanic sent me a replacement moonlight, so I had to go back in to replace that. Everything mentioned above is correct, directions were not that great, fan is a little louder, but even with the extra light running the new fans are much cooler. I should note these fans are just the basic upgrade fans, they are out of the $13 upgrade fans. Now I have to add a heater because my tank is now getting to 73, when before it was a constant 80.
Even though the directions were not great the service from the tuner guys was awesome. I started about 8.00 EST on Thursday night. I am not that handy so within 30 minutes I had a question. Call the tuner guys and the tech guys had left for the day already, I believe they are in SoCal. The accountant who answered the phone suggested sending an email to Nick so he could reply the next day. Well Nick went beyond the call of duty and answered about 4 emails for me from his house. He didn't need to answer the emails, but he went out of his way to write very detailed answers to my questions.
Right now I only have the lights running for 5 hours a day and will slowly increase this to 8 hours over the next couple of weeks. I think my softies and LPS will be much happier.
One tip...when you get into the hood most of the wires are zip tied together. You will have to cut the zip tie in order to do the upgrade. Make sure you have an extra zip tie or two on hand to zip the wires together once you are done. This will make it much easier to stuff the wires back in the hood in order for the reflector plates to lay flat.
Second tip-the closed end caps they supplied to connect 2 or 3 wires together weren't that great. The wires would pop out of the end cap, so pick up some electrical tape to wrap the wires and end cap together. This is actually what you should do IMO whenever you you connect wires so they don't have a chance to slip out.
Third tip - make sure you s-crew down the fans tight, one of mine wasn't. It would start rattling around and make a lot of noise. I put up with it for 2 days knowing I would have to go back in over the weekend to install the moonlight. Once I tightened the loose fan down all was good.

 

[cowfishrule]

reading the instructions scare me.
i am not one for physically modifying things- i dont like not having a "return option", if you follow.

 

[sigmachris]

In hind sight it is very easy and as noted above I am not technically savvy. I guess tip #4 would be to do the upgrade during normal biz hours for the tuner guys so you can call and get some answers. As stated above Nick and another guy Rob who answered my questions before buying do an excellent job of follow up.
The instructions don't list this under tools required but you also need a drill with an 1/8" bit so you can drill 2 holes. Not a big deal for me since I have that, but just in case someone else reading this doesn't have a drill handy.
The toughest part of the job for me was cutting 1/4" off of 2 plastic stands that were the housing for screws. You need to cut them down to leave room for the extra light. I don't have a dremmel and there isn't much room in there for big tools. I used needle nose pliers at the base is a sharp end for cutting wire. I used that end to cut the plastic stands and it did a reasonable enough job.
Other than cutting the stand the plastic stands the rest of the job entails this.

• Detaching the hood and unscrewing the splash guard and reflector plates to get to the wires...easy
• Cutting a few wires which is very easy to follow per the instructions.
• Removing the transformer...this is the first question I had for them, what is a transformer becasue it isn't pictured in the instrucitons. The transformer is the 1.5" x 1.5" metal box near 1 fan...easy once you know what you are looking for.
• Step 5 - cut the plastic stands...hints listed above...difficulty medium.
• Ballast and end cap installation...easy...directions are good
• Step 6 e & F...this is basic wiring, soldering is not needed. You just need to strip away 1/4" of the rubber sheathing of a few wires, twist the stated wires together, skrew on the endcap, wrap in electrical tape...easy
  skrew in circuit board and plug in moonlights...easy
  drill holes to run new DC electrical plug...easy
  unscrew old fans, skrew in new fans...easy
  wire new fans...easy
  installing new reflector plate and bulb clips...just make sure you know what the original bulb clips are and where the new clips are, they go in specific holes, I mixed them up and it took a second to figure which is which. One set is taller than the other, that is all...easy
  tuck wires away...it will be easier if you have new zip ties to pinch all the wires together...easy

So the instructions look harder than it really is, well worth the effort to upgrade your light volume by 33%.
Good luck and I hope this helps someone,
Chris
P.S. I do know how to spell s-crew the site won't allow this word so I used skrew