RapidLED lighting upgrade for Biocube

seerad · Nov 5, 2022

Hello! I’ve decided it’s time to upgrade my lighting for my 29g Biocube. Right now I have a stock 32g LED hood on it, but I have a spare 29g hood with the RapidLED upgrades in it from a few years ago. It’s currently a 2 channel with 1 channel blue (royal blue I think), and 1 channel white (cool white I also believe) and each controlled by a dial for each. I want to automate this and be able to setup a schedule as well as get more out of the lights for my coral and be able to start looking at more needy corals.

with all of that said, I have a few questions:
1. Is the Storm controller or HurricaneX controller the better, easier to use, etc controller for a DIY lighting setup?

2. I want to increase the color spectrum of the LEDs and want to replace some of the existing as well as add more channels for more control. I can solder for LEDs that aren’t from RapidLED. I’ve heard great things about lime and hyper violet for adding those vibrant and fluorescent colors to the tank. My least favorite time of day right now is when the lights are mainly white. What LED colors would you recommend for replacing? How would you group the channels?

3. While Im familiar and comfortable with electronics, I’ve never used the meanwell drivers before. What driver do I need for each channel? With the current setup in the pictures, my understanding is I will need to purchase the controller, the dimmable drivers, a driver board, and a power supply for the setup?

Any other suggestions around acclimating the tank, scheduling, or thoughts are always welcome and appreciated. Thanks y’all!

Nano sapiens · Nov 5, 2022

I'm still using my old DIY from LGB (LedGroup Buy) as it's been rock-solid. I built it with 5 channels and solderless LEDs and IMO it still holds it's own with today's best-in-class fixtures (has a STORM controller which I personally really like).

Here's a detailed write-up of what I used and how I did it:

https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/370285-nano-sapiens-12g-diy-pwm-led-build/

The highest channel runs at ~60% and the others at mostly quite a bit less, so it's easily capable of lighting a 20-25 g nano (but might need fans at the higher intensities). There have been a few minor LED type modifications (mostly upgrades to higher efficiency emitters and improvements in the violet/hyper violet channel).

Spectrum wise, I currently use a modified Ecotech AB+ (maybe call it 'AB+++') with more of the violet/hyper violet, a bit less royal blue, more cyan and 'warmer' channels since I like the brighter shallow water look while still keeping a good amount of the fluorescence.

Current light field (mid-cycle):

Steven Garland · Dec 19, 2022

A Storm controller would be probably the easiest but,depending on what drivers its using to control the leds,you may beed a 0-10v dimming adapter OR you will have to switch to a 2up ldd board from Coralux,a Storm controller from Coralux and 2 ldd's. Thosecan be had from Coralux or LedSupply has them for $7 and free shipping.

I would maybe swap a few of the royals for uv/violet and swap a few cool whites for warm whites,and add some regular blues,cyan and maybe a couple lime's or mint's.