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Biocube 14 Reef Tank


cmccorkle2005

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cmccorkle2005

I have been out of the hobby for a few years and just bought a Biocube 14 and am in the process of setting it up. I dabled with corals in some of my old tanks but want to set this one up as a reef tank from the getgo. Going to get it stable with Fish, LR and CUC for a month or two and then begin to add some soft coral.

 

Here is my equipment and stock so far:

 

Equipment:

Biocube 14

FluVal Series E 50W Heater in Chamber 1 with Pump

Bioballs Removed (Will probably use chamber 2 for skimmer)

Stock Carbon Cartridge in Chamber 3 (Will eventually use Purigen as well)

 

Livestock:

1 Ocellarus Clown (Juvenile)

1 Emerald Crab

3 Scarlet Hermits

2 Astrea Snails

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cmccorkle2005

Ok - So I started this tank up with conditioned tap water. It seemed to work OK in that last tank I had which had some corals in it (but not many) but after reading all the helpful posts in the beginners section here they have convinced me to switch to RO. For now since this is such a small tank I am going to buy the water from my LFS - only going to run me about 5 bucks a month.

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cmccorkle2005

Added a couple of Nassarius snails yesterday to help keep the sand stirred and to help clean up the initial new tank algae bloom. I thought one of them was dead - he just layed in one spot for about 3 hours so I fished him out and put him in a cup and all of a sudden he started moving. Put him back in the tank and he has seemed fine :)

 

Did my first water change this morning and when I opened up the bucked of RO salt water I got from my LFS and got it up to temp I checked the salinity and the meter was pegged :mellow: I ended up having to dilute it with tap water - gonna have to go back and make them redo these buckets which were supposed to be good for a couple of months of water changes...

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Remove the fish while cycling. Ammonia, nitrates is like breathing in needles. You can buy Distilled water from Walmart if you can't trust the RO from the LFS and mix it up yourself. And I wasn't sure if you meant you had premixed some and were going to keep it in a bucket for months for future water changes? Once mixed you need to use it right away. Snails & such go in after your cycle is just about over.

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cmccorkle2005

Not the best pic but this is my emerald - he finally made an appearance where I could get a shot of him...


Remove the fish while cycling. Ammonia, nitrates is like breathing in needles. You can buy Distilled water from Walmart if you can't trust the RO from the LFS and mix it up yourself. And I wasn't sure if you meant you had premixed some and were going to keep it in a bucket for months for future water changes? Once mixed you need to use it right away. Snails & such go in after your cycle is just about over.

Thanks - My tank is actually already cycled and Ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, etc are all good. Thanks for the suggestion about distilled - I am hoping the RO would be a better route if they can get it right. I did have it premixed - I had planned to aerate, circulate and heat before using. Other people I have talked to seemed to do ok with stocking up on water - it is sealed up. Have you had issues with doing that?

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Why are you doing water changes while cycling? Let the tank do it's thing for the 3 wk cycle and add your top off water.

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cmccorkle2005

Why are you doing water changes while cycling? Let the tank do it's thing for the 3 wk cycle and add your top off water.

The tank is already cycled - The water change today was to help with the initial Algae bloom.

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cmccorkle2005

Ok, it was confusing, I read it as you starting the tank 2 days ago. My apologies.

No worries - I just started the thread for it a couple of days ago but the tank is a few weeks old. Advice is always appreciated - I'm not new to aquariums, but only dabbled in reef tanks for a year or so before i shut down my last tank. AND it has been a few years since I've had one so boy am I rusty! :)

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Your clown is cute :) Good luck with the new tank, I'll be following along.

 

I'd go with distilled water from the store and make my own water when it's needed, if it was me, and that way I'm guaranteed to know exactly what is in the water and how it was made. Or just pick up water from the LFS when you need it, but always test it first, especially since they've already shown that they don't have a bullet proof process. I make up water the day of my water change, and save the leftover for no more than three or four days, sealed up in the bucket with a tight lid. I circulate and heat it before using it. But I wouldn't use it after that - there's just too much chance of something getting contaminated or settling out.

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cmccorkle2005

Your clown is cute :) Good luck with the new tank, I'll be following along.

 

I'd go with distilled water from the store and make my own water when it's needed, if it was me, and that way I'm guaranteed to know exactly what is in the water and how it was made. Or just pick up water from the LFS when you need it, but always test it first, especially since they've already shown that they don't have a bullet proof process. I make up water the day of my water change, and save the leftover for no more than three or four days, sealed up in the bucket with a tight lid. I circulate and heat it before using it. But I wouldn't use it after that - there's just too much chance of something getting contaminated or settling out.

Thanks :-) Appreciate the advice - My local LFS is normally really good. They apologized profusely for the mistake with the water so I am going to give them another chance. With this tank being so small it really is pretty convenient to just let them premix it. Gonna give it one more go round. Thanks for that advice on storing water too - after your comments and a couple of other folks I think I am not going to stockpile so much water.

 

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cmccorkle2005
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I finally got a decent shot of my emerald crab the other night - he decided to hang out by the glass which is rare. My clown has finally decided this tank is home too and has come out of his corner and started to swim around the tank more too...

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cmccorkle2005

It looks like my initial Algae bloom is lifting (knock on wood) so I am going start opening the light time back up slowly. (I have been running the blues 4 hours and the whites 3 while the CUC worked on the brown algae). I think my plan is to monitor my water quality for a few more weeks and make sure it is stable before I start adding anything else to the tank. Does anyone have any advice about shrimp? My wife really wants a fire shrimp - anybody had any issues with them in a reef tank? Also, Any thoughts about whether to add shrimp or coral first? same time? Does it matter? I think some people say to add corals last after fish and other inverts so you know your bio load is in good shape before the corals go in.

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I always heard you should add things like shrimp last so there's enough for them to pick on. Add a couple corals or fish and wait 3 wks and see if everything is stable. Then add a few more corals.

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cmccorkle2005

I always heard you should add things like shrimp last so there's enough for them to pick on. Add a couple corals or fish and wait 3 wks and see if everything is stable. Then add a few more corals.

That makes sense - Thanks! I have been thinking about adding either a goby or a blennie and I think that will be it for fish in this small tank. My coral choices will be a little bit limited by the stock lighting in the biocube but I am thinking about some xenia and maybe some zoas to start off on the coral side...

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That makes sense - Thanks! I have been thinking about adding either a goby or a blennie and I think that will be it for fish in this small tank. My coral choices will be a little bit limited by the stock lighting in the biocube but I am thinking about some xenia and maybe some zoas to start off on the coral side...

what stock lights come with the BC 14? I'm working to get one of Dave's NanoBox retrofits for my BC. Surprisingly, as long as it isn't something that needs absolute high/intense light, things seem to be doing well in my tank (especially now that it seems I've fought off the cyano). I put the corals that need moderate - moderate/high light at the top of my rockscape. I was a bit nervous at first, so I started with a pink stylo and it has gotten really dark pink, almost magenta at the top of the tank.

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cmccorkle2005

what stock lights come with the BC 14? I'm working to get one of Dave's NanoBox retrofits for my BC. Surprisingly, as long as it isn't something that needs absolute high/intense light, things seem to be doing well in my tank (especially now that it seems I've fought off the cyano). I put the corals that need moderate - moderate/high light at the top of my rockscape. I was a bit nervous at first, so I started with a pink stylo and it has gotten really dark pink, almost magenta at the top of the tank.

 

That's really encouraging to hear you are doing well with the BC lighting. The 14 has a 24 watt acintic and a 24 watt daylight fixture, both CF and then has the LED moonlight strip. I know alot of people have done the LED retrofits for the Biocube - you will have to tell me how you like yours. If I ever went that route I would want to do something like the nanobox where I don't have to throw away the hood and have a big open top.
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That's really encouraging to hear you are doing well with the BC lighting. The 14 has 24 watt acintic and a 24 watt daylight fixture, both CF and then has an LED moonlight strip. I know alot of people have done the LED retrofits for the Biocube - you will have to tell me how you like yours. If I ever went that route I would want to do something like that where I don't have to throw away the hood and have a big open top.

Yeah, the cover for me is essential - especially with the cats and dogs and whatever else is flying around the house :) I'll definitely let ya know!

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What a classy looking room your tank sits in :).

That makes sense - Thanks! I have been thinking about adding either a goby or a blennie and I think that will be it for fish in this small tank. My coral choices will be a little bit limited by the stock lighting in the biocube but I am thinking about some xenia and maybe some zoas to start off on the coral side...

 

The lighting is not terrible in these tanks! You could pretty much do anything but SPS and clams. Xenia and zoas are a great start. If you like the stick look, there is always the popular photosynthetic gorgonian :).

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cmccorkle2005

What a classy looking room your tank sits in :).

 

 

The lighting is not terrible in these tanks! You could pretty much do anything but SPS and clams. Xenia and zoas are a great start. If you like the stick look, there is always the popular photosynthetic gorgonian :).

 

Thanks - The room is actually my office at home. We decided it was a good place - its in the front of the house and convenient to enjoy the tank but not in the middle of the living room where kids will not get into it so much :-) Thanks - I am hoping to get some mileage from the stock lighting here and see how far it will take me :-) I don't know much about gorgonians - I will have to look at them :-)

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cmccorkle2005

Managed to catch my emerald and my big scarlet hanging out together last night :-) I am still in the process of ramping the lights back up and biding my time until I add something new.

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I think you may want to wait a little longer before adding corals. Perhaps between 3-6 months mature would be a good time to start adding.

 

You can test the water (pardon the pun) with some Zoa frag and see how it goes. If it goes well maybe another. When 3-6 months you can do some more serious stocking.

 

I love the Bc14. Great little tank.

Few points and advice from my 3+ years running.

 

LEDs were an awesome retrofit. My tank has never looked better and corals never thrived so much. Plus I have some SPS Growing beautifully as well as on happy clam.

Well worth the money.

 

Get an ATO. Since you have an office it's clear you work. And you have kids which I know take time. All time which you don't have to pour fresh water in to keep levels even. Maintaining steady salinity is pretty key in the little tanks.

 

If you want to run a skimmer in 2nd chamber definitely get an ATO.

Your water level needs to stay consistent to run a skimmer properly. Chamber two will fluctuate a lot with no ATO.

 

Good luck!!

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cmccorkle2005

I think you may want to wait a little longer before adding corals. Perhaps between 3-6 months mature would be a good time to start adding.

 

You can test the water (pardon the pun) with some Zoa frag and see how it goes. If it goes well maybe another. When 3-6 months you can do some more serious stocking.

 

I love the Bc14. Great little tank.

Few points and advice from my 3+ years running.

 

LEDs were an awesome retrofit. My tank has never looked better and corals never thrived so much. Plus I have some SPS Growing beautifully as well as on happy clam.

Well worth the money.

 

Get an ATO. Since you have an office it's clear you work. And you have kids which I know take time. All time which you don't have to pour fresh water in to keep levels even. Maintaining steady salinity is pretty key in the little tanks.

 

If you want to run a skimmer in 2nd chamber definitely get an ATO.

Your water level needs to stay consistent to run a skimmer properly. Chamber two will fluctuate a lot with no ATO.

 

Good luck!!

Hey thanks for the advice here - I will go slow with the corals for sure. Which LED upgrade did you do? I have already been thinking about that for down the road. I have wondered about an ATO but so far this BC seems to have so little evaportation that I am only topping off once a week - how often do you have to top off?

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cmccorkle2005

Did some moving with my live rock with the water change today. After looking at alot of other tanks I realized that I had built a big wall in the back and really needed shelves at different levels for corals.

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