Steve's LEDs biocuve question
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Ron Reefman
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Very iffy. I suppose it depends on which cube you have, how deep it is and what leds you have.
Which biocube size? Do you know how many watts the stock LEDs are?
Palegic
Active Member
Your title vs your post is confusing. Are you asking if you should upgrade the stock biocube lighting in general or if you should upgrade to Steve's LED?
I had a old cube with the FL lighting and I did grow softies no problem. Grew some really huge leathers, tons of Xenia, as well as zoas and gsp etc..no experience with the newer cube LED lights but I would assume they are decent for most softies and some LPS but looking at the specs they are no where near enough to support SPS. At only 50-80PAR you need 3x that amount of light.
Next, I DID upgrade my FL stock lighting to a custom build kit from Steve's about 5-6 years ago. Total of 84w 28LEDs and 14k full spectrum with the hurricane x controller I can say at 250-500 PAR this was one of the brightest systems available at the time and likely still is. I had no problems growing SPS, in fact most of the time I had the lighting turned down 25 to 50 %. The hurricane controller is a bit complicated to install and setup but oncr done properly is fantastic. Not wifi but hands off control of lunar cycles, daily besunrise sunset, easy on off and % controls. Set it and forget it for years and never had an issue.
I do have a few issues with the Steve's LED kit though. They produce a tremendous amount of heat which is expected with the type of PAR output these things produce. That being said I needed to add a chilled immediately to my closed lid tank. Temps would get into the high 80s even with my home being conditioned all the time. Dual push pull fans in the hood helped but no where near enough plus they kept burning out. Added a third to blow in the overflow, plus the induction fan on the led heat sink and still couldn't realiably control the temps. The chiller and temp controller was by far one of the best purchases for my tank as for years temps don't swing more than 1-2 degress in either direction
Also, the wiring, drivers, and power supply that Steve's offered 6 years ago was EXTREMELY bulky. The wiring was brittle and I had to fix numerous times. The power supply is a huge metal brick with a very loud fan. Im assuming 6 years later these items has improved but I don't know for sure.
My LED drivers burnt out two times in 6 years and right now while I am currently awaiting my reefer 250 tank in my new housr my cube in my old house is lit by only approx 40% of the LED due to driver failure and LED burnout. That being said it's still enough light to keep some of the coral going.
All that said I was impressed with Steve's output and growth potential but I would advise that if you are not adept in electrical work or are a set it and forget it type of person it's not worth the few dollars of savings. I would much rather recommend something like a Radion or kessil to light the tank for a little more $
I had a old cube with the FL lighting and I did grow softies no problem. Grew some really huge leathers, tons of Xenia, as well as zoas and gsp etc..no experience with the newer cube LED lights but I would assume they are decent for most softies and some LPS but looking at the specs they are no where near enough to support SPS. At only 50-80PAR you need 3x that amount of light.
Next, I DID upgrade my FL stock lighting to a custom build kit from Steve's about 5-6 years ago. Total of 84w 28LEDs and 14k full spectrum with the hurricane x controller I can say at 250-500 PAR this was one of the brightest systems available at the time and likely still is. I had no problems growing SPS, in fact most of the time I had the lighting turned down 25 to 50 %. The hurricane controller is a bit complicated to install and setup but oncr done properly is fantastic. Not wifi but hands off control of lunar cycles, daily besunrise sunset, easy on off and % controls. Set it and forget it for years and never had an issue.
I do have a few issues with the Steve's LED kit though. They produce a tremendous amount of heat which is expected with the type of PAR output these things produce. That being said I needed to add a chilled immediately to my closed lid tank. Temps would get into the high 80s even with my home being conditioned all the time. Dual push pull fans in the hood helped but no where near enough plus they kept burning out. Added a third to blow in the overflow, plus the induction fan on the led heat sink and still couldn't realiably control the temps. The chiller and temp controller was by far one of the best purchases for my tank as for years temps don't swing more than 1-2 degress in either direction
Also, the wiring, drivers, and power supply that Steve's offered 6 years ago was EXTREMELY bulky. The wiring was brittle and I had to fix numerous times. The power supply is a huge metal brick with a very loud fan. Im assuming 6 years later these items has improved but I don't know for sure.
My LED drivers burnt out two times in 6 years and right now while I am currently awaiting my reefer 250 tank in my new housr my cube in my old house is lit by only approx 40% of the LED due to driver failure and LED burnout. That being said it's still enough light to keep some of the coral going.
All that said I was impressed with Steve's output and growth potential but I would advise that if you are not adept in electrical work or are a set it and forget it type of person it's not worth the few dollars of savings. I would much rather recommend something like a Radion or kessil to light the tank for a little more $
OP
OP
bluey
Community Member
This was a wonderful answer to my convoluted question thank you so much. I'm sorry my post was confusing. I was mostly asking if upgrading was needed... I'm looking longer term to potentially upgrade to a 90 cube system and I'd feel like I would be wasting $450 for lights (Steve's LEDs) on a brand new system if I don't NEED them. I'm not going to be going with SPS until I get more experience under my belt (90g cube project).
I think if I do happen to upgrade I'll go with something that I can also transfer to a different tank... I just wouldn't know what to do with such a nice set up once I move to a new tank (eventually)
Really appreciate your thoughtful response and your personal input. Thank you
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OP
OP
bluey
Community Member
Thanks I don't know the dimensions. I'm on the road and can't get you measurements. It's the new 32g led biocube. Don't know the pars either. Just going for softies. Currently have Xenia, zoas, Duncan, a devil (something) leather, a hammer torch and green star polyps. Going to get one more torch and one more zoa and that's it
biocubeboy
Active Member
Here at the PAR levels at different levels in the tank. Hope this helps you. I have seen people keep chalice half way up and cyphastrea at the bottom. There are definitely LPS corals you can put under stock biocube lights.
OP
OP
bluey
Community Member
Thank you very much!Here at the PAR levels at different levels in the tank. Hope this helps you. I have seen people keep chalice half way up and cyphastrea at the bottom. There are definitely LPS corals you can put under stock biocube lights.
I have the manual for a 32 LED: https://coralifeproducts.com/Files/Product/manual-cor-ledbiocube32-15662.pdf
I don't see wattage for the LEDs listed anywhere. The product specifications say "peak par at 12 inches" is 81. And "average output of a 20" x 16" area @ 12" from the light" is 53. That isn't much light.
450 bucks for a Steve's LED? Holy carp. It looks like those are 110 watts, which would work. I would just go with an AI Prime or something if you want LED. Or a 'black box' or AI hydra or Noopsych...that way you can buy one more later to use as a pair for your next tank.
I don't see wattage for the LEDs listed anywhere. The product specifications say "peak par at 12 inches" is 81. And "average output of a 20" x 16" area @ 12" from the light" is 53. That isn't much light.
450 bucks for a Steve's LED? Holy carp. It looks like those are 110 watts, which would work. I would just go with an AI Prime or something if you want LED. Or a 'black box' or AI hydra or Noopsych...that way you can buy one more later to use as a pair for your next tank.
Palegic
Active Member
They have jumped up in price over the years. I bought mine when they were new and I paid around $200. That being said 1. They are not $450, more like $350. 2. I would 100% spend a little extra and grab myself a Radion and remove the rim on the cube. Steves is really the only retrofit system that lets you pump upwards of 450-250 PAR into your tank under your stock hood. HOWEVER, if I did it over I would ditch the hood. Its dated and was a huge expense for me to keep temps under control with all the equipment in such a small enclosed footprint.
If you add high power LED under the stock you, you absolutely will need a chiller.
Thanks for posting your experience. That definitely helps the OP.
biocubeboy
Active Member
My post should have been the end of this thread. That 81 PAR is an average and you’re basically telling OP to spend more money for nothing. Actually there is a good chance the higher lights you suggested will fry low light LPS corals. How did you get the R2R supporter tag smh. 
dragon99
2500 Club Member
I am currently running a current gen 32g biocube. All of the LPS and softies that I put in there grew just fine under the stock lights. I upgraded to the steve's LEDs and it's hard to describe the change from the stock to the Steve's. For one the colors pop a LOT more in all of my LPS. My growth rate on all of my coral has significantly increased under the Steve's LEDs.
I didn't really try any SPS with the stock lights, but now I have some birdsnest/stylo/monti and they are all growing great.
Overall you are going to have absolutely no trouble growing LPS/Softies under the stock lights. HOWEVER, you will see colors you didn't even know your coral had when you go from the stock lights to Steve's LEDs, and you will see a noticeable increase in growth rate. I got mine used from a fellow reefer here on R2R, I don't know that I could have forked over lights that cost as much as the tank, so I don't insist everyone get them.
I didn't really try any SPS with the stock lights, but now I have some birdsnest/stylo/monti and they are all growing great.
Overall you are going to have absolutely no trouble growing LPS/Softies under the stock lights. HOWEVER, you will see colors you didn't even know your coral had when you go from the stock lights to Steve's LEDs, and you will see a noticeable increase in growth rate. I got mine used from a fellow reefer here on R2R, I don't know that I could have forked over lights that cost as much as the tank, so I don't insist everyone get them.
biocubeboy
Active Member
Well I’m outnumbered good luck hope you find the right lights. Just thought it was weird they would post that graph on their website for the heck of it but I guess they did. Sorry for being mean just hate to see people waste money on something they don’t need. But I guess he does need it.
Palegic
Active Member
Stop. No one is telling the op to spend more money for nothing. Just experience. All recommendations are able to be turned down to reasonably keep lower light coral while having the ability to also keep corals that may require more light
biocubeboy
Active Member
You’re right I’m sorry I read “I would spend the extra money and upgrade the lights, plus buy a chiller.” As thinking you were saying to spend money my bad. I already apologized.
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