14g Biocube - life expectancy ~ 10 years

[Tahlequah]

So, a few years ago (roughly 10) my wife bought me a 14g biocube. Throughout the years I had tried this and that to "modify" it. Tried the skimmers, tried a fuge (which worked pretty good), replaced the lights with LEDs (best decision ever), replaced the light cover (it became cloudy, so I cut a hole in it and glued plexiglass onto it!), and many other things.

Some of the things that have worked is getting a large cleanup crew. This was probably one of the best and cheapest thing I did for the aquarium. I am down to 1 hermit (started with 12) as they fought over shells. My snails have had babies, so I am going to have to start culling snails soon as my two fish could care less about eating them. The other was buying a DIY kit from RAPID LED.

One thing that kinda worked was making a fuge. I used a dosing pump to slowly move water to another tank (bucket) that was higher than the aquarium. It then overflowed down to the biocube. This went well for about a year then my hoses started to collapse, which caused the bucket to not receive new water. Maybe someone can modify the idea and make it work for them.

The one thing that I could never get to work was a protein skimmer. In the end, I gave up and have not had one in it for the past 3 years. On top of that, I have only have done water changes every few months. I do dose calcium and alk and my green polyp and brown polyps have taken off.

All of that being said, the time has come for it to end. The tank has started to slowly leak (a few ounces a day). So, to post a few pictures as it is now:

2016:

2018 (Sorry about quality):

I will be moving everything over to a new 30g JBJ rimless tank and hope to post pics along the way. Enjoy!

 

[rockhead51]

Cool post. Following.
Aboit a year and a half in on a BioCube 32 LED myself....

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[mndfreeze]

You could look into either the finnex HOB fuge/breeder box as a fuge option, or making an algae reactor. The reactors tend to be a little easier to work with on small tanks since they sit outside the tank and it just uses a normal pump to push water through it. Light on the reactor grows algae and pods, etc.

 

[Tahlequah]

Will have to give an algae reactor a try! A bit of an update, well, a big update. Everything is has been transferred over. Had to create a box to hold my DIY leds. Future plans are to hook it up with a gooseneck. It's only 24 watts, so I am a little shy of where I would like to be, but for now it will have to do.

Warning: Picture Heavy.

New Tank:

LED Guts:

LED Box (Laser Cut):

LED Box complete:

Happy Coral:

A little sparse on rock:

Cranky Fish:

 

[mndfreeze]

Definitely wouldn't hurt to get a little more rock in there. Looks good!

 

[Tahlequah]

That's for sure. Going from a 14g to a 30g tank makes a big difference. I can now possibly add another fish as well. I have not had much luck with firefish in the past, and not sure I want to put a flame angel into that small of a tank.

Thoughts on stocking options? I currently only have a yellow goby and a clownfish in the tank. I have a 4 year old that has requested something colorful. Other than that, I am open to anything.

 

[rockhead51]

In my BioCube 32 LED, I have 2 clowns, YWG and tiger pistol shrimp, Cherub angel, and an orchid Dotty back.

You may want to look at a Royal Gramma, too. But they can by picked on as newcomers. Definitely figure out everything first, and then stock most timid to least.

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[TexChuck]

Have you looked at the Pink Streaked Wrasse? Really pretty color. Mine is a little cryptic/timid, but is my 11yo's favorite.

Also in my Biocube 32 I have a pair of clownfish, a yasha goby, and a possum wrasse. Everyone gets along great.

 

[Tahlequah]

Awesome. Those two wrasses look very cool. I was thinking of a 6 line wrasse, so those are two new options I had not looked at before.

Thanks for the input!

 

[homer1475]

6 lines tend to grow up and become a-holes.No seriously, do a google search for 6 lines wrasse problems.

Another option is a yellow coris wrasse. Super colorful, will eat "pests"(flatowrms, bristle worms, asternia stars), peaceful, and will swim the entire water column.

 

[Tahlequah]

I have plenty of bristle worms... And a few spaghetti worms too. Guess it would be nice to thin down their numbers. Wouldn't the yellow wrasse be a little cramped in 30 gallons?