biocube fans

leahski

Member
the stock fans on my biocube have gotten really really noisy lately, especially for about the first hour that they are on. has anyone else experienced this?
do they just need to be cleaned? or is there something else going on?

are the stock fans just not up to par?
before this i've noticed that they really don't do that great a job cooling the hood...i'm wondering if they just need to be replaced with better fans.
 

Origami2547

Member
Mine got noisy, too, and I'm replacing them later this week.

You can get repacements at nanotuners.com. Stock fans are 8.95 each. See this link: nanotuners

Also, if you search their site with the term "bc29 fan" you'll have two options given you for fan kits. One is for a quiet SilenX fan. The kit is kind of pricey, but you'll get a much better fan - 2 of them actually - and a wiring kit that contains adapters and a wall transformer. They're very, very quiet. You can also buy the fan separately from them for much less but you'll have to modify it slightly as the fan has a standard 3-wire PC interface (power, ground, and fan speed monitor). 12V power is on the yellow wire. Ground is black. And the unneeded tach wire is white, I believe.

The SilenX part number is IXP-34-16. Here's a link to the fan specs.
SilenX Corporation - iXtrema Pro Fans

You can get the SilenX fan for $7.99 each at NewEgg.com. That's where I'm getting mine later this week.
 

leahski

Member
thanks, thats good to know. i have an 8g. i'm wondering if those will still work for it... do you know if they're the same size or not?
 

Origami2547

Member
Tori, the BC8 and BC14 have 50mm fans while the BC29 has 60mm fans. You can get 50mm fans, though, at either source listed above. The BC8 fan is 15mm "thick" and you can get fans for as little as $2 each at Newegg. (See this link for 50mm fans at NewEgg: Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!) Spec-wise, they're noisier than the SilenX fans. You also need to know in advance that you'll have to do a 4- or 3- to 2-wire conversion which is easy to do, actually (you just use the yellow and the black wires, which are 12V and Ground, respectively). Nanotuners also has stock fans that should work and they'll be happy to tell you what you need for the replacement.

By the way, I got my SilenX fans installed this weekend. They're very quiet and I'm happy not to be hearing the rattling from those cheap fans that Oceanic uses. They are thicker, however - 25 mm (1-inch) - a full 10mm thicker than the stock fans. No problem, though - it will fit the case. The stock screws won't work as they're too short. Instead, make a quick trip to the hardware store and pick up some #6 x 1-1/4 sheet metal screws and drill out the plastic posts in the cover with a bit that is appropriately sized to avoid breaking the plastic. The SilenX fans come with a 3-wire connector and a 4- to 3-wire adapter. I spliced the 2-wire leads from the old, stock fans onto the 4- to 3-wire adapter to make a 2- to 3-wire adapter to power the fan. Quick and easy work - about 30 minutes, max - to a quieter BioCube 29.
 

tippMANn98

Has been struck by the ban stick
yea, a few weeks after I got my cube, one fan quit, and the other did get really really noisy, and it seemed to slow its rotation
 

leahski

Member
wow, origami, that's great information, thank you so much!
so the computer ones are not as silent, but they work just as well?
 

Origami2547

Member
Hi Tori. Both the SilenX and the other fans are computer fans. The SilenX is far quieter, though, (based on the specification) than some of the 50mm fans that I looked at on the link I gave (above). That does not mean that they're noisier than the stock Biocube fan, though - especially when it goes bad! Just pick a good fan from the list - one with ball bearings, preferably and a low dBA (decibels audio) rating. There's on on that webpage, for example, that's less than 23 dBA.

Here's a reference picture of the standard computer fan pinout. It may help when wiring in the replacement fan:
cpufanpinoutlabeled.jpg

You want to use just the +12V and ground (GND) wires. The tach wire is not needed in a fan replacement application.
 

leahski

Member
thanks so much! this is great information. i'll probably be ordering a couple this week, i'll let you know how it goes.
 

kcrossley

New Member
I have a 29 Gallon Biocube I'm using as a planted freshwater aquarium. Even though my room temperature is 72 degrees the Biocube gets really hot with both lights on (1) 6700K and (1) 10000K. Will replacing the stock fans with stronger fans lower the operating temps?

What are the fan specs for the Biocube fans?

Thanks,
Kelly
 

zingiber

New Member
Thanks for this post! I just sucesfully installed my first set of new fans :)

As suggested, I ordered the Silenx iXtrema Pro 60mm Quiet Fan ($8) and in an hour (i'm definatly not electrically minded) had my new fans in.

They are SO quiet!!!!

Thanks for the great advice.
 

Feedmittens

New Member
Re: biocube fans - ordered replacements

I just ordered two 'Delta AFB0512MB 50mm x 15mm Dual Ball Bearing 2-Pin Fan's for my noisy little 2+ year old BioCube 8 off of eBay (totalled less than $11 with free shipping for both). I'll install them when they arrive, take some pics, and report back to the forum.

Thanks for the tips so far!
 

verizonizer

New Member
Re: biocube fans - ordered replacements

I just ordered two 'Delta AFB0512MB 50mm x 15mm Dual Ball Bearing 2-Pin Fan's for my noisy little 2+ year old BioCube 8 off of eBay (totalled less than $11 with free shipping for both). I'll install them when they arrive, take some pics, and report back to the forum.

Thanks for the tips so far!

im the same boat as you. how do the deltas work for you thus far? are they quiet? are they plug and play or did you have to make any modifications to get them to work?

i also pm'd you. thanks!
 

MrFin

New Member
Re: biocube fans - ordered replacements

We had bought a Biocube recently and it needed the fans replaced.

I put together a pictorial guide to how I replaced the fans to help show how easy it is to do.

Hope someone finds this useful. Continued on the next post

MWSnap025 2011-04-30, 11_16_27.jpgMWSnap026 2011-04-30, 11_16_31.jpgMWSnap027 2011-04-30, 11_16_43.jpgMWSnap029 2011-04-30, 11_16_59.jpgMWSnap028 2011-04-30, 11_16_47.jpg
 

MrFin

New Member
Re: biocube fans - ordered replacements

We had bought a Biocube recently and it needed the fans replaced.

I put together a pictorial guide to how I replaced the fans to help show how easy it is to do.

Hope someone finds this useful. Continued on the next post

MWSnap030 2011-04-30, 11_17_06.jpgMWSnap031 2011-04-30, 11_17_11.jpgMWSnap032 2011-04-30, 11_17_16.jpg
 

waller85

Member
lol i just wack the lid in the morning and it shuts up but in a few weeks the bc will be gone and everything transferred to the new tank
 

econano

Member
I know this is an older thread, but it's awesome!

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to put the 60x60 silenX into the biocube 14? Or is it just too big?

Thanks!!!
 
Top