I use the acrylic magfloat just to be safe.

For people running sunpods w/ either the stock 14K bulb, or Phoenix:

Do you feel that you see enough of the phosphorescence from the halide and/or the LED's, or do you feel that you would benefit from actinic supplementation?

What has anyone done for said supplementation?

Thanks, this thread is great BTW!

Is the stock filter cartidge bad? Or is it ok for a noob?

I have a 150W sunpod over my 25G and I am happy with the colors my stock 14k bulb gets me.

One option for actinic supplementation would be to use a fixture like this (of course this is not helpful if you already own a sunpod):


Now I have never heard of anyone using this particular fixture on a biocube, but it appears to have adjustable legs, so I would imagine it would work. 24" is the smallest fixture so it would work best on a 29G Biocube and there would be some overhang.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...mp;pcatid=15486



No the stock filter cartridge is not really "bad," but it does have some issues. First off it is not very cost effective. They are like $4+ a piece and that begins to add up over the lifetime of your biocube. A bag of carbon, and filter floss would do the trick much better for a lot less.

If you change your cartridge once a month that is going to cost you around $50 a year. A big jar of carbon, bag of filter floss, and a media bag would probably run you $25 and would last longer then a year.

Secondly the cartridge slows down the flow in you biocube. If you remove it you will notice that the surface skimming works better.

And finally, because they are only changed once a month, detritus builds up in the cartridges (causing a rise in nitrates which in turn stresses your livestock) and even with rinsing it is difficult to remove. If you use filter floss you can change it every few days. (I bought a bag of filter floss 2 years ago for less then $5 and I am only 3/4 of the way through it.)

Would anybody be interested in doing something like a Biocube of the Month contest? I haven't really thought out any of the details, but it could be fun.

How exactly do you set the floss and carbon up? Put it in a bag? I didn't see it in this thread.

I'll probably do the fuge eventually. I'm pretty good with electical engineering and so is my dad, and I have two 40W 6000K CFLs lying around.

Take the filter cartridge out.

Remove the drip tray in the second chamber, throw your bag of carbon, phosban, or chemipure into chamber 2, then replace the drip tray. Put your filter floss on top of the drip tray.

That is what I do in my 14 and it seems to work well

If you arrange one, I can throw in a free media basket as a prize. Maybe a fish saver but a media basket would be more fun to receive and holds more value.

Let me know.

ohhh we talking new biocube? or already set up?

interesting idea...

UWWMatt - Nice job on this thread!!

My 29BC is here - http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...=165102&hl=

I copied most of my mods from divecj5's threads - http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=125328 and here http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...=132162&hl=

Well that would certainly make things a lot more interesting. Although I am not sure how we would make it fair. I guess we would have to do newly set up biocubes.



I removed the sponge by the return pump, and set the bag of carbon in that little slot. I put filter floss over the drip tray.

Sometime in the near future I plan on doing a write up on filtration like I did on lighting.

It seems like over the drip tray it would do very little filtering because the water only drops down on the right.

And does the carbon come in bags? I was thinking loose carbon. That's why I was confused. Could I just buy loose and put it in a cheesecloth bag? I cn get it dirt cheap through my chemistry suppliers.

All the water in your biocube passes over the drip tray making it the best location. You just put a clump of it along that right corner. You don't need to cover the whole drip tray. It will turn brown in a couple days, and then you replace it.

I use loose carbon and put it in a media bag. Never put loose media directly in the tank. That would be a nightmare.

If you get carbon through your chemistry supplier you are going to need to take in to consideration the grain size. It is going to need to be large enough to allow water to flow through it.

Im gonna be sad to take down my biocube.But the new 30 breeder will make things little better i hope.I like the contest idea.


Oh maybe to contest for two.One being 1+year old and one other for under one year.But the prize if any will go to the under 1 year cause more then likely could use the prize more then some of the older tanks.Just a thought.

Yeah I thought just dumping carbon in seemed like a bad idea.

I just put a cartridge in the tank, and I have another new one. After that I'll throw in the floss and carbon.

Has anyone done a DIY 70w MH in their 14g hood or attempted one? I saw the NC12g ones but was curious if anyone tried it with the bio cube. Or if there are pics of the nanotuners one installed.

+1 I am going to be doing this in the near future. The best I can find is a writeup on a BC29 hood mod. Figured it would be similar, just dealing with less space. If you search the DIY forum for "+retro +biocube" in titles only it will come up. If I am the first to go, I'll try to document well.

Ya I will most likely try it also at some point as well. I would really like to try to incorporate the actintics and moon lights as well.

Don't know if its been said but.

A Tunze 9002 Nano Doc skimmer will fit in chamber 2 with a few things to note:

1. No hood, not sure if it would fit with a hood but its fine without the stock biocube hood.
2. The Tunze cannot have the magnet attachment on it, I believe you have to special order it without the magnet
3. You have to cut out a little bit of the tank rim around chamber 2, just the over hanging lip and not the actual bracing


Unfortunately my 9002 came with a magnet and when trying to remove it I removed a nice chunk of the skimmer body. I was able to repair it with a piece of acrylic and some glue but be warned, that sucker is glued on heavily.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...61268&st=20

If you purchase the stock skimmer for the biocube here is a mod to make it work a little better.

yea biocube of the month sounds like a cool idea!

hi

Awesome guide!!!!!

I'm still a beginner but i wanna be part of this excelent guide

14 BC from Costa Rica

I actually took apart the hood tonight to see what exactly could be done as far as installing the 70w MH fixture and keeping the stock actintic bulb in the 14g nano cube.

I think a way to go about it would be to remove both bulbs and LEDs and mount the MH fixture in the center. Then I think you can take one of the stock bulbs and if you do it right make it fit in the position that the nanotuners 3.24 mod extra bulb fits.Which I believe from the picture I can see on their web page is directly on top of the heat shield with the vents in it that covers the fans.

I think that setup will work with the lights and the next part would be how to figure out the best way to cool it. Which I'm still brainstorming. But if you scrape the parts together right I think it could be done for around $100-120.

Your also going to need a new splash guard for the lights. With a metal halide bulb it would quickly melt the plastic stock guard.

Keep up posted and take lots of pictures of your process and research so others can see what you are doing!

My plan is to just Glue the UV glass that comes with one of the Brinks light fixtures onto the stock spash guard with a section cut out of it in the shape of the glass. This seems to work for most people and eliminates the melting.

I'm confident that this lighting arrangement will work its just a matter of figuring out exactly what I need to cool it without going to a chiller. Does anyone have a picture of the nanotuners MH one on the 14g? Or know how they cool it exactly?

They just use fans on an independent power supply. 50mm x 10mm, basically this http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php...products_id=365

They also use a temperature cutoff switch so that if the light gets to hot it automatically shuts off.

So they cool the whole thing with just those fans in the stock locations with the MH?

That is my understanding. I believe the fans the provide are stronger.

You can also install two additional fans if you want to mod the hood slightly. Evilc66 has some pics in the lighting forum as how he added two fans. I would buy some 50x10mm CPU fans with the highest CFM you can find and replace the stock ones. Then if temps climb too high, add the other two.

Great thread....could have really enjoyed this when i was starting up.

Here is my thread of my 29 bio cube with the mods i have done:
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=164535

i'm kinda jumping in on the 70w mh upgrade but you don't need to add a new splash guard, I have the 150w mh upgrade from nanotuners and i didn't have to get a new splash gaurd.....and my plastic didn't melt. They install better fans so that air moves through the guard better, i haven't had any problems with heating either. I stay right at 80 and everything is doing great. Nanotuners is pretty much the best thing i have done for my tank and i'm so happy i did it. I'll put some pictures off what the upgrade looks later.

they add two fans where the stock fans are one blowing in and the other out and there are two fans blowing across the halide bulb. You can also upgrade the upgraded fans if you want to, but i didn't because thos are supposed to be pretty loud and my tank is in my living room

Ok, so I am in the process of putting together a biocube contest that will include several prizes. Right now I am thinking there will be 3 categories, and each category will have its own winner.

The tentative categories right now are:

Biocubes Under 1 year
Biocubes Over 1 year
Biocubes w/stock lighting

Each member will be able to submit his/her biocube into one of these three sections. Eventually there will be guidelines and submitting instructions posted. Then we will have open voting by Nano-Reef members.

I will have more information sometime next week. Just keep checking back to this thread for updates.

cool cool maybe i can get in on that before tank comes down lol

So I bought the Brinks light fixture today from wal-mart ($10.75) and played around with my lid taken apart.

Looks like everything will fit how I planned with the MH and still able to keep the actintic bulb over the top of the fans.

I still need to do a bit more research on the fans I will need to make it work and run cool but I think I might be ordering the 70W ballast from ballastwise.com soon which is only $30.

Take some pictures

+1!

i just cant imagine what temps are with the mh under hood in a 14.Mine hit 80 with the sunpod.....Good luck people.

CHEAP FAN MOD

this summer my BC 14 temps raise to 83 Fº
so i just install a 50mm fan using this post as references

Looking for a DIY fan mod for BC14, Tank is too hot

electrical fan installation

tools and equipment
*scissors
*electrical tape
*razor
* 50 *25 mm fan )


*old sony-ericcson phone charger (5.1 v)


*3 pin to 4 pin fan adapter (old one too)


Steps
* cut 3 pin adapter cable
* cut phone conector from phone charger
* peel the ends of the wires with the razor
* join the ends of the wires, red with red, black with black
* tape all

you will get something like this


Fan installation

tools
*pen
*drill, bits and hole saws ( i use a 47mm hole saw )

steps (sorry i don't take pictures when i did the mod)
* disconect all cables from the hood ( lights and lunar leds)
* take out pin Hinges and hood
* use as reference center rib on the hood, place fan to one side of the rib and mark with the pencil
fan vent hole and screws holes
* drill vent hole, check position again and drill screws holes
* install fan and put everything back

you will get something like this



Notes
* my temps dropped from 81-83 Fº to 78-79 ºF
* i am using stock light
* 60mm fan produces less noise and better cooling
* the old phone chager use just 5.1v, this low voltage low fan RPM and nosise
you can use any AC adapter 12 v
* you can buy al fan stuff here
Nanotuner DIY air cooling
* you can try different orientation of the fan ( hot air out - fresh air in)
* adding a fan will increase evaporation

this is all

Great write up, thanks.

Thanks to this guide I purchased a BioCube 29 this weekend. I've already ordered StevieT's media and Fuge baskets. I've also made a fuge light based on uwwmatt and nanoreef11's design. Thanks to everyone's help here, I hope to have a beautiful reef tank soon. I do have a question, though. Will the Maxi-jet 900 fit in the third chanber of the tank?

Thanks!

One of my favorite filter mods if you are looking to keep your drip tray... very simple and effective.

My only variation is that i add some carbon back into the new filter pad (in the middle i separate a hole carefully with knife and add)...Then every few weeks i change it out. Cut the zip tie and remove and replace! Also place filter floss on top on drip tray for additional waste removal.

Drip Tray Mod

anyone have a mod on the bc29 where a mp20 is in the 2nd chamber?

I have a mp 20 and the whole point of the pump is so that motor is outside the tank. you also can't get the motor side wet so there is no mod that would work.

Just wondering, I know on here somewhere there is the mod to block off the bottom intake strainer. What does everyone think about that or has anyone done this and can comment on their experience?

Thanks

It helps i think.I just blocked mine with piece of lexan.It helps bring in more garbage from surface into the filter etc.

I've been playing around with it. I definately reccomend blocking off about four of the grates on the top intake (this increases the velocity and hence "suction" of the intake). I'm playing with how many to do on the bottom. I ran it for a few months completely blocked off, but thought a little bit might aide is pulling out junk in the lower part of the tank. I definately think you want most of your water flowing through the top grate, so lately I have been running it with all but 2 grates covered on the lower grate. I actually observe junk being sucked into it.
Just get a piece of plastic for the top and bottom grates and play with it until you get good results.

Well im going to continue messing with the intakes but,.......the big news(at least to me) is that my bc14 is now rimless. ill post pics later.

how do you attach the plastic?

Suction. As long as the pump is running it will hold it in place. FOr the lower intake I did however make the plastic long enough that I stick it in the sand to hold in place

Do you mean the first, or 3rd chamber, because if your talking about the 3rd chamber ( the one on the left side, if im standing there looking at it from the front) then thats where the stock pump goes, and the mj 900 is almost the same as the stock pump. If I were you, I would go with the mj1200!

We need pic's of the rimless Biocube!