BC14 Light advice needed

Aahz812

New member
I have a 14g BC and I am considering upgrading the lights. I have a few questions that I would really appreciate some answers to as I am completely lost.

1)I currently have one white and one actynic light in the stock set up. What can I keep under stock lights?

2.) I would like to get an upgrade in lights down the road that would allow me to keep most if not all corals. (I hate light being a restrictor) What lights should I get. (I would like them to be in hood to keep the lid on. My toddler has sticky fingers)

3) Should I upgrade now? Tanks been cycling a week. Or should I just get some zoos and softies and hold off for a while?


Thanks!
 
Hello:

I'm also a proud owner of a BC14. You cannot go wrong with softies and lps. I have also seen many people with a few sps near the top of the tank, so long as your rockwork is in the upper 1/4 of the water column, but I would not recommend doing so as the sps corals may not be healthy or experience growth rates that would make them rewarding enough to keep. I am currently looking at a biocube 14 LED upgrade that seems extremely promising. The link is at the bottom of the page. The kit is affordable and gets fairly good reviews. Installation is DIY, but pretty straight forward if you have a basic understanding of wiring and electrical equipment. If not, a youtube video or 2 will do the trick. While deciding whether or not to do a full LED conversion, I added 3 separate LED light bars purchased at a LFS into my hood inside of the plastic cover that protects your power compacts. They have added enough light to grow a birdsnest and several other sps. The 3 LED light bars had double sided tape on the back, so installation was a piece of cake! I'm at work at the moment, so i can't send pics, but i will try to when I get home. The question of getting the upgrade now or later is kind of a loaded one. Is this your first saltwater experience? You may consider testing the waters with some harty softies or lps for a while before getting the upgrade. On the other hand, you might has well get it installed now incase a problem arises with installation! (That way you won't have to stress if something doesn't work out quite right and you need a new part, or have to go several days with no lights on at all!) Best of luck! I'll try to keep an eye out if you have any other questions about BC14 mods or upgrades. Several other upgrades and mods to the filtration are available and I would highly recommend some of them as they are cheap, easy, and very effective.

Here is the link:

http://www.rapidled.com/solderless-biocube-14-dimmable-retrofit-kit/
 
My stock lights lasted 5 months, and they did grow a monti and pocci (both SPS) in the upper part of the tank. I'm convinced you could also do birdsnest with the stock lights as well. I grew LPS all over too. I did eventually upgrade to a rapid led kit, and things just grow faster. I can grow birds nest on the sand now. Honestly, I woulnt rush into the lights right away. You probably don't want to start with a lot of SPS now anyway. I say start stock, get in a routine, get things stable, and then upgrade when you want to take it to the next level.
 
I have been light acclimating to my rapid LED kit, may I ask what output intensity you are running your Rapid LED kit at?
 
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