Biocube 29 LED retrofit

[Rick C]

Hello all,

So, I decided to order a 3w x24 dimmable LED kit from aquastyle online. It wasn't nearly as hard as I though, just really tedious. I was a little nervous since I've never soldered or really done any thing with wiring or electricity. Thankfully, there are a ton of how-to videos on youtube. Anyway, here are some pics.

I got the heat-sink cleaned and attached the LED's


Testing the brightness with the included tester. Pretty bright. I'm impressed.


Got the stars soldered together. I only had to re-solder 2 of the wires. Once I got into better light I realized I had soldered to either 2 positive or 2 negative. No big deal.


Here, I got the dimmable drivers mounted and wired


I got the light mounted into the stock hood and wired up the potentiometers.

 

[Rick C]

Ok, last one for now. Here is it lit up with the dimmers turned all the way down. 100% is ridiculous.


Later on today I plan on modifying the original reflector piece so it will hide the fans and all the excess wiring (for a sort of stock look). I also want to figure out how to wire the fans so they come on with the whites on. I thought I had it figured out, but I blew up the fan that came with the kit. Apparently if something requires 12v dc, just plugging it in to an ac outlet won't end well. Oops. At least I still have the 2 fans that came with the cube.

If anyone has any suggestions on how I could make that fan idea happen, please let me know. I'm all ears.

 

[Rick C]

Here are a couple shots with the lights on the tank

Just blue running 70% or so


And here is with all 24 lit. White is running about 50% in the picture.

 

[jason401]

do you feel 24 is sufficiant for the tank? also how are the potentiometers and did they come with the kit?

 

[Rick C]

The 24 LEDs seem to be more than enough. It is very bright. The pots are ok, and yes they are included. I may change them though. I had a slight problem with flickering but I seem to have them adjusted correctly now.

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[somewhereinri]

Did you figure out the fan situation?

I'm sick of my BC14 blowing lighting ballasts on the garbage stock PCs, and the 14LED kit is short money($10 less than replacing the most recent blown ballast).

 

[Rick C]

Did you figure out the fan situation?

I'm sick of my BC14 blowing lighting ballasts on the garbage stock PCs, and the 14LED kit is short money($10 less than replacing the most recent blown ballast).

Yes, I figured out the fan. I was way over thinking it, lol.

I would definitely recommend the diy kits. I'm very pleased with mine so far. There are a bunch of threads on nano-reef .com regarding aquastyle kits.

 

[Rick C]

Changed out some of the LEDs to make it a little more full spectrum. I added 5x warm white, 2x 530nm green, 2x 418nm UV and 1x 660nm red. I really like the added pop from the UV. I think I'm going to add 2 more.
Here are some quick phone pics:




Looking at the pics, they look pretty terrible. The coloration looks much better in person.

 

[jason401]

looks awesome!!

howmany leds areyou up too?

 

[Skeeter7424]

i liked the before, but the after is AWESOME!! Glad you changed some of them and the outcome was good. I have seen a couple color experiments not go so perfectly

 

[badlands25]

Looks great! I just did a 108 led kit from aquastyleonline for my 125. I absolutely love it

 

[Rick C]

Thanks guys. It's still only 24 leds, just swapped out some of the 10k's and rb's. I was a little nervous after seeing some disco tanks on other forums but I think the 10k's and rb's offset the red and green well. The 10k's also seem to help offset the yellow of the warm white. I'm happy with the color combo... For now

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[jayinh]

Great build, very bright too. I have one of there kits and had to change out both potentiometers due to the flickering of LEDS . i thought it was the ballast so they sent 2 new ballast and didnt help, i went to radio shack and picked up new pots and it solved the issue.

iagree the UV's are way cool

 

[Rick C]

I changed the pots as well. They are much better now.

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[Daleyjdan]

just wondering what the pots are?? and do you guys think the 20 led kit would be good for a 29bc?

 

[Tone]

just wondering what the pots are?? and do you guys think the 20 led kit would be good for a 29bc?

Pots r a dimming switch that u get at radio shack...and 20 ld kit ..?..no wayyyy...

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