BioCUBE 8 Initial Impressions/Observations

[WhatItDo]

Hi all, first post on the site here.

I bought a 14 g and its been cycling for 2 weeks now. Picked it over the aquapods because of the more solid build. So far I really like it. This is my first attempt at a marine/reef tank after years of keeping big bad *** CA cichlids

THe only thing I didnt really like was the wet/dry as it is really noisy. So far I put this tiny little 50w heater thats from taiwan (its like half the size of regular 50w heaters!) in the first chamber. put some rock in the second with some filter floss on top to stop the splashing noise.

Like the post above me the thing i'm not sure about is the rock isnt submerged all the time so not sure if this is good or not. I'm thinkin of getting some purigen and putting it in the second chamber instead. I also dont like teh filter cartridge, might jsut try to stick a sponge in there instead. I will prob upgrade the pump in a while too.

I have about 8 pounds of rock from jakarta and vanutua (sp?) adn 20 lbs of live sand. So far i'm having major diatom blooms and now getting smoe green algae on the glass. I dont want to have my lights off all the time durring the cycle as I dont want everything to die off my rock!

I hope the algae blooms dies down soon, this is my very first reef tank adn I dont want to get too discouraged from the saltwater side

any tips,tricks, or advice for newbie would be greatly apprecieated

 

[aquarius77]

Keep us posted, its looking great so far.

I have been hitchhiking all the biocube threads looking for more ideas. I have the 14 but im putting off setting it up, I want to mod it all out and get everything done so i dont have to worry after it has water in it.

 

[mdbrit]

Still haven't set mine up yet either. Can't make my mind up what to put in it to be honest, I have a 10g and a 5g and need to switch things around somewhat.
I'm thinking of modding the plastic filter insert, stripping everything off it and just using some phos filter sponge in front of it, with the heater behind. 2nd chamber, I'm going to be doing a fuge too, it's by far the best way to keep algae under control. In my 5g, which is really only housing a thug of a damsel fish, I have a couple of rocks and a ball of cheato just floating around with a little powerhead. It's great, it's all the filter you need, I hardly get any algae build-up, in fact just this weekend was the first time I had to clean the glass of the tank after it's been up for 4-5 months or so.
Still toying with getting a hydor for the output from the pump and changing the pump to a maxijet, but I'll probably try the stock first.
Would love to see more pics on how everyone else's tanks are doing. I have the 8g by the way.

 

[WhatItDo]

Does anybody know if it would be a bad idea to fill the back chambers up more so the second and third chamber is full?? I had done this at first becase i didnt read the instructions haha, then when i found out your not supose to fill it up that much I emptied it.

 

[mr9iron]

Any updates?

 

[mdbrit]

Mine's pretty full, it just raises the total water level. Depending upon the flow from chamber to chamber you might need to watch that the main tank doesn't overflow directly into the back chambers, but apart from that I don't see any problem having the water level higher.
When my 3rd chamber gets down to half way I basically add top-off to about 2 inces from the top.

 

[jsindorf]

My daughter has the 8g BioCUBE and it is cycling. She pulled out the bioballs and put in live rock rubble -- that is the only mod so far. However, the tank was quiet now she has splashing and running water noise. What would you advise to get rid of the noise?

She is thinking of putting microalgae above the live rocks in chamber 2 -- does that have to be submerged or is the water falling over it enough?

For light on the microalgae, is there enough spill or do you need to add light? Is there a possible mod to add a couple of white LEDs to an existing circuit?

thanks in advance

 

[mdbrit]

My bio8 is as quiet as can be. Maybe it's something to do with the flow?
If you want to make a fuge with microalgae, you need to provide light. There are several ways to do this. Submersible LED lights is one. I used a razor blade and scraped the black coating/paint on the back of the tank. It comes right off the glass. Then I've tried several different lights on the back to shine through. You have to clean the glass inside the fuge every month or so but it seems to work well.
You will also need to cut away more of the plastic between chamber 1 and 2 so that the water level remains higher in chamber 2. I suspect that's where the splashing is coming from.
If you look at the flow, make sure the water is flowing into 1,2 then 3 and back to the tank and not over the back

 

[littletim89]

so cutting the overflow from chamber 1 to 2 increases the amount of water in chamber 2?..

I'm wanting to make a fuge in chamber 2 but I do not inderstand how to make the water level higher tp do so...

 

[mdbrit]

The plastic wall that separates 1 from 2, you can cut to enlarge it so that there's less resistance for the water to spill from 1 to 2.
Then you'll find that more water tends to remain in 2 at a higher level.
There's a good thread on a fuge in a biocube 8 somewhere if you can find it. I can look for it also or upload some pics perhaps if you're in need of more clarification.

 

[mdbrit]

Here you go, this'll keep you busy for a while ;-)

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=97202