Thanks, he has a 36 Watt one too. Also the wife prefers the hood stay on right now so have to compromise a bit.

Do the rapidled retrofit kit. Full LED upgrade all kept in the hood except the drivers. Upgraded my BC29 and love it. Go with more royal blue than whites and mix in a couple neutral white with the cool whites. I need to order 2-3 NW's to replace some CW's to get better color on mine I think.

Looking into it and rather interested (prices are good). How hard was it to install? I really don't have alot of wiring experience or anything.

Also would you get the dual dimmer or is the single dimmer good enough?

Wasn't hard if you're at all comfortable with soldering. They may have a solder less kit available now too. Get the dual dimmer so you can control the colors independently. I use an Apex to control mine.

Has anyone made a chart that shows when to replace all the various components of the BioCubes? (lights, chemi-pure, purigen, etc)

I'm thinking about putting the hood on my biocube and installing LED's but I don't want my temp to rise too high. Topless my tank runs at 78. But how high can the temp rise without harming my livestock.

Prior to my upgrades my BC29 ran as high as 81-82 with no issues other than my stress. My experience has been that LED's have added little heat to my tank.

Where is your temp at after the LED install?

When I switched to leds my temp stabalized at 77 degrees. Befor that it was fluctuating between 77 at night and 83 durring the day. Now I have no temp swings at all. I am usining ecoxotic stunner strips for my lighting.

After LED's, MP10, and Hydor Pico 1200 it got down to 78-79. I kept my house at 78. In the winter it takes both 50w heaters to keep temp up with the house at 68.

Is this with a retrofit hood. or a LED fixture leaving the top open?

how did everyone seal the lower intakes in chamber 1 to get more flow in the upper intake?

Would it be wiser to only block half the intake?

I am running the stunner strips on my 14 also. Which ones did you go with? I ended up getting the 8k/royal blues and the magenta/royal blue. I absolutly love the color of the tank now. And they work great with the corals I keep, which arent too demanding. I dont have temp swings anymore either. But i did keep the stock fans and cover so the fan pulls away what little heat they would make.

i am interested in this too. level in my tank fluctuates a bit, so i am trying different things to see what would stabilize it.

I think I read that some people use 1/2 and old cd case and cover it that way from the front so the suction just holds it in place. I did that to mine yesterday but if there is another better more eye pleasing solution I would love to know.

Does anybody know if the biocube HQI's hood will fit the standard biocube 29 and if so any mods required? Will you loose in hight in the back chambers. Any elaboration will be great. As I am thinking of getting the hqi hood. Thanks Brad

Wow, sorry for the late reply. I don't get reply notifications anymore for some reason. This is a retrofit hood with an LED fixture. I leave the hatches closed.

Does anyone have a 24" T5HO light setup over their 29BC? I'm thinking of replacing the LED's with an AquticLife 24" light fixture so I'll have more bulb options than with the 20" fixture.

Thanks.

I think I've decided on this setup to replace my LED's. The AuaticLIfe 24" with 2 Blue, 1 Purple+ and 1 Aquablue.

Thoughts?

my setup: 29bc, stock lighting, heater in tank along back bottom, still running stock pump in ch3.
added cpr ps in ch2 (takes the entire ch). I have moved my purigen, chemipure to ch1 with filter floss on top.

My idea is that flow is coming from bottom up through all the floss, plus top flow falls into it. Seems to be working so far.

I want to add chaeto, thinking about how to contain it, in tank or in chambers with space thats left.
So my thoughts are - would the in tank media basket fit in chamber 1 and i could cram 4 items together in it?
or use a mesh bag like the chemipure bag and put it in 3 above the pump?

Anyone have any experience doing anyone of this?

Other future projects: LED Retrofit, move heater to fuge, add hydor spinning deflector thingy (I see that in a lot of peoples pictures and I know I have someone somewhere in my stuff), add second korellia?, upgrade ch 3 pump to 1200 like many recommend (have one of those hanging our in my stash),...
So many things, so little time.

oh and the big one...figure out a way to win the war against all the red algae that haunts me!

whew!

How often is everyone replacing their Chemi Pure Elite and Purigen?

I only have the 6.5 oz bag of Chemi if that matters. I am thinking of changing both of them every 2 to 3 months.

Replacing chemi-pure elite roughly every three months. Purigen I eyeball it and replace when it is all dirty.

Thanks. I was planning to follow something similar.

Does anyone have the AI nano in a BC14 hood? I'm wondering how hard it will be to retrofit and wire in for a total novice. Thanks!

I do not, sorry. But here is how I had mine over my BC29.

Added additional thickness the form of acrylic to the over flow area. You can see in the below picture.


Then I added some safety wire and attached it to a 3M double-sided tape hanger I mounted upside down with the top edge resting against the lip on the BC. You can find the hanger at any Walmart or such.

Thanks Reese. I want to keep my hood if possible. My biggest fear is having little hands in my tank or a fish on the floor. One of our glo-fish in our FW tank disappeared about a week ago and I'm guessing it became a dog treat even with a top that covers almost the whole thing.

With 4 kids of my own, I hear ya!

Come to think of it I did see a thread with a SOL Blue in the hood of a BC29. I think you could do it with the Nano, just give it a way to breath and dissipate any heat.

Drill a couple holes in the top and keep the fans? Maybe upgrade the stock fans? I might just have to order one and then play around with it!

There is a fan built in to the top of the Nano. You'll just want to be sure there enough of a gap for air to circulate. Maybe you can make something that's the same size of the Nano and try to fit it in the hood.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=296060


heres a link to my biocube build

I've had my tank up for 2 months now and am starting to see some red algae on the sand, assuming cyano. I had some when my tank first started but it disappeared right after my cycle.

Could this be a sign i need to change my chemi pure elite or purigen? I've only had those in my tank for a month each and do 3 to 4 gallon water changes every 10 days.

I'll test my water tonight.

Thanks.

Looking for ideas for placing a chiller in my Biocube 29. I have the chiller and a panworld 40px external pump.

Wondering what some of you are using to make the connection to/from the tank. Everything is 3/4 so the 1/2 U bends that the JBJ install kit utilize are too small.

Thanks for any ideas.

What size chiller do you have? A 40px seems a little overkill for a chiller on a bc29. You don't need a lot of flow for a chiller unless your dealing with a lot of head height. The higher the flow the less contact time with the coils. I'm running a jbj Arctica chiller with a maxijet 600 and the jbj install kit works perfect. Scale down your pump on your chiller and you should be golden.

JBJ 1/4 Chiller, calls for 420 - 1920 GPH.

The chiller is overkill, but it allows for expansion to a larger tank later. I'll look to see what kind of flow I can get with a 1/2 inch discharge. Not certain if a Maxijet can drive a 1/4 chiller.

Hello I am new to the forum, it is a wonderful resource. I have a used 14g biocube that has been running for about 6 months. The person I bought it from suggested I put crushed coral in the middle chamber. I have done this and haven't had problems. After reading through the first pages of this topic I have noticed that the filtration works best if the water for chamber 3 comes from the bottom of chamber 2 by the sponge. My water, due to crushed coral just flows straight across from chamber 1 fills up chamber 2 and then passes through the hole between chamber 2 and 3 at the top. Basically my question is, is the crushed coral doing anything more than taking up space in chamber 2 and giving me bad flow?

Has any one tried to put a cool works nova tech ice probe chiller on a biocube?

Read almost this whole thread, but since a lot of it is older information, where some is outdated (like nano tuner LEDs), I wanted to make sure I got the correct info here!

My tank is between 80 at night and 83 during the day with lights on. I keep the house AC around 72-75 degrees, so I'm not sure how the water is getting so hot. I have a koralia nano powerhead 240 in there and a hydor pico 1200...media basket replaced the bioballs (chaeto with LED in back)...

Stock fans though, which I'm guessing aren't doing a great job. The tank is less than a month old. Are there any fans I can buy that are simply plug and play to replace the old ones, preferably with a TON more output? I unplugged the heater, so I know that's not the issue. Just trying to figure out how to deal with the warm water before we're even NEAR summertime...gotta love Houston.

Also, what's the best LED upgrade nowadays? I know that will cool my tank down and I plan on doing that in six months once these bulbs burn out...

Also, anytime I open the tank lid, I have a ton of condensation, and some of it drips down the back of the tank. You guys do anything about that? I wipe down what I can and have a towel on the floor behind it and none of my wires are right next to it, just something I'd like to fix if possible.

Thanks!

Few ways for you to reduce heat at this point:

1. Open rear access hatch for evap cooling and possibly fan blowing over water.

2. Replace lights with LED's. I used the rapidled kit and love it. LED's put off less heat plus it comes with better fans.

3. Replace your Hydor 240 with an MP10. MP10 leaves most of the heat outside the tank.

80-83 seems high with the house kept at 72-75. Mine never went above 83 and we keep our house at 78. Have you verified the accuracy of your thermometer? Also, is your LED for the cheato in the tank or shining through a hole scraped in the back? The LED for the cheato could be adding a bit of heat as well.

1. What rear access hatch are you talking about? The only one I know of is the front one for feeding.

2. I'm not going to replace the LED's yet...trying NOT to spend more cash on this as of right now when I have perfectly good bulbs, but that will probably happen in six months when these bulbs burn out.

3. Can you submit a link to the MP10? Googling it leads me to a bunch of different things and I'm not sure I'm picking the right one...

My LED for the chaeto is outside the tank. I bought a tank where it came with that section of the back already scraped to the light is on the outside.

How do you verify the thermometer? It's a digital one that I have the probe submerged down near the bottom of the tank. It was up at the top originally but the temp was even higher due to being near the lights. I have a standard thermometer that I could drop in at the bottom to see how it compares. I've heard of putting the thermometer in a cup of ice water and it should read 32 degrees. However when I did that with the digital thermometer, it went to about 35 degrees. However, it wasn't jam packed with ice, so maybe I'll try that when I get home...

Google ecotech MP10es or MP10wes. W is for wireless. Usefull if you plan on having two, upgrading to tank that would use two, or getting an Apex controller with the WXM module to control it.

I have an older tank with two access hatches on top. One in the front for feeding and another in the back for access to the filtration section. That back one is the one to leave open. Too much risk of jumpers if you leave the front open.

The ice water is one way. Another is to just hold it up next to your thermostat and see if it reads the same. Your previous test indicated that it may be reading 2-3 degrees high which seems likely to me considering your avg house temp. Try dropping the digital thermo and standard into the ice water and see what you get.

The ES10 is a bit too much for me right now. If I'm going to spend $200, I'd rather spend it on LED lighting, but thanks for the suggestion.

I'll definitely start small and check the temperature calibration when I get home. Thanks for those tips!

Well, thanks for the advice. Turns out the digital thermometer is about 2 degrees warmer than the thermostat, so the high temp of 83 was really only 81, which I can live with until the LED upgrade! we don't have the rear hatch access unfortunately, but this will do for now. Thanks again!

I am looking to replace the stock bulbs and was just wondering what power compact bulbs you would recommend to make my acans really pop. They have dulled after receiving too much light under an 8 bulb T5 fixture in my 90 gallon, so I picked up a used biocube to try and get some color back to my LPS corals. Thanks!

here my led retro.screw pc's

led retro

Nice setup on the lights.

Here's mine. Add it to the list.

We have a new shipment of LED Light engines specifically designed for the BC29. Comes standard with a 4 channel remote control. A Bluetooth computer controller (sunrise, sunset , moonlight cycles) will be available in a couple weeks. They start at $299 for a 12 LED system (upgrade-able to 48 LEDs). Nano-reef members get a 10% discount. I am trying to think of a contest to give one away, perhaps Chris can help me with that.

BC29 Closeup

Here is a pic of the board installed in a hood....

Does anyone know if the tunze osmolator top off level devices will fit in the back of a BC29? I just ordered the tank and have the tunze top off on the tank i'm moving from.

Thanks,
Mark

Hello, I just purchased a BC29 off a buddy and got it set up lastnight. i was researching on this thread which has been very resourceful just got a couple questions.. on the side where the pump is should i ignore the max and min line on the outside cuz when i filled my tank up it passed the max line. 2nd should i take the bioballs out even tho my fuge and media rack arent here from my order or should i wait to get it. ty