Steve's LEDs from BC14 to BC16?

[Cloudburst2000]

I bought a Steve's LED light set for my Biocube 14 about four or five years ago. Anyhoo, over the summer my air conditioning went out and the temp in the tank raised to a very high level before I could get home. So I lost everything. The Biocube 14 was several years old and I decided that when I had time to reset the tank up that I wanted to upgrade to the Biocube 16 since I was going to have to break the tank down anyway. Is the hood the same from the Biocube 14 to the Biocube 16? Can I just move the Steves LEDs from the 14 to the 16? I know the Biocube 16 comes with LEDs but do they work as well as the Steve's LEDs? If not, I think I would want to replace the stock LED lights. Does anyone know if the Steve's LEDs have changed in the last several years? Are they better now or are they the same set up he was selling four to five years back? There is also RapidLEDs? Would they also work in a Biocube16? Are they comparable or better then the Steve's LEDs. I'd like the option to keep some SPS along with LPS (brian on the sand, frogspawn, etc) and maybe a couple softies. Also, on my Biocube14, I did not have a powerhead in the tank. I put in a larger return pump so it drastically increased flow in the aquarium. Would the same work for the Biocube16 or would I need the powerhead (especially since I want some SPS in this tank)? My Biocube14 was all LPS and softies.

 

[MK3_LUV]

I know that coralife sells the LED hoods separately, and they advertise that they are interchangeable with the coralife biocube 14 as well as the new 16, but it is not compatible with the oceanic biocube 14. So i believe that the opposite is true as well, you can use a biocube 14 hood on the biocube 16 as long as the hood was from a coralife tank, not an oceanic tank.

As far as flow goes, it is always better to have multiple sources of flow as opposed to having just one, especially so with sps. Sps tends to like/want/need higher flow than softies & lps, so my personal recommendation would be to add at least one additional powerhead in addition to the return pump. In my biocube 16 i have the stock return pump to help move the water out of the back chambers, with the nozzle pointed up to aid with surface agitation, and I have an Ecotec Marine MP-10 on the left side of the tank providing the majority of my in-tank flow

 

[Cloudburst2000]

I know that coralife sells the LED hoods separately, and they advertise that they are interchangeable with the coralife biocube 14 as well as the new 16, but it is not compatible with the oceanic biocube 14. So i believe that the opposite is true as well, you can use a biocube 14 hood on the biocube 16 as long as the hood was from a coralife tank, not an oceanic tank.

As far as flow goes, it is always better to have multiple sources of flow as opposed to having just one, especially so with sps. Sps tends to like/want/need higher flow than softies & lps, so my personal recommendation would be to add at least one additional powerhead in addition to the return pump. In my biocube 16 i have the stock return pump to help move the water out of the back chambers, with the nozzle pointed up to aid with surface agitation, and I have an Ecotec Marine MP-10 on the left side of the tank providing the majority of my in-tank flow

Hmm...I might just a new light setup then anyway. And sell the Steve's LEDs with the BC14 setup. I really like a combo of LEDs and T5s. Is there any kind of light setup that can be placed in the BC16 hood that has LEDs and T5s?

Also, I have an Ecotech Vortech MP10 laying around from a previous build. I'll use it for extra flow. What do you have the MP10 set on for flow?

Does the BC16 ONLY come with LED hood option? That is all that I have seen available. If I am going to replace the lights, I would rather get the setup with a cheaper hood option since I plan on upgrading anyway. What lights do you have in your hood (or are you even using the hood)? I have to use the hood option due to a super curious cat LOL

 

[MK3_LUV]

Yes, the new biocubes come as LED only, however i know you can buy just the tank itself new online.

I have the factory hood on mine, the lights are fairly good, however i do not know if they would suffice for an sps dominant tank. The only sps i have are a couple of montis and a small birdsnest frag, the rest are all corals that do pretty well with just about any light. I do still have an AI Prime HD from a previous tank in case i end up deciding the stock leds arent cutting it and do go hoodless. However i would hope to avoid doing so, one of the major draws for me to the biocube is how little evap there is, if i went hoodless i'd have to buy an ato for my tank to maintain the low amount of maintenance it requires

I currently have my MP10 running ~50% on reefcrest

 

[Cloudburst2000]

Yes, the new biocubes come as LED only, however i know you can buy just the tank itself new online.

I have the factory hood on mine, the lights are fairly good, however i do not know if they would suffice for an sps dominant tank. The only sps i have are a couple of montis and a small birdsnest frag, the rest are all corals that do pretty well with just about any light. I do still have an AI Prime HD from a previous tank in case i end up deciding the stock leds arent cutting it and do go hoodless. However i would hope to avoid doing so, one of the major draws for me to the biocube is how little evap there is, if i went hoodless i'd have to buy an ato for my tank to maintain the low amount of maintenance it requires

I currently have my MP10 running ~50% on reefcrest

Hmmm....then maybe I will try the stock hood as I don't want an SPS dominant tank. I only want to keep two or three SPS to add a variety to my LPS and softies. I can always see if it can handle the SPS before upgrading the light. I had read that the light didn't do well keeping SPS but perhaps that is for SPS dominant and not for just a couple pieces that will be close to the top.