Muggz Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Muggz' BioCube 8 I started this project at the end of August last year, and it's my first real attempt at a reef aquarium. The tank was a birthday gift from my wife (I think she got tired of hearing how nice it'd be to have a 'real' saltwater aquarium, and finally gave in). I've tried to keep the tank as original as possible, although I did make some minor changes: Korelia Nano Hydor FLO Diverter Heater in Chamber 1, otherwise empty Cut away some of the chamber 1 to 2 overflow Removed bioballs and replaced with Chaeto with a submersible 10w halogen Removed the bottom rack on Chamber 2 and moved it to the top to hold filter floss Removed filter sponge Replaced stock pump with a Rio 800 (yes, it fits but not without a fight) Still using the stock 50/50 lighting although I wish I had the time and patience to do an LED retrofit Cleaner Shrimp doing his thing... I've stocked the tank with: 1 Oscellaris Clown 1 Bicolour Blenny aka 'Bob' 1 Cleaner Shrimp 1 Emerald Crab 4 snails Hammer & Frogspawn Corals are made up of: Branching Hammer Frogspawn Zoanthids (green, blueish ones, and 'watermelon') Green Star Polyps Clove Polyps Pulsing Xenia Newly added Pipeorgans, but not sure they're going to make it Miscellaneous hitchhikers that I liked, and tried to verify weren't bad... like the mystery macro in the photo below. If anyone can identify it, please let me know! It's been with me since I first cycled the tank, and hasn't expanded too much over the past 6 months. 'Macro of Mystery' My tank has been through several tough spots that I wouldn't have been able to solve without nano-reef's help: flatworm invasion (many still like to hang out, but nowhere near what there used to be), hair algae blooms, uncontrollable nitrate levels and cyano outbreaks. I'm happy to say that the tank's been mostly free of these issues for the past 2 months (*knock on wood). Thank you everyone for your help during the past several months, mostly without you knowing it. I haven't posted too much, but read the forums almost daily. I haven't had a question yet that hasn't been answered somewhere here. 'Bob' Pulsing Xenia mmm... watermelons Blueish Zoanthids that won't/can't spread... and Bob. Cheers! Link to comment
latteslave Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Looks like you have everything going well! Corals look good, and bob has a face only a mother can love... B Link to comment
Nashman Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Great little tank! looks healthy and well stock to me with a little more grow time the corals will be lifting the lid Link to comment
Muggz Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 Thanks, latteslave and Nashman! Anyone with ideas on what the mystery macro is? Link to comment
Muggz Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Update: So my last post was lost in the server crash, but I had posted I was going to try and move my tank to the basement in order to free up room in the kitchen as well as hopefully help in stabilizing the water temp swings... I haven't actually gotten around to doing this yet. There are two reasons I suppose: (1) I'm scared I'm going to crack the tanks and (2) I'm lazy. In any case, it will be done and will post an update once it's done. If anyone has any input on the best way to move the BC8 to the basement, that would be appreciated. My current plan is to empty the tank of water as much as possible, place on a board and then proceed to basement. I'm also going to try and replace the water with jugged ocean water (I haven't used it before, but have heard some good things about it). Since water changes are so small in the BC8, I think the jugged water may make things easier, and supposedly it's fairly rich in the required trace minerals. I will fill everyone in on the results. Anyone else with experience using jugged ocean water? Link to comment
Muggz Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 Ok, so I finally moved the tank to the basement last night. Everything seems to be okay, but I did it just before lights-out, so there wasn't much to see when I finished up. Good news is there didn't seem to be any losses this morning when I checked, and the temperature was at a reasonable 79. I replaced about 75% of the water with jugged ocean water, and will monitor it closely for the results. The tank wasn't near as heavy as I thought it would be, and my wife and I moved it down the stairs with no problems. When I emptied out the tank, I also removed some chaeto as I hadn't done so since I added the stuff... I knew that chaeto could grow quickly, but I never thought it would so much in my tank. I only use a submersible 10w halogen for light in the second chamber, but the thing was packed with chaeto! I pulled out at least 4-5 softball size clumps from the back and there was still plenty left back there. Considering I only had one softball size clump to begin with (about two months ago), I was surprised! Part of the reason it took so long to move the tank was that I've been waiting for the hood to my BC8 to come back from Oceanic as one of the ballasts burned out (for the third time) and the fans were crazy noisy. While I'm impressed with the service I've gotten so far from Oceanic, they've never asked any questions and always replaced everything asap, I probably wouldn't get or recommend a BioCube if you're planning on using it stock (fans are too noisy and the ballasts are defective/poor quality). Anyway, enough of my rant. "Post pictures!" you say... I'll try and do that tonight. Link to comment
Muggz Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 Unfortunately, my camera battery is dead and the charger has mysteriously disappeared... I've torn my house apart looking for it, but no luck. Looks like I'm going to have to pick up a new one... In any case, the tank seems to be doing well with the jugged sea water - some of the zoas that didn't open up as much previously appear to be open more often, and even spreading more quickly than before. I'm happy to see the mats starting to connect the different pieces of liverock as I didn't use any adhesives or supports to keep it together... It was my original plan to use the natural support provided by mat corals like zoas and star polyps. My Xenia is growing like crazy, and has conveniently started to migrate one stem off on its own - making an easy frag opportunity. Any suggestions on fragging Xenia? Can I just superglue to base onto a new rock, or is there something special I have to do first? Peace. Link to comment
opy01 Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Congrats on a succesful move. Your tank looks great and Bob kind of reminds me of Rygel from Farscape lol. I have a 10G I need to move up to my office but I am scared too lol. Link to comment
Muggz Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 Congrats on a succesful move. Your tank looks great and Bob kind of reminds me of Rygel from Farscape lol. I have a 10G I need to move up to my office but I am scared too lol. Thanks, Opy! It really wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. It was really more of making sure everything was ready so the tank wasn't sitting empty too long. I was actually suprised how light the tank was considering all the liverock/sand in the tank. It's been a week now since the move, and I haven't seen any adverse effects. What kind of tank do you have? Link to comment
opy01 Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 I have 2 regular 10G tanks. One in my living room with a 10G sump/fuge and one in my hobby room that is going to go to work with me in a couple of weeks when I finish getting it ready. The one going to my office I can empty 2/3 of the water out so it should only be about 70-80lbs with the sand, rock water and tank lol. Actually getting it to work is the fun part. I need to add my tank thread to my sig... done! Link to comment
Muggz Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 I have 2 regular 10G tanks. One in my living room with a 10G sump/fuge and one in my hobby room that is going to go to work with me in a couple of weeks when I finish getting it ready. The one going to my office I can empty 2/3 of the water out so it should only be about 70-80lbs with the sand, rock water and tank lol. Actually getting it to work is the fun part. I need to add my tank thread to my sig... done! Nice tank Opy, I think it will fill in nicely for sure! Good luck with the move! Link to comment
opy01 Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Nice tank Opy, I think it will fill in nicely for sure!Good luck with the move! Thanks, now if I can just get rid of the stupid GHA lol. Good luck finding the charger. Just remember, if you've looked everywhere else and it's not there try Ebay lol. Link to comment
Muggz Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 Thanks, now if I can just get rid of the stupid GHA lol. Good luck finding the charger. Just remember, if you've looked everywhere else and it's not there try Ebay lol. Apparently they're over $100 from Sony... so eBay it will be! Link to comment
opy01 Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Sucks that you cant go to Best Buy and buy one. Then again, in an emergency I can charge mine using my R/C lipo charger lol. Link to comment
Muggz Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 Ya, so I found the charger last night - hidden away in one of my wife's old purses. Logical place to store it *sarcasm*. Anyway, I'm going away this weekend, but will post pictures next week... finally. Everything still seems to be doing okay, except for the blue zoas I've always had issues with and some new orange button polyps I added a few weeks ago... they don't seem to be doing so great, and are closing up, maybe even melting away. We shall see... Link to comment
opy01 Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Congrats on finding the charger in the most random place on earth. Why is it that what your looking for is always in the last place you look? I hope your zoas and stuff do ok. Have fun this weekend. Link to comment
Muggz Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 Congrats on finding the charger in the most random place on earth. Why is it that what your looking for is always in the last place you look? I hope your zoas and stuff do ok. Have fun this weekend. Thanks, Opy. You have yourself a great weekend too. It's a long weekend for us Canucks Link to comment
Muggz Posted November 15, 2012 Author Share Posted November 15, 2012 Hi everyone, Please check out my new BC8 setup here. Starting this thing back up after a long break! Thanks for checking it out. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.