Please comment on my new 14G BioCube!

[Yedgy]

I decided to finish off my home office decor today with a 14-gallon Oceanic BioCube behind my desk. Now I can swing my chair around and contemplate something nice and relaxing when I get too bored or stressed from work.

I enjoy reading others' "follow my reef" threads, so I'm happy to finally start my own!

This is my second reef but my first nano, so I'd appreciate any comments, concerns, criticisms, or compliments you all may have. As you'll see, this is pretty much a stock BioCube, so any of you BC experts who have any favorite mods or tips, I really want to hear from you!

I plan to keep mushrooms, leathers, zoos, xenia, GSPs, and a skunk cleaner shrimp.

I hit the local LFSs looking for a 12G AquaPod, but nobody seemed to carry them anymore. Seems like the shops I visited switched from JBJs and Pods to the BioCubes.

The stand looks pretty nice, and it's quite roomy inside:



I wonder if any BioCubers hide a fuge or sump in there?



I'm using a CoraLife digital power center for day/night control. I know these are a bit controversial, but this unit has served me well. I had to replace the backup battery though, and I can't find the programming manual, but I think I can muddle through on this. It's plugged into a GFCI adapter I got at Home Depot.



Here's my first concern: is this "level enough" for safety? I've seen aquariums set up with more of a tilt than this, and since this is just a 14, I figured it would be good enough (famous last words).



Here's the tank with 20 lbs. of live sand in it.



20 lbs. of oolitic sand made for a much deeper sand bed than I was expecting! I wonder what kind of sand sifters I should get once the tank cycles?



I never tried the old pour-water-over-a-plastic-bag trick, and I'm glad to say that it worked great! The Hefty jumbo freezer bag I had lying around turned out to be a perfect fit, width-wise. No more aragonite milkshakes for me!



Last time I set up a reef, I bought way more LR than I should have. This time, I may have under-bought. I got 7 lbs. of some nice rock. I'm not sure whether it's Kaelini or Pukani (or some of each), since the tub was labeled as both. Anyone wanna tell me what I got?



Nice coralline on this rock:



At this point, I have a few questions for the BioCube experts in attendance:

• I plan to upgrade the pump to a MJ900. Should I also split the return with line-loc to get more turbulence, or add a PH?
• Filter floss in chamber 1 (the one on the right) and LR rubble in chamber 2. Yes? No?
• Anyone set up a fuge in chamber 2? How would I go about doing this? I'd like to grow some cheato for nutrient export.
• Not having a skimmer is freakin' me out a little. Any limitations or ramifications of not having one?
• Are the DIY hood mods by NanoTuners worthwhile?

Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions! BTW, if anyone is interested in learning more details about the BioCube 14, I have lots more pics and observations in case it'll help you to decide whether this tank is for you.

[Yedgy]

Here's an FTS of everything set up. Looks pretty empty right now.

[jopo43]

nice tank

[Mitch529]

Looking good. Just IMO I would remove some sand, but you def. need more LR, I would add at least another 7lbs and go from there you need 1 - 1.5lbs per gallon.

[dastratt]

[welcome]

That will be a nice set up. I would *add* oolithic sand to get at least 4" depth. I would add LR as well. Especially to find places to mount corals and get more elevation to get corals closer to the lights.

[jacksonpt]

Looks like you're headed in the right direction. I have an AP12, but from my experience skimmers are not needed. Be aware of your bioload and how much/often you feed, keep up on your water changes and you'll be fine. However, adding more LR will help - the more biological filtration you can get the better off you'll be.

LR rubble in the chambers is a good idea, I have no experience with filter floss.

[InLimbo87]

Looks like a great start Yedgy.

1. An MJ900 alone should be enough to get sufficient flow for the tank.

2. Make sure to keep the filter floss nice and rinsed if you go that route. Personally, I skipped all mechanical filtration with my 12g and all is going well.

3. Not sure about the biocubes, but for the NC/Ap's you can cut the plastic backing away behind chamber two and light it from the back.

4. IMO, the skimmers aren't worth it in tanks this small. Just keep up on your water changes, feed lightly, and keep the bioload in check and you'll be fine.

5. The nanotuners lights are definitely worth it. More light = more growth (and who can argue with that)

Good luck with the new setup

[Yedgy]

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone! I woke up this morning to find two tiny feather dusters on the rock to the right. I hope they survive the cycle.

I forgot to mention that I removed the bio-balls from chamber 2, and the gurgling sound of falling water is quite annoying. Will it quiet down when I fill the chamber with LR rubble?

[Yedgy]

Originally posted by InLimbo87

Make sure to keep the filter floss nice and rinsed if you go that route. Personally, I skipped all mechanical filtration with my 12g and all is going well.

InLimbo87, what do you have in your filter chambers if you have no mechanical filtration? Is it all filled with LR?

[pantala]

I do not have any mechanical filtration in my BC14.

My chambers are set up as follows:

Chamber one- Heater, removed stock filter, widened overflow to chamber two

Chamber two- LR rubble, chaeto, submersible lights, temperature probe, removed bioballs

Chamber three- MJ900, ChemiPure

I found that filter floss anywhere in the system reduced water flow enough to drop water levels too far for the MJ900. I finally gave up after seeing other people without mechanical filtration and things are running fine. The water is not crystal clear, but many of the suspended particles are copepods anyways.

If I or something else kicks up a dust storm, it only takes about an hour for the water to clear itself.

Also, without bioballs in chamber two, you can add water to the system until it is almost at the top of all the chambers. This will considerably cut down on the noise.

[InLimbo87]

Originally posted by Yedgy
InLimbo87, what do you have in your filter chambers if you have no mechanical filtration? Is it all filled with LR?

Actually, I have no live rock in my rear chambers. Here is my setup

Chamber 1: Added a mini-jet 606 pump. I drilled the false back and put in a bulkhead for a clean appearance

Chamber 2: Chaeto being lit from the back

Chamber 3: Replaced stock pump with mini-jet 606. Bag of chemi-pure

As you can see, all I use for filtration is my small refugium for a little bit of nitrate removal, and chemi-pure for chemical filtration. Other than that, I rely on live rock and live sand to do the rest for me.

[smartang22]

I replaced the stock pump with a Maxijet 900. I got rid of the bioballs and have LR rubble and chemipure elite and purigen in the second chamber. On top of the 2nd chamber I place filter floss and change it twice a week. It gathers a lot of crap during water changes and after which I like. I put my heater in the first chamber. Sometimes I wonder if I have enough flow, but I have xenia, green star polyps, yellow polys and zoanthids that are dying for some reason. I also have two big fan worms. They are weird but still pretty cool.

I fill water in all of the chambers to the top. This way the water level never falls too low.

Also, I bought the lighting mod from Nanotuners the other day. I plan on installing it this weekend. I have heard nothing but great things about the new lighting. Plus the people there are super helpful!

[Yedgy]

Day 2...

What a difference a day makes! The minor sandstorm is over and everything has cleaned up nicely (except the glass, but I'll take care of that shortly ):



I've noticed half a dozen of these tiny fanworms so far:



The LR appears pretty well cured, so I don't expect a lot of life on it...but ya never know!

[Yedgy]

Originally posted by Mitch529
I would remove some sand...

Originally posted by dastratt
I would *add* oolithic sand to get at least 4" depth.

2 posts, one right after the other. Gotta love RC!

After staring at the tank for a while, I think I'm going to stay with the level of sand in there now. How's that for diplomacy?

[Yedgy]

pantala,

Thanks for the tip on the gurgling! I've filled the tank up with more water, but I can't seem to get chamber 3 to fill up, although the water is well above the "maximum" line (which I assume is there for the bio-ballers?). The gurgling is still there, but it's much quieter now.

[Yedgy]

Originally posted by smartang22
I bought the lighting mod from Nanotuners the other day. I plan on installing it this weekend. I have heard nothing but great things about the new lighting. Plus the people there are super helpful!

smartang22, PLEASE post your experiences with the Nanotuners kit! Is it this one? If so, their website states that it's for the "2006" BioCube 14. Having just bought mine yesterday, I wonder if mine is still a 2006 or a later, incompatible model?

[Yedgy]

Well, there are at least 15 little fanworms now present throughout the rockwork.

I upgraded the stock pump with an MJ900. The pump compartment was just a little too small to accommodate the 900, so I sawed off as much of the intake tube as I could. Here's a before-and-after of the intake housing:



I slid the pump in at an angle. You can see it in this pic--look in the reflection on the back glass for a clear view of the nozzle:



I oriented the return outlet inward and a little upward to agitate the surface. I also added a Koralia 1 pump and angled it to create turbulence in the middle of the tank. Now my flow is MUCH better. Areas of the tank that didn't move at all are now nicely swaying in the breeze.

The Koralia is big, but it looks cool. I left the flow concentrator nozzle on for now, figuring it would make for a stronger flow, but I don't know how much of a difference it really makes. The Koralia is super-silent, too.

Here's an FTS (yeah, I know, I need to clean the glass...someday!)...



...and a view of the magnet from the side:

[Capt_Cully]

looks good. can't wait to set up my 24. your pics will help.

[workstoomuch]

I have the same tank you got. Only mods I have done are:

Chamber 1)

Pulled the stock filter and have my heater in there.

Chamber 2)

Removed the bio-balls, replaced with about 2lbs. of LR with a bag of chemi-pure sitting on top of the rubble and a little filter floss on top of that.

Chamber 3)

stock

I'm pretty happy with my set-up so far. The water stays clear and nothing has gone belly-up.

[DaMonkey]

I've been looking at these tanks and yours looks like it is off in the right direction. The pics on your mods too are extremely helpful!

[Yedgy]

Thanks for encouraging my behaviour, DaMonkey! If the pics help anyone set up a kick-butt BC, it would be well worth the effort.

[Yedgy]

I picked up a couple lbs. of LR rubble from the LFS today. I figured 2 pounds would be enough to fill chamber 1 about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way plus fill the part of chamber 2 that lies beneath the false floor.



The rubble was very silty, so I also picked up a cheap colander (which is apparently intended for washing berries) to sift out the silt and sand-size particles, leaving me with just the larger pieces that wouldn't impede flow too much.

Dipping the berry bowl in about a gallon of saltwater, I "panned for gold" for several minutes, until I was left with squeaky clean rubble!



I found a few interesting things in the rubble, among them a bristleworm, dozens of urchin spines, and a few mollusc shells. I didn't notice any 'pods.



I was left with about 3/4 lb. of tiny particles, which I discarded:



I had a hard time removing the false floor in chamber 1. If anyone is following along, I recommend doing it before filling the tank with water! I applied pressure along the back glass in the middle of the chamber until the floor collapsed. I couldn't get it out, so I just left it sitting at an angle, where it would help ensure good flow through the rubble. Here's what chamber 1 looks like decked out with its rubble (apologies for the poor focus):



I put the rest, mostly small bits, in the bottom of chamber 2. Because of the cleaning, there was hardly any murkiness in the water when I turned the pumps back on, but unfortunately those pesky microbubbles are still there.

[Yedgy]

My aquascaping has been pretty anemic, so I picked up another 4-lb rock (turns out it's Kaelini) at an LFS and re-scaped. I'm pretty happy with the results:



I deliberately chose largish rocks because I didn't want to have more than 2 layers of rock. The display tank now looks more like a reef and I still have plenty of room on the sand for a plate coral, clam, GSP rock, zoa rocks, etc. Also, I positioned the rocks to make best use of nooks and crannies as mounting points for frags. I'll keep the specimens that like the higher flow on the top shelf, where they can be caressed by the flow from the K1.

[Yedgy]

I've been winging it for the past several days by finger-testing my tank's temperature, and I got a nasty surprise once I hooked up a digital thermometer: 86.4 degrees! Yikes! I've been cooking up a cauldron of live rock stew!

And that's before I even upgrade the lights...and after the summer heat wave...

Phoenix is legendary for its "dry heat," which means that what we call "room temperature" is much higher than what is customary in more humid areas of the country. I typically keep the thermostat at around 87 during the summer and around 80 the rest of the year. That may seem uncomfortably warm to many people, but as they say around here, "it's a dry heat." Anyhoo, 87 ambient degrees is 87 ambient degrees, regardless of the humidity. Add in pumps, MH lights, and a tight-fitting cover, and I've got a recipe for failure.

I quickly realized that I'm not going to get away with this without a chiller, so I got one. A JBJ Mini Arctica, to be exact:



I could have gotten away with the Nano version, which is 1/20th HP, but I opted for this version (1/15th HP) because of the temperature differential and because it's more "future-proof" in case I upgrade to a larger nano some day. It's actually not bad looking, and pretty quiet. It's pretty small and looks kinda like a PC. I also picked up a JBJ installation kit, which includes some 1/2" tubing and inlet/outlet tubes for a finished look.



NOTE: the installation kit does not come with the chiller, and it's not necessary. If you can find tubing and U-tubes to fit your needs for less than the price of the kit, go for it!

The outflow to the chiller is in chamber 1. I used the stock pump that came with the BC. It sits atop the LR rubble. I think the chiller expects a bit more flow, but the stock pump fits and the flow isn't too bad with the 3 feet or so of head pressure. I may swap it out for a Mini-Jet 606 if folks here think it would work better. The inflow is going into chamber 3.

I had to cut the inlet and outlet tubes to fit the BC, and I extended the inflow tube with a few inches of tubing to make sure the inflow is always below the water line. I placed the temp probe in chamber 1.

Here's a pic of chamber 1:



And here's one of chamber 3:



The chiller worked as expected, cooling the tank to 80 degrees within 20 minutes. I probably wouldn't have cooled it down so quickly if it were stocked with corals, though.

My next task is to open up the notches in the back of the lid to accommodate the U-tubes, and to open up the flow a bit between chambers 1 and 2.

[Yedgy]

The Dremel with a cylindrical grinding tool made short work of enlarging the openings:



I could have dug a little deeper, but I was getting sick off the fumes of burning plastic.

I tucked the electrical cables under the U-tubes and everything now just barely fits into the opening without pinching.



Ah! Nice and stock-looking, just as I like it! Except for the chiller, anyway--or the "subwoofer," as I like to call it.