chrismunn's officail 14g bio cube thread

chrismunn

chrismunn

New member
well, after a couple of years with no reef, i decided to get a little somthing to tide me over untill i get the 75g reef put into the wall. ive been waiting for the 75g for so long, (3+ years) i just couldnt wait any more!

i was searching through my local club classified forums and found this 14g biocube w/20# of tonga branch being sold by one of the members, and a stand for the BC14 being sold by another member.

i already have the tank and LR setup in my living room, and i have a small skimmer (giant skimmer for that tank) in the tank just polishing up the water before i put anything in it.

ive also been checking and adjusting some of the parameters. at this point the tanks been running at my house for about 5 days now, and one would think i would test for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite before anything else, but no. i havent tested for any of thoes yet. i have tested calcium, ph, alkalinity, phospahte, silicate and magneseum all with salifert test kits.

two days ago my results were:

ca-300 ppm

alk- 9.6 dkh or 3.43 meq/l

ph- 8.1

po4- 1ppm

si- 0

mg- 1080 ppm

that same day i added 2.1 - fl.oz. of ket liquid calicium to raise my calcium up to 420 ppm, but instead it went up to 460 ppm. the other thing i want to raise is magneseum, but idont have any additive for that. no worries. i might be going a little far by checking ths stuff right now, but i want the tank to be prepaired in anticipation for some live stock.

i just got done testing a few things again tonight. right now thier at:

alk- 8.8 dkh or 3.15 meq/l

ca- 440 ppm

ph- 8.0

still waiting for that calcium to come down a bit. as soon as it does im going to start trying to figure out how to use my b-ionic again. im gonna need to maintain a stable and balanced calcium and alkalinity, but i need to get the hang of how much to dose. its been a while.

as far as stocking goes im going to keep it soft. anything more in this tank is just going to be a headach. i know an anemone isnt considered a softie, but hey, its go no skeleton :D ... besides what else is going to go with my 2 clowns??? yeah i think im going to go with a BTA, some GSP, some zoas, mushrooms and a pair of clowns.

right now im not liking the tonga branch. im going to have to go get some acrylic rod so i can peg up a cool scape. i also want to get one of thoes little oceanic bio cube skimers. i did look into getting the 70w hqi mh retro but thoes are like $350.oo. forget it!

ill get some pics tommarow sometime, but right now there isnt all that much to see. its just a really small tank with a giant skimmer, a pile of coral skeletons, and a couple of starfish and snails. i dont know where the starfish or snails came from, but the starfish worrie me. i dont know whether thier good or bad? anyways, you'll se tomarow :)
 
oh, i also forgot to mention. there's a cool little area in the back of the tank that shows the sump water level. it has a high mark, and a low mark. from high to low is exactly 2 cups. right now with the lid open, 1 power head and the skimmer on 24/7 the evap is exaCTLY 2 cups per day, and the temp stays at 80. that will change when i take out the skimmer and close the tanks lid. i expect the evap to go down a bit, and perhaps the temp to go up? i dont know though, we'll have to see?
 
lol weird, i saw that tank being sold by Dee, i believe.

youre going to love the tank. i had the 16.5" 70w sunpod on it but i hated the look without the top, it looks ugly. i went with putting the lid back on and im going to keep LPS and zoanthids in it

so far i just have a frogspawn and onyx in it with some zoas

let me know how your tank goes! if youre going to be messing around with alk and calcium, you might as well start adding LPS instead
 
well ide first like to start out by asking a moderator to change one of the words in my title. this was supposed to be my "official" thread, not my "officail" thread thank you very much :)

yes, i got it from dena. it was a pretty good deal too! the tank is in perfect condition. and you may be right, i should add a piece of hammer or frogspawn so i have a good reason to tweak off my calcium and alkalinity :D yeah i dont want to take the top off for stronger lighting. that 70w hqi is a retro fit specifically for the bio cubes, but again they're like $350.oo.... and if i actually wanted to spend that much upgrading this system i would also drill the sump section of this tank so that i could attach it to a REAL sump. this tanks NOT supposed to be a headach though, thats my next tank :D

have i mentioned that i hate tonga branch? what a disaster that stuff is! its impossible to sccape in this little tank! i need to peg it together with some acrylic rod. thats going to be a project sometime in the next 3 or 4 weeks i suppose?
 
this is what the tank loks like right now sitting in my living room with a towel draped over the light.

DSC04023.jpg


without the towel

DSC04024.jpg


and what the scape looked like this morning before i re-arranged it all.

DSC04025.jpg
 
i had to redo the rock work because as you can see inthe previous pic, the rocks about to be scratching the glass. here's what the rocks look like now

DSC04032.jpg


this is the rock that i have to work with, but i think im going to offer a trade for some fiji on my local club forum.

DSC04026.jpg


this is one nice piece of fiji that came with the tank. look at that nice purple coralline coverage!

DSC04027.jpg
 
the starfish

DSC04021.jpg


DSC04019.jpg


and the snail

DSC04028.jpg


does anybody know what kind of starfish or snail this is? i have about three of each, and dont want them to become a plague! right now i still have time to remove them if they're going to be a problem. im most concerned about the starfish, i dont really care for starfish and i wouldnt want it eating anything its not supposed to.
 
so as of right this very second sitting on my couch looking at the tank it looks just like this

DSC04034.jpg


that wal that has the picture and sword on it is the wall that will eventually house my 75g. im actually going to build the wall out 3' towards the tv to fit the tank because there is a laundry room right behind that wall. thats where i have my ro/di set up
 
Sorry i didnt read carefully, but if those are stock lights, and you got them that high because of your skimmer, i think you can forget about having most corals besides polyps and mushrooms.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12650584#post12650584 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Been_There8
Sorry i didnt read carefully, but if those are stock lights, and you got them that high because of your skimmer, i think you can forget about having most corals besides polyps and mushrooms.
Click to expand...

:) that skimmers not staying in there. its just there for right now while nothing lives in the tank. are you kidding me, look how ugly that is! im going to get the oceanic bio cube skimmer. that giant skimmer is temporary...
 
The starfish is an asterina and the snail looks like a cerith. The snail should be fine. You'll get mixed responses on the star - I have some in one of my tanks. I've seen them eat gorgonia, and I think they are the reason that I can't keep zoanthids alive in that tank. Some say they are harmless algae grazers. I think there are a number of different types, so I can't say which you've got.
 
Sorry - I know that wasn't very illuminating. Maybe you should ask over at the "other invertebrates" board. Maybe someone can tell you which you've got.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12650598#post12650598 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chrismunn
:) that skimmers not staying in there. its just there for right now while nothing lives in the tank. are you kidding me, look how ugly that is! im going to get the oceanic bio cube skimmer. that giant skimmer is temporary...
Click to expand...

I try to not give negative comments with out a reason, I would hate it if I go and buy something like 200$ and have someone say its crap.
 
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