Cycling a 14g Bio Cube with live rock and live sand

flyinggig

flyinggig

AC Members
Jan 7, 2012
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Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador
Real Name
Greg
Just picked up a used 14 gallon Oceanic Bio Cube for a great price. Live rock and sand included. This deal is the starw that broke the camels back as it were and is thrusting me into the salt water real. I've been keeping freshwater fish for 5 years or so now. I cycle fishless with ammonia. I love to DIY EVERYTHING!!
This tank has been running for a couple of years. Planning on FOWLR and undecided on the fish as of yet.... way down the road. Will be testing water quality and adding a CUC when all settles down. Also adding a penguin 1140 powerhead for extra circulation. What can I expect in the way of a mini-cycle due to the move? I have an in-exhaustable supply of pristine/clean sea water and intend to go this route.
 
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This is the tank...... freshly filled, penguin 1140 powerhead with quick filter is temporary for now. Water was pretty cloudy after the move. Lots of detrius in the small bit of water left in the tank during the transfer/move. The rock travelled in a bucket covered in old tank water. The sand bed got a good shake up, but the penguin has quickly removed most of the debris. There is very good flow in the tank right now, the sand bed is looking very clean now.

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Welcome to saltwater! Nice cube. Rockwork is really well done.

If the tank has been running for years and you kept the rock wet during transport, your only concern should be the sand and since it is a shallow bed (good), it should be a week or two tops before things settle back down. Water tests are the only way to know for sure though. That rock looks awfully white for a mature tank. If the rock was cured was there a reason why you added ammonia?
 
greech said:
Welcome to saltwater! Nice cube. Rockwork is really well done.

If the tank has been running for years and you kept the rock wet during transport, your only concern should be the sand and since it is a shallow bed (good), it should be a week or two tops before things settle back down. Water tests are the only way to know for sure though. That rock looks awfully white for a mature tank. If the rock was cured was there a reason why you added ammonia?
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It was more of a 'mission statement'. I cycle fishless WHEN I cycle a tank...... :dance: LOL

I have no idea what the previous owner had stocked in this tank. I thought I'd see some evidence of SOMETHING living in at least the sand bed. Looks vacant. No CUC artists.
Thanks for weighing in Greech! I've read alot of your posts on AC. You'e been very helpful already!
 
greech, now I am curious: if the Lr is cured but there are no fish or other inhabitants in the tank, wouldn't it need ammonia, or some kind of input, to keep the cycle going? Or is cured LR a self-sustaining ecosystem all by itself?
 
With only a couple inches of water over the sand during the transfer....things got pretty mixed up. The bio balls were certainly drained of water when the tank was drained for the move. I would assume that this will cause some die-off and spark a mini-cycle. The LR remained submerged in a seperate bucket. I'm testing the water as we speak.... will post results.
 
XanAvaloni said:
greech, now I am curious: if the Lr is cured but there are no fish or other inhabitants in the tank, wouldn't it need ammonia, or some kind of input, to keep the cycle going? Or is cured LR a self-sustaining ecosystem all by itself?
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No you are correct, if a previously cycled tank is allowed to sit for an extended period without a food (ammonia - fish food, fish poop, etc) source, the bacteria population will eventually die off and when a food source is introduced at a later time, there will be a spike until the bacteria populations re-establish themselves. flyinggig mentioned that the tank was setup for years before he got the tank so I was wondering why someone would intentionally add pure ammonia to a system which already contained a sufficient bacteria population. Not a huge deal since the bacteria should convert the ammonia fairly quickly and this is a good way to "test" the current condition of the rock before adding livestock again. However, the sudden addition of concentrated ammonia can and will kill larger life such as pods, micro starfish, etc.


flyinggig- The lack of pods, starfish and other visible life is suspect if the rock and sand truly came from a mature tank.
 
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No ammonia was added to this tank. I did some testing, Ammonia 0.3 ppm, ph 6.9, salinity 1.030 water temp 81 F. I only have FW test kits other than those previously listed. Gotta stock up on some SW test kits. I siphoned out some sludge from my 1st chamber and it gave me a chance to adjust my salinity levels down a smidge. (Now 1.021)
Lots of detrius and sludge in those bottom chambers..... drawback on the biocube engineering side I guess. It's only a matter of time before I start tinkering with it. Been reading alot about people removing the bio balls as well as the little plastic piece between chamber 1 and 2. I see that the water level must be high enough to keep the return pump fed. Filter floss on the drip tray seems to slow the flow to the return pump.... tinkering with position fixed it.
 
Also,
Placed the heater in chamber 1, removed the quick filter off the 1140PH, now it stands alone on the back right hand wall for additional circulation. Charcoal/floss cartridge removed (as I don't know how old it is). Small piece of floss on drip tray (changed when dirty).
 
Sounds like you got it. pH is a little low but I wouldn't try and tweak it at this point. Might want to try and cool the tank off a couple degrees as well. The bioballs just wouldn't have provided much benefit over the LR and could eventually trap more detritus. Siphoning out those back chambers once in a while is a very good idea. When I had my cube, I was changing the floss pretty much every other day. I ended up using pillow stuffing (non-flame resistant polyester) from the fabric store. You can get a huge bag for a fraction of the price of aquarium filter floss. May also want to good inTank and checkout their media baskets and other cube accessories. Congrats again on the startup!
 
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