My Biocube 14g

[diddy2k]

I'm new to the game. Impulse buy when the guys at work were looking to see what new corals the LFS had. I knew nothing before buying, so I thought I'd share my startup and progress here. Any comments/criticism are welcomed :thumbsup:

-- Week1 --
6/28/10 - Initial setup

Biocube14 w/ stand
15lbs cured liverock (from LFS display tank)
20lbs CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade Reef Sand
10g pre-mixed water

Livestock (Hitchhikers)
Mushroom
Unknown palys (mexican green?)
Unknown coral (someone has guessed cup coral but it's closed)
bubble nems (mojanos I later found out)
Lots of mini stars and copepods from the sand
Bristle worms from the LR (not out of control though)

Only used approx 8 gallons. Perfect. My jugs for fresh/salt are 2 gallons so weekly water changes will be a breeze.

Had no plan for the rockscape so I finally settled on this. Kinda looks like a gator with its mouth open. I dig it.

mush and paly

unknown coral - sometimes the spots have small tentacles on the edges and they look like tiny flowers. it ended up shedding after a couple days and is more green now.

 

[diddy2k]

-- Week 2 BUSY WEEK --
7/6/2010 - Trip to the LFS for water test, water change, livestock, thermometer (tank 82F)

Good news! LFS says water is ready. CUC purchased and they tried to sell me clowns and coral. Picking up clowns (ocellaris) and a 2 headed frogspawn from a buddy that wants something different. Good for me because my toddlers LOVE Nemo (the whole point of this tank). Guess they can go in tonight too. Bonus Was a sucker and got some xenia and lunar eclipse palys anyway. Added timers for the lights - 8 hours 10k, 11 hours Actinic (sunrise/sunset), Lunar LEDs 24/7.

Livestock Added after water change and bag acclimation
10 turbo snails
10 hermit crabs (5 blue leg, 5 red leg)
2 nassarius snails
1 algae blenny
2 false perc clowns (ocellaris)
frogspawn
lunar eclipse paly frag (5 polyps)
xenia

CUC had to put in some work. They cleaned this in 2 days.

lunar eclipse

7/7/10 - Flow Mods

Big order from inTank came in today.
- Hydor Koralia Nano
- HydorFLO Rotating Water Deflector
- Mediabasket
- 10w submersible LED
- Purigen
- Chemi-pure (half bag)
- filter floss
- mini algae mag

Flow mods complete

7/8/10 - Mediabasket Fuge

Pulled out bio balls and false floor from chamber 2. Ran LED wire through holes in corner of floors in Mediabasket and placed in the lower rack with chaeto and some filter floss underneath. Put both purigen and chemi-pure bags in middle rack and 2 layers of filter floss on the top rack as it cut the noise of the flow down to nothing (sorry no pics, will take at next water change if anyone is interested). Had to do a little macguyvering to get the water to flow into the rack as i didn't have a tool to cut the wall between chamber 1 and 2 to use the supplied flow controller. I just cut up the plastic that the mini algae mag came in so that i had something to clear the gap and divert water. will post better pics of my piece and how i made it if anyone is interested. i kinda like it because i didn't have to cut my tank. i like using the min/max water level guage on the side.

New BC has no paint on back of chamber 2 to scrape. here you can see racks 2 and 3.

macguyvered flow director

7/9/10 - New livestock frags from reefs2go, aiptasiaX on some mojanos

ordered a couple zoo frags (candy apple, radioactive, raspberry creme) from reefs2go on tuesday and they came today. free shipping since i live in FL :bounce3: moved the lunars, even though i glued them something knocked them down. also went after the 4 bubble nems on the flat rock center sandbed with some aiptasiaX. they turned green within 20 minutes. pretty cool. stupid crabs are eating the fallout though, hope they'll be fine and not track it through my other stuff.

raspberry creme (left) radioactive (right). the candy apples are all closed up as well. i'll wait a couple days i'm sure they're fine, it's late.

lunars new home

 

[diddy2k]

-- Week 3 --
7/12/10 - Water change

Another trip to the LFS for water, its on the way home and I only spend $2/wk, plus I get to peek for some new goodies. After adding the submersible LED the tank stays a constant 86 degrees. But I've had good growth on the lunars (noticeable over one week). From 5 polyps to 10, 2 being babies. I think my frogspawn pooped this week. I didn't get a picture but it was a long brown thread-like something coming out of the center of one of the heads. Everything looks healthy.

Found this thread that says "Dr. Shimek stated that reef temps can be around 80 - 87 and he cited that the highest coral growth seen in several studies was between 84-86 deg". I've ordered some higher cfm fans and I'm going to experiment with modding the BC's cooling., however, I think I might want to keep it in the low to mid 80s, I like what's happening so far.

The media bags have definitely made the water much "crisper" and clearer. Its hard to describe but was noticeable within hours.

new home for the zoos

candy apples

sweet newfound hitchhiker... fancy brittle star. something keeps moving this xenia from it's upright position. it's glue time soon.

Upcoming projects:
- Upgraded fans
- Heater
- Test kits
- New stand organization to make way for ATO

 

[diddy2k]

7/14/10 - Test kits

nh3 0
nh02 0
nh03 5-10 (not sure, color looks the same)
ph 8.3
ca 400-450 (not sure, the additional drop did nothing so probably 400? i need to learn how to use this)

unfortunately i didn't have this before the chaeto and media bags so maybe it could have been worse? i'll try again today and tomorrow to see if the readings change.

 

[evsalty]

I just started my Bio 14g myself and also have the rotating head but with an upgraded return pump (mj900). I also started with the K-Nano-240 but found it just not have the umph for really good flow to cover the whole tank. I since upgraded that the a Tunze 6025 that has been modded.

Are you planning to do an ATO? I still need to get a aqualifter pump before I can install mine. I was given a sump mount atotopoff dot com dual float ato so I built my own mount for the two float switches in simitar fashion to their nano bracket.

 

[moparace]

I think everything looks great and happy.
Outstanding Job!

 

[diddy2k]

@ evasalty: yea, i want to be able to leave for a weekend and not have to worry about having people come take care of the tank. also looking at the hydor ekomixo autofeeder. i need to measure my daily evap, currently it's 12 seconds from the coleman beverage jug

@ moparace: thanks! surely the small volume can't be this easy. i'm dreading my first real problem but enjoying every minute of it until then!

 

[evsalty]

I am uploading some pics on photobucket that includes the top off bracket I mentioned. I will post it in a few mins. I am going to use a 1g water jug with a JG fitting installed in it and rigid ro/di tubing to pull from the bottom of the jug. This will allow me to just unscrew the cap and pull the line out of the jug and swap jugs. The Tom's aqualifter pumps are like air pumps and will feed the water slowly to the tank so that the water does not fill to quickly.


Pic is uploaded so here it is:

This fits in the final chamber and slides on the divider from the middle chamber to the last chamber.

 

[diddy2k]

hmm, that sounds pretty cool for quickswap. but do you have to run the water level in chamber 3 much higher than the min/max guage on the side?

 

[sslak]

Looking good! Biocubes are a fun way to learn reefkeeping. I really enjoyed mine!

 

[evsalty]

hmm, that sounds pretty cool for quickswap. but do you have to run the water level in chamber 3 much higher than the min/max guage on the side?

You can build the bracket to what ever height you want. The min / max is ok for the stock pump but if you upgrade the pump you will find that you want to keep it closer to the max or you will draw in air via vortexes and spit bubbles into the tank. This bracket when all the way down keeps the water level just above the viewing window. IMHO the min/max is a guide to help keep salinity stable and the low is set up to prevent the air bubbles and to keep the middle chamber as a wet/dry for the bio balls. Since you ditched the bioballs you probably do not need to have the middle chamber work like a wet/dry setup and can increase the water level to keep the middle chamber wet.

 

[zachfishman]

Ah, zoos, xenia, frogspawn... corals after my own heart. I'm always glad to see when members aren't afraid to put quick-spreaders like xenia or GSP in their tanks. Now if only my 29 were a few weeks further along I could get some red palys too

 

[evsalty]

IMHO the min/max is a guide to help keep salinity stable and the low is set up to prevent the air bubbles and to keep the middle chamber as a wet/dry for the bio balls. Since you ditched the bioballs you probably do not need to have the middle chamber work like a wet/dry setup and can increase the water level to keep the middle chamber wet.

I just went back and reread this post and realized that I stated it worng. I should have phrased it more like this.

IMHO the min/max is a good reference for the user (you, me etc etc) to use as a guide for topping off. Oceanic has the min line set at a safe level to prevent the pump from drawing in air. They use the max line to keep the middle chamber water level below the bioballs so that they are used for wet/dry filtration like they are designed to be used for.

Now again since you have ditched the bioballs like myself, you might actually want the water level higher to keep your chemipure bag fully submerged along with your chaeto. I actually removed the blue floss block in the entrence to the final chamber and placed my bag of chemipure elite in there so that all the water is forced to flow through it.

 

[Flame_Angel]

Had no plan for the rockscape so I finally settled on this. Kinda looks like a gator with its mouth open. I dig it.

The first thing I thought of when I first saw it was some island in a horrible B-movie.

IT CAME FROM GATOR ISLAND!!!

 

[diddy2k]

^^ haha that's exactly what i thought when i sat back on the couch. i was first trying to make a cave. it's even got googly eyes haha

 

[diddy2k]

Now again since you have ditched the bioballs like myself, you might actually want the water level higher to keep your chemipure bag fully submerged along with your chaeto. I actually removed the blue floss block in the entrence to the final chamber and placed my bag of chemipure elite in there so that all the water is forced to flow through it.

as long as i keep topping off the chaeto chamber is fully submersed. does the purigen just need to be in the water? or actually flow through it? if it just needs to be in the water i'll pull the false bottom out of chamber one and drop it in there. rack 2 is pretty cramped with both chemi-pure and the purigen bags crammed in it.

 

[diddy2k]

Ah, zoos, xenia, frogspawn... corals after my own heart. I'm always glad to see when members aren't afraid to put quick-spreaders like xenia or GSP in their tanks. Now if only my 29 were a few weeks further along I could get some red palys too

i don't know what it is about the softies, maybe it's because if i don't change my lighting thats really it for me, but i'm just not that into the other things. seen the palys at vividaquariums or thedigitalfishroom? i think all my future purchases will be paly only! something cool about feeding them meat, like an underwater venus fly trap, i loved those when i was a kid

 

[evsalty]

as long as i keep topping off the chaeto chamber is fully submersed. does the purigen just need to be in the water? or actually flow through it? if it just needs to be in the water i'll pull the false bottom out of chamber one and drop it in there. rack 2 is pretty cramped with both chemi-pure and the purigen bags crammed in it.

Having it just in the water will work but will not be as effective as having it where the water is forced to flow thru it. When it is forced thru it, there is contact with 100% of the water where as by just sitting there a lot of the water will just find the path of least resistance and flow past it. This would be the same for most bagged media.

 

[diddy2k]

Having it just in the water will work but will not be as effective as having it where the water is forced to flow thru it. When it is forced thru it, there is contact with 100% of the water where as by just sitting there a lot of the water will just find the path of least resistance and flow past it. This would be the same for most bagged media.

sweet. made this change today. also began turning off the chaeto led during the day. that thing gets HOT! 84 degrees without it, going to see what happens in the morning after the lights are out and the led is on the night shift. if i can maintain the 84 i might get a heater early (before winter) to keep it at 85, i'm really digging the growth. most people i see are saying it's too hot, but everything seems happy and the doc says best growth in this range.

-- 7/17/10 --
Water test, new media rack setup

pH 8.2-8.4 (still learning this but the color looks between. 8.3?)
nh3 0
n02 0
no3 20 (seems like weekly water changes are essential for my system)
kh 161.1
ca 350 (added 10ml reef success and will test tomorrow)

the purigen and charcoal were pretty crammed in rack 2

coming up: fan upgrades and chopping the reflector, water change monday. i've been seeing some awesome wsiwigs at a few sites but i'm afraid i'm going to pack my tank out too quick so i'm having to wait. making a trip to world wide corals soon to see what they've got.

 

[Flame_Angel]

What's the little metal job in the bottom section of the last picture?