Chicago Biocube 14 Build

[Nickles]

Hello everyone, thanks for taking a look.

I've been playing around with the idea of trying a saltwater set up for a few years now, but was put off by the increased cost and work required to upgrade from my 60 gallon Cichlid tank. Well, as fortune would have it I was paging through the local craigslist ads recently and found a Biocube 14 with stand for sale. I sent in a low ball offer, and ended up bringing it home for $175! The couple bought it to set up with their young children and had goldfish in it for a few months, the fish didn't last and the tank sat empty. Hopefully their misfortune will be my success. The tanks in great shape, hardly any signs of use and cleaned up real good. Leak tested it last night.

Now I've been reading for the past few days, absorbing as much info on the Biocubes as I can. Looking through build threads, mod threads, and anything else I can get my hands on. I feel like I've gotten to the point where I'm ready to post a few questions to the experienced folks I've been reading from.

I want to put together a list of all the additional equipment I'll need to get the tank cycling, so I can place one order to save on shipping. So far I've got:

Eheim Jager Heater (should I go with the 75w or 100w?)
Hydrometer/Refractometer
Thermometer
Koralia Nano (again 240gph or 425gph?)

Normally I would say the bigger the better, but in such a small tank I don't want to over do it on the heater or the pump. Would you recommend getting a Hydor Flo for the stock Oceanic return pump? I may upgrade this to a Maxi-Jet 900 or 1100 in the future, but planning to start with the stock lights and return.

I also want to take care of any mods that would be better done with the tank empty before I get started. I've already removed the plastic tab between chambers 1 and 2 as it seems like this is the generally accepted practice. As I said, I'm planning to start things off with the stock lights and pump since this is my first tank. When I've got more experience and knowledge on the different coral types I'll decide if I want to upgrade to increase the variety I can keep in my tank. I'm not planning on using a skimmer, but will probably purchase an inTank media rack for chaeto and the Chemipure/Purigen combo with some filter floss on top. Yesterday at a LFS I saw a nice looking LED light that fits over the rear window with a magnet on the inside that looks pretty slick.

Anyways, I've got many more questions but here's a few to start the thread. Thanks in advance for all your help.

 

[naughty]

heya i've only had my bc14 for a month but this is what i ended up with:

~i have the 50w eheim jager(it fits w/o taking the false floor out in chamber 1), so far it's worked flawlessly. (i also use it to heat up my water change water and it does it in like an hour)
~definitely go with the refractometer, i wasted 10 bucks buying the hydrometer first...
~i have the koralia 425 and the hydor flow, and i definitely don't think it's too much flow

 

[GF3]

Im at right about the same point as Naughty with my tank, 5-6 weeks in on mine from bringing it home. Its a shame you missed that frag swap last weekend, coulda got some stuff there for reasonable prices.

I went with a stealth 50w heater, its in the model range that aren't affected by the recall. I have a HUGE stealth heater in my 70g Cichlid tank from ages ago thats still working great so i felt it was worth it to stick with what I know works. I did see at an LFS a cool little drop-in heater preset for 78°f just plug it in and drop it in the rear chamber, was like 10 bucks and very small, like the size of an API test tube.

I installed a Hydor Flo to the return on the tank, but felt that the stock pump was already inadequate before that and since it uses a ton of wattage to start with, i upgraded to a Maxi-Jet 900, however im having a heck of a time with it being in the bedroom and being louder than anything! You can hear it from 2 rooms away in the middle of the night with nothing else on... So, with that i ended up ordering a Hydor Pico 1200 return pump and Nano 425 powerhead. The nice feature of the 1200 is that it has adjustable intake side, so you can throttle it down if the flow is too much wide open. The maxi-jet/hydor flo combination is doing a nasty number on the sand in the front corner of my tank and i cant reduce the output on the mj900.... its a vicious cycle trying to find the perfect combination of upgrades in this hobby, im sure you know from your experience with the cichlid tank you have/had.

Chemi-pure elite / Purigen combo would be a good choice, thats what Im running and the tank couldn't be clearer, test all come back excellent as well. Weekly 1-2 gallon water change helps as well if you don't want to spend the big money on a decent skimmer system. The media rack is nice, but if your getting it just for the chemi-pure and purigen, skip the cost now, leave the false floor in chamber 1 and just drop the bags in there where the display area water enters the back, they will do their job just fine there.

Filter floss, just use a little big big enough to cover the middle section of that top plate in chamber 2 and let the flow just run down thru it as it makes its way thru the system. REMOVE the sponge filter at the bottom of chamber 3, its unnecessary and will just F with your levels as it goes bio on ya.

I think you had asked about getting that 1/2 bag of sand from me i have in the PIF thread, its yours if you want it, but not sure what its going to cost ya to come get it, may end up costing you less to buy locally, you really only need like 5-8 lbs for a BC14, so try to get that instead of wasting the cost of a full 20-25 lb bag.

Your other option is to do like Naughty did in her thread, order a 15 gallon "package" from Tampa Bay Saltwater in Florida. IIRC the package is something like $150 for 20lbs rock, 10lbs sand, and a complete CUC inculding cuke and pep shrimp, plus whatever other hitchhikers come with the rock extra free of charge. Some people have even found "gobies" hitching a ride with their order....

Dr's Foster and Smith have free shipping on orders over $49 right now, and youll be hard pressed to find better deals on most of the stuff you need. If you get a Koralia Nano 425, that is one thing i found cheaper on eBay thru a shop there, everything else i have ordered so far thou has been right on par with the cheap prices ive found elsewhere online or cheaper.

 

[Nickles]

heya i've only had my bc14 for a month but this is what i ended up with:

~i have the 50w eheim jager(it fits w/o taking the false floor out in chamber 1), so far it's worked flawlessly. (i also use it to heat up my water change water and it does it in like an hour)
~definitely go with the refractometer, i wasted 10 bucks buying the hydrometer first...
~i have the koralia 425 and the hydor flow, and i definitely don't think it's too much flow

Thanks naughty, I definitely got a lot of good info from reading through your thread already. The sand and rock you got from TBS looks awesome! I already removed the false floor in chamber 1 so I think I'll opt for the 75w or 100w heater, not sure if there's any reason to go with the smaller. Are you running the Hydor Flo on the stock return pump? Not sure if I should wait until I upgrade my return before I try adding the Flo.

 

[Nickles]

Chemi-pure elite / Purigen combo would be a good choice, thats what Im running and the tank couldn't be clearer, test all come back excellent as well. Weekly 1-2 gallon water change helps as well if you don't want to spend the big money on a decent skimmer system. The media rack is nice, but if your getting it just for the chemi-pure and purigen, skip the cost now, leave the false floor in chamber 1 and just drop the bags in there where the display area water enters the back, they will do their job just fine there.

I plan on adding the media rack with chaeto and a fuge light on the back to run opposite the main tank lights, so I'll just put the Chemipure and Purigen in the lower chamber of the rack. I already removed the false bottoms in the 1st and 2nd chambers to make room for the media rack and heater.

I think you had asked about getting that 1/2 bag of sand from me i have in the PIF thread, its yours if you want it, but not sure what its going to cost ya to come get it, may end up costing you less to buy locally, you really only need like 5-8 lbs for a BC14, so try to get that instead of wasting the cost of a full 20-25 lb bag.

Yeah, I was the one who PM'ed you about the sand. I work up in Park Ridge, so it might make more sense for me to swing out your way some day this week after work if that works for you? My roommate is heading out to Streamwood tomorrow to visit family, but I'd like to pick it up in person and maybe see how your tank is coming along.

Your other option is to do like Naughty did in her thread, order a 15 gallon "package" from Tampa Bay Saltwater in Florida. IIRC the package is something like $150 for 20lbs rock, 10lbs sand, and a complete CUC inculding cuke and pep shrimp, plus whatever other hitchhikers come with the rock extra free of charge. Some people have even found "gobies" hitching a ride with their order....

Yeah, I saw that in her thread. Looks awesome! I'm leaning towards doing that myself. What did you do for your live rock?

naughty, what size 'package' did you get? It seems like 28 lbs. of live rock and 14 lbs. of live sand is quite a bit from what I've read on what you need for a 14 gallon tank. I was thinking about ordering enough for a 10 or 12 gallon instead.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[GF3]

You want whatever size package gives you 20lb rock, 10lb sand for a BC14, you will have about 12 gallons of water in the tank loaded with sand and rock, so you want to have about 18lbs of rock for that water volume, and no, more rock wont have a negative effect other than taking up a little more space in the display. Sorry if my earlier size suggestion confused ya, was working off memory.

I got my liverock from a LFS, came out of an established tank (customer had to take down the tank) and was fully encrusted in coralline and LOTS of various life and goodies all over it and in the nooks and crannies. One of the larger pieces has like a 100+ polyp colony of zoa's all over it that hitchhiked along for the cost of the rock (common stuff i guess, but looks siiiick under the moonlights). Got a few cool looking slugs and some mini brittle stars on some pieces of rock as well.

Pretty much any 50w heater will fit that first chamber without having to take out the false floor, but since its already out no big deal now anyways. Also, dont forget to do twice weekly filter floss changes in the very top section of the media basket if you commit to that.

Yea, if its not a special trip for the sand, you're saving yourself like $10, but if you are going to do the TBS package, you'll get your sand with the order. Im not familiar with them so I dont know if they want you to use their sand or if it can save you money leaving the sand out of your order (im thinking of the shipping charges on the 10lbs will cost more than the sand itself as well....) Im not sure how excited the "wife" will be about some stranger hanging out in our bedroom to check out our fishtank.

 

[naughty]

it was the 10 gallon package, and yeah, it really feels like more rock than you need, i ended up using all but one of the rocks i got since i simply couldn't find a place for it, but other than that i think it's a pretty sweet deal since the bc is an all in one though you definitely don't want any bigger of a package cause it won't fit in your display area.

as for the sand, it was just the right amount, i've got about a half inch showing all around.

annd yup, the hydor flow is on the return pump. the stock one is pretty weak but i feel that with the koralia nano in it it adds up to a good amount of flow all around the only thing i had trouble with is getting my hydor flo to stop falling out, since none of the included connectors fit just right, but i wrapped some electrical tape around it and now it works like a charm!

 

[Nickles]

I got my liverock from a LFS, came out of an established tank (customer had to take down the tank) and was fully encrusted in coralline and LOTS of various life and goodies all over it and in the nooks and crannies. One of the larger pieces has like a 100+ polyp colony of zoa's all over it that hitchhiked along for the cost of the rock (common stuff i guess, but looks siiiick under the moonlights). Got a few cool looking slugs and some mini brittle stars on some pieces of rock as well.

That sounds great, you have any pics up? I'm really leaning towards going with the TBS for my sand and rock after seeing the results naughty got in her tank.

Yea, if its not a special trip for the sand, you're saving yourself like $10, but if you are going to do the TBS package, you'll get your sand with the order. Im not familiar with them so I dont know if they want you to use their sand or if it can save you money leaving the sand out of your order (im thinking of the shipping charges on the 10lbs will cost more than the sand itself as well....) Im not sure how excited the "wife" will be about some stranger hanging out in our bedroom to check out our fishtank.

Haha, didn't think about the tank being in the bedroom. I'll just wait for you to post some photos, want to learn as much as I can from others a few steps ahead in the game. I'll let you know if I decide to try and come grab that sand sometime this week. I'm curious if it would be good to have some smoother stuff, it looks like the TBS sand is pretty coarse. Thanks for the advice.

 

[GF3]

Here's a FTS from last week, color hasn't changed since then, the rock is 6 years old after all.... All I have are small frags from the swap, a 1.5x2.5 rock of light green star polyps from the same place i bought the rock, and our 3 fishes (yellow clown goby, and 2 ittybitty ocellaris from Booyah, one a snowflake, the other just normal stripes)

Here's a link to the thread i put my pics up in, so i dont have to upload again:
What I Got at the Frag Swap...

I didn't get a free starfish or porcelain crab with my LR purchase :-(
IF TBS is going to send you coarse substrate, take it. I kinda regret having such a fine sandbed in such a small tank, if you can't get your flow directed just right, at just the right power, your going to have issues with sand getting blown slowly out of place. I'm hoping to fix this issue with the new return pump i ordered since it has a flow adjuster on it, and the nano 425 i can adjust the angle on so it doesn't aim towards the sand.

 

[Nickles]

Here's a FTS from last week, color hasn't changed since then, the rock is 6 years old after all.... All I have are small frags from the swap, a 1.5x2.5 rock of light green star polyps from the same place i bought the rock, and our 3 fishes (yellow clown goby, and 2 ittybitty ocellaris from Booyah, one a snowflake, the other just normal stripes)

Here's a link to the thread i put my pics up in, so i dont have to upload again:
What I Got at the Frag Swap...

I didn't get a free starfish or porcelain crab with my LR purchase :-(
IF TBS is going to send you coarse substrate, take it. I kinda regret having such a fine sandbed in such a small tank, if you can't get your flow directed just right, at just the right power, your going to have issues with sand getting blown slowly out of place. I'm hoping to fix this issue with the new return pump i ordered since it has a flow adjuster on it, and the nano 425 i can adjust the angle on so it doesn't aim towards the sand.

Thanks GF3 lots of good advice there. I'm still debating whether it's worth the cash to have everything sent in from TBS. I see lots of tank tear downs on craigslist and I feel like I could probably do alright picking up the live sand and live rock from one of them. If I got it home and in the tank fast enough, I could get away with a relatively small cycle.

Your tank is looking good, I can't wait until I'm at that point. I'll have to wait for the next frag swap this fall. Appreciate the tips, keep em coming.

 

[Nickles]

Update,

I placed my first equipment order last night from www.bigalsonline.com, they're having a 10% off St. Patty's special and free shipping over $75.

Eheim Jager 100 W Submersible Heater
Koralia Nano 425
Hydor Flo
Refractometer
Digital Thermometer
API Reef Master Test Kit
Mag-Float Small

This should be everything I need to get a cycle going.

Still need to order the media basket, fuge light, Chemipure, and Purigen. When should I have this equipment installed?

I plan on searching through the forums, but if anyone is reading through and has an opinion on which salt to use please leave a quick note.

 

[Nickles]

Here's a couple shots of the tank. I'm trying to figure out how to size the images on photobucket to come out right once I post them here. Let me know if these are decent sized.

Tank & Stand in it's intended location.

Leak test

 

[GF3]

100w heater may be a bit overkill for the 14, but iirc the price difference isnt much so the only real issue with it would have been saving a few bucks for a 50w model instead.

The reef master test kit, is the one you ordered complete with all 7 tests in it? When i ordered my API test kits i had to get a separate pH, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite kit, and another kit with calcium, carbonate, phosphate, and nitrate tests. the one with calc, carb, phos was called reef master test kit, the one that gives you ammonia, ph etc. was called the saltwater master test kit. You will want the one with ammonia, pH, and nit's tests to watch for when your cycle is complete.

Install the media basket and purifier stuff after the cycle has completed. During cycle you dont really even need to turn your lighting on unless you want to look at your bare rockwork...

If you are making your own RO/DI water for changes, use a "reef" mix salt. I can hook you up with some to start if you like, i bought a huge bucket (160 gallon) of the stuff to save money in the long run, bring a big container, ill get ya what you need to start off.

 

[Nickles]

100w heater may be a bit overkill for the 14, but iirc the price difference isnt much so the only real issue with it would have been saving a few bucks for a 50w model instead.

Yeah, that was my thought. Unless there's a major concern of overpowering a 14 gallon with a 100w unit, I felt like for the extra couple dollars I might as well get the larger size.

The reef master test kit, is the one you ordered complete with all 7 tests in it? When i ordered my API test kits i had to get a separate pH, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite kit, and another kit with calcium, carbonate, phosphate, and nitrate tests. the one with calc, carb, phos was called reef master test kit, the one that gives you ammonia, ph etc. was called the saltwater master test kit. You will want the one with ammonia, pH, and nit's tests to watch for when your cycle is complete.

I bought the reef master test kit, which includes calcium, carbonate hardness, phosphate, and nitrate. I already have the freshwater master test kit which includes all the same tests as the salt water kit. It's my understanding from doing a little research that the solutions are the same, but the color cards are slightly different. It looks like you can get API to send you the saltwater cards for free, so I tried what this guy did.

If you are making your own RO/DI water for changes, use a "reef" mix salt. I can hook you up with some to start if you like, i bought a huge bucket (160 gallon) of the stuff to save money in the long run, bring a big container, ill get ya what you need to start off.

I'm going to start by picking it up from a LFS until I can't stand hauling it anymore and buy my own RO/DI unit. I'm planning to mix the saltwater myself using some type of reef salt like you're describing, just wondering what brands people like. I've heard it's more personal preference than anything so I just thought I'd ask.

Thanks again for your insights.

 

[KeysKid]

Personally I like to have my tank viewable on all 3 sides and not right against the wall on one side. Just giving a suggestion.

 

[GF3]

Personally I like to have my tank viewable on all 3 sides and not right against the wall on one side. Just giving a suggestion.

Rotate the stand to 45° in the corner, problem solved, and cabling easily hidden behind the stand, instead of in it, leaving more room for other stuff!

 

[Nickles]

Yeah, ideally I would have it set up so that it can be viewed from all three sides. I'm setting it up in my bedroom so the way it's positioned right now it faces my bed and I could watch it mornings/nights from there. The left side of the tank faces where I plan to have a desk in the future, so there would be a good viewing from that side as well. My plan was to aquascape so it catered to being viewed from those two sides primarily.

I'll try rotating it into the corner like you suggested and see how that looks.

Also, the equipment I ordered came in so hopefully I'll be able to mix up my first batch of saltwater and get it filled up and ready for LR/LS.

 

[drew_l]

Nice Start man,
I think we're going to have the same tank birthdays. I'm planning on submerging LR this weekend!

Any stocking plans ?

 

[GF3]

I recently re-scaped a bit, will probably do a little more here again over the weekend, just a little more food for thought on rock placement, its amazing how the same pile of rocks can turn into so many different structures so easily. This one I like better, but I think i may be taking a piece or 2 out to really open up the lower right area of the tank to get more open sandbed for a plate and frogspawn.

Yes I know its a crappy shot, best I can seem to do compressing the snot out of the images to upload them to the site.

Before:

Sadly, the yellow clown goby is no longer with us, he just refused to eat anything i tried feeding him (Who turns down Rod's?) :-(

 

[Nickles]

I received the equipment I ordered from bigalsonline.com this week, and I currently have the tank full of freshwater to test the circulation with the Hydor Flo and Koralia Nano 425. I'm trying to decide whether to attach the power head to the back wall or on the right side of the glass, I'll probably have to wait and see which works best with the aquascaping after I add the live rock.

I'm also running the heater (100w Jager) to see if I will be able to get a consistent temperature with this size tank. So far it's been fluctuating about 0.5 degrees between 76 - 76.5F. I want to be sure that having the heater over-sized doesn't cause swings in temperature with such a small water volume. If it heats up too fast it might raise the temperature too much before it shuts off. I think a half degree of change gradually over the day probably wouldn't hurt, would it? If I need to get a smaller 50-75w model, I'll just use this one for preparing new saltwater mix.

Another peculiar thing I've noticed while testing out my equipment is that when I've had the main hood lights on (Actinic and Full Spectrum) and I switch them off to turn on the moon light LED's one of two lights doesn't turn on. I think it must be due to the heat caused from the main lighting, because after a while it will work. It also works if I haven't had the main lights on and turn on the LED's. Has anyone heard of this happening with the stock Biocube lighting?

Right now I've got everything I need to mix up some saltwater and get some live rock and live sand to cycle the tank. I emailed Tampa Bay Saltwater last week to ask a few questions about getting a "package" from them after reading the incredible experience naughty had here. I'm hoping with a relatively small amount of material needed that I'll be able to have it FedExed overnight so I don't have to mess with picking it up at the airport. Also, I'm reading up on which species of clean up crew are the most reef friendly and I am hoping to switch out some of the stock inclusions if necessary.

Read through a few threads trying to select the best salt mix to use for a reef tank, it looks like there are quite a few that work well and the important thing is to stay consistent. I'll be eager to get it filled up and try out the refractometer, I got the same one as you drew_l.

Hopefully I'll be cycling in the next week or so, will post some pics when the rock is added.