Nubie with a BC 29 with questions!

[chemistmike]

Hi all. I have been reading several threads on this board for awhile now. I have decided to purchase the Oceanic BioCube 29gal. for my first attempt at a nano. I set it up last night. I am including pics after one night of water clearing if I can figure out how to load them.

I have a couple of questions:

1. I am thinking of purchasing a UV, does anyone have any suggestions for this size of a tank?

2. Should I purchase more live rock now, or should I wait to let my live rock build up with the soft corals that I purchase (the last was my original plan)?

3. I am wanting to add more circulation to the tank, since I am going to build up the rock all the way up the back and slope it to the front. Right now I only have a marineland penguin 660. Does anyone have any suggestions to replacements or sizes? I wanted to place one at each end on the back facing opposite directions.

4. I am thinking of purchasing the 144W lighting mod. from nanotuners.com. Does anyone have any experience with them? Is this too much for my anticipated applications?

5. I am thinking of having compatable soft corals with the following fish: Yellow Assessor, Flaming Prawn Goby (if I can get one, if not I will try to get a Helfrichi Firefish), Red Spot Pseudochromis, and one of the flasher wrasses.

Thanks for any advice you could lend in advance.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610DSC01205.JPG http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610DSC01204.JPG http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610DSC01203.JPG

[texasarrowhead]

I have one and is all stock.I have 30 pounds of live rock and rubble in the middle chamber with filter floss on top.I love mine and will add more flow and also be adding the light upgrade soon.It looks like you might need to add more live rock.I will try to post some pics of mine.Mine is full of corals and I have only 2 clowns right now and will be adding a purple fire fish.Its a great unit and you will be happy with it.Just make sure you keep up with normal water changes.

[Illuminati]

2- I'd get the rock now unless you have a good source for cured rock that you can trust. Adding uncured rock down the road can crash your tank.

3- If you want 1 more pump get a maxijet 1200, if you want 2 pumps get 2 maxijet 900's. Maybe toss the hydor flo on one of them to break up the flow and give you random flow.

4- I have the 108W upgrade for my 24 nanocube from them. Love it, wish I started with it and now is the time to install it since you have no livestock. I think you would be happy with it. They have instructions on their site, read them and see if you can upgrade it yourself, it isn't to hard but I had them build me a new hood, great quality and craftsmanship.

5-Love your stock list. I have a blue assesor and he's a little dark, I always said I wish I got the yellow.
The flaming prawn likes to hide a lot, might not see it much. Don't overpay for the Helfrichi, I know liveaquaria overcharges.
Not familiar with the red spot pseudo but I did read this:
"This little beauty is not as aggressive as most other Pseudochromis, but as with any pseudochromis, be careful in housing it in small tanks with small, mild mannered species, as this is a bold fish. Provide with plenty of suitable hiding places. Will eat very small shrimps (e.g., anemone shrimps)"

I have a blue bar pseudochromis and he is 100% fish friendly. Most pseudochromis will kill small shrimps though (Mine has gone through 7 peppermints). Loves to swim in the rockwork so arrange it so he has cracks.

Here's a picture:
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/colinadam/tank10021005-1.jpg

Something like a McKosker Flasher Wrasse that has a lot of red would look great.

I got my Assesor and pseudo at www.marinecenter.com
I want to say they are in TX also but I may be wrong.

They will have a lot of the fish on your list. If you decide to order online I would do it in 2 shipments, cn't add everything at once.

[smketyr]

Colinadam has some good advice and an awesome, healthy tank. I would not use an UV sterilzer, with a tank that small. Keep up with water changes and you will not need it. Definitely get all the LR now! You will have a cycle everytime you add, which is not good for the livestock. I have done it and it is not a good idea. I would also do the two pumps and add the hydor flo. I have a MJ900 on my ten and will be adding a mini jet and a hydor flo to the 900. Post pics as you progress and ask questions and add observations as you go along. HTH

Tom

[chemistmike]

Thanks for the advice. The point about the live rock and additional cycling is a good point. I have contimplated switching out the bio-balls with live rock and larger pieces of crushed coral, but was afraid of the loss of flow. Anyone else doing this? Texasarrowhead - do you have any flow problems with this? Also, did you keep the stock pre-filter? I noticed this morning that the pre-filter was already clogged, and the water level in the third chamber dropped to the minimal level. I cleaned it off, and the water level came back up. I was thinking of putting in a piece of more course material to prevent it from clogging as fast; OR I was thinking of removing the prefilter and just putting the filter floss on top of the bio-ball screen - as Texasarrowhead has stated he does.

Colinadam - thanks for the marinecentral.com website. That is actually who I was looking at. I have been eyeballing their site for quite some time. When you had your new hood made, did they do the loaner program, or did you just have an entirely new one fabricated.

I'm going to purchase more live rock this week, and will post an updated pic next weekend, and when I get the upgraded light system.

[Illuminati]

I actually used the stock hood for about 8 months then decided to upgrade the lights and had a new one made and shipped.

I do not know if they have a loaner program but I know they have crazy fast service. I ordered my hood around noon and it was being shipped that same day.

I honestly don't know how Biocubes are setup in the back chambers but I'd ditch the bioballs. They can harbor notrates after a while. They are good for fish only systems, not so much for reefs.

Look into chemical media like chemi-pure and purigen (They come in little media bags, you literally just toss them in the back chambers as they are- Chemi-pure is a longer lasting carbon alternative and purigen helps with keeping your nitrates down and improves water clarity) and look into filter floss to catch the debris. All of these can be found at Dr. Foster and Smith.

[chemistmike]

The biocube has three chambers.
The first chamber has a slot housing for the pre-filter with activated carbon (kind of like a traditional HOB power filter has a filter cartridge). This is the overflow area.

The second chamber has water flowing to it from the filtered first section. This chamber has a screen on top, under which are all of the bioballs. There is another screen beneath the bioballs, and this is where the water flows to the third chamber.

The third chamber has a pre-filter screen at the bottom, and then the return pump inside of this chamber.

Would you recommend putting the water purifiers in this second chamber within their bags on their side, or find a way to stand them up vertically?

Also, would you recommend putting the filter floss above the purifiers, or finding a way to stand it up in the first chamber like the current stock filter cartridge is set up?

[chemistmike]

Here is a crude diagram of the chambers.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610BC29_chambers.jpg

[texasarrowhead]

Take out all the bioballs!Put live rubble rock in the middle chamber and where the water flows into the middle chamber on top of the live rubble put the filter floss.I run carbon in the 1 or 3rd. chambers.The only thing I wish I did have more flow but its been fine for now everything is doing great in my tank.My biocube is about 4 months old.I just got over the hair alage. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v190/texasarrowhead/101_3394.jpgThis when I got my Aquapod and it leaked and I changed to the bio cube.I am glad I did!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v190/texasarrowhead/100_3675.jpg

[texasarrowhead]

I also dumped the filter cartridge and sponge.

[chemistmike]

Are you using any type of filtering in the third chamber to keep debris from entering the return pump?

[chemistmike]

Ok. I took out all of the bioballs and the filter cartridge, and am now running with a cut out of a fluval filter insert for the top half of the first chamber. In the second chamber, I currently have the other half of the fluval cut out under the spill over to reduce the noise, and under that a chemipure bag.

I have also added a maxijet 900 with a hydor flo on one end, and a maxijet 1200 on the other end with a hydor flo. I have seen my temperature increase to around 86F during the day, and around 84F at night.

I am expecting my ordered light upgrade from nanotuners.com tomorrow. I got the 144W upgrade with the optional increase airflow fan, bulb one a 10k daylight, bulb two is an actinic, variable 3-12v/1200mA AC adapter, and the R2 moonlights. I also purchased the saphire protein skimmer (not sure where this is going to go yet though - probably the first chamber).

Because of the increase in temperature, and given the fact that I am upgrading the total wattage of light output, I am now shopping for a chiller. Does anyone have any suggestions for this size of a tank.

Also, I am concerned about the amount of particulate matter floating around from the die off from the live rock. Has anyone ever used a canister filter to supplement their chambers?

[Illuminati]

I have a nanotuners hood as well, wait until you get it installed to see how the fans do. They are great at keeping the tank cooler but I would shop for a variable transformer to control the noise when you are close to the tank (if noise is a problem).

[chemistmike]

Do you have a recommendation for a chiller if I do need one? I was looking at the JBJ Nano Arctica. is this a good chiller?

[Illuminati]

Sorry, I've never needed one, hopefully someone else can chime in :)

[gkelly]

Consider a skimmer for chamber 2. The Tunze nano skimmer is rated pretty highly and Sapphire Aquatics has a skimmer designed specifically to sit there. I've got the sapphire and I'm very happy with it. Can't believe the junk it pulls out of the water. Either way, dump the bio balls or you'll get nitrate build up.

You might try the Nanotuners lights before you decide on the chiller. Due to the larger fans and change in the reflector some run cooler with the upgraded lights. I'm not sure how and can't confirm but I've heard that several times.

I've been running mine stock so far, but plan to upgrade the pump and put one one of the NanoStreams in it. Haven't seen a need for the 144 watts yet, but I'm keeping corals that aren't really light demanding. Also, Sapphire is putting together a hang on back refugium for the BioCube (they're testing now) so that will go on as soon as it's avaiable.

With the fuge you might be able to direct a fan across the water and cool that way - cheaper to run than a chiller.

[chemistmike]

Thanks gkelly. Nanotuners also said that the Saphire skimmer was supposed to go inside the second chamber, but I am curious - does the water level need to be higher for the skimmer to work? Because the water level is only as high as the feed to the third chamber, which is only about 3". How do you get the water level higher if it needs it?

[gkelly]

The skimmer pump will pick up water with the chamber 3 water level near the MAX line, but I did add water until it's a bit higher in chamber to. This was just to get the powerhead so that it could not get any air at all. You will need to add water (about 3/4 gallon) after firing up the skimmer because it fills with water.

My current water level on the gauge is about 1.5 - 2 inches above the MAX line in 3. I've been told that the MAX\MIN are for use with the wet-dry bio balls, and if you pull them out they no longer apply.

With the stock pump, lights, the skimmer ph, and another rio ph in the tank (not sure of gph at the moment) I run from 80-81.5 in a 24 hour cycle.

One other thing - due to the low water volume a small amount of evaporation can affect salinity more than a bigger tank. You might want to think about an auto top off system. Especially at 86 degrees...

I'm running the JBJ ATO system. Not sure if it's better\worse than any other, but I've had no problems with it.

[chemistmike]

Where do you have the ATO installed for your tank?

[gkelly]

The float switch is in Chamber 3.

The controller itself is in the stand under the tank and turns on an AquaLifter pump. The water is in a 1 gal rubbermaid container.

The water is added into chamber 1.

Took about 30 minutes to set it up and it's been flawless since. I just refill my 1 gal jug with RO 2-3 times a week.

[slumpysix]

I have the stock pump, saphire skimmer in 2nd chamber, the 4.36 pc upgrade from NT and a MJ-600 inside the main tank. I have a chemipure bag in the 3rd chamber which I might relocate to the first because there is weak flow on top of the stock pump in there. Possible stagnate water could develop.

My tank maybe reaches 80 during the day and I have my heater set to 73-75 which comes on rarely. I change 5 gal. of water every week. My nitrates seem to stay between 10-20 ppm. A little high but everything is thriving.

My Xenia is growing like crazy, I have a acan in there with 25+ heads and is rockin. 2 different LPS green candy canes that are splitting from original 3 heads. 1 orange ricordia that is happy, well looks happy anyways. The fish are loving life, 3 true percs( one is being giving to my friend) and a firefish.

I feel that the skimmer helps with keeping the nitrates in check. I clean the cup every three days. You can't have live rock in chamber 2 if you put the skimmer in there. I reuse a BC filter cartridge with the old floss and carbon removed. I just cut 4 squares to fit in the openings and it really collects the crap. I change those out when the water gets changed. Here is my tank build if you want to see the upgrades I did. I really need to update it with some new pictures and such. http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=958885

[tsmonrad]

Great advice everyone. Thanks. I have a new BC set up as well. Replaced bioballs with LR today. Will also follow your lead with getting rid of the prefilter- it decreases flow.

I filled the middle chamber with LR but of course all of it is not totally submerged- should there be just enough in the 2nd chamber so it all stays submerged or am I OK.

[chemistmike]

Okay everyone. Here is an update of my BC 29 progress with a lot of pics. Also, I need some help with some IDs. By the way, I know that I need to harvest the hair algae again, I just did it a few days ago, and it is already coming back strong. I am still looking at buying a lawnmower blenny, but I will have to wait a little while now that I added this coral.

This is a picture of a coral that I need help in identifying. The LFS had it labeled as a branching goniopora, but it looks like a M. digitata. Can anyone help with this, and if so, what is the best way to feed it. I have been giving cyclops, but it does not look like the polyps are grabbing them, although they do extend out further when I feed the tank.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610DSC01213.JPG
This is a pic of all of the other new additions to the tank as of yesterday.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610DSC01214.JPG
This is a closer pic of the zoa and mushroom rock.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610DSC01215.JPG
This is a pic of the mushroom rock with a blue-legged hermit on top checking it out.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610DSC01216.JPG
I believe that this is a hairy mushroom rock. I could be mistaken, so someone please correct me if i am wrong.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610DSC01217.JPG

[chemistmike]

This is a pic of how I had to plumb my chiller. Due to the lack of room with the BC29, and the space under the stand, i had to use my MJ1200 to supply the flow to the chiller.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610DSC01218.JPG
I don't think that this pic came out that well, but I was hoping that someone could help out with this. I have these small white star-shaped things that come back everyday that I have to wipe off of the front of the glass. Are these algaes?
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610DSC01219.JPG
This is an updated shot of chambers 2 & 3. In chamber 2 I drilled a hole in the back of the hood right above chamber 2 for the return of my ATO. I drilled a hole with a 3/4" bit, then pushed through 5/8" tubing. I then pushed a rubber o-ring up to the point I wanted it to hold. I also had to cut the length a little to be sure that it did not extend into the water because of back flow.
Chamber 3 now houses the ATO float.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610DSC01220.JPG
This is an updated pic of chamber 1. You can see the tubing from the MJ1200 that leads to the chiller going out behind the chamber 1 housing. Instead of drilling holes, I just expanded the stock opening on the hood. You can also see the return tubing from the chiller placed directly into chamber 1. I placed an o-ring on the tubing, then ran a tie-lock through the tubing and tied it to the screen for the overflow to keep it in place.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610DSC01221.JPG
Now a couple of pics of our lone fishy friend. It is a purple firefish that has been in there about a week now. He is coming out to eat in the first pic, and actually taking in food in the second.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610DSC01222.JPG http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/145610DSC01225.JPG

[Illuminati]

Totally a goniopora. They are hard to keep, needs phyto foods, things like reef roids, reef chilli or DT's phyto. I think there is a website called www.goniopora.org that has info, check it out.

Cool firefish.

The little white dots could be either micro-stars or pods or snail eggs (I have Nerite snails and they lay eggs all the time).
Have any snails? Do they ever move?

[chemistmike]

colinadam - yes i do have snails, but they are not on the glass that often. These white things are spread sporatically all over the front and sides of the glass.

I was hoping that it was a mislabeled digitata, and not a goniopora. I have read that they are very difficult to keep, and am now considering trading with someone in my local marine group.

[Illuminati]

Yeah I've heard they are hard to keep as well, slukach from this thread has 2 that look to be doing amazing, he's had his tank up for a little over a month and bought the green one without knowing what it was, did some reserch and bought the red one.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=999069&perpage=25&pagenumber=34

[tsmonrad]

nice work on the BC 29- I ordered a sapphire skinner and ditched the stock prefilter for chemi-pure and purigen. how do you like the 4.36 upgrade? I have been looking at that and the MH retro. Have you heard anything about the MH kit?

[chemistmike]

I personally really like the 144W. You can really tell the difference when the two extra 36s come on. I t is not as bright as what I thought it might have been, but it seems just right for the depth. I don't really know anything about the MH on this tank. I have never seen one on it, or have really heard anything about it. I would think if you went the MH route, you would have a tougher time with the temp. than what I had in the beginning. I was having enough trouble to purchase a chiller. Good luck with your BC. If you decide to go with the MH, let us know how it works out.

[tsmonrad]

For the first time my temps hit 80. I was holding at 77 since start up. So I think you are right on about the MH upgrade.
Which chiller did you purchase, and how are the upgraded fans? Any increased noise?

[chemistmike]

I bought the Current USA 1/10HP from premium aquatics. I probably could have gotten away with a 1/15HP, but I figured that if I was going to spend that much money, I could eventually use the 1/10hp on a bigger tank down the road.

The upgraded fans seem to be about as loud as the stock fans. I did not really notice any increased noise, but then again, the stock fans are not that quiet either.

[tsmonrad]

Thanks Mike.

[wiszmaster]

do you have a link to the MH retros?

[dragonforce]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9245504#post9245504 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chemistmike
I bought the Current USA 1/10HP from premium aquatics. I probably could have gotten away with a 1/15HP, but I figured that if I was going to spend that much money, I could eventually use the 1/10hp on a bigger tank down the road.

The upgraded fans seem to be about as loud as the stock fans. I did not really notice any increased noise, but then again, the stock fans are not that quiet either.


I run the JBJ nano arctica 1/20th HP titanium chiller on my 37g reef to pull down temps to 80 even. It works great.

[o2zen]

I love my bc29. I cut the overflow to allow more flow, replaced the stock pump with a mj1200 and put a Hydor on the outside of the bulkhead. I removed the bio-balls and filled the back chamber with 10lbs of LR rubble. I put a piece of filter floss under the spill tray and another on top of it. I added a heater to the first chamber for now and then cut two holes in the back of the hood to slip in a Fluval 405 for added filtration and flow. I pull from chamber one so my overflow chamber gets a ton more flow now and I out the return on the inside of the display at the middle back. I do not have a skimmer yet and my levels always remain good.

Stocked fairly heavy even with 2x clowns, 1 flame angle, 1 firefish, 1 blue dot sleeper goby, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 peppermint shrimp, 1 bristle star, about 30 snails and 30 more hermits. I also have some peanut worms that came with my tonga.

I plan on getting 1 feather duster and 1 coco (sp) worn for more motion and color. I also have LPS/SPS/Softies which all seem to be doing great in the tank.

I have the 144w upgrade and run 1x 10k, 1x 50/50, and 2x actinics since I love the way the blue makes my tank colors "POP"

I am considering adding a skimmer to the middle chamber but with the Fluval 405 I have had no need and my tank seems to be strong 3 months in now. The pic in my red house is my tank a month ago roughly before I added all the corals. Working on getting a new pic up now but I keep forgetting.

[CharAznable]

Where can you get the 144w upgrade?

[wiszmaster]

www.nanotuners.com