First off, I have to say I was very intrigued and hyped about the modifcations that can be done by Chris of Nanocustoms when I heard almost daily from my brother Mike of how much better things have been and what he has been able to add to his tank. I have never dealt with Chris before other than buying my 6 gallon tank from him (bone stock) I was satisfied by it, but my tank had a problem with the old stock fans....they were going bad after alittle over of a month of owning them. I decided instead of fixing them, just mod out my lights and get a set of new upgraded fans as well. Seeing and also reading the documentation on the mods, I trusted to go with Nanocustoms. I ordered my lights, and any questions I asked Chris, he was more than happy to answer them. The only thing was that my order was on delay as he was waiting for some parts to come in. With the delay and all, I wasn't too antsy, but when he called me, he told me he was coming to my work as he was in the area.....very cool he'd do that, so I gave him directions. He made it okay to my job, but I had to come out quickly and accept the product. He showed me the hood, and at first site I noticed the splash guard was all cracked, and I told him what i had was new.....we then went and swapped out the splash guards, as we did that I noticed the lights had rust on them....but he told me they were new....He also pointed out there was a hole in the hood where my on off button used to be and forgot to put on the plastic piece. I was like "what?" He then proceeded to tell me he had hired help do my hood, so I understood "okay this isn't Chris quality" Well not having much time to argue or look it over, I gave him my stock hood, he gave me the modded hood. 3.18 hood upgrade (54 watts of lighting, two 50/50's and one true Actinic Blue) Let me show you my first product, of what I received.
First picture. This is the lights in place under my new splashguard (the bad one I gave back to chris) Notice, they each have one clip, at the end...they were suppose to have two each to hold them all in place and from moving around.
2nd picture. This is where it goes off to connect to the ballast that comes with this mod. Notice it's not shielded properly, wires are exposed.
3rd picture. This shows the rust on the lights. It was in other areas, but here's this shot so you get the idea. These are also Realux lighting. I was told these are better than JBJ.
4th picture. This is the ballast, it came bare, nothing labeled, I guess it was supposed to having warning labels, and like the wattage it supports and what it's not to exceed (not a huge deal, but he pointed that out)
5th picture. This angle of the lights show that if you get this mod, know that you can't put a screw in the front middle...see it? The lights are so close and tight fit that it won't allow it to go in without risking breaking a light. (not well thought out)
6th picture. This shows one side of the hood where the wires are supposed to go through.....they didn't include my grommets.....they hold the wires in place and keep them from pinching when opening and closing the hood. (something I have to do each week for water changes)
Okay, at this point, I am sure you guys are like......WTF? Why such a bad job? Why to me? Especially my brother getting superiour service and quality on his hoods. As stated above this is due to hired help, and not enough good training. He's giving his product a bad name by doing this, because I know what he is capable of. Being upset, I talked to Chris about all of this, of course he was very honest with me, pointed out all the problems, and said he'd take care of it. He was very disapointed, but wanted to see me happy. This is where the tragic story turns around a bit. Chris promised me to make a hood himself for me to make up for the fowled up one which he calls the "loaner hood" now. I was happy that at least I am getting good customer service. It took about another week or so, but he mailed out this time the hood. I was very excited, but the day before I receieved it, Chris mentions that he didn't build it (even though I asked him to) and that he gave that guy who messed up a second chance!! I was like WTF?? I really didn't care about 2nd chances, I just wanted my hood done right by a professional, and be done with it all. I bit my lip and said "okay we'll see when it comes in" He said it should be fine, he gave it the final look before it went out....so I was like, "that's cool I guess".
The next day that hood arrives at my work, I didn't get a chance to look at it until I got home. Coming home I saw that much had been improved. Lights looked brand spanking new (realux) Wiring that goes from hood to ballast, flawless. My lights, and ballast, labeled, awesome! Shows nanocustoms stickers too to show it's a product from him. I was like again.......COOL. I noticed that each light had two clips to hold the lights in place, that being on both 50/50's. The only thing that sucked big time was that my actinic blue was hanging by nothing... No clip on it what so ever (NOT GOOD!) You don't want your lights moving around, it'll displace wrong, they'll touch wires, the other bulbs. I was like "arghhh" Also he forgot my grommets to hold my wires again..."arghhh" I told Chris that same night, and I think Chris got upset with his worker, and upset it wasn't done right. I gave pictures to Chris to make sure I wasn't wrong or over reacting.....I even asked him if that's how it should be, but honestly he told me "no, they are supposed to be clipped down flush and giving the lights a quarter of an inch clearance between them." The ones I got are all smooshed together, especially the actinics.
Here are the pictures of the end product of the 2nd hood sent out to me.
1st picture. My 2nd hood, notice the two 50/50s are clipped in good, the actinic blue is just laying there. (the guy forgot to clip them in)
2nd picture. This shows that the guy fixed the wiring problem, it's flush and done right, shielded correctly... Good job here.
Basically it comes to this.....Chris is shot for time, he has other skills and other things going on for him. Nanocustoms was second to him, with having less time, he has less effort to put in to his product. His bad staff is not helping either, as they dont have the same talent Chris does. (sad i know) Chris is still working with me, and seeing about at least changing out the aluminum shield that it sits on with the clips it's suppose to have and measured in straight to fit the heat shield.
Let me at least show you, what I have done since having time to mess with this stuff (I hate DIY but...) With my brother Mike's help (he was down to visit) we took the 7 watt daylight that came with my .75 pico, and took it apart, and fitted it with the two clips that came with it to my hood making it a perfect fuge light. How did we get that to stay? We shared two of the screws that go into the fan to accomplish this....cool huh? Check this out.
Steven and Mike's mod to add 7 more watts and give 61 watts total and gain that fuge light.
two pictures: This one with the lights off. Looks flush huh?
This one with the lights fired up.
We pushed in the actinic on the left inward more, but it'll hold for now. Lastly my closing comments are:
I dont think Chris is a crook, and I dont bash on his products, I only wanted to share this with anybody thinking of going with the 6 gallon jbj modification. I want them to be aware of what's going on, and what to expect. There are some flaws, doesn't appear to be perfected yet, and with Chris not doing the mod himself, I dont think you'll be fully satisified unless you are willing to deal with some imperfections and doing your own DIY when you get it.
My personal situation should be fixed as Chris is willing to work with me and contains good contact, and remains honest with me. My only wish from the start was that I wish Chris did my hood
In future posts, I shall show at least the cycle of my lights and what the tank looks like. I can say that, with the upgraded lights, the tank gets no hotter than 78.8 or so. They are louder, but they are spinning faster pushing out that hot air. With a little bit more love, I believe the 6 gallon jbj modded hood could be perfect. If any of you ever have any questions, feel free to post or email me directly or of course the typical PM.
First picture. This is the lights in place under my new splashguard (the bad one I gave back to chris) Notice, they each have one clip, at the end...they were suppose to have two each to hold them all in place and from moving around.
2nd picture. This is where it goes off to connect to the ballast that comes with this mod. Notice it's not shielded properly, wires are exposed.
3rd picture. This shows the rust on the lights. It was in other areas, but here's this shot so you get the idea. These are also Realux lighting. I was told these are better than JBJ.
4th picture. This is the ballast, it came bare, nothing labeled, I guess it was supposed to having warning labels, and like the wattage it supports and what it's not to exceed (not a huge deal, but he pointed that out)
5th picture. This angle of the lights show that if you get this mod, know that you can't put a screw in the front middle...see it? The lights are so close and tight fit that it won't allow it to go in without risking breaking a light. (not well thought out)
6th picture. This shows one side of the hood where the wires are supposed to go through.....they didn't include my grommets.....they hold the wires in place and keep them from pinching when opening and closing the hood. (something I have to do each week for water changes)
Okay, at this point, I am sure you guys are like......WTF? Why such a bad job? Why to me? Especially my brother getting superiour service and quality on his hoods. As stated above this is due to hired help, and not enough good training. He's giving his product a bad name by doing this, because I know what he is capable of. Being upset, I talked to Chris about all of this, of course he was very honest with me, pointed out all the problems, and said he'd take care of it. He was very disapointed, but wanted to see me happy. This is where the tragic story turns around a bit. Chris promised me to make a hood himself for me to make up for the fowled up one which he calls the "loaner hood" now. I was happy that at least I am getting good customer service. It took about another week or so, but he mailed out this time the hood. I was very excited, but the day before I receieved it, Chris mentions that he didn't build it (even though I asked him to) and that he gave that guy who messed up a second chance!! I was like WTF?? I really didn't care about 2nd chances, I just wanted my hood done right by a professional, and be done with it all. I bit my lip and said "okay we'll see when it comes in" He said it should be fine, he gave it the final look before it went out....so I was like, "that's cool I guess".
The next day that hood arrives at my work, I didn't get a chance to look at it until I got home. Coming home I saw that much had been improved. Lights looked brand spanking new (realux) Wiring that goes from hood to ballast, flawless. My lights, and ballast, labeled, awesome! Shows nanocustoms stickers too to show it's a product from him. I was like again.......COOL. I noticed that each light had two clips to hold the lights in place, that being on both 50/50's. The only thing that sucked big time was that my actinic blue was hanging by nothing... No clip on it what so ever (NOT GOOD!) You don't want your lights moving around, it'll displace wrong, they'll touch wires, the other bulbs. I was like "arghhh" Also he forgot my grommets to hold my wires again..."arghhh" I told Chris that same night, and I think Chris got upset with his worker, and upset it wasn't done right. I gave pictures to Chris to make sure I wasn't wrong or over reacting.....I even asked him if that's how it should be, but honestly he told me "no, they are supposed to be clipped down flush and giving the lights a quarter of an inch clearance between them." The ones I got are all smooshed together, especially the actinics.
Here are the pictures of the end product of the 2nd hood sent out to me.1st picture. My 2nd hood, notice the two 50/50s are clipped in good, the actinic blue is just laying there. (the guy forgot to clip them in)
2nd picture. This shows that the guy fixed the wiring problem, it's flush and done right, shielded correctly... Good job here.
Basically it comes to this.....Chris is shot for time, he has other skills and other things going on for him. Nanocustoms was second to him, with having less time, he has less effort to put in to his product. His bad staff is not helping either, as they dont have the same talent Chris does. (sad i know) Chris is still working with me, and seeing about at least changing out the aluminum shield that it sits on with the clips it's suppose to have and measured in straight to fit the heat shield.
Let me at least show you, what I have done since having time to mess with this stuff (I hate DIY but...) With my brother Mike's help (he was down to visit) we took the 7 watt daylight that came with my .75 pico, and took it apart, and fitted it with the two clips that came with it to my hood making it a perfect fuge light. How did we get that to stay? We shared two of the screws that go into the fan to accomplish this....cool huh? Check this out.
Steven and Mike's mod to add 7 more watts and give 61 watts total and gain that fuge light.
two pictures: This one with the lights off. Looks flush huh?
This one with the lights fired up.
We pushed in the actinic on the left inward more, but it'll hold for now. Lastly my closing comments are:
I dont think Chris is a crook, and I dont bash on his products, I only wanted to share this with anybody thinking of going with the 6 gallon jbj modification. I want them to be aware of what's going on, and what to expect. There are some flaws, doesn't appear to be perfected yet, and with Chris not doing the mod himself, I dont think you'll be fully satisified unless you are willing to deal with some imperfections and doing your own DIY when you get it.
My personal situation should be fixed as Chris is willing to work with me and contains good contact, and remains honest with me. My only wish from the start was that I wish Chris did my hood
In future posts, I shall show at least the cycle of my lights and what the tank looks like. I can say that, with the upgraded lights, the tank gets no hotter than 78.8 or so. They are louder, but they are spinning faster pushing out that hot air. With a little bit more love, I believe the 6 gallon jbj modded hood could be perfect. If any of you ever have any questions, feel free to post or email me directly or of course the typical PM.
