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Hello! I would like to share my first journey in reefing. (BioCube 14)


ConnorKessler

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ConnorKessler

Hi all, I'm a newbie to reefing and this is my first time making an account and posting to a nano-reefing forum so go easy on me.

 

I've had freshwater tanks for years, the largest being a 46 gallon bowfront. I have loved the hobby but over time freshwater became too easy for me and I wanted to venture into unknown territory- reefing.

 

What I have so far:

 

- Coralife Biocube 14 w/ biocube protein skimmer.

 

- 10lbs of live rock (in the process of getting more)

 

- 2 inch live sand/aragonite bed

 

- AquaticLife RO Buddie reverse osmosis system

 

- Aqueon 500 Circulation Pump

 

The Plan:

 

Because I am new I am by no means going to rush things and take in as much knowledge as I can as I go along. I did do plenty of research before beginning the hobby, but sometimes you actually need to get int the water to truly learn to swim, right?

 

I am looking to have this tank (down the line) be a small reef with some very basic, but pretty corals, a decent CUC and perhaps 2 clowns and a goby (one of my favorites).

 

Issues at Hand:

 

- TEMPERATURE! I am having a dickens of a time trying to keep water temps stable and within tolerable zones. At night it hovers at about 78 degrees, but during the day with the lights on it can climb up to 82 degrees, a 4 degree swing. No something I, or future livestock, want.

 

- Currently cycling the tank. Ammonia reads at just barely over 0ppm, Nitrate and Nitrite both read 0. (Tank has been cycling for two weeks now).

 

- Need more live rock. This will prolong the cycling, but I have all the time in the world. I simply don't have enough to "fill-out" the tank the way I want it.

 

Questions/Help Wanted:

 

- Any suggestions on how to regulate the temperature in a 14 gallon biocube without breaking the bank with a chiller or costly LED's? I do take into consideration that one of these may be the only option, but I am a broke college student with limited funds :(

 

- Even though my tests show very, very low ammonia and 0 nitrate/nitrite, is it too early to tell if those will fluctuate and tell if the tank is done cycling? I would rather be safe than sorry.

 

- Bristle Worms: These tiny little buggers are everywhere. From what I've gathered they are nothing to be too worried about, but I just want to make sure?

 

- Current filtration set up includes a biocube protein skimmer (got it for free so I can't say it was a waste of money if it doesn't work), 3 one-inch filter foam bricks, a media bag with activated carbon and purigen and to top it off some filter floss on top of the drip tray over the second chamber. Does this sound satisfactory?

 

 

Have I missed anything? Have any questions? Let me know! I am eager to learn more to help my success in the reefing hobby. I will post pictures shortly.

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Nice just take things slow do not rush maybe start with one clown because if they do not pair up they can

fight.

I have the same tank over 7yo I have a true peculiar and a neon goby both get along great as for mods all I did was remove floor in chamber one and add trulumen leds what a difference!

They are by far the least involved to install and no guessing on the color right right out of the box...

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ConnorKessler

Wow, absolutely stunning tank! I might have to look into those LEDs you mentioned. How do you regulate your temperature? Is it just by using LED's instead of the stock lighitng (correct me if I am misunderstanding)

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ConnorKessler

Try leaving the little flap on your hood open to bring down temps.

 

Yeah, I have been keeping the flap open during the day. The temp never makes it past 82* however, since at night it goes down to 78, would that be too much of a swing? To my understanding it is.

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Yeah I wouldn't be comfortable with that much of a swing in my tank. I had the same problem and just took the hood off and ran an old t5 fixture until my LEDs arrived. Sorry man wish I could be more help.

 

Also if you're going to upgrade to LEDs talk to Dave fason on here from nano box reef

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ConnorKessler

Do you live in a climate where your residence won't get below 82? Trying to understand why it is that high to begin with?

 

I live on the coast about 15 minutes south of San Francisco. Heat is not our strong suit. I do have the tank on the second floor, though. However, the house never gets above 75 degrees. I've seemed to have narrowed down the issue to being the stock lights giving off far too much heat.

 

And thanks, Steven, I will definitely look into that regarding the LED's once another paycheck rolls in!

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Hey Connor

 

I live in San Jose so I know what your talking about the heat. I would either buy a desk fan and have it pointed into the top of your tank , turn your lights off while cycling the tank (although this doesn't solve your problem when you have livestock) or you might just need to pony up and buy a small chiller.

 

I went with the chiller purely for a peace of mind. I've seen the fan solution work many times but the chiller will work no matter what conditions you are facing.

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I have the same problem in the summer and I run my ac but thats only in the summer...

Dr fosters had the true lumens on sale they come with dimmers and you can add more strips if needed...

The leds run cooler I have removed my fans after installing the leds..

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ConnorKessler

Hey Connor I live in San Jose so I know what your talking about the heat. I would either buy a desk fan and have it pointed into the top of your tank , turn your lights off while cycling the tank (although this doesn't solve your problem when you have livestock) or you might just need to pony up and buy a small chiller. I went with the chiller purely for a peace of mind. I've seen the fan solution work many times but the chiller will work no matter what conditions you are facing.

Okay, definitely good to know. Any recommendations on cheap, but worthy, chillers?

 

I have the same problem in the summer and I run my ac but thats only in the summer...

Dr fosters had the true lumens on sale they come with dimmers and you can add more strips if needed...

They leds run cooler I have removed my fans after installing the leds..

 

I'm thinking LED's might be the safest bet in terms of heat reduction for cost, am I right? Correct me if I am wrong. How difficult are they to install in a coralife biocube hood? I'm not too good at electrician stuff at all and I don't want to botch the job :(

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They take about a 1/2 very easy to install just gut your lights out and they stick in place of the bulbs..

no wiring or soldering. I have had them for over a year and they preform like new!!!

I think the biocube 14 kit was $149.00 you can find them for less on amazon..

Yes they will reduce the heat in the tank because they use a lot less wattage..

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ConnorKessler

They take about a 1/2 very easy to install just gut your lights out and they stick in place of the bulbs..

no wiring or soldering. I have had them for over a year and they preform like new!!!

I think the biocube 14 kit was $149.00 you can find them for less on amazon..

Yes they will reduce the heat in the tank because they use a lot less wattage..

Fantastic, I will definitely begin looking into this. Thank you!

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ConnorKessler

So I have made the decision to upgrade the lighting with the TrueLumen LED Nano retrofit kit.

 

That said, I have found a fan which is keeping the tank steady between 80 and 82, still a bit high, but at least it is stable.

 

My cycle is done and all readings are good. I added some cleanup crew members today and they are doing a bangin job with the algae on the glass.

 

I have 4 Astrea snails and 5 blue legged hermit crabs, along with a Coral Banded Shrimp who is right at work getting the small tufts of hair algae around the tank. Do you guys think this is a large enough clean up crew? More? Too much? Would love the input.

 

 

Also, my next step once I upgrade the lighting will be to add corals. I am a newbie so I am going strictly with softie photosynthetic types for now.

 

Any recommendations as to good beginner softies that are more forgiving than others? I'm looking at zoas and mushrooms, but i was hoping there would be some larger, more interesting corals out there.

 

 

Thank you for all your help, guys. This is my first thread on a forum like this of any kind and I am loving it!

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Conner,

I have the same tank and have had heat problems during warm months. Try propping the lid up with a rock or some sort of spacer under the front lip. I did this so the lid was up approx 1" and it really helped.

 

Check out NanoBox in the sponsor and lighting forums. Dave is very active on this site.

I installed one of his Biocube retrofits this summer and it eliminated my heat problems.

 

Nice light quality and controller too.

 

David

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ConnorKessler
Conner,

I have the same tank and have had heat problems during warm months. Try propping the lid up with a rock or some sort of spacer under the front lip. I did this so the lid was up approx 1" and it really helped.

Check out NanoBox in the sponsor and lighting forums. Dave is very active on this site.

I installed one of his Biocube retrofits this summer and it eliminated my heat problems.

Nice light quality and controller too.

David

 

Good to know! I would love to support someone on this forum. And I would love to see your tank if its the same as mine for inspiration. Any pictures I can find?

 

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I have the Oceanic Biocube 14 and had heat issues as well. I live in FL, and we run the A/C year-round, but I could never get my tank below 82 when the stock lights were on. I ended up getting a LED retro-fit kit from Steve's LEDs (he is a sponsor here too). Worked out great, and my tank stays 78-79 degrees now. Very happy, and money well spent.

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ConnorKessler

I have the Oceanic Biocube 14 and had heat issues as well. I live in FL, and we run the A/C year-round, but I could never get my tank below 82 when the stock lights were on. I ended up getting a LED retro-fit kit from Steve's LEDs (he is a sponsor here too). Worked out great, and my tank stays 78-79 degrees now. Very happy, and money well spent.

 

Good to know! Thank you for the input!

 

Anyone have suggestions on how to keep algae under control? I really only have 3 small tufts of hair algae in the tank which my hermits are slowly working on, but the glass gets a new, thin layer of green every day it seems and my snails are having a hard time keeping up.

 

All my water parameters are normal. Any suggestions or hints? My lights are on a 12 switch cycle.

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skyscraper2290

Do you mean your lights are on for a 12 hour cycle? You could probably add some more snails to your CUC maybe some dwarf cerith snails and possibly 1 turbo snail. Florida cerith snails and nassarius snails would be a good idea too. The ceriths I would say do more for the glass and the nassarius help with the glass and keeping the sand bed cleaner and stir it up as well. Nerite snails also do a good job with the glass and margarita snails would be good for the rocks. John at reefcleaners.org has good CUC packages and you always end up with a bunch of extras.

 

 

The 14 or 15 gallon package would probably be pretty good for you.

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ConnorKessler

Do you mean your lights are on for a 12 hour cycle? You could probably add some more snails to your CUC maybe some dwarf cerith snails and possibly 1 turbo snail. Florida cerith snails and nassarius snails would be a good idea too. The ceriths I would say do more for the glass and the nassarius help with the glass and keeping the sand bed cleaner and stir it up as well. Nerite snails also do a good job with the glass and margarita snails would be good for the rocks. John at reefcleaners.org has good CUC packages and you always end up with a bunch of extras.

 

 

The 14 or 15 gallon package would probably be pretty good for you.

 

Yes, my lights are on day lighting for about 10-12 hours, including "dusk" lighting, and moonlight LED for 12 hours at night.

 

I actually wound up picking up some turbo snails from my LFS yesterday! They are doing a swell job, but the thin layer of algae is still coming back. Perhaps the tank is still breaking in?

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skyscraper2290

Good pick up, the turbo snails really do good work. Are you using ro/di or distilled water? As long as you don't have corals in the tank you could probably shorten the daylight period of your lights by a 2-4 hours a day, maybe keep it between 8-10, maybe even less time on than that while there are no corals, that might help lessen the amount of algae you are seeing. You could also do a few day blackout which should take care of any algae. Just be sure to realize if you are getting 0 for nitrates it could be a bit misleading because algae will use it all up to grow, but doesn't sound like you have a ton.

 

If it's just film algae on the glass the snails along with magnetic cleaner vein used every couple days will help. I try to use my magnetic cleaner a couple times a week. Could possibly be some new tank syndrome. When I first started my tank I feel that I had more film algae than I do now. Just my 2 cents though and I am by no means an expert or anything.

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ConnorKessler

Good pick up, the turbo snails really do good work. Are you using ro/di or distilled water? As long as you don't have corals in the tank you could probably shorten the daylight period of your lights by a 2-4 hours a day, maybe keep it between 8-10, maybe even less time on than that while there are no corals, that might help lessen the amount of algae you are seeing. You could also do a few day blackout which should take care of any algae. Just be sure to realize if you are getting 0 for nitrates it could be a bit misleading because algae will use it all up to grow, but doesn't sound like you have a ton.

 

If it's just film algae on the glass the snails along with magnetic cleaner vein used every couple days will help. I try to use my magnetic cleaner a couple times a week. Could possibly be some new tank syndrome. When I first started my tank I feel that I had more film algae than I do now. Just my 2 cents though and I am by no means an expert or anything.

 

Thanks, that's actually quite helpful. I plan on cutting back the light hours and doing some more tests to make sure the parameters are in check. I'm also going to be holding off on corals anyway until I upgrade my lighting to LED to prevent heat fluctuations.

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