bio cube 14 started today

[joshsliftedzj]

HI all I just started up a bio cube today. so far i have 14lbs of live rock, live sand and r/o water from my lfs. This is my first saltwater tank. I have tons of fresh water expirence. So any help or suggestions will be greatly awesome!!


Josh

[Fishfriend1]

Welcome to SW
Ok first things first u will want to let is cycle. The cycle is just like FW, cept with salt. Fish that are good in a small tank would be Firefish, gobies, and anything here :
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=15+2124&r=3121+22+32&s=ts&start=1&page_num=1&count=21
SW is expensive so u will want to take it slowly and not get to many fish to fast. Never get anything until u research it. If u want to get corals you will a more advanced person then me.
You will need some kind of clean up crew made of hermits, snails, and/or other crabs. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=420

[joshsliftedzj]

thanks for the info. Kinda nervous about it. I have been wanting to start on for a while. Just got back from Iraq and now i have a little money saved. So this is what i spent it on. I am sure it will be worth while.

[greech]

Looks good, do you have any other water flow in there besides the return pump? Probably want to look into a powerhead.

I would also recommend a few things:

Remove the sponge and bioballs that came with the tank. These will collect detritus and make it harder to keep water quality. Get a media rack from here http://shop.mediabaskets.com/BioCube-14_c15.htm or make one for yourself out of eggcrate. This site also sells submersible lights that you can use to make on of your rear chambers into a refugium.

Get some polyfill from walmart to use as filter floss to use in the media rack. It is very cheap and you can throw it away twice a week instead of trying to rinse a sponge.

[joshsliftedzj]

Cool thanks for the link i wil look into it. What about a protein skimmer? I was looking at those also.

[greech]

Depends on what you plan on doing with the tank. A skimmer is not necessary with a nano IF you are willing/able to do regular water changes. 2-3 gallons a week should be all that tank needs unless you cram a bunch of fish in there or you feed a lot. A skimmer will likely provide some insurance for your water quality. If it were me I would just do WC's at least for a while and do some research on what you want to keep and your skimmer options.

[joshsliftedzj]

just thought of this. Do i need a heater or just rely on the lights in the tank?

[greech]

Unless you keep your house a constant temp of about 76-80 degrees, then get a heater. I like my Rena Smart heater but a lot of people also recommend the Stealth heaters by I believe marineland.

[joshsliftedzj]

Got a stealth heater today. Gonna test my water and possibly get a clown fish this weekend.

[Fishfriend1]

Good for u, plz keep us posted.

[joshsliftedzj]

pic taken this morning.

[Fishfriend1]

wow that looks so cool, great design.

[joshsliftedzj]

Yea I am excited about it. Cant wait to get going good!!

[Fishfriend1]

good luck

[greech]

I agree, nice aquascape. Good looking rock as well!

[joshsliftedzj]

i have some more sand do you think that I should put it in. it would be 10lbs total if I do.

[greech]

You could add a little but I really recommend you try and stay below 1" to 1.5" max depth.

[joshsliftedzj]

cool thanks for all of the great help. You guys are the best!!

[joshsliftedzj]

well the added sand looks a little better in the tank. Now i am fighting with the heater. Trying to get it back down to 79 deg. Shot up to 82

[Fishfriend1]

oh dear, put in at 3 degrees below the wanted temp if you live in a hot area.

[greech]

Agreed you might want to set it a little lower but not too far. Since biocubes have a closed top, the light heat can cause some fluctuations. Are the fans running in the hood?

[powerkit]

mmmmm...that rock work looks nice! Do you know what corals your interested in yet? (Sorry if I missed that somewhere already) I think LPS are the BEST! your hardscape has a lot of potential, cant wait to see some updates!

[joshsliftedzj]

Thanks it has only been going for 3 days now. I don't want to rush it. There is so much out there i am kinda overwhelmed at the moment. Keeping my options open. Greech my fans are running. Set the heater to 72 and my tank is at 80 deg at the moment. I think that it has stabilized. Well hopefully!

[joshsliftedzj]

Wife saw some crittrers on the rock this morning. Oh well i guess i will see some sometime. She was the lucky one.

[greech]

My aquapod ran at a constant 80 to 81 but in the summer I often had to leave the feed lid open to vent the air a bit more. I also would open the entire top for a couple of hours when I got home from work to let some fresh air in and cool it down a bit more for the next day. There are a number of mods you can do as well. Checkout this thread if you would like to see what other have done to their cubes.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=180788 (http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=180788)

[joshsliftedzj]

lol I am on that forum also. I need all the help i can get. There are a lot of steps to get the tank right. I have been to the store so many time in the past few days. MY paramerters are ph8.2
amm 0
nitrates 0
nitrates 0
Going good so far

[joshsliftedzj]

thinking about putting some polyp corals, a clownfishand goby of some sort

[greech]

Good duo for that tank. Would recommend an Ocellaris clown. Are you waiting a bit before adding?

[joshsliftedzj]

yea i don'twant to jump in head first and waste a bunch of money. i am curious about a cuc. when should i put them in.

[greech]

Astea and certith snails for for rocks and glass, Nassaruis for sifting through the sand, blue leg hernits for picking at rocks and algae for starters. Probably satrt with 6 of each snail and 3 to 4 hermits. Se how they do and if you need to hire more workers get them. Keep in mind these guys work for you so don;t be afriad to mive a snail or two to neglected areas :). Here is a good online source for CUCs. John is a top notch. Know that he throws in extras all the time so you will likely get more than you order. he has som things that most LFSs don't carry. If you email him your specs he can put together a package for you.

[joshsliftedzj]

cool looks like i have to get this water under control first. The sg is way to high in it.

[powerkit]

Cucumbers are awesome. I have 4 in my reef. two filter feeders and two sandsifters. I would wait to put them in until the tank has been established for a few months without any param. issues. Then make sure you keep a close eye on it because they can be detrimental to a tank when they die.

[joshsliftedzj]

got the sg down to 1.022. Def mixing my ouw water from here on out. prob cheaper in the long run!!

[masterchef518]

some body might say other wise but i dont think a heater is needed with the bio cube i dont have a heater in mine and i mantain about an 80 to 81 degree water temp but its also about 50 ft away from a window that get full afternoon sun

[masterchef518]

i guess i should have reloded my browser before posting i see this issue was already brought up and taken care of

[joshsliftedzj]

ye I got taken care of. I didn't realize the heater was set so hight. Whoops.

[joshsliftedzj]

ok got a wild hair and modded my tank. so I got the maxi900, cut out the tab, removed bio balls, added filter fiber, bag of carbon and chemi-puer elite. my tank is still new 4 days old. Trying not to spend too much more money. Wife is asking ? now. Is my setup good for the moment. I am really new and overwhelmed at the moment. Any input will be great. Thanks to everyone who has helped me in other threads.

Josh

[greech]

I am really new and overwhelmed at the moment. Any input will be great. Thanks to everyone who has helped me in other threads.

Josh

I was right where you are when I got my cube. The MJ 900 was a good investment. Your fine where you are. Once you get you SG where you want it just top off your rear chambers with fresh RO/DI water as needed and do some water tests. Try and do them the every couple of days for the next week or two and see what happens. The Chemipure will pull some gunk out of the water but it probably will be spent sooner than it normally would because the tank is cycling. You can pull it out and seal it up real well and use it after concentrations start to decline. You can leave the carbon to keep your water clear but change it out every week. It will absorb some of the bad stuff but once its saturated it will begin to leach them back into your tank.

You shouldn't need to buy anything else until the cycle is complete when you can add a CUC. You don;t need another power head until you get corals.

Can I ask how you have your floss, carbon, and CPE setup in your rear chambers? How much floss are you using?

[joshsliftedzj]

ok i have nothing but theheater inchamber 1. the filter floss is at the overflow catching whatever goes into chamber 2. i left the "shelf in 2 and put the carbon on top of it and the chemipure is in the bottom of 2. I left the sponge in 3with the pump. Hopefully this will work. Watcha think.

[greech]

That sounds good. Make sure you rinse that sponge often and replace it every so often. So is the floss resting on top of the carbon to prevent it from getting pushed down to the bottom of the chamber? The reason I asked is that if you have a huge wad of floss that you are going to pull out every few days, you will remove all the saltwater that floss held (assuming you wouldn't ring it out back into the tank :)) and when you top off with fresh you will bring down your SG. This may be obvious to you but I must admit this very thing screwed me up the first couple of weeks :). I made a media rack so I could use a small amount of floss.

[joshsliftedzj]

i have the carbon in a mesh filter bag sitting on top of the shelf. Is this not reccomenned

[joshsliftedzj]

oh and i left the top strainer piece in it. that is where floss is.

[greech]

No that's fine, you're good. Just curious how the floss is being supported. Just don't forget to change out the floss every couple/few days. You really don;t need the carbon in addition to the CPE. Its not a bad idea for now to clear up the water and is cheaper than the CPE. After your tank cycles, I would just stick with a bag of the CPE every couple/three months.

[joshsliftedzj]

cool i will take a pic in the am and post it on here. thanks for everything. you have been a great help.

[Conski]

the 900? thats gonna be a crap ton of flow, i replaced mine with a 600 and my corals are happy as can be.. i dk if thatll be overkill, but i also have a koralia mini...

interested on how your modding this thing, i used to use poly filters every but those became a hefty weight on my wallet, the biocube filters work great regardless.

i dk keep us updated and i hope your biocube brings you as much happiness as mine does.. youll soon realize how overheated it will get with that hood ( i dk if you replaced it or not)

[joshsliftedzj]

i haven't done anything to the the hood yet. i am done modding for the moment. it is day 5 now and i am going to do a water change tomorrow. i got the temp under control. my ? of the day is what lights need to be on and at what times.. do i keep the 2led's on allof the time esp when the 10k bulb is on. and what is the acentic lights used for. thanks again

Josh

[joshsliftedzj]

this is how the filter floss is set up. on day 5 now tested my water. sg1.021
ph8.2
amm0
nitrate0
nitrite.25
temp80deg
so it looks like my tank is cycling. thinking about some snails and a hermit crab this weekend

[Fishfriend1]

lookin good.

Can we have a full tank pic?

[joshsliftedzj]

changed the rock a little yesterday while i was changing out the stuff in the tank.:headbang2:

[greech]

That really looks great! No snails until the nitites go away and nitrate (next) start to deline.

LEDs are only for looks at night so don't run them during the day when the other lights are on. Basically you want to run your 10K bulb about 6-8 hours a day and have the actinic bulb on an hour or so before and after the 10K on/off. The LEDs after all goes off. This will give you a sort of dawn 'til dusk affect. You can set them up on timers so you don't have to think about it. By the way have you seen these?

Plug and play shimmer or supplemental actinics :). Won't do much for growth but nice looking color.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzVltnNIbRk

BTW are you getting your floss from Walmart? You can get a huge bag in the fabric department for $4 that will last for 6 months easy. Its called Morning Glory Poly Fill.

[Fishfriend1]

awesome tank.

[joshsliftedzj]

cool i will go there and get some when my is close to being used up. I got mine at pet smart.I didn't know you could the stuff from the fabric dept. Would've never thought to look there! lol. That is what I have been doing with the lights. Guess I did something right!!
Nitrites are the better of the three right. Ammonia and nitrates.

[greech]

Yep, nitrates are the less toxic of the 3. Ideally everything is zero though. The floss is in a large clear bag with a green label in the front. Pretty sure the brand is Morning Glory.

[joshsliftedzj]

well i will see what the water is when i change it tomorrow. then i will go from there. I am heading to wally world tomorrow. I will see if i can find it.

[greech]

Man I love the internet!

http://i709.photobucket.com/albums/ww93/greech/IMG_1327.jpg

Buy the way you don't want the "Cluster Stuff". You don't need the down like softness (see last bullet on the bag :))

[joshsliftedzj]

lol they would be so much more comfortable then!!! Thanksfor the pic i will look for it then.

[masterchef518]

man i wish my bc could look that nice i have a terrrible case of hair algae i need to increase the size of my clean up crew but mine is also adjacent to a window like i said in my earlier post

[joshsliftedzj]

mine is beside a window also. I taped the side of it closed. my tank is only 7 days old. just got diatom at the bottom of tank. so i think my cycle is just about done! yay!! alsop did a water change. water test looks good.

[joshsliftedzj]

water is looking really good starting to see some color and "things" crawling on the rocks. Gonna get some snails and maby a few hermit crabs this week. How do you guys feel about hermit crabs? I have heard mixed things about them.

[Fishfriend1]

I love hermits and think that the are a very cool part of the home aquarium.

WOW that sounds forced lol.

[greech]

I have had no issues with my blue leg hermits other than some family feuds which are few and far between. They can harass snails too but I saw one of my Nassarius snails absolutely roll one of my hermits the other day when the hermit tried to size him up. I see a fair amount of scarlet/red leg hermits around as well but I have never had one.

[joshsliftedzj]

Cool. I am going to get my cuc this weekend. Going to get a variety of snail and a couple of hermit crabs. Might even look into a couple of clown fish. Oh yea and possibly a shrimp of some sort.

[masterchef518]

i have a coral banded shrimp in my 14g and i love it they are so pretty kind of a recluse though

[greech]

I had a Blood/Fire shrimp and it was hidden all the time which is a shame because they are beautiful. It would come out at feeding time though and crawl on my hand and arm. I have a skunk cleaner shrimp now which also will feed from my hand and its out all the time. My angel also stops by at least once a day for a cleaning which is always cool to watch. I never had a coral banded but I have read about them being bullies (might be a case-by-case thing). Are you still thinking about a lionfish? Not certain but I wouldn't think a shrimp would last very long.

Make sure you acclimate your CUC and shrimp slowly to your tank water. Drip acclimation over an hour or two is best but floating and adding water to the bags every 15-minutes or so can be done as well. Just don't rush it.

[joshsliftedzj]

well it might look like my tank is going to be put on hold. Just found out I am being deployed again. Don't think my wife is up to takeing care of the tank while I am gone

[greech]

Oh man and you had it going so well! The cube will be easy to store and set back up again when you get home. Just take care of business and get home safe.

[joshsliftedzj]

well i think she is going to do it. Fowlr hope it does good while i am gone.

[greech]

I'm sure she will do great and the tank will be healthy and mature when you get back. We'll be happy to help out if she runs into any problems.

[joshsliftedzj]

so i got my cuc today 3 blue legged hermits, 3 turbo snails, 3 margherita snails, 2 nassarius snails and a peppermint shrimp. i really like the shrimp he just hangs on the rock. i find my self staring at it.

[greech]

Nice mix. You might want a few more nass snails for the sand down the road and you might need to remove your turbos (or at least 2 of them) eventually. Turbos get huge and they eat a lot. They are also known to bulldoze down corals that are in there path. You could replace them with cerith and astrea snails which stay small and serve pretty much the same function. The turbos are ok for a little while though.

Shrimps are definitely hypnotizing :)

[joshsliftedzj]

I am about ot head out to work. I will post some pics when i get home. The shrimp is awesome.

[joshsliftedzj]

can't remember which snails are which any help!!

[megoto]

I know the large cone shaped one is a turbo snail the other's I'm not sure.

[Fishfriend1]

yea the larger ones are turbo snails, the smaller ones appear to be either cerith or nerites i think.

[greech]

Turbo, margarita, margarita, nassarius (sand), can't make out the forth pic but if its buried in the sand probably another nassarius.

[joshsliftedzj]

yea the 4th pis is 2 blue legged hermits. and the last one is my shrimp. not a very good pic. The snails are cleaning the heck out of my rock. thanks for help on the ssnails. i forgot what they were. LOL!!