Steve's LEDs for Biocube 32

[paulhinrichsen]

Anyone have experience installing these on the Biocube 32? Opinions? It's on sale for $120 off right now.

 

[Scurvy]

I installed mine back in November. I found it pretty simple following the videos posted on their website. The light in and of itself im pretty happy with. Everything ive thrown at it is growing just fine. The fans a little louder than id like for our bedroom and stays on even when the lights are out. I have my apex power down the outlet at night to kill the fan.

If i had it to do over today i would not get the mini bluefish controller and use the Hurricane it comes with.

 

[paulhinrichsen]

I installed mine back in November. I found it pretty simple following the videos posted on their website. The light in and of itself im pretty happy with. Everything ive thrown at it is growing just fine. The fans a little louder than id like for our bedroom and stays on even when the lights are out. I have my apex power down the outlet at night to kill the fan.

If i had it to do over today i would not get the mini bluefish controller and use the Hurricane it comes with.

awesome thanks for the advice.

 

[IanReefer]

I have the steves LED upgrade in my 32. I am completely impressed with it. I can only run my lights at around 75% before the corals start to stress/bleach - it is crazy bright. Instructions say it takes around 30 minutes to install, but I had mine up and running in about 6 minutes.

Trick to the fan running at night - I just have my power supply plugged into a wall timer so it shuts off at night. The fan isn't loud at all actually, it just moves a lot of air, and that is what is audible. Not 'whiny' at all like the stock fan is.

 

[paulhinrichsen]

what setting and what power do you use with it...i know you said 75% but what does that equate to on the hurricane controller screen

 

[IanReefer]

Mine has the Hurricane and glad I went with it. I also heard Bluefish can be tricky to get the wifi to stay connected. Hurricane has 4095 steps of intensity, which is pretty impressive. To get a percentage, just divide the number you are set at, by 4095. So when I started my acclimation process right after I installed, I had it at 1200, so 1260/4095 which is .307 which is the same as 30%. Then I just went up a click per day for about 2 months so everything had time to adjust.

Right now my setting is 3055 (75%) on Channel 1 blues, and 2665 (65%) on Channel 2 whites.

 

[paulhinrichsen]

nice thanks for the tips. mines installed and i have been running it at 1500 basically. i didnt have any coral in the tank until yesturday i added one frag to see how it would do. planning on buying a ton more this saturday

 

[LovesDogs_CatsRokay]

I have the steves LED upgrade in my 32. I am completely impressed with it. I can only run my lights at around 75% before the corals start to stress/bleach - it is crazy bright. Instructions say it takes around 30 minutes to install, but I had mine up and running in about 6 minutes.

Trick to the fan running at night - I just have my power supply plugged into a wall timer so it shuts off at night. The fan isn't loud at all actually, it just moves a lot of air, and that is what is audible. Not 'whiny' at all like the stock fan is.

Do you think your corals have better colors with the new lights? Mine are very drab, not at all like in the stores, wondering if better lights would help?

 

[paulhinrichsen]

Do you think your corals have better colors with the new lights? Mine are very drab, not at all like in the stores, wondering if better lights would help?

its an upgrade for sure. if your corals are really bland colors in general though..no lighting with help...but id imagine you didnt buy the blandest coral you could find

 

[IanReefer]

Mine look substantially better with the LEDs. Even my drab red shrooms have this cool blue iridescent sheen to them now. They make my tank look better than the LFS showtank.