Installing AI Prime into 14 g Biocube hood

[Texas Reefer]

Sorry, forgot to take pictures in the first steps.
1. Made a pattern with thin cardboard if the light.
2. Traced pattern onto top of hood.
3. Gathered tools: Dremel with [HASHTAG]#426[/HASHTAG] Reinforced Cut-off Wheels and [HASHTAG]#953[/HASHTAG] Grinding Stones, multihead screwdriver, safety glasses, drill, black aquarium grade silicon, Velcro.

4. Drilled holes just inside traced pattern at corners and one on each side.
5. Connected the dots: used short cuts to make a curved hole.

6. A lot of grinding to make the hole just right.
7. I then used Velcro to hold the light at the height I wanted (the corner from the switch box also holds the light) and used black silicon to "glue" it in.

Final product. Please excuse the corals, its 10:45 at night and they haven't had a light for 6 hours.

 

[Joeganja]

Nice

 

[BaritoneJP]

great job! are you running the light at 100% during any part of the day or ?

 

[Texas Reefer]

No, right now its in Coral acclimation mode. I've got the 4 red/purple lights at 50%, and the 3 green/blue/grey lights at 20%. Everything seems happy. . I have softies and lps right now, no sps.

 

[ScubaSteve-21]

This is amazing! Nicely done! Please send an update on how it's doing

 

[ScubaSteve-21]

Any update pictures? How's the tank like the light?

 

[DustyXB9Reefer]

Sorry for reviving an old thread but how did the light turn out? I've been wanting to do this exact thing!

 

[Texas Reefer]

The light is great! I took the splash guard off, no problems. The corals look great despite the hair algae (I didn't use new sand when we moved ). I've got a hammer, zoas, candy canes, and a mushroom. A maxi mini and a rock anemone.

 

[DustyXB9Reefer]

Great! Thanks for the quick reply. How are you liking the light? Easy to use? Anything you don't like??

 

[Texas Reefer]

Very easy to use. Set it and forget it.

 

[ScubaSteve-21]

After reading this thread I also did the same thing a few months ago...the ai prime is amazing! All my corals are growing like mad!! Lps and sps!! Best mod ever for a nano

 

[Texas Reefer]

 

[DustyXB9Reefer]

Looks killer guys! Can't wait to get my Prime. My LFS is selling them for $180 and is who turned myou attention away from rapid and steves led retrofit kits.

 

[Orcus Varuna]

This mod looks great! I am thinking of doing this for my new biocube 29 set up; i just had a few questions for you guys. How is the light diffusion from that height above the water I would prefer to keep the hood on, any dark spots? did you guys keep the stock fans for extra cooling? Finally, any luck with SPS or do you think I would require more power on a 29 gallon tank. I have never used LED's so im not sure how bright 60 watts actually is. Thank you for your help!

 

[Texas Reefer]

You will not need extra cooling. My tank stayed the correct temp with use of a heater and nothing to cool it. All parts of the tank received a good amount of light, no dark spots. I did not try any SPS, other than a chalice, which showed some growth. Currently my tank is broken down due to a hair algae problem.

 

[DustyXB9Reefer]

From what I understand, the AI Prime can support all sorts of SPS. I have yet to get mine unfortunately. But I did pick up a nice little piece of birds nest I'm gonna try out with the stock lighting.

 

[HunterW]

The light is great! I took the splash guard off, no problems. The corals look great despite the hair algae (I didn't use new sand when we moved ). I've got a hammer, zoas, candy canes, and a mushroom. A maxi mini and a rock anemone.

This is very reassuring, I can't thank you enough for posting. Keep reefing like a girl!

 

[riche]

Has anyone done this on a 29 gallon biocube?

 

[Waynerock]

Has anyone done this on a 29 gallon biocube?

Yup but I had to extend the height of the lid to get a good spread. I eventually just took the good off and mounted light the water gets too hot