BioCube lighting retro....

[KhensuRa]

Okay figured I would post this up so you all, could see my new lighting retro. I am going to need some advise from you pros though, on my beginning lighting schedule. The new light have due cords so I can run them on different timers.

So how long do you think I should run my blues and whites? My old light was the stock pc lighting which was two 36watt pc bulbs. So I am more than doubling the old light in the tank.

Any who here are the pics:

Here is the new light in the box...

Here are just the blues on...

Whites only...

Blue and white...

Side shot with all other lights out in the dark...

Here is the hood with the old PC bulbs...

Hood almost gutted...

View attachment 5091

 

[KhensuRa]

Forgot to get a picture of the hood fully gutted, but I ended up having to cut off most the tabs to get the new unit to fit...

New LED unit in the hood...

With lights on, in hood, ready to rock...

 

[KhensuRa]

Here are some before and after pics. Not the best pics, did this last night and man was I tired...

Before w/ old PC lights...

 

[KhensuRa]

New leds blues only...

Blues and whites(I think)...

 

[KhensuRa]

Need to get a better picture of the new lights on... When I took these the hood was not even on all the way....

 

[projectx]

Wow huge diff from the stock lighting
you might have to start moven stuff into that cave lol

 

[KhensuRa]

yeah I am sure my acans are going to be mega ****ed off for awhile...

Crazy how, now all my corals look like they did when I bought them. Or how they should...

 

[KhensuRa]

Do you guys think the leds will over heat seeing I put the unit in my hood?

 

[Cherub]

Wow you were busy! Hard to say if they will overheat but I'm sure that acrylic box doesn't help >.< does it allow airflow for the fans to suck in air from the side vents? Does your camera let you control the white balance?

 

[KhensuRa]

The pics are from my camera, so they are not the best. I was in a hurry to finish it last night, so I never pulled my DSLR out.

As for the vents there are two on the top of the hood. Plus there is a vent on the acrylic box as well. I am going to monitor the heat very closely in the hood to make sure my lights do don't over heat. As far as the water temp, that has gone down about 2 1/2 degrees, which is nice.

 

[Cherub]

do you like the light? did you go with more white than blue?

 

[Tripple T]

I did this in a 12 gal jbj nanocube and ultimately I had to remove the led from the hood and raise them up. It was just too intense of light 5" directly below the led for anything to grow. Also, although led are cooler they were giving me temp issues. I'm interested in your results though. Check out my pics in my profile and u can see what I did with my nanos

 

[KhensuRa]

6 day update:

wow wow wow... I wish I would have taken a ton of before pics. I know it has only been a few day but I have seen huge changes across the board.

I will start with my zoa/paly changes; before the light update, my zoas where all reaching for the lights and some had to be an inch long. But know thay have all settled down are now slowly changing back to there real colors. I mean I got a couple DBTC zoas that were rare and turned brown in my tank. Now the mohawks and rainbow palys look, well look like the ones you e see in pictures. Some of the zoas are taking some time to adjust and are closed still.

So projextx (Lance a long time friend) gave me a few frags (SPS, sunset monti, ideao grape) and had not really done well under the PC lights, well I I am happy to report that the Idaho grape has grown a little over a 1/2 inch in six days. Before that it had not grown at all.

I will try to take some pics tomorrow so you all can see some updated stuff.

 

[Tripple T]

I am curious on an update for ur led.. You seemed to have an easy trasnsition while i did not... my coral took 3 months to adjust to led before it grew at all

 

[KhensuRa]

So far everything is doing okay, except for my blue boobie. Think I might need to move to a shaded area. Here is a shot of my PAR readings however I would not read to much into it, as we raised the lights about six inches and they all changed drastically. All the readings from six inches higher where about twice as high except the the highest reading in the top center dropped to about 850... Once I hang the lights I am going to try and get new readings....

[attachment=59955:name]​

 

[Tripple T]

I appreciate u posting that

 

[chrislorentz]

Ok so question what does all those PAR readings mean? I mean I know what PAR is but does it tell you anything?

 

[KhensuRa]

Well at this point it tells me I need to come up with a better way to hang my lights so I can get the full benefit of the leds. Plus i have always had PC lights and was never able to really house SPS, which I will now be able to and knowing where the light is more intense, it will hopefully allow me to place those SPS where they will grow. And also where I will be able to put lower light coral. That is what I did it for...

 

[chrislorentz]

Where would you put the SPS? Super high PAR, MID PAR? will it be to much light?

 

[asn-naso]

Do you have PAR from the stock lights?