Newb, Just bought a Bio-Cube, Couple ?'s

[cimdxb2]

Hi all,

First I want to commend this group. New to salt water tanks and decided against a large tank for a small tank to make sure I can keep up w/this hobby. I didn't do that great in chemistry

Ok, went out and bought a 29 gallon cube with the family. Bought some salt water (at $18/4.4 gallons ) Then mixed that with distilled water. We also bought a bag of live sand and are waiting for the temp to get to the magic 76 degrees.

Sooooo, here come the ?'s...

1) I do plan on doing this hobby for some time and lugging around water (and paying for it) isn't my cup of tea. Where and how does one make water for these tanks? I don't mind investing to do things correctly.

2) Lighting: The tank comes w/three lights. A set of small LED's (guessing these are more for show than anything), a blue light and a white light. What are the suggestions for timing these?

3) I have read the multiple threads on the bio cubes. Then I rattle off some of the mod ideas to the guy at the pet shop. Of course he talked me (at the moment) out of doing any of the mods. The one that probable concerns me the most is the bio balls (or the option of taking them out for rubble rock). I do plan to make a reef tank out of this thing, so to me the Live Rock is going to be the Bio Balls, right? He (the LFS guy) told me not to even think about taking the Bio Balls out until I have the live rock stable and Green algea growing. Thoughts?

4) Pump Mod? Is it worth it?

5) Putting the heater in the back? What is wrong with the heater in the tank? Just cosmetics?

Ok, this thread is too large already......thanks in advance for your feedback/ideas! I am also pretty thick skinned. So if I am way off base on something, please tell me.

Dave

 

[ghostman]

Dave, welcome to the madness. Keep reading up on the hobby and always take the advice of LFS with a grain of salt. Here are my opinions to your questions.
1. Buy a good RO/DI unit from a RC sponsor. I have the typhoon III model and it is great. Buying and carrying water is a great way to a bad back.
2. The lighting is fine for sofites, xenia, zoos, and some LPS. A lighting upgrade could be costly, but very beneficial. Try nanotuners.com for advice.
3. Bioballs are outdated and do not provide the measure of biological filtration that live rock and live sand do. I have a skimmer in my second chamber, but I have a ton of live rock in the tank. Bioballs are great cat toys.
4. Pump mod is WAY worth it. I have the RioHF6 and flow is 100gph more than stock. Another path is to keep the stock pump and add another for circulation; nanostream or koralia.
5. I hate seeing heaters, I put it in the back.
6. My own advice...buy some good test kits, a good refractometer, and a TDS meter to check water quality. Use a PO4 absorbing media such as phosban or rowaphos to keep levels down.
7. Have fun.
HTH gm

 

[Illuminati]

ghostman covered everything.

An RO/DI machine is one of the must haves for these tanks.

I also have a Typhoon III from Air Water Ice (You'll have to google them, I can't post the URL). Very nice machine, get the handheld TDS meter for another $20, you should have 0 or very close to 0 TDS (Total Dissolved Solids). The pre-filters will need to be replaced at the 6-8 month mark depending on the quality of your water, the membrane can last for 2-3 years.

Another good company is The Filter Guys, they are an RC sponsor and have a forum so if you have any questions you can post them there. Very helpful guys, I've ordered from them in the past.

Also Buckeye Field Supply (another RC sponsor) has a great Question and answer page on their website when it comes to RO/DI's.

 

[cimdxb2]

Ok, I did some more homework.

Would you get this (the Typhoon III) setup...

http://cgi.ebay.com/EXTREME-TYPHOON...ryZ20756QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Or this (the SpectraPure) setup...

http://www.spectrapure.com/St_MaxCap-RO-DI.htm

From what I can gather there is roughly a $100 difference between the two. What I can't gauge is the TCO of the two options.

Quality of the two?

Thanks again folks!

Dave

 

[Illuminati]

If it were between the 2 get the Typhoon. On the spectrapure it has 150 gallons per day. While that is impressive the more gallons per day a unit is the less efficent the membrane is. You will have lower TDS with the 75 gpd, plus with a nano you will only need a lot of water at one time when you first fill the tank, after that you will only need 3-4 gallons a week.

That is the typhoon on streoids though, if you go with that you'll have to let us know how you like it.

 

[cimdxb2]

Ok,

Ordered the Typhoon III Extreme. I will post when it comes and I figure out how to best install it.

Got the message on the bio balls being better cat toys. So I plan on taking the balls once I get the live rock & sand stabalized.

So far I have the tank at a constant 77 degrees. Looks like all of you are keeping your tanks warmer. Should I increase the temp? The LFS told me 76 to 78.

With the removal of the bio balls, I have decided to go w/the skimmer in the 2nd chamber per several posts.

This is the one I am going with:

Sapphire Nanoskimmer BC29

Now the pump. Seems like there are two different thoughts...add a pump, or upgrade. With the tank only being 29 gallons, my first reaction is to just upgrade. I do though like the redunancy of the 2nd pump. Then again, I am an IT geek. So maybe that is just stupid.

Also, the tank now is filled. So would you just replace or add? If so, what pumps would you buy then?

I saw you mentioned the RioHF6. So if I pull my old one out and put in this one, I would have 100 GPH more? Sounds like that may be the best bet.

Ok, last ?. The false floor in the first chamber. Can that be "knocked out" while the tank is full? I want to throw the heater in there per your comments. Makes sense. Man those things are big and bulky.

Thanks again guys/gals for your help!

Dave

 

[SOULEMAN]

yeah the false floor can be knocked out but it may be fun getting it out cause your gonna get wet. i run my tank at around 80-82 degrees cause reef tanks seem to do better at those temps. (just my opinon) also i replaced the main pump with the rio and i also have a nano stream pump in the display for lots of flow. reason being is because alot of corals need alot of flow. i also have 35-40lbs of LR and 25 lbs of LS and i made a refugium out of my 2nd chamber. if u r going to be taking the bio balls out that 3rd chamber min-max line does not count anymore. i fill mine up in the back. just my thoughts though. have fun.