Decided to sell off my 75G and go with something smaller and more manageable for the time being. So I bought a Biocube 14g.

I've decided to use one of the new sapphire nanoskimmers in this build, and to keep it runnign well, it was recommended to keep a consistent water level. As it so happens, i have the old ATO from my recently broken down tank.

So I've installed the tunze osmolator into my biocube...probably overkill, but its what I had on hand. I had to silicon the rails into place in order to install it in the least intrusive manner. for the feed line i was able to clip it onto the back corner. This will hopefully allow me enough room to remove and replace media should i choose to put it in this chamber.

Theres a few things I am unsure of, and was hoping the rest of you could help me with them.

What kind of replacement pump should I get for the biocube 14? I would like to use the hydor flo attachment, so the stock pump 100gph isnt going to do it.

I have seen the maxijet 900 told as the standard (the utility pump, or powerhead version??) and it looks like the RIO 600+ would fit also.
Here are links to the different pumps.
Maxijet 900 Utility pump:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...fm?pcatid=18989
Maxijet 900 powerhead:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...cfm?pcatid=4609
Rio 600+ pump:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...cfm?pcatid=4671

Should i use live rock rubble to fill in the chambers or not? I was told detritus will collect and be tough to clean out.

Is a DSB feasible for a bio cube? I am worried about having an endless sandstorm with an upgraded pump and the hydor FLO. Can anyone comment from experience?

Hey there Bp,
Since I just finished upgrading to a Biocube 14 from an 8, I'll tell you what has worked for me. As far as upgrading the pump, I would def go with the maxi 900 @237gph. I also use the Hydor and while most people don't like it I purchased two and always keep them clean and alternate them and have never had a problem. The maxi 900 and Hydor give "perfect" flow throughout the whole tank for me. Every coral gets flow to it, now keep in mind I don't have live rock blocking any of the flow. If you have a huge wall of live rock I can see needing two pumps maybe. I made a island out of my live rock and the hydor is perfect and gives a nice clean appearance in the tank. I would not use live rock rubble in the back as stated detritus "will" accumulate even if you threw some hermits back there.

I don't subscribe to the DSB in a nano. I use 1/2 inch of medium grain size aragonite so it doesn't blow around and 1/2 inch allows you to have more water and room in the tank. Unless you plan on keeping a watchman goby, I wouldn't do a DSB. I like the Biocube's a lot...very good construction and lighting and the 14 gallon has enough room for a decent mini-reef. have fun!

Nick

I would like to keep a goby, not sure what type. Do they all require the finest aragonite sands?

I wouldn't keep your media in the third chamber, but the first- that chamber receives the LEAST flow, so I would put it in the first. Definitely leave the sponge, but clean regularly/ often (once a month is what I did). As for the rubble- it's a skimmer or rubble I'm afraid- only place you have to put it is in chamber one (which will cause a problem because dirty, unfiltered water will meet up with it, leaving a lot of detritus)- unless you put some on the side of the skimmer if it fits- that I have seen, and it will stay fairly clean if you mechanically filter the water before it gets to chamber two.

This is the pump you want.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...fm?pcatid=18989

Don't worry about a sand storm. In my 14G I had an upgraded pump, koralia 1, and a koralia nano. I still wouldn't do a DSB in a nano. It takes up to much room in the tank, water changes will be your biggest nutrient export.

UWWMatt thanks for the clarification on the pump. I've seen so many posts about people saying they had to modify chamber 3 in order to get the maxijet 900 to fit. It just didnt seem right that people would recommend a pump that required modification of the bubbletrap/sponge holder to fit.

Ive revised things a bit. I bought a sapphire nano reactor and I am going to put the media in that, in chamber 1 along with the heater. chamber 2 will be sapphire nanoskimmer bc14/nc12, chamber 3 (maxijet 900 or rio 600) and tunze osmolator ATO.
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Next post i will put up some pictures of the ATO installation...was a rather tight squeeze for my hands/arms, and ive got rather small bones.

How much sand do i need to keep a goby in my tank? I was thinking of getting a hi gin red banded goby, or an orange spotted goby. pistol shrimp possibly? not sure to be honest, but I want to leave my options open. I also would like to stock two onyx clowns from a local breeder.

Here is the ATO isntalled:
Originally i started out with two rails because i was under the impression the water level for my skimmer would require the chambers to be nearly full. So I used silicone to attach the rails of the ATO to the back glass. This worked fairly well.
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I learned this morning after e-mailing Kyle from Sapphire Aquatics that the optimal water level was approximately 8". So i decided to attempt to remove one of the rails, and put everything on one. Well if youve ever stuck your hand in the back chamber of a biocube, imagine tryign to loosen a screw inside of one.

The rails require you to screw them into a plate then silicone it to the wall, in order to slide the top off switch holders onto and off of the rails, you have to take the screws out. I couldnt find anything that was small enough and provide me enough torque/leverage to turn the screw and break it free from the silicone bond. Finally I found a small wrench in my computer tool box that was about 2 inches long and able to fit in the screw head. After a couple try's I was able to turn the screw and attach the switch slider. Ive still got a welt on my forearm from the lip of the BC.
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For the installation of the water feed line, I used the clips for mounting the rails to the lip of a sump, and clamped them onto the corner of the biocube. Then I positioned the feed line slightly below the safety switch on the ATO. This way if the safety switch is triggered, it will stop the feed pump and cause a siphon to start until the water level drops below the feed tube. It adds an extra layer of safety to an already small tank where a flood can happen quickly.
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WOW- I just clamped mine on the divider...

I was under the impression i would need both rails at first. second i didnt want to risk it interfering with the skimmer in chamber 2. I'm not sure how much room there is to spare with the new Sapphire aquatics skimmers installed.

To be honest, attaching it using the silicone was easy, and it is the least intrusive. I can still easily access the chambers now.

Gotcha- hopefully the work pays off. Keep us updated!

Saw a reef tank at the LFS today with indo-pacific sand and i really like the look. So i emptied out most of the livesand that I had in the BC from my old tank (kept a couple cups to seed), and replaced it with indo pacific.

http://www.caribsea.com/pages/buy_it/araga...cificblack.html

One thing i had to do was sift through the sand by hand and pick out all of the larger pieces. I plan to get a goby eventually, so i thought it might be important to do this.

pictures later once i get my new pump and get it installed and have things flowing.

BpKenn, fyi, i have the reactor in chamber one and I can not fit in my stealth heater in there so i moved it to 3, the MJ900 pump fits rite in no mod necessary, do you have the NC12 or are you waiting like the rest of us like forever... Kyle emailed me yesterday and said he's still waiting for the impellar. so it looks like it's going to be a lot longer 3 mo & counting....

I'm waiting like the rest of you. What type of heater do you have? Kyle told me I hsould be able to get a heater and the reactor in chamber 1, if not its not a big deal to put it in chamber 3. I'm waiting like the rest of you for the new version. He told me 3-4 weeks at max, but we'll see. Not sure why their supplier is required to do them in one huge batch. I mean, do they turn out 500 in one day, then ship them off? If not why can't they package them in reasonable amounts and ship them as they are produced.

I have the stealth 50 , and there's no room for any type of heater in there, unless you really force/squeeze it in and don't care if it melts the plexiglass reactor, but with the BC324 light mod you really don't need a heater it keeps at 79-80 constantly. I don't know how they do( maybe he has another job and does this part time) but if I were in business and made people wait months I'd be on the unemployment line cashin my welfare checks...
your mods are great i don't know what else you can do to trick it out...

Chamber 3 isn't a good place for the reactor or a heater. The reactor will have little to no flow and definitely no directional flow (what filter media needs) and the heater will not correctly heat the tank (won't get a proper reading of water temp and the lack of flow will cause it to work inefficiently. And with the 3.24 mod, yes, you do need a heater for stabilizing the temps- ambient room temperatures vary, and without a heater you will get stressful swings. Stabilization and flow are key in a nano

Won't 8 inchs of water in chamber 3 be sufficient for a heater. Won't 200 gallons per hour be adequate flow through the 3rd chamber? The reactor also has a pump built into it btw. not sure if you knew this.

where do you suggest putting the heater if chamber 1 has the reactor and chamber 2 will eventually get the P Skimmer?

TBH I see no problem with having the heater in chamber 3. How can you say there will be no flow in that chamber when you have a pump there pulling 247 GPH of water from that chamber with an 8 inch water level. Thats a little rediculous, but do correct me if I'm wrong.

Second, how can you say the reactor has no directional flow? Sitting in the first chamber you have a constant renewal of water from the bottom, and top vents. Also there is a pump attached to the reactor that pushes the water through the media at a rate of 74 GPH.

http://sapphireaquatics.com/onlinestore/in...p;products_id=9

Not trying to be abrasive or call you out, but your post just doesn't make sense. Please correct me if i'm wrong here as this would be a serious design flaw and needs to be corrected.

Diagrams:





The problem with putting anything that requires flow in chamber 3 is that there isn't any "flow" through the chamber- just residual water from what flows from chamber 2 to 3, which just flows out, you don't have directional flow like you do through chambers 1 and 2. (Having just looked at my tank, it's pretty stagnant) If you can't fit a heater in either 1 or 2, then I guess you have to put it in the third chamber- but it just isn't optimal- the more flow a heater has the more efficiently it will work. (Why forced heat and air conditioners are better than other methods) Just because there is water in the chamber doesn't mean it is moving as vigorously as it does in the rest of the tank- that's why chamber 3 works so well for an ATO unit input- the fresh water is gradually mixed with salt water so it doesn't stress anything out. But for filter media or a heater this isn't a good thing. If it were my tank, I would put the reactor and heater in chamber 1, skimmer in chamber two, and pump in chamber 3. As for the heater not fitting- try a smaller heater- stealths are pretty large as heaters go- try an azoo titanium. And although heaters get hot, as long as it doen't have direct physical contact with the acrylic, you should not have any melting. Look at your filled tanks that are running, and observe how the water flows- it will pay off!

Good Luck, and if you have any questions, I will be happy to help!

Thanks for the recommendation for smaller heaters. Ideally having the reactor and heater in chamber 1 would be best. I will look into the azoo titanium. For the mean time, putting the heater where the bubble trap/sponge is should provide a decent amount of flow past the heater. drop it in the diagonally to increase the surface area a bit.

I like the setup but, I would attempt to get the heater in chamber 1. I am very interested in seeing how your tank progresses. I am doing something similar with a BC29.

Waiting for my DFS shipment. It was supposed to go out on friday, but I don't think it will end up going out until monday sometime. So hopefully updates mid next week.

Ok- looking forward to it- with this much research/ debate, it will turn out well

Gvtv44, have you ever used an azoo titanium heater? I did a search and found this thread: http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/betta-ar...ch-stealth.html

Not sure what to make of it. Whats your overall experience?

Also, I read that you did the 3.24 lighting upgrade. Are you happy with it, and did you replace your oceanic ballasts with the workhorse ballasts at the same time? Does the kit come with additional moonlights? (other than the option to add the r2's) Did your temps drop after installation?

Never saw that, also heard that certain titanium heaters rust- after nearly two years (April is the 2 year anniversary, haha) I haven't had a spot of rust, and I set it once to get my temps up, and the tank has never gone below 78. Overall I'd say it's the best heater I have ever owned (I have had 7 tanks over the years, and had to replace the heaters on the rest all at least once. Never on the nano though


For the money, the lighting upgrade is well worth it. Unless you are ready to go MH from the start, it's a great way to keep many types of coral and other critter goodies, haha. The Oceanic ballasts were changed, it uses the stock moon lights, I did not add any and I find this sufficient, but that's a matter of personal taste. It did not drop my temps as it suggests. It did the exact opposite and raised them by three and a half degrees. I fixed the problem by installing a circulation fan (see thread for details). After doing that, my temps stayed (and still stay) around 78.5-80 degrees, keeping everyone happy and healthy.

MH would be nice, but i'm scare of what it will do the the temps. I would probalby need a chiller at that point right?

I will be adding a sunpod to my Biocube 14, so I will let you know about the temp. If anything, a small clip-on fan should help to keep it down.

i would like to keep the hood on my tank. Maybe i will think about MH if I ever upgrade to a BC29

As said above, mh with a med sized fan would be fine- just make sure you have an ATO. I wouldn't get the mh mod for the bc 14 though- I think it would be way too hot.

What do you mean mh mod? Are you talking about a retro, or just saying you wouldn't put a sunpod, viper, etc. over the tank?

The nanocustoms 1.74 (?) mh retro fit mod.

Oh, gotcha. Yeah, I would anticipate heating issues with that as well.

Why if I might ask? Someone on here has a 12g NC with a 70W HQI in the hood. Qwank I think.

My order from DFS has arrived!
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So I got right to work! I started setting up the pump and noticed that the tubing that comes with the BC will not be long enough. So I went to ACE hardware and bought 2 feet of 1/2" ID tubing for $1. I was originally going to attach the tubing, but apparently the size of the return nozzle is larger than 1/2" and I just wasn't feeling any urge to fight to get it on. So I cut the tubing down and connected the elbow (one elbow it really doesnt reduce that much flow) using zip ties to secure the tubing in place.
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Here is the pump installed:
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Apparently my maxijet 900 comes with a free t-shirt and cable organizer. The cable organize kind of sucks, but I did manage to find a use for it!

I'm sure all cube owners can relate to the issue of damaging cords when closing the hood. I've not even had this thing for a week and i've already run into problems.
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So I thought what could I do to keep the cables in place...TAPE! So I taped them down and it worked ok, but I still had to hold the wires in place as i closed the lid. Then I saw the cable organization kit had a couple of brackets that i could use. So I increased the size of the cable opening area in the hood to match the cable clip, and it works great! I dont have to touch a single cable as i'm closing the lid.
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So on to filling the cube!

I have had salt mixing since the other day, and I noticed some wierd crap floating on the top. so I ended up dumping that salt water and mixing some new stuff. If you don't already, I would recommend mixing your own. It will eventually pay for itself.

Heres my 5 stage Reverse Osmosis / De-Ionization filtration unit built by Mark Levenson (www.melevsreef.com) attached to my sink faucet head (I live in an apartment, otherwise i'd hook it straight to my cold water pipe.) I use the deionized water for making saltwater, and top-off water only. This ensures that i'm not introducing phosphates or other contaminants into my water. With this unit, I can also bypass the DI media and make extremely clean RO drinking water.
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I've read some threads where people are using swing arm hydrometers. Toss them in the garbage. You can buy the same refractometers they sell at DFS for 1/2 the price on ebay. I bought one for $35 that has an LED integrated which eliminates the need for an external light source to view levels.
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Thats it for now. Will hopefully go shopping for more liverock tomorrow.

Picked up some more supplies today:
Pro Coral Cure (T=tropic marin)
ReVive Coral Cleaner (two little fishes)
Flat Worm Exit (salifert)
Milwaukee PH Monitor SMS 120
all for around $100, not a bad deal.

I plan to use the TMPCC, revive, and flat worm exit to dip all new coral additions to eliminate any pests. Here's a good article on pest control: http://www.melevsreef.com/pest_control.html

I also stopped and bought some live rock on the way home. I managed to squeeze about 20-25 lbs of live rock in there. the stuff on the bottom I pushed all the way down to the glass on the bottom of the tank so future gobies don't topply it. I didn't take pictures of the individual pieces as I was more concerned about getting it into SW.

I don't consider myself to be too good at aquascaping. The tank usually clouds up pretty fast and then its game over! I did manage to make a nice little cave, with a small back door entrance for a small fish like a goby or a shrimp. I'm happy with it for now, should be ample place to place corals also. Here are shots of the aquascape. Let me know what you all think.

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I drove the remainder of the Liverock I didn't use to my friends place and he put it in one of his tanks with a heater and PH. When I got home I found a couple of new friends that wanted to thank me for their new home.
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Didn't have to think twice on this one, loaded up the joes juice and zapped these bastards right away. Joes juice has never failed me yet. I would have taken pictures, but my crappy camera's batteries died and i don't have any extra.

I also noticed another hitch hiker: a brittlestar of unknown genus. According to WWM if its not a green brittlestar it should be safe for the reef. I can definately see that he is not a green brittlestar, so I am going to leave him be. Hopefully he comes out and I can get a good picture of him.

Other than that, I'm still awaiting my skimmer and nano reactor from sapphire aquatics. I'm not sure why they haven't shipped my nano reactor yet. I really hope they are not going to try and make me wait until the skimmers are finished and ship them both at the same time.

Everything looks pretty good! Yea, I hear you about the cords- I use tape, but it's still a pain. Is that net for the nano? It's HUGE!

yeah, i ordered the smallest net they had lol, It was only like $1. I will have to find something smaller. I also need to find something to help me sift the larger rocks off the top layer of sand and leave the smaller stuff.

what is the reasoning that people cut the plastic divider between chamber 1 and 2? Is it to lower the water level in the DT and chamber 1?

EDIT: I noticed a lot of stuff floating on the surface of the water, so I started cutting away at this divider and the surface skimmer started working a bit more effectively. it also lowered the water level in chamber 1 a bit, and raised chambers 2 and 3.

Did some tests today also;
Parameters are:
PH: 7.8
Ammonia: .50
NO2: .25
NO3: 10
dKH: 10
Cal: 460

Added 2 blue leg hermits crabs, 1 turbo snail, and 1 pink/red mithrax crab on thursday night. The LFS was having a huge sale, so I decided to test and see how cured my rock really is. Everyone was workin really hard on cleaning things up, so I bought an electric blue hermit today also (another LFS having a sale). The electric blue hermit is going to town on what i think is some cyano that came on my rocks.

I'll post pics later.

Just sent my Nikon digital camera in for extended warranty repairs today, should have it back in 1.5-2 weeks. Seems the CCD chips they were using for certain models were faulty and they issued a service advisory for quite a few of their products.

Noooooo!!!! No more pictures?!

I still have my gf's crappy camera (the pictures youve been seeing). I'm working on increase the bacteria levels currently. dosing ammonia into the tank slowly (so i dont kill off my CuC). I want to put a pair of clowns in there this weekend, but I don't know if the tankw ill be ready. I'll take pics with whatever i can find when i get a free moment this weekend.

OK, I snagged my girlfriends camera for a quick shot. Since I started this hobby, checking water params was always a mess. So I went to american science and surplus and bought a rack, test tubes, tube tops, and 5ml syringes for $10!

with a little help from my dremel, heres what i came up with. A portable all in one testing station

enjoy

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Looks sweet!

Why are you adding ammonia?

bacteria needs food also. By adding straight ammonia, i can supply that bacteria with the necessary requirements to keep itself alive (until i add fish). This keeps both ammonia to nitrite, and nitrite to nitrate bacterias going strong until fish are added. Google for fishless cycling and you can see how effective this really is.

I had little die-off on my rocks and started with fully cured rock and live sand. So for me i need something to keep that bacteria alive until i add my fish. Another reason i added the ammonia was to see how fast the tank can convert the ammonia into nitrite, and then nitrate.

I added 1ppm at 8am yesterday, and this morning at 8am it was at .5ppm. Tomorrow it will be gone at the same time. I probably should have been dosing the tank more to build up the bio, but i neglected to.

Other people use stuff like thawed shrimp from the seafood market, or fish food...or even urine. That just adds more organics into the tank water and makes a mess. The ammonia is nice and clean, and at the end of the cycle you can do a large water change to get rid of the high nitrate build up.

I don't buy it. If you are adding ammonia, a lot of the beneficial bacteria would be dying off. If you already had your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate at 0 and added a clean-up crew, I see no reason to add ammonia. The tank is already cycled. You already have animals in there pooping all day long, that is all the waste you will need until you get your fish in. JMO

beneficial bacteria that feeds on ammonia is dieing...? I'm not overdosing the ammonia. 1ppm is nothing. i cycled my qt starting with 5ppm, and the entire cycle took 2 weeks.

The ammonia from the decaying waste of the few CuC members i have isn't going to come close to comparing to the addition of two juvenile clownfish + the feeding they require to grow at a healthy rate. The bio bacteria will die off/reproduce to sustain the bio load being produced by the CuC. This means when I do add fish, there will need to be an increase in the bio bacteria in order to sustain the fish and feedings. By dosing the ammonia, I am ensuring there is no undue stress placed on any addition to the tank.

TBH, I should have done this before i added the CuC, but since i didnt, I wanted to dose up to 1ppm to see exactly how much bio bacteria was present, and if it would be enough to sustain the soon to be added clowns without causing them stress or ill effects. (im getting the clowns tomorrow most likely)

You don't have to buy it, i'm not trying to sell it. Ive used this method to cycle new tanks in 1-2 weeks to QT pufferfish in tanks w/no substrate (other than bio-wheels) and it has worked great.

Been a while since i have updated this thread.

I bought a couple onyx clownfish, one up and vanished one day, still have the other.
I have moved to a new apartment, moving tanks is always fun.
I bought a gutatta goby (sp), and six line wrasese.
I have yet to put any corals in because i wanted to improve my lighting.

So now I am doing an LED retrofit for my BC14, following the leads of evil, waterproof, and the others who have laid it out very clearly on how to do something like this!

With the added lighting, I had to decide the new direction of my tank, more lighting means cooler stuff

Ive decided not to try and stick a Nem in there since it will kill all my corals and just grow too large. be a wast of my LED's tbh. So I will go with a mix of LPS, softies, clams, and maybe a piece of SPS or two.

The problem im facing now is my aquascape! I'm just not sure if it is going to give me the maximum amount of area to work with. I'm feeling as if i have a lot of wasted space in here. it definately looks cool, and gives my six line wrasse and goby tons of places to hide, but i'm more concerned with space to put corals.

Here are a couple of pictures of the current rock layout. Any idea's on what to do with it? Some of the rocks at the bottom are actually burried under the sand and you cant see their shape well.

Im estimating i have about 15-20 lbs of rock in here. I have been contemplating on taking some of it out and just smashing it into pieces, then tossing it back in and seeing how it fits together.
Any have suggestions?

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Looks like the board rolled back posts that were made yesterday? wierd

Here is the biocube
total project cost: $250
w/moonlight, tools, wiring, & misc: ~ $320

Heres a pic of the cabinet:
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a picture of the power supplies:
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Power box/project box:
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Template to drill:
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new SILENT fan:
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LED Retro installed, w/moonlight:
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Blurry FTS (my cam sucks):
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Royal Blue Cree XRE's only:
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