14 Gallon Biocube Light Modification

Aliu · Mar 6, 2016

Hi everyone,

I've gotten my biocube since November of last year and things has been going great the past couple of months. I currently have 2 clownfish, 1 bicolor blenny, 1 bubble coral, 1 frogspawn, 1 plate coral, 1 leptastrea, 1 zoanthids, 1 torch coral, and 1 acan.

Anyways, long story short, I currently have stock lighting from the biocube and if you guys know, it is manual. Therefore, every morning before work I need to turn on the lights and when I get back home I turn off the lights. This makes it tough for me because I need to travel for work and I would need to teach my wife how to turn on and off the lighting for the biocube. Therefore, I'm considering to just pull the hood off and buy a type of lighting that can be more handsfree.

I've done some research and pulled up some light fixtures.

1) Kessil A160WE Controllable LED Aquarium Light
2) Maxspect Nano Razor 15,000K LED Light Fixture - 70 Watt
3) EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro LED Light Fixture
4) AquaIllumination Prime LED Fixture

Does anyone have any experience with any of these lighting? I'd love to hear any opinions. If there are any that's not on this short list, I'd love to hear about it too!

Just another question- If I take the hood off, that would mean more evaporation? I would definitely need an ATO as well. Because everyday I've been topping it off manually. I heard from my friend that Tunze Osmolator has been pretty good. Any tips?

Thanks!

cmcoker · Mar 6, 2016

I use a avast ATO in my biocube 14, love it. Pressure sensor so no float valve to get stuck. Removing the hood will greatly increase evaporation.
As far as the light, you can plug them in to a lamp timer or get a power strip with a timer built in that will turn the lights on and off. If you wanted to get fancy you could have 2 timers, one for the actinic and one for the whites. Have your actinic come on an hour before/off an hour after your white. (depending on bulbs your using.) just make sure the first bulb on is the one that turns the fans on.

Retro Reefer · Mar 6, 2016

You can control your lights with simple timers, I have 5 on my BC14 two control supplemental LED's that I added one controls the Biocube LED's, one controls the actinic CF and one for the 10k CF.. Have them set to ramp up my lights over 5 hours.. They are cheap you can get them at lowes, think I paid $50 total for 5 of them

rjl45 · Mar 6, 2016

I have a 24 gal nano, decided to go with nanobox retro kit, and the micro bluefish wireless controller. It's a tad pricey, but no more than the options you listed. LOVE the light! It took all of 15 minutes to install, and couldn't be happier. Also, I kept my hood (prefer it over open top). Something worth considering. Good luck!

cmcoker · Mar 7, 2016

rjl45 said:
I have a 24 gal nano, decided to go with nanobox retro kit, and the micro bluefish wireless controller. It's a tad pricey, but no more than the options you listed. LOVE the light! It took all of 15 minutes to install, and couldn't be happier. Also, I kept my hood (prefer it over open top). Something worth considering. Good luck!

I would agree on a retrofit if you just want to switch to led.
My bc14 has been retrofitted with due to heat issues,couple plug and play led bars plus a small diy panel to add some punch