NanoGurl's BioCube 29 Nano Thread

[NanoGurl]

Okay, so I couldn't stay away from nano tanks forever! I had to get another one, and wanted something different, easy and fun for a change.

I decided to go with something simple. I liked the way the Oceanic BioCube's looked and didn't want to go through the hassle of building a DIY nano. I've done that before, and we wanted something more simple and confined for our future family room.

I plan to put a couple of sea horses and pipefish along with some corals for a "species only" tank.

I will take lots of photos of everything in hopes of providing some useful information for anyone else interested in setting up a 29 or similar. I will also include a price list of what I paid which I think might be a neat idea for everyone to see what a tank would cost. (yes I know you can find cheaper online, I got mine at our LFS)

I also have a 75g thread going if anyone is interested in that =)
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1092534&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

<b>Tank Specs</b>
Stock Oceanic BC29: 20" long x 20.75" wide x 19.25" high
Oceanic 29g stand
36w 10,000k PC
36w Actinic PC
(3) .75w Blue-Moon Glow LED's
243gph Water Pump
Ebo Jager Heater
2 Cooling Fans
18 pounds Figi LR
1" Aragonite Sand

<b>Price List - Initial Startup Cost </b>
Oceanic BioCube: $329.99 (yes I know online is cheaper)
Oceanic 29 Stand: $155.99
Ebo Jager Heater: $25.00
18 Pounds of Figi LR @ 5.99 pound: $107.82
10 Pounds or less Aragonite sand: $15.00 (guesstimate)

Total startup so far: $633.80

And now some photos =)

BioCube 29, Oceanic stand & CaribSea sand.

Box opened :rollface:

Everything was packaged well for the nano. The stand had some minor damage.

My dog has to be part of everything we do!

 

[NanoGurl]

BioCube and assembled Oceanic 29 stand. I like the stand, but the directions were a joke and the quality is lower then I expected for Oceanic.

Lights on! :rollface:

Room light off with tank lights on:

Everything was perfectly level which was nice for a change!

 

[NanoGurl]

Famous nitrateballs! The water enters the first chamber on the right via "surface skimming" and drains into the middle chamber... then flows upwards from the bottom into the chamber on the left... and then returns via the pump into the tank and flow director.

Another view of the back three chambers.

All bioballs removed! I placed my heater into the middle chamber.

 

[J-Bass]

Nice setup nanogurl. What's in that rack next to the tank, pot pies?

 

[NanoGurl]

Sand added =) You can see the moonlights in this photo.

PC lights on.

We only added about 1" of sand. I do not like the DSB look, and didn't want too much of the sand bed showing above the bottom trim.

 

[NanoGurl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10585227#post10585227 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by J-Bass
Nice setup nanogurl. What's in that rack next to the tank, pot pies?

Thanks J-Bass. Those are clean waterbowls used in reptile racks my bf has in that room. This was the only place I could setup this tank for now. It will be placed for good in our family room when we move.

 

[tinysuperbug]

Nice. Love that dog!

What's the quality of the glass on your biocube? Is it perfectly smooth and imperfection free?

I ask because I purchased an aquapod 24 and I was very disappointed in not only the build quality of the silicone, etc. but also the glass was slightly rippled/wavy and had some small bubbles in it. Oh yeah, it was scratched too, but I would have sent it back even if it didn't have a scratch simply because of the poor quality of the glass.

 

[triggerjay]

I see you finally started to wear out those jeans! lol..

Jason

 

[NanoGurl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10585283#post10585283 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tinysuperbug
Nice. Love that dog!

What's the quality of the glass on your biocube? Is it perfectly smooth and imperfection free?

Thanks!

His name is Sebastian. You will probably see a lot of photos of him along the way if you keep reading =) He's always involved.

The tank itself was not scratched, however several pieces of the Oceanic stand were including the front door. Not really happy about that I am going to contact Oceanic about it and see what they say.

The silicone was sloppy on my tank as well. What I really didn't like was the front left corner was siliconed very sloppy. I am hoping I can trim it off with a razor blade.

 

[NanoGurl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10585290#post10585290 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by triggerjay
I see you finally started to wear out those jeans! lol..

Jason

LoL =)

 

[melev]

Yay, another tank!

 

[tinysuperbug]

That's just weird. My aquapod had a glop of silicone in that exact spot as well. Something jogged my memory though, it was an aquapod 12 though, and not a 24.

Does the glass seem high quality? Not wavy or distorted? It bugged the crap out of me when I saw the distortion from the inconsistencies in the glass on my AP.

Sebastian is a perfect name for a dog like that judging from the photos. He looks very huggable.

 

[NanoGurl]

We had bought some LR that was already cured, but we set it up in a curing container anyway just to make sure. After the readings were 0 we went ahead and transferred it over to the nano. Below are some photos throughout that process.

LR "curing" in container. There was no smell and/or dieoff on the rocks.

A famous action shot from tonight when we started to place the LR. (anyone from my other thread will get the joke)

When we first got the rock I ran a toothbrush over the rock to scrape off any dieoffs. Almost nothing came off which was great.

This was the LR after we took it out of the old water.

Laid out on newspaper to start piecing together.

Trying to build some shapes prior to placing inside the nano.

 

[NanoGurl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10585357#post10585357 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Yay, another tank!

Yay! It's not as cool as your nano Marc, but it still should be fun and something to do for awhile =)

 

[NanoGurl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10585361#post10585361 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tinysuperbug
That's just weird. My aquapod had a glop of silicone in that exact spot as well. Something jogged my memory though, it was an aquapod 12 though, and not a 24.

Does the glass seem high quality? Not wavy or distorted? It bugged the crap out of me when I saw the distortion from the inconsistencies in the glass on my AP.

Sebastian is a perfect name for a dog like that judging from the photos. He looks very huggable.

Wow, that is weird. I wonder if that's a stress point or something for nano tanks??

Yea, I would say the glass is high quality. It distorts in the corners where it curves like any curved glass, but the straight sides are fine and appear normal. It's def different from a standard 20g thought.

Thank you! He is a Shiba Inu and has the heart of a lion and is very loving and fun!

 

[NanoGurl]

Well, since RC is about to go down I will finish posting some more info and photos tomorrow.

Hope everyone is enjoying the photos so far

Thanks for tagging along! :thumbsup:

 

[melev]

That is very nice looking LR. Can't wait to see the next update.

 

[chris wright]

G'day Ng,

Well this should be fun. I'm keen to tag along. i just hope the famous action shots stay famous for the right reasons.

So what corals are you planning for this tank?

Good luck with, and am keen to see it up and running.

Cheers

Chris

 

[InLimbo87]

Looks great so far NG

Glad we could bring you back to the world of nanos

I thought you learned your lesson about those action shots

 

[NanoGurl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10585403#post10585403 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
That is very nice looking LR. Can't wait to see the next update.

Thanks! Most of the figi I've seen lately fro our LFS has looked really bad... almost like concrete blocks with dieoff... but when we found this batch that had already been curing for almost three weeks we were very happy with it.