Coralife biocube 29. I have stock lights as of now. Been thinking of upgrading. I want to keep the hood on and add a retrofit kit but not sure which one. Kind of leaning towards Steve's led kit just wanted to get other biocube owners opinions.
Biocube lights
- Thread starter QhillCC
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tomtom2245
Well-Known Member
+1, my current fixture is all DIY from them and I love it!
Travis Rider
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Following. I own a Biocube 29 also and I have the same question.
Both the rapidled kit and Steve's led kit both confuse me. I don't have any idea what driver, spectrum, or dimming accessories I need. Also with the rapidled kit it says I need to purchase a reef controller + a 10v ac adapter to tun the dimmer. I jus wish there was a kit that came with it all.
erinmegan85
Well-Known Member
I have a 14 gallon Biocube and I have a retrofit from Nanobox Reef. I love it. It was pretty easy to install, no soldering involved at all. Just gut the the the hood and install the new light by screwing it in. It's all controlled via app with Bluefish.
smokin'reefer
Sea Urchin
I have the the Steve's kit with the typhoons controller. I did the assembly myself to save money but it was a booger. Instructions were here and there. Different download and instructions for different components. Supposed to be a 4 hour project and turned out to be a day and a half. Results look good and controller gets the job done but in hindsight think I should have left stock and added a couple of the more blue LED strips. A lot of people say better coral colors with the t5s, would think the same with their flo's.
ReeferMadness80G
Valuable Member
I have the Nanobox Large Retro in my BioCube 29 hood. Mine has a Bluefish controller with 4 channels, moonlight and fan control. Dave's (owner of Nanobox Reef) service is second to none. His kit comes 99% complete... very straightforward installation.
My second choice would be the RapidLED kit.
My second choice would be the RapidLED kit.
rvamarcel
Active Member
You can gut the hood and fit the AI Prime HD there. I'm actually thinking about doing that.
Here's the question:
RapidLED and the nanobox cost over $230... why are those more expensive than the AI Prime HD? I still don't get that
ReeferMadness80G
Valuable Member
Thanks!
jcoopcycle
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Looking for a plug and play upgrade myself 29 biocube.
erinmegan85
Well-Known Member
I think with the prime that close to the water you're going to run into some heating issues. I also don't see how you would actually get it to stay in the hood without it interfering with the fan on top. I can't speak for RapidLED, but Nanobox is more expensive because each light is made to order. The machine all the metal pieces and put everything together. Also, the Bluefish controller and app is 10 times better than the AI app. (I have a Hydra52 HD on my 68 gallon) The Bluefish by itself costs about $130.
I can't speak for the RapidLED kit, but the Nanobox kit has two pucks... twice the number LED diodes than the Prime. These are LEDs. The simple facts are the more pucks you have, the less shadowing you'll get. Not only that, but Dave is very meticulous about the LEDs he selects. He uses top bins of Luxeon diodes from Philips... not cheap Cree stuff that AI and Ecotech uses. Also it comes standard with the Bluefish mini controller, way less buggy than the Prime wifi hardware or even the Reeflink for that matter.
No disco ball effect from using red and green diodes that everyone else uses. Instead, he's been using warm and neutral white diodes for some time now (Ecotech just started using warm whites in their G4s). His color rendition is fantastic using neutral white, warm white, lime, violet, cyan as well as blue and royal blue. Also, everything is handmade by him in the USA.
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I removed the top on my 14 gal cube and put an AI Prime over it with great success. I have zero heat tissues and actually have a heater running to keep the temp up. I dont have experience with any other LED lights though. My brother in law used Steves on his 2 and kept the lids and loves them.
rvamarcel
Active Member
erinmegan85
Well-Known Member
Ah, I see. I wanted my hood to look stock from the outside, so I would've never thought to do something like. I would also be concerned that eventually the velcro would give way or weaken and the light would take a tumble when you open the hood. I can see how it would work though.
