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Innovative Marine Aquariums

UWWMatt's 14G biocube


uwwmatt

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nano-reef.jpg

 

 

Oceanic 14 Gallon Biocube

>Stock pump replaced with MaxiJet 900

>Filter media removed

>Filter floss over middle chamber

>Lighting upgrade (DIY details to come)

>Custom Fuge/DIY instructions linked

 

I started this tank about 1 year ago...

A friend of mine gave me the tank for a great deal (there is a catch). When I got it, it had a broken ballast and had been running with only one light for over 6 months at my friends house. He had given up on the tank and just stopped doing water changes, he only added top off. The first time I saw it the sides had so much algae on them that I could not even see into the tank. It took me about a months worth of scrubbing and partial water changes every 3 days to get it clean.

Other Equipment:

-Hydor Flo

-Oceanic skimmer (currently not in use)

-Koralia 1

-50w Hydor Heater

-Tsunami ATO

 

IMG_3493.jpg

 

 

Corals

-devils hand coral

-green star polyps

-purple star polyps

-yellow colony polyp

-blue candy cane

-purple candy cane

-neon green candy cane

-ricordia mushrooms

-purple mushrooms

-button coral

-branching anchor coral

-Frogspawn

-green fuzzy mushroom

-green lantern zoanthids

-Raspberry Zoanthids

-Red Colony Polyp

candycane.jpg

 

 

Fish

-bicolor blenny

-orange spotted goby

 

Inverts

-1 Scarlet hermit

-3 Blue legged hermits

-peppermint shrimp

-cleaner shrimp

-various snails of all kinds and sizes (I have never been good about identifying snails)

 

Other Info:

-salt:Reef Crystals

-S.G. 1.024

-Temp 78-80

-Weekly (sometimes every other week) water changes

-Feeding

-Enriched Mysis soaked in garlic guard 3-4 times a week

-Marine Snow mixed with cyclopies 1-2 times a week

-Photoperiod: 12 hours Display/ 12 hour fuge

 

 

Other additives:

-Purple up (sparingly)

-Kent Marine Coral Accel (Sparingly)

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TheCurriculum

nice :D

I'd be happy if my 14gBC turns out as nice as the salvage you performed

I'm still about a month away.. keep it up!

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  • 3 months later...

k another mars member......wow that is alot of water loss,I only lose tiny bit with my sunpod.Never have to top off between weekly changes.I bet could almost make 2 lol.

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  • 1 month later...

Tank looks sweet! Is there a certain way to put the maxijet 900 in the 3rd chamber? I am having to put sponges all around mine to help with the loud noise coming from the pump.

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  • 1 month later...

With the 900 pump do you leave in the blue filter media in the 3rd chamber and slide it down where the old pump sat? Just wondering. Looking in to buying one as everyone seems to be. The more flow the better right?

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With the 900 pump do you leave in the blue filter media in the 3rd chamber and slide it down where the old pump sat? Just wondering. Looking in to buying one as everyone seems to be. The more flow the better right?

 

The 900 sits right where the stock pump went. You may have to shave a little of the hose (just a few mm) because the new pump sits a little bit higher.

 

The more flow the better. In addition to the 900 I also have a koralia nano and a koralia 1 in the tank.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am getting ready to take this tank down, it has been a good run but it is about time for an upgrade. I am going to be moving this tank into my 25 gallon over the next week.

 

My 14 gallon has been running for almost 2 years without any major problems. I had one ballast go out, and a couple naughty fish that jumped into the back chambers, but overall things went surprisingly smooth.

 

One thing I have learned is that it would have been much easier had I done the upgrades all right at the beginning rather then spreading them out after the tank was already full.

 

My thoughts about my upgrades/additives:

Hydor flow- Removed after about 3 months because it broke. It is a good idea but really reduces the flow rate.

Verdict: Maybe

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...fm?pcatid=11363

 

3.24 lighting/Fan upgrade- A little tricky to install but my tank really benefited from 50% more light. The upgraded fans produced more noise (not distractingly loud) but they did keep the tank cooler.

Verdict: Yes

http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php...products_id=346

 

Maxijet900- This is a definite must have upgrade, and I wouldn't even consider a hydor flow without it.

Verdict: Yes

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...fm?pcatid=18989

 

Fuge/fuge light-This was a relatively easy modification, but I think it needs to be done from the beginning. I found that my tank went through another cycle when I removed the bioballs, even though I slowly did it over a period of several weeks. Plus cheato gets pulled into my return pump and needs to be watched carefully.

Verdict: Maybe

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=170506

 

carbon/filter floss-I definitely recommend doing this, the water quality is greatly increased for a minimal price.

Verdict: Yes

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...cfm?pcatid=4235

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...cfm?pcatid=5276

 

ATO-Removed after 1 month. While it worked just fine, the problem was the switch was not sensitive enough so it would only add ATO about once a week. This left the fresh water sitting without getting stirred in the bucket for long periods of time, allowing bacteria to grow. One solution would be to add another small pump to keep it constantly mixing, or on a timer, but I figured it was easy enough just to top it off myself.

Verdict: No

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...fm?pcatid=13959

 

PurpleUp- I know this is a hotly debated subject, but I had a good experience with it and noticed significant coralline growth.

Verdict: Yes

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...fm?pcatid=12799

 

Koralia 1- A cheap and powerful pump that adds a good deal of flow to the tank. My corals really benefited from the addtion of the Koralia 1, plus I also believe this helped keep my tank algae free for almost 2 years.

Verdict: Yes

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...fm?pcatid=15955

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Just ordered your lighting upgrade. Should come next week. Really excited about more light! Got the fancy moon lights and ballast upgrade aswell as my ballast has gone on my 2mth old tank. Grrr. Hopefully nanotuners upgrade will hold out. Thanks for the tips. Too bad you are shutting her down. Have to post pics of your new setup.

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Nice tank (and biocube guide).

 

Thanks, your coral and fish guides are great too.

 

Just ordered your lighting upgrade. Should come next week. Really excited about more light! Got the fancy moon lights and ballast upgrade aswell as my ballast has gone on my 2mth old tank. Grrr. Hopefully nanotuners upgrade will hold out. Thanks for the tips. Too bad you are shutting her down. Have to post pics of your new setup.

You won't be sorry about getting the lighting upgrade, it was probably one of the best things I did for my tank.

 

My Biocube has had a good run, but I have always liked the idea of starting from scratch and being in control of all the components.

 

 

B) tank looks amazing

 

Thank you

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3.24 lighting/Fan upgrade- A little tricky to install but my tank really benefited from 50% more light. The upgraded fans produced more noise (not distractingly loud) but they did keep the tank cooler.

Verdict: Yes

http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php...products_id=346

 

I have not done any mod with my BC14 lighting yet. I do like the look of the compact Biocube, stock hood in place. Nanotuner's 3.24 definitely is my lead choice. Would like to know how much benefit your corals got from the +50% lighting. I do plan to stick to easy to care of corals, no hard corals, just those that require med to high lighting max. Do you think these corals would not fare well in your tank if you did not upgrade your light? Would they have thrived at all? With the noise that goes with it as you mentioned, my other choice would be to use that extra space for Powebrite LED's just for the daytime viewing effect. If the 3.24 upgrade would not be justified based on my coral plans, I'd go with the Powerbrites.

 

By the way, did you choose pure actinic for the new bulb or 50/50? Thank you.

 

-rfa

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WhiteVelvetStarfish

Wow I really like what you did with the tank and that's a great guide all the way along. I really wish I had looked at this sooner lol.

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I have not done any mod with my BC14 lighting yet. I do like the look of the compact Biocube, stock hood in place. Nanotuner's 3.24 definitely is my lead choice. Would like to know how much benefit your corals got from the +50% lighting. I do plan to stick to easy to care of corals, no hard corals, just those that require med to high lighting max. Do you think these corals would not fare well in your tank if you did not upgrade your light? Would they have thrived at all? With the noise that goes with it as you mentioned, my other choice would be to use that extra space for Powebrite LED's just for the daytime viewing effect. If the 3.24 upgrade would not be justified based on my coral plans, I'd go with the Powerbrites.

 

By the way, did you choose pure actinic for the new bulb or 50/50? Thank you.

 

-rfa

The corals definitely benefited form the extra light and coverage. It didn't really allow me to keep any different corals, or I should say I didn't try keeping anything like SPS/clams/anemones that could be kept under halides or T5s. It did however really help the growth rates. I noticed increased growth in almost all of my corals.

 

Under 72W of PC lighting you can keep just about any soft coral, Leather, and LPS that you want. Could you keep them all under the stock lighting? Probably, but with less growth and extension. In my tank I have 1 50/50 and 2 regular bulbs. Some people like more actinics then that, but the tank looked good to me so I didn't bother.

 

As for the LEDs I don't really have any experience with them so I unfortunately won't be much help to you on that subject.

 

Wow I really like what you did with the tank and that's a great guide all the way along. I really wish I had looked at this sooner lol.

 

Thanks

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