14gal biocube Build thread PIC HEAVY!!

[Veganbrian]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this site and hobby and excited to be a part of it. Lots of wonderful information that was so helpful to me for figuring out what i need and how to do specific tasks in the saltwater world.

So it all started a few years ago when i first was interested in starting a tank. My loved ones father had a 55 gallon marine reef tank. I found myself staring at the thing forever looking at all the cool little critters. I wanted one!! I have done alot of research on different tanks and lighting but i didnt know many people and lost interest quickly looking at how much everything costs. Here i am now starting my tank finally after realizing i knew someone very helpful (Thank you Bowels). Encouraging me to save up to start a tank i started saving and recently took the plunge. I was told of someone selling a 14gallon biocube and instantly got excited. Picked it up on wednesday with a t5 light, powerhead, heater, and the stand for a great price.

The tank was pretty filthy with sand stuck in the bottom of chamber one of the filtration system and all other different fun things.

So with some scrubbing with warm water and a little vinger i got alot off but still working on the backwall. Doing a leak test i found a leak from chamber 3 into the inside of the tank. Since water is at two different levels the leak had to be fixed. So last night i went to the LFS and got some sealent and some other goodies. I had gotten home and instantly starting fixing the leak and figured i might as well redo the seals on the whole back unit so i removed all the old silicone. Resealed it and now it is still drying till tomorrow night.

Ill do another leak test tomorrow and im sure it will be perfectly fine otherwise ill redo it. Anyways the stand is deffinitly strong but i would rather know its just a little stronger so i went to the hardware store and bought some 90 degree angled metal reinforcements to quadruple brace the stand. lol. I also bought some buckets to get water tomorrow. I put 4 braces on all sides of the stand and top.

I went to the LFS and picked up some other goodies also.

 

[Veganbrian]

After plugging the current T5 24" light in and looking at it on the tank, It looked great, but after seeing the Led lights over those corals at the LFS i couldnt have anything less then the best. So today i headed out and bought the Aqua Illuminations Nano and the AI light controller. I got home and unboxed it and plugged it in and was amazed at the light. the controller makes the light a 100x better. Very excited to look at some corals under that amazing light.

My plans for the tank are mostly inverts and maybe one or two fish. I dont expect this to be a cheap project and it will be a fun long journey and i really appreciate the help i recieved so far and im sure ALOT more to come.

 

[gsechen]

good work, keep posting pics!

 

[kaxt]

Congrats on the new tank. Keep the pictures coming, I'm looking forward to seeing some water in it.

 

[Veganbrian]

So being very anxious to get some water in the tank i decided to mount the light on the tank just to get one more thing done. Well the bracket that comes with the light does not fit on my cube. I have read that this happened to alot of other humans. So not having a dremel i had to use a razor blade and a drill bit to cut a piece of the plastic trim off to make the mount fit.

Well after i cut it out to fit now the screws are to short to reach the glass. I didnt feel like going to get longer screws plus i felt it would become more wobbly. So i went down stairs and had some textured acrylic and dont have a dremel lol. so i had to use a hacksaw. cut the piece to size went to test fit. well now its too thick. I also ran out of sandpaper to sand it down a little bit so i got frusterated and put it sideways in a vise and hacksawed away for a while. lol

I test fit the piece again and its good enough, it does the job.

Well as i was test fitting the piece i noticed that the bottom of the tank had water in it, in between the glass and the plastic and i know it wasnt there when i did the leak test yesterday. so i decided to draw with a white crayon where the water seeped to to measure if it moved any. I put some water in each chamber one at a time to see where it was leaking from and noticed that there was a few leaks, one out the back, also one that very lightly leaked outside the tank but small. then a bunch around the back filter piece in the back.

So being already a little flustered i decided to get the old silicone off and to the best i could reseal the whole tank. some of it i just left the old and put new silicone over it especially within the back filter cause my hands cant fit back there. when i was done doing that i siliconed the piece of acrylic back there for the light.

also did a little test picture of the light on the tank just to see, its just mocked up there to see colors.

So NOW the plan is to wait till sunday and do another leak check and im HOPING there is no more leaks and if there is, then i will remove the whole back chamber and everypiece of silicone on the tank and rebuild the whole thing all over so there will never be a leak . LOL. Its all part of the fun with it now that i look back on the day...

 

[ExFOWLR]

I don't know if I would worry about such a small leak on the inside, as long as it doesn't leak externally. Your return pump should more than make up for the small amount leaking underneath.

 

[Bowels]

LOL NICE work so far man! such an awesome little piece of technology that light! Such pimp juice lol. I do agree with ExFOWLR a little leak on the inside isnt such a big deal especially when youll have it all covered and the flow will direct stuff where it needs to go, but I think you have it all pretty well sealed anyhow So excited for you, lol same kind of excitement I would get like if I found out my sister was pregnant or something lol Cant wait to watch it grow.

 

[Veganbrian]

Thanks guys, Im pretty excited, hopefully tomorrow ill be ready to start to add water,sand and rock. I know the internal seals are not the biggest deal but id rather fix it now while i can before the whole tank if full and falls apart. lol bowels...

 

[Veganbrian]

Alrighty, im back again for more.

So today is the day of another leak test. All the mixed emotions with the dreading and the anticipation of seeing if i fixed the leak. 48 hours feels like weeks when you want to know if your tank will leak. well heres the result of a full tank of water.

NO LEAKS!!! yay! meaning i can set up my lovely nano tank today. so i went upstairs and started getting the light timer set and the power strip mounter for the drip cords.

After this i went to the local fish store (which was insanely packed today) got my RO DI water (15 gallons) and got some nice live rock with one branch. I saw some sponge on the branch and idk why but i got excited about it lol. 10 pounds total. Got the water home, mixed the salt in the buckets and starting putting the water into the tank. about 3/4ths in i put the sand in waited about 5 minutes while playing with my liverock lol then put my liverock in. i actually love how the aquascape is done right now and i think it will have enough flow going through the crevices. i also did a deeper sand bed with 20 lbs of live sand. heres what it looks like after an hour.

So everything is great. Theres only one concern i have. I premixed the salt water in the 5 gallon buckets. I let it completely disovle and i tested each bucket and they were at 1.024 specific gravity. I added the water in the tank and the sand and rock, let it sit for 10 minutes then measured again and now it is way down to 1.019. i tapped my hydrometer and made sure all bubbles were off the arrow and its still off. So i added 1/3rd salt into a cup and dissolved it and added it and it didnt go up any. so idk if my hydrometer is broken but i checked it 3 times and its a that number still. Im not sure if i should add more salt or if i should go to the LFS and have them test it?:hmm4: But im happy with this so far and the lights cycle is set like this.


Dawn: 11:55am w/ a 30 minute ramp
White: 10
Blue: 25
Royal Blue: 25

Daytime: 1:55pm w/ 120 minute ramp
White: 46
Blue: 55
Royal Blue: 55

Daytime 2: 6:45pm w/ 15 minute ramp time
White: 55
Blue: 48
Royal Blue: 46

Daytime 3: 8:00pm w/ 15 minute ramp time
White: 46
Blue: 55
Royal Blue: 55

Dusk: 9:55pm w/ 60 minute reverse ramp time
White: 0
Blue: 10
Royal Blue: 10

Nighttime: 10:55pm w/ 0 ramp time and lunar cycle on (changes between 0 and max numbers below given the specific day of the week/month)
White: 1
Blue: 5
Royal Blue: 3

which i had gotten off the internet by a reputable guy. Im a noob so if im doing anything wrong let me know so i can fix it ASAP! thanks guys and gals!

 

[Flame_Angel]

Brand new hydrometers really should be filled with freshwater and left to sit for 24 hours before you use them to measure saltwater. Did you do this?

Refractometers are cheap and very accurate. You might want to consider picking one up. Otherwise, you're off to a great start!

*edit* How far over the tank does the AI Nano sit with the included bracket? It looks like it doesn't quite sit square over the tank.

 

[Veganbrian]

Thanks for the reply.

I was not aware they had to sit with fresh water in them for 24 hours. im going to do that right now.

The ai nano is 4 1/2 inches from the water 15 inches from the sand bed and perfectly cenered in the middle of the tank right above my rocks. Should the light sit differently?

 

[Veganbrian]

Here is my tank 4 hours after. Its already settled alot.

 

[Bowels]

looks awesome yeah I never knew the hydrometer needed to sit in fresh water for 24 hours.. good to know. I have never done that, should I? nice lookin rocks and I am in love with that light, lol i was mentioning to my gf tonight about how much money an LED would save us on the electric bill... lol she doesn't care cause I pay that lol instantly she was like your not getting that light ahhaa

 

[Veganbrian]

HAHAHA! dude you gotta go LED eventually with all your nice corals imo. lol, thats funny. MY water is 100% clear, not cloudy at all 7 hours later. turned the pump and powerhead on.

 

[Veganbrian]

I decided to re aquascape now that the sand settled and get the air bubbles out from under the rocks. I was thinking that i should have more light hitting the tops of the rock plus more surface area for the corals to have enough space.

 

[Veganbrian]

So i got some pics for you guys 24 hours later with 36% whites 46% blues on then another with 65% whites and 30% blues (just for the photo).

 

[troyman]

comin along good be patient its a fun hobby and expensive

 

[plyle02]

Congrats,
It is very exciting getting a new tank going, also your first, correct? Being that, looks like you are off to a nice start, good luck on the journey What type of reef do you plan on keeping, I guess you can pretty much do whatever you want with that light!

 

[allsps40]

Looking good there. You should have looked into the Radion instead of the AI. The Radion had some red LEDs and it really makes corals pop and gives great color. Nice little nano tank get a skimmer for it and you will be good to go.

 

[Flame_Angel]

Thanks for the reply.

I was not aware they had to sit with fresh water in them for 24 hours. im going to do that right now.

The ai nano is 4 1/2 inches from the water 15 inches from the sand bed and perfectly cenered in the middle of the tank right above my rocks. Should the light sit differently?

No, that's perfect. I just was curious whether it sat centered over the tank or not. Looks great!