# Light upgrades for the biocube..



## Nanoclown (Jan 17, 2013)

I've been doing research on light upgrades, because as I venture into some of the more difficult corals to have in a tank (ie hard corals), I see that the biocube lights aren't very sufficient. I also want an upgrade for the sake of knowing that there's better things out there.

Stunner LED Strips - 6watt, 12in.

I have come across these.. would these do a good job? I love the LED shimmer look, but would these be sufficient for having hard corals in my tank?

Sure, I hear stories of SOME people keeping hard corals just fine in their biocubes with the stock lighting but I'd rather not take the chance.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

I've heard nothing but good things abiut the Stunners. But you need like 3 of them.


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## tike (Nov 10, 2008)

Biocube 14 Gallon LED Light Upgrade Kit w Ballast Dimmable 36W Nano Aquarium | eBay


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## Nanoclown (Jan 17, 2013)

So I did lots of research, and I finally settled on this bad boy:

Biocube 12

I bought it so that it comes 95% completed (soldered riveted and drilled already), and i picked up the dimmer switch as well which could be highly useful to mimic day/night settings. I'm excited for it to come in, and I think it will definitely solve a major heating problem with the biocube and it's stock lighting, which runs very hot. These have an awesomely built heat-sink, supposedly, so.. I'll let you guys know what I think when this arrives to me!
Definitely stepping up my game on this hobby now, I've been slacking and my tank's been hurting with algae issues and weak filtration. Going to be upgrading on that as well


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## tike (Nov 10, 2008)

You will definitely see the difference in heat output vs. the stock light. Nice pick up!


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## Nanoclown (Jan 17, 2013)

Well.. here's an update. Returned the Steve's LED lights. I would not reccommend it because of their bad services that they have provided to me. When I received a 95% finished kit, from the looks of it, it sounded like all I had to do was plug and play. It wasn't that easy, though. According to Steve's LED's outdated instructions (which were not updated to the most recent available upgrades..which I bought), I had to solder and cut out parts from my tank in order for this heatsink / LED strip retrofit to fit. Also, the holes didn't even line up. After e-mailing them, they claimed that they did. I even had an experienced electrician look at the wiring set up / holes which were pre-drilled in their heatsink, and he said one of the holes was off by a whole half-inch. He was left scratching his head, and so was I. So after ripping out all of the stock lighting (and getting a huge headache with trying to put it back in.. eventually gave up), and packing up the Steve's LED things with a hopeful 100% return on them, I will go for the ecoxotics. I'll buy two 12 inch stunners, and one panorama. all with various whites and blues. 

I wish I had really gone with them in the first place-- No mounting, no soldering.. just stick em on and plug em in. Sigh..

And through all of this mess, I lost one of my baby percula's yesterday. I had removed the hood for quite some time during this.. and he had apparently decided that it was a good idea to hop out of the tank while I was away down the shore. I returned home to the news  Sorry little buddy! I should have just put back the hood-- even though it had (and still has) no lights on it. Luckily my corals are all pretty hardy and are still opening up with the daylight coming in through the window.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Thanks for the input on the lighting. Sorry bout the fishy. That kinda sucks.


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## DeboraLee (Oct 16, 2014)

I hear stories of SOME people keeping hard corals just fine in their biocubes with the stock lighting but I'd rather not take the chance.


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