Bio Cube Owner's Thread

[Lyfey]

I have a small stand, actually its a end table that i bought with my furniture 18 months ago.. The table is only 24" high.. so the cables run nicely to the ground, and i tucked everything under the table with the ends of the wires running to a single power strip.. zip ties and velcro straps work great also. I am going to pick some up when I run into them. I think they sell at petstores wire organizer kits.. by marineland? dunno.. but you could go that route. (in the fishy isle)

 

[jmadison]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14378343#post14378343 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rob_Reef_Keeper
where are your power strips? Timers?

Mine are all in my stand on the bottom. I have two strips; all pumps, power heads, skimmer, and heater on one; and everything with an individual timer on another halides, white leds, and blue leds. I have two bc when I do a water change its easier to just kill your power strip but I dont wanna screw up my photo period(plus 3 timers tend to take up a whole strip with their size)

 

[Megg0602]

you could use black twisty ties? they are cheap and reusable

 

[jmadison]

Just for kicks, here's a FTS from the other week.

 

[Octoberfest]

jmadisaon, I like that island rock look. I think I have too much rock in my tank and would like to remove some but for now I'll leave it the way it is.

Looks great!

 

[Lyfey]

Photobucket

Photobucket

I wish everyone wouldnt use photobucket to post their images! The firewall here at work blocks all content from photobucket! Damn Dod computer systems lol. Just a raving rant from me hah, Does anyone know of a firewall friendly image hosting service that I would be able to use to post pictures? I seem to have no luck with that issue

I'll aplogize in advance to anyone that I offend with my complete dislike for my firewall to the photobucket services And once i set something up, I will post pictures of my setup also!
Cheers!

 

[Rob_Reef_Keeper]

imageshack

 

[chrismunn]

does anybody use a JBJ A.T.O. on thier biocube 14?

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~category~JBJ_Automatic_Top_Off_(A.T.O.)_System_Water_Level_Controller_Saltwater_Aquarium_Supplies_Dosing_Pumps___Top_Off_Electric_Powered_Plug_In_Units~vendor~JBJ_Lighting~SearchStr~jbj+ato~action~view~idProduct~JB5111~idCategory~FIDPETPU.html

i want to go get one but i want to make sure it will work on my tank first.

 

[chrismunn]

sorry, broken link...

 

[jmadison]

Well its funny that I decided to post that FTS because.... its all different now! On Friday (the 13th) I had a pipe burst under my bathroom sink! By the time it was turned off I had 3-6 inches of water in my 3rd floor condo! They removed all the carpet sat, and turned on some crazy industrial dehumidifiers and I was forced to black out my tank and put the stock hood back on in hopes of keeping evap to a minimum. turns out my biggest problem was temp! It got so hot in my condo that the smoke alarms were going off! Tank hit about 91.1, but as soon as I was able to I floated ice packs and other cold stuff until I got the temp back in respectable parameters... It was a chore to move everyting to a different condo today, but I did it! Tank is back up and running and (un)fortunetly I only lost one acro! I did however lose two fish(male of my red highfin pair and a fire fish). I guess I will have to wait til all the coral isnt ****ed off looking and snap a new FTS! ((Sorry 5 line rule))

 

[Octoberfest]

Damn jmadison, sorry to hear that. I hate to sound like a tool but I guess it could have been worse. Hope it all works out.

 

[ilikelps]

Man 91 degrees! Maybe you should consider a chiller for the future.

Ben

 

[chrismunn]

wow, that sucks!

 

[chrismunn]

so i went and got myself a 150w halide and an ATO last week! i got the light, juts because , and i got the ATO because i had to take the hood off and i needed a way to deal with the evaporation.

here's what the tank looks like with the new light. its a JBJ k2 viper 150w hqi.

right now i have the fresh water resivoir for the ATO just sitting behind the tank on the floor, that will change later on. i have a 55g water storage drum in the garage ill be using but i dont feel like running all the plumbing to it right now.

here is where the top off line comes into the tank. its the clear tube. (on aside note, ill have to rebuild my swirler stein using black acrylic because now that i dont have a hood, its kinda ugly)

and for fun, here's a video. the first 2/3 of the video is with the stock PC'S and the last 1/3 is with the new halide. the transition happens when the music stops and then re-starts..

 

[jmadison]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14454208#post14454208 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ilikelps
Man 91 degrees! Maybe you should consider a chiller for the future.

Ben

ummm i dont think that that was the issue(lack of chiller) it soon hit 100+ degrees in my apt with 95% humidity. Otherwise i wouldnt have any issues... its 14 degrees outside LOL.


Chris- I think you'll be happy with the switch to MH! I especially loved the video b/c it gave us another glance at your powerhead rotater-thingy-majig! Looks great man!!!

 

[jmadison]

It's HERE!

 

[chrismunn]

is that for your BC?!? :thumbsup:

 

[Lyfey]

Isnt that vortech too powerful for the BC? I thought it would be total overkill. Let us know how it works and how you positioned / tweaked the flow! props tho!

 

[MACH5]

Chrismunn: Looks like you've got every piece of equipment hooked to that little puppy LOL. NICE!!!

I also have a JBJ ATO on my 14 BC. Works great and keeps my SG completely stable. If you use the lid the evaporation rate is minimal so my 5 gal. reservoir bucket lasts a long time.

 

[chrismunn]

yeah ive got quite a bit of stuff hooked up to that little tank, although given the funds im sure i could find something else i dont have yet!

i still have a bit of work to do to get everything the way i want it though. right now the top off resivoir is just an old 8 gallon eclipse tank sitting on the flooor behind the tank. i have a 4 year old and a another one thats just getting ready to start crawling here soon, so that has to change! i have 2- 55g HDPE food grade drums in the garage that i use to store ro\di water. sometime prett quik here i plan on throwing that top off pump into one of them. then i just have to run some plumbing through the wall from the garage to the living room.

i also want to get my electrical situation set up to be a little more user friendly. i want to wire up a switch to my ATO that allows me to switch from one pump to another during water changes. when i do water changes with the new ATO i put the pump into the new salt water tank so that when im sihponing water from the tank its constantly being replenished with new saltwater. this way the water level never changes and none of the corals are ever exposed. you can read more about this on the last post in this thread.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14455714#post14455714

i also want to upgrade my k nano to a k-1. the nano just isnt doing the trick anymore... also im tryig to aquire some new colors of montipora capricornis. it seems that my tank is so clean that im having trouble keeping my zoas happy. i think they like a system a little more nutrient rich than what i have.? the monti cap on the other hand seems to be doing so well that im thinking of adding a few SPS frags? may as well put the new light to good use right? :lol: