hey everyone im new to this whole forum thing so bare with me here please.

i have a biocube 29g and i am really happy with it. it has been up and running well for about 8 months now. im looking to get some upgrades for it and thought id just ask everyone to see what others recommend. i want to have the best environment possible for my fish and corals.

so far for live stock i have two clowns, a yellow sleeper head goby, a Mandarin goby, a turbo snail, a green emerald crab and a couple blue legged hermit crabs. as for corals i have a finger leather, two different types of polyps and something i dont know what its called ha.

so if someone could help me that would be awesome. im looking for any type up upgrades that will improve the happiness of my little buddys. feel free to put in any suggestions for my tank as well if im doing something wrong. thank you for the help!

you only have one snail??? lol get some MORE!!! umm as far as upgrades.. you didnt specify if you have a protein skimmer in there... that would help.. also if you wanted you could get metal halide lights... those will allow you to keep harder corals such as sps.. i dont know what lights you have right now but it could be a big improvement and it would make your tank look a lot nicer... and also you could get an MP10. those things are cool and can provide random water flow which corals really like.. other wise your doing really well.. good luck with everything!!

If I could do it over again...

I would have replaced the stock pump with a Maxijet 1200

I would have thrown away the sponge

I would have thrown away the bioballs and bought a media rack and fuge rack from shop.Mediabaskets.com

I would have upgraded the lighting (You should probably wait to see if your a high light coral type of guy)

If you do take out the bioballs, which you should, make sure you take them out slowly, like 10 every 4-6 days.

Throw out bio-balls, get a media rack and fuge, grow some chaeto. Upgrade lighting to metal halide and add MJ 1200 as return pump. Add more CUC. Thats just my 2 cents

when you say media rack and fuge what exactly do you mean? and chaeto? and CUC? sorry i just dont know what everything is yet. by replacing the bio balls with the media rack and fuge, what are you bonuses of that? and the mj 1200 is just to increase water flow correct?

once again thank you for all the help!

There is a guy on here who makes a rack to fit inside in the chambers of the biocube. You could even make your own, but from what I hear, his are really nice (I have one on the way). Most people take the bioballs out, due to the fact that they become so nutrient vlogged, they actually add to your ammonia. By putting the rack in the chamber (think of it like your organizer) you can have differnt media instead. So instead of bioballs, I will have chemi pure, chaeto with an underwater light, and filter floss.

Fuge is short for refuge, an area where you can have things that are beneficial to your tank, but may otherwise get eaten or destroyed. The area of your storage rack is usually the place that people turn into a fuge.

Chaeto is a beneficial type of algae that grows on nitrates and phosphates.

By replacing the bioballs, you are adding media in the back to further clean the water, and to get rid of nitrates in conjunction with water changes. (Trimming your chaeto as it grows, rinsing/replacing your floss)

CUC is a clean up crew. One snail really isnt enough. Someone will be along to help you, as I am just getting to that part in my cycle.

I replaced my 14gal biocube stock pump with a maxijet 900. Any higher, and you may notice an increase in temperature. I also use a Koralia 1 and a hydro flo. The hydro flo add random water movement for your corals.

I think i covered it all, and to the best of my knowledge!

Here is a link to the storage racks and such. He is also a sponsor and an active user of this forum!
inTank media racks for biocube 29

CUC= clean up crew they keep your tank clean.Snails and hermit crabs.A media rack will go in the middle chamber. It holds chemical media and a filter pad on top. So you don't have to buy those expensive crappy biocube slide in filters. You don't need a skimmer. Just keep up on your WC (water changes)

And last to Nano-Reef

Thank you everyone for your input. I will look into that web site and try to put something together. I have on last question. When I got y first polyp from a store it was obviously in great condition. But it has slowly started to go down hill. It has lost color and it's finger if you want to call them that has shriveled up. I don't want to lose it but don't know what to do. Some brown stuff has started to grow on it and on it's roots. As well as some green alge. I don't know what that means but if anyone has a answer to that problem please help me. Thank you again!

If you want to upgrade your lights nanotuners.com is a good website for that.

what lighting upgrade would you recommend from there?

Just so you know...... I think if you want to try SPS Corals ( Hard Corals), you need to turn your second chamber into a fuge with some cheato and a light. SPS Corals dont tolerate any nitrates, so you'll need to ditch the bioballs. http://shop.mediabaskets.com/main.sc Than you'll need to upgrade the lighting. http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php?products_id=495 I think the LED Upgrade is sweet!

could i go with the 4.36(144) kit? would that be good enough lighting for most corals?

no that would not be nearly enough light, if your looking at sps you would need a metal halide for that tank

or LEDS tand if u go with LEDs u can keep the hood then again u might not want the hood but it's up to u

Best thing I've done, which is super easy and free, is to cut off the extra space on the tab between chambers one and two. When I first started my 8g the water level in the display area was so high it was almost overflowing into the back chambers. Cutting off the tab increases flow to chamber two and will lower the water level to maybe half an inch underneath the overflow. Plus when you have filter floss at the top of chamber two it will catch more detritus.

thank you everyone so much. all the infor has been awesome!! so i think i am going to go with the intank set up in chamber two with the chaeto and chemi pure and filter floss. i will be ordering hopefully here soon. my next question with that process is if it will raise chemical levels in my tank to much by removing the bioballs to quickly. does anyone have advise on how long i should take in between removing ballls and how many should i remove at a time before installing my intank system. and for lights i would love to do leds cuz by the sound of it, it seems to be the best thing? so it leaves me with that question, how do you do that?

Is the only way to get metal halide lights for my tank is by getting rid of the hood?

not one metion of this.....

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=180788

is a maxi jet 1200 to much for a BC14?

Yes, it will pull too much water and mess with your chambers depending on what you stock. Supply vs rate of output will be way off balance.

Because you should use and extra pump for flow in the display an ove-rowered filtration pump is not needed.

As far as I know it is. I think your tank would get way too hot having halides inside the hood anyways. If you want that level of lighting I'd go with the LED kits from nanotuners.

Are led's better than metal halides though? I've kinda read up on them and it seems that some people like them and others don't. Price aside which ones better and why?

I have a BC 29 with only three "mods". One being a CPR skimmer in Chamber two, the stock pump was moved into chamber 1 to feed a Phosban reactor (soon to be turned into a Cryptic Fuge), and lastly a maxi-jet 1800 for my output. Additions are the Hydro flo and a Koralina 1 for extra flow.

Thus far I have Hydnophora, Branching Hammers, Frogspawns, an Open Brain and Elk horn Coral, as well as some buttons, fingers and Kenya, all doing fine with what was listed and with the stock lights.

While I want to upgrade to LEDs in the future, I think I'm fine with what I have now.

Heres mine. Gutted everything. I f you have any questions ask.
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=217252

Really a personal preference thing. I don't think I've ever seen LEDs in person but a lot of people swear by them. MH's are nice too. The big benefit to having LEDs for your setup would be that you can leave the hood on there. LEDs are quite pricey though.

thank you for all the help. if anyone has any other suggestions please feel free to give your 2 cents.