Racerfreak's BioCube 29

[racerfreak]

I just recently setup my BioCube 29 so here is the breakdown.

Did a DIY LED build with 12 Royal Blue LEDs and 12 Cool White LEDs :celeb2:

Some fancy rock work

A sneak peek

 

[Clownfish 11790]

The LED DIY looks good! Was it hard? I am thinking about switching to LED soon, but I'm not sure if I should just buy a premade light or DIY.

What are you planning on putting in the biocube?

 

[racerfreak]

The LED DIY looks good! Was it hard? I am thinking about switching to LED soon, but I'm not sure if I should just buy a premade light or DIY.

What are you planning on putting in the biocube?

Thank you. The build wasn't hard, for me being mechanically inclined, but it was tedious. I didn't want an open top otherwise I would have opted for a premade light fixture. IMO I like the color of MH or T5 but for the $$$ you save over time it's worth it.

I hope to do sps, lps, and softies. I only like certain types from each group but I think it will set a good mood once I get it setup.

 

[Clownfish 11790]

Well, good luck! I'm looking forward to seeing what comes from this! I'm about to set up my tank this week too! Super excited!

That doesn't look like LR! Good luck with the cycling of it!

 

[tntdsol]

Looks like it will be a nice tank...Good luck.

 

[racerfreak]

Well, good luck! I'm looking forward to seeing what comes from this! I'm about to set up my tank this week too! Super excited!

That doesn't look like LR! Good luck with the cycling of it!

Thanks, look forward to seeing your tank progress too. Well 80% of it is Fiji LR, well old LR that I let dry out and then boiled because I had pests. The other 20% is reefcleaners.org rock I had left over from my ADA 30C rock build. I still have about 5lbs of rock left. I added some sand from my 30C so hopefully that will help cycle.

 

[sponger0]

How much did those LEDs set you back?

 

[racerfreak]

Everything in total probably cost me $400, that's including the hood. I purchased a tank and then bought a hood and shield and ect. LEDs alone were about $150, $40 on drivers, $60 on power supplies (including fan), $50 heat sink, and $100 on supplies and wires and ect. Now that doesn't include shipping, add another $50+ with shipping.

 

[ange062]

Looks pretty neat, can't wait to see progress!

 

[racerfreak]

Thanks, me too :lmao:

On a side note I'm not 100% happy with the color, seems to violet. I'm probably going to add regular Blue Cree LEDs to get that blue green tint. Also I was considering throwing in a red for that Fiji Purple T5 look. If you look at the spectrum for the Fiji Purple you will see it peaks at 660nm and 440nm. My Royal Blues cover the 450nm (close enough to 440nm) but I have nothing touching the red spectrum. Even the Cool White peaks in the 450nm and 550nm range. The blues should pickup the that 500nm range and the reds should pick up that 600nm+ that I'm missing from both RB and CW LEDs. The only color I'm missing is the 300nm-400nm UV / Violet range and those are the tricky LEDs to find, so I may just get a stunner strip or a simple 1w led strand.

Fiji Purple range:

 

[Flame_Angel]

I was going to ask about the color, but I figured it was because of your camera.

 

[racerfreak]

I was going to ask about the color, but I figured it was because of your camera.

The tank with no water is not the actual color, but the tank with water was pretty close to the actual color. The water was super cloudy but essentially the color looks like I have 2 x 10k and 2x antic t5's with blue at 100% and white at about 80% and looks like I have 3x 10k and 1x antic t5's at 100% for both. Even with the white turned down to 60% it looks more violet.

 

[racerfreak]

I've been doing some testing because I had a massive diatom explosion. Looks like a few days after the explosion I still had low ammonia, some nitrites, and little or no nitrates. Did a test yesterday and looks like there is no ammonia, no nitrites, and little to no nitrates. Today everything was 0, so I'm going to do the first water change. Should I add my CUC or wait another week?

 

[racerfreak]

I ended up doing a 8 gallon water change, all I had, hopefully all goes well. I'm always worried I'm going to screw something up, but in the end it works out most of the time.

Also I decided to add more LED's :lol2: I ordered 4x 400nm-405nm UV 1w ProLight LED's from superbrightleds.com and 8x Blue 3w Cree XR-E LED's and 1x Red Cree XR-E LED from ledsupply.com . This will bring my build to a 37 LED build

 

[ange062]

I've been doing some testing because I had a massive diatom explosion. Looks like a few days after the explosion I still had low ammonia, some nitrites, and little or no nitrates. Did a test yesterday and looks like there is no ammonia, no nitrites, and little to no nitrates. Today everything was 0, so I'm going to do the first water change. Should I add my CUC or wait another week?

Sounds like your cycle is over, you should be good to add a CUC.

 

[Redsox Nation]

what size heatsink do you have on there and where did you buy the kit from?

 

[racerfreak]

Well I have some bad news. One of my clowns jumped out of the tank and I found his dried up body on Sunday morning After that happened I moved my 30C, sand and all, over to my BC29. Everything seems to be going good so far. I'm still waiting on my mp10 wet side magnet/ propeller to arrive and I have to set up my RKL system too.

Now I am trying to decide What to do with fish, I think I want to get a black & white clown and either a female lyretail anthias or a midas blenny or a regular yellow goby.

Also I can't figure out dosing, basically what should I use. Just a 2 part solution or more :spin2:

The heatsink is a Nanotuners heatsink for the BC29.

 

[ange062]

Sorry to hear about the clown. Keep in mind, the anthias will quickly outgrow the tank so have plans to move it somewhere else. If you want a long term fish, there are plenty of other options (like the two others you named).

For me, I don't mind the work with a 2-part, and it gives you extra control for balancing kH and Ca independantly, plus it much less initial cost (though probably more long run). A reactor or kalk doser would definitely be simpler though.

 

[RedStangGA]

Sorry to hear about the fish. I know we're already getting attached to our first fish inhabitants.

 

[racerfreak]

Loosing the clown was very hard, even my fiance cried because we've had them both for 2yrs now.

What 2 part are you using? I see some 2 parts that have magnesium in the 2 part and some that don't. My ph levels always low, about 7.8-8.0 after a water change, figured dosing is the best solution.