Thinking of Building a Biocube 14G

Hey guys,

It's been awhile. Long story short if you remember I built a 30 gallon salt set up. It's still running strong and I've had no casualties. It was a pleasure making such a fun system. Sadly, I left Michigan and now live in Oregon and left it behind. My father is now keeping care and enjoying it. Thankfully for him he didn't have to go through the hard part of establishment. Well, my fiancee and I are really missing having a tank in our home and I've been looking into a biocube system.

My goal for the tank is mainly rare zoas and maybe some other small corals like mushrooms. As for fish I would like to keep maybe one or two small species. I was thinking a Jester Goby or a small pistol shrimp / goby shrimp combo. Thoughts?

Let's not jump too far ahead though! Right now I'm building a shopping cart of items to get started. Let me know what you think of the equipment. Is there anything I can upgrade over what I have found? Is there more I may need? Let me know!

Oceanic 82051 BioCube Aquarium 14 gal
Ocean 82053 Biocube Protein Skimmer
Deep Six Hydrometer
Carib Sea Ocean Direct Live Aragonite 20 lbs
Hdro Koralia Nano 240 GPH
Red Sea Coral Pro 55 gal bucket

I was reading that with these small tanks the pumps create enough heat where a heater isn't needed. I was thinking of running it like this for a few weeks and making sure the temperature sets well. Afterwards I would proceed to purchase my live rock. I guess for an extra $100 I can get the 29 gallon Biocube, which is exactly close to the same size I had before. Should I possibly thinking about getting that larger size? I would love the Metal Halide system but it's out of my price range. Right now I'm thinking small and in-expensive. Last time I built the 30 gallon extremely quickly, this time I want to take it slow and enjoy my tanks evolution.

Thanks ahead of time.

That's a great deal! Sadly it's on back order till April 10th but I guess that gives me more time to think about it and look into more options.

What would be a good skimmer with this set up? I had a Eshopps HOB skimmer that I loved but I doubt it would work for this.

After reading about Nano vs Bio threads everywhere I guess the biggest question is, Nano or Bio cube? Right now I'm leaning toward the Nano with the CF quad lighting (although I wonder how hard it is to find replacement bulbs), more water flow and a wave maker. The Biocube, however, has a more customizable back area and a sleeker look. They are roughly the same price as well, hard decision.

I'm leaning toward the 28 / 29 gallon now.

After pricing everything out in the long run I'm now thinking my original plan of the 14 gallon is the way to go. With the double the tank comes double the substrate, salt, live rock and livestock. That in turn means double the money. I just want something cheap, fun and challenging. I already went pretty crazy with my last set up that my father has now inherited. Now I just want something smaller which makes selection of livestock more focused on the final product. I'm thinking the tank would make a nice home for a pistol shrimp / goby.

I've never had great luck with Jester's. They do well for a few weeks and then all of a sudden disappeared in my tank. After the third one I quit. So I'll take the advice and not get one in such a smaller tank. As for the skimmer the two you mentioned are two that I was looking at. I'm going to wait on that for a bit though until I start purchasing live rock. I'm pretty pumped and have my shopping cart full of stuff to begin the cycling process. I also threw in water testing items as for some reason I forgot about those. With the 14g biocube (on sale) and everything else I'm looking just under $300 which includes basic 3-5 day shipping.

Blue, that seems pretty impressive and active for such a small size. I've been reading reviews on the Bios and Nanos and there seems to be a lot of negativity on the tanks with mechanical errors or breakage. I'm not starting with the 14 BC, obviously, but I'm just getting a smaller tank rather than a larger one. I find the tiny fish more interesting for some reason.

My next question is where should I order live rock? I remember tails of an internet store that always had crazy hitchhikers. Liveaquaria seems expensive but I've never ordered online before.