Jay's BC29

[Javious]

After commenting on everyone else's BioCube 29 I figured I should show mine too. I started reefing with an overpriced 10 gallon package from a LFS. After a few months I picked up this used BC29 HQI for a good price. I didn't care for the MH light and rather than try and make it better I switched to LED's. The only things stock on it are the actual tank and stand. I've bought more lights than I care to admit and far too many impulse coral buys. Finally after a year I am happy with my equipment and livestock.

 

FTS 12/15/2013 just rescaped to allow easier cleaning and isolate the Palys

 

Equipment

Reefbreeders Value full spectrum LED on 1/2 galvanized pipe stand

Hydor 300 GPH return pump, split return

inTank Media rack, filter pad, purigen, chemi-pure elite

AquaticLife Mini 115 skimmer, modded

MP-10, blue box

Tunzee 3155 Universal ATO

Azoo Temp Controller

Heater, 100watt

RODI, Air Water Ice Typhoon III 75GPD

 

Livestock

Pair of tank raised Ocellaris Clowns

Yellow Striped Cardinal

Emerald Crab

Reefcleaners quick crew snails

 

Coral

Acans

Frogspawn

Branching Hammer

Duncan

Neon Green Candy Cane

White Candy Cane

Riccordias

Mushrooms

Hairy Mushrooms

Palys, Mohawk and Green striped

Pulsing Xenia

Green Star Polyp

Red Robin Stag

Blue Acro? not really sure

and 1 miracle Candy Apple Zoa that just recently popped up.

 

Most all of the coral has grown nicely. Except the mushrooms, they will not reproduce for me, go figure.

 

Future plans:

Jebao WP-10 on order

Air Water Ice Typhoon III RoDI unit on order

Upgrade heater

Let stuff grow

Shrimp

Figure out what to do with my orphan SPS frags Going to mount them on the rocks during a future maintenance session

Convince the wife to get me a new tank for my 50th. No new tank, but she is taking me to see the Penguins and Blackhawks in the spring

 

Acans:

 

Duncan:

 

Branching Hammer and Fish:

 

FTS 11/11/2013 showing RB Value and pipe stand

 

Better FTS 11/11/2013

 

FTS 10-5-2013

[aquageek]

I love your BC29! Looks really nice and clean (I have a tough time keeping my sand clean).

 

I have a few questions for you since I also have a BC29. How do you like your MP-10? I currently have a Koralia Nano 425 and I am starting to wonder if it's not enough flow.

 

I have that skimmer as well - how are you liking it so far? I have been running mine for a few weeks now and it seems ok. Did you put it in chamber 1?

[MyLiquidBlue29BC]

Looks awesome! I like the yellow striped cardinal as a fish choice. Is that an SPS suck to the glass?

[Javious]

I love your BC29! Looks really nice and clean (I have a tough time keeping my sand clean).

 

I have a few questions for you since I also have a BC29. How do you like your MP-10? I currently have a Koralia Nano 425 and I am starting to wonder if it's not enough flow.

 

I have that skimmer as well - how are you liking it so far? I have been running mine for a few weeks now and it seems ok. Did you put it in chamber 1?

Thanks!

 

More flow will help with the sand. I took the tank down and set it up again with new sand about 2 months ago.

 

The MP-10 is very good, adjustable from a trickle to a sandstorm. I bought it used, it's a first generation blue box controller, and it is a bit loud even at half power. I really like the short pulse mode, except the noise the dry side makes is unbearable on that cycle. It does the job though and a much smaller in tank footprint than the Nano 425 with many, many times the flow. I also have a Jebao WP10 on order to try out.

 

The skimmer is great, compared with all the others that fit in chamber 1. I fought with it for a while, took it out, tried again, etc, etc. Now I finally have it working pretty decent. I did the airline mod with a valve on the airline to adjust the bubble height and reduce the slurping it makes.

[Javious]

Looks awesome! I like the yellow striped cardinal as a fish choice. Is that an SPS suck to the glass?

Thanks! That Yellow Striped Cardinal isn't a fish that I see many people have. I really like him, active, doesn't hide, not aggressive, different body shape than the clowns, line pattern on the body similar to a 6 line without the 6 line temperament.

 

My 2 little SPS frags are in a small frag rack that I got from Badfish Reef Systems. Clear acrylic held up by magnets. I've found that SPS just don't do it for me. At some point I will trade them in, probably for corals for my new MicroReefs 10" cube that is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Once that gets set up on my desk at work productivity will take a nose dive!

[MyLiquidBlue29BC]

I'm trying to convince my 7 year old that she doesn't want a clownfish. I was looking at the yellow stripped cardinal as a replacement. It's good to know it is as nice as Live Aquaria makes it sound.

 

Did you just not like the look of the SPS? I was thinking of getting one of those clear racks and letting a plating monti grow on it.

 

Have fun with your microreef! Who needs to work. LoL

[Jaculus]

_{I just posted in this forum abotu my desire to go rimless. I have a Oceanic Biocube 29 with the Steves Led retrofit but I am wanting to go rimelss. I notice you have}

_{Reefbreeders Value full spectrum LED on 1/2 galvanized pipe stand. Can you comment on the lights for me? Also, While I am not a fan of the pipe stand for the light I might mod that idea a little. I might run that pipe out of the stand from the back since my stand already is positioned a few inches from the wall and I might use that idea but run the power and and control wires inside the pipe with some shielding. Can you comment on your pipe set up and mabe a link to how you got the idea? Thanks}

 

_{Edit: also the hhod you have that seems to be open for the lighting. Is that simply the stock hood or rim modded to allow the lighting in from the LED lights?}

[Javious]

I got the idea from the bent conduit light stands many are using. But my stand is too close to the wall to attach them to the stand. I chose the 1/2 galvanized pipe because it is very rigid, corrosion resistant and will support many times the weight it needs to. Also everything I needed was available, no special cuts or threading. It is completely freestanding and can be moved away from the tank/stand for maintenance, it can also be positioned from the side or rear of the tank. Although centered at the back of the tank could block the wiring access holes in the stand. It is also virtually tip proof, with two 18" legs under the tank it can only rock a little bit before the tank stand prevents it from going any further. Before I built this light tree I build something similar out of conduit for my Gecko's and I wasn't enamored with the sturdiness of a freestanding conduit tree.

 

To run the wires inside the pipe you would either need larger diameter pipe of to cut and splice an end of the power cords.

 

As far as the light, it is great. Mine has 90* optics and I have great coverage. It has more power than a BC29 would ever need, a plus if I ever decide to go a bit bigger it can handle a 30" or 36" tank. I switched from a Kessil A150W Ocean Blue. The Kessil had more shimmer and grew my corals well. But I wanted more control over the color. My corals look much better under the full spectrum RB Value and I am very happy with the purchase. I got mine used and for an even better price, but if doing it again I would probably pop for the Photon Nova A4 designed for cube shaped tanks.

[Jaculus]

Photon Nova A4 designed for cube shaped tanks

 

Cool will look into that maybe its controllable with my RKE

 

Edit: nvm that also includes a controller. I need a "controllable" without the controller lol

[Javious]

I like the color and movement of LPS, the SPS visually just don't make me go "WOW". Couple that with the generally tougher husbandry requirements and slower growth rates, it just doesn't work as well for me. Yes the frag rack would make a good perch for a plating monti, maybe I should have tried that before I traded in the one I had.

 

I like my clowns, even more since I made it a pair. You get a lot of vivid color and movement for your buck with the basic clowns. Although the little one keeps attacking my hand when I need to stick it in the tank. The yellow striped cardinal makes such a nice color/shape/movement contrast to the clowns, I have been very happy with him.

Cool will look into that maybe its controllable with my RKE

I don't think any of the ReefBreeders are, but don't take my word for it.

[MyLiquidBlue29BC]

I'm planing an LPS dominated system too, mainly blastos and acans. I just want to add a monti and pocillopora for contrasting shapes at the too of my tank.

 

The clown I had last time I had my BC set up attacked my hand too. I'd like to have a truly peaceful tank, but oh well! LoL

[Javious]

I really like my acans. I was somehow able to resist buying a new one yesterday. My wife for some reason doesn't like it when I buy stuff right before Christmas.

[Javious]

Santa was good to my reef tank this year. I got my RODI installed and have a full storage tank of water ready to go. New gloves and tongs to keep my skin out of the water and a IM MiniMax reactor. Now I have to decide what I am going to run in it. I am leaning towards bio-pellets, but I am not sure exactly how to set up the filtration section if I do.

 

From what I have read you need to skim the output of the bio-pellet reactor. If I move the skimmer out of chamber 1 I can install the reactor there. I can put the skimmer in the middle chamber after the media rack. Another option would be to use the reactor and skimmer in the middle chamber and rig up a filter pad holder in chamber 1. I don't think the inTank media basket will fit/work in chamber 1 though.

[Mazzy21]

I did the airline mod with a valve on the airline to adjust the bubble height and reduce the slurping it makes.

 

I did the airline mod, but yeah - it's still pretty loud and the skimmer runs very wet no matter how much I"ve tweaked it. Could you elaborate on the "valve" you put on. I haven't heard of this and if it could make the skimmer a littel quieter AND make it not run so wet that would be awesome!

[Jaculus]

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/283421-aquatic-life-115-skimmer-air-intake-mod/

 

 

 

I did the mod. The valve is simply one of those inline ones for air hoses on freshwater tanks

[Javious]

Sure thing. I split apart the skimmer and removed the stock airline and fitting. I replaced this with a longer section of 1/4" airline. This places the air intake well beyond the top of the skimmer body and prevents any water from "slurping" at that spot. The stock adjustment is only to the water exit via the hard to turn knob next to the collection cup. Not convenient or very effective. The valve I was referring to is a simple airline valve available at any LFS. I installed this a few inches beyond the top of the skimmer body on the airline that I installed in place of the stock airline. This lets me control the amount of air going into the skimmer and lets me dial in the height of the foam in the cone much more effectively than the knob does. My final bit of modification was adding another section of airline to the valve. The skimmer gurgles quite a bit through the airline and didn't care for that. So by extending the line from the valve I was able to terminate it inside my stand where the gurgle noise is muffled to my satisfaction. Lastly, if you do this remember to have the airline arc up before dropping into the stand, you don't want a leak in the lower section of line to create a siphon and cause a flood.

 

I used something similar to this:

 

Oops, I need to read better, you already did the first part of the mod. Even with this I am still skimming wet, I am not sure this thing has the ability to pull out just sludge. The bubbles are either too big or the chamber to too small or something.

[Jaculus]

Sorry javious. Thought I could beat you. Your explanation was better than my link lol

[Javious]

LOL, you did beat me, I should be doing the quarterly inventory today but instead I am here. I am not sure about better, but thanks. I tend to use 6 words where 1 or 2 will do. That might explain why people don't read all of my emails. DOH!

[aquageek]

I've got that skimmer too. I just replaced the air line with something quite a bit longer, and ran the end into an old medicine bottle, drilled 2 holes in the bottom and ran some more airline tubbing from the bottom of the medicine to create a silencer. It is a lot quieter now, still skims pretty wet though.. it's a lot better now that I've been running it for over a month.

[spendley]

I have been running the skimmer for about a week now. Obviously still skimming wet, but with the airline mod it is fairly quiet.

[markalot]

Hey, another late bloomer to the reefing world. Tank looks great, time to upgrade to a 40 breeder.

[Javious]

Hey, another late bloomer to the reefing world. Tank looks great, time to upgrade to a 40 breeder.

Thanks, but not a 40 breeder, I picked up a 20 long from the Petco sale, that will be my upgrade with a 10 gal sump.

 

I also got a MiniMaxi reactor that I am going to try out with bio-pellets. I just ordered the pellets and a Cadlights PLS-50 skimmer with some holiday gift cards. I plan to test them out on the BC while I slowly build out the stand, sump plumbing, drill the new tank, etc, etc.

[Angeles]

How did you cut that hole in the top of the stock hood? can you post a few close up pics of the hole, so I can get a better idea? I am considering getting those less for my system. Thanks!

[Javious]

How did you cut that hole in the top of the stock hood? can you post a few close up pics of the hole, so I can get a better idea? I am considering getting those less for my system. Thanks!

I didn't cut any holes. I stated with the HQI model that doesn't have the hood with lights and fans.. It has a large ugly plastic trim that holds a glass top over the display and 2 covers over the filter chambers. I don't use any of the covers/lids. I will post a top view when I get home later tonight and deal with the snow storm we are getting today.

[Angeles]

Ok then. Thanks. If I have the regular coralife biocube, I guess I should just go without the hood then?