So I did this mod back in Nov.'06 If you find it useful, great. Hopefully it might help some others who want to do it. As always, do this at your own risk and make sure you understand fully what you are about to do as this will void your warranty on your hood. Use the instructions that come with the kit as things may have changed, (different parts, etc.) and use this as a picture reference.
I added the original Sapphire skimmer when I modded the hood and it has worked pretty darn well.
The beginning of the mod is taking apart the light top. Pretty simple and easy to follow.
Take care when drilling the internal hole, make sure the wires are out of the way. The hole is at the red arrow.
The grey cable take a little working to get it thru but fits decent.
This is the parts kit that comes with the kit.
The new fans installed.
(Nov. '06 instructions)
A few things need to be included in the directions from NT.
There is no mention on what to do with the 3 wires you cut off from the large molex crimp on connector. The brown one gets a cap and the 2 black ones get crimped together to complete the circuit on the original light socket. Some may realize this, some may not.
Also there in no mention on what to do with the 2 ground wires that are present from disassemble. Connect each one to a screw and nut under the heat shield.
This is the crimp tool I used, there are other types available. This one was 10 bucks.
The completed heatshield ready for install. It would be nice to have a more sturdier piece of metal for the heat shield. Maybe a bend or kink on the edge would provide a more solid piece.
And finally the bulbs in place and ready for the water shield. Time to this point was approx. 2 hrs.
Finally at the ballast stage. Drilling the end caps, installing the switch. I found that drilling a 1/2" hole for the cord grommets was a little small. I had to ream out a little larger. You may want to the same. Be careful and do small amounts and keep checking the size.
I soldered the switch connections and used heatshrink tube over the connections. Be sure to slide the tubes over the wire prior to soldering the joint. Then just use a lighter to heat the shrink tube.
Now at this point I start to realize that I cannot complete the grey cord connections on the ballast if I want to get this thing below my tank in the cabinet. Another improvement on the kit would be to provide a factory made cable disconnect connection like the hood has on the original light cords. This would make so much more sense. So I finsih up with the one side and leave off the grey cable. I put the hood back on and fished the cable thru my stand and then made up the crimp on connections inside the cabinet. The cable seems a little short and would be nice if it was a little longer for my situation.
basically thats it... put the hood back on, power up and enjoy. Word to the wise, xenia grows quick with good lighting, I made the mistake of planting some!
