rev138's BioCube 14 + Mods

[rev138]

I've been a freshwater aquarist for about 20 years, but my girlfriend has been drooling over the reef setups at the LFS for a long time, so for Xmas I decided to get her a small one to wet her feet with. While it's technically "her" tank, and she will be rubber-stamping most of the executive decisions, I've gotten into it quite a bit myself

 

We unpacked it about 10 days ago and filled it with tap (our first newbie mistake), and after several days of letting it dechlorinate, we went to our LFS (The Pet Advantage in South Burlington, VT) and picked up a bag of crushed coral and about 10 pounds of LR.

 

I've read that quite a few people here are against using crushed coral. I guess you can call it our second newbie mistake. If it becomes a problem, we'll replace it, but for now its staying.

 

It's been up and running for about a week now with the LR. Take a look:

 

 

I'm pretty happy with the rock we got. It has some interesting shapes, and a few of the pieces have a decent amount of purple on them:

 

 

That curved piece doesn't seem to be coral skeleton at all (or maybe just at its core), it looks like it's made up of hundreds of shell fragments encrusted together. It's also teeming with feather dusters and has a small purple sponge of some sort attached.

 

The arrangement there left a nice flat top to the rock pile. We plan to leave it that way for a while, and if we find a particularly choice piece of LR at the LFS in the next few weeks, we can set it right on top

 

We're planning on letting it cycle like this for about 2 months before adding anything. No need to rush it. We'll also be soft-cycling with weekly 10% water changes, to try to preserve as much of the hitchers on there as possible.

 

I've been spending about an hour every night after lights off with a small LED flashlight looking for critters. So far, I've found the following:

• dozens of featherdusters (yellow, orange, and white)
  
• a small blue-legged hermit (which died the day after it went in )
  
• 3-4 small (3-4mm) snails with brown and white shells
  
• a tiny (2mm) snail with a white conical shell
  
• an aiptasia (which I nuked with a syringe and some vinegar )
  
• several small coral polyps
  
• some small sea squirts
  
• a dark purple patch of some kind of sponge, about the size of a nickel
  
• tons of little pods
  
• 2 or 3 teeny worms
  
• a small white brittle star (which I got to see in full for about 5 minutes before it retreated into a hole)
  
• a few tiny worms (bristleworms? too small to see in detail)
  

I got a lot of help from stallen and others on this thread, as far as mods for the tank. Kudos to them.

 

Current Mods:

• Removed the stock filter cartridge, and added polyfil floss to the top of the second chamber instead. Put my heater where the cartridge used to be.
  
• Removed the bio-balls and added about 3" of coral rubble to the second chamber.
  
• Removed the sponge in the third chamber and replaced it with more coral rubble.
  

Planned Mods:

• Widen the spillover in the first chamber.
  
• Replace the stock pump with an MJ900/Hydor Flo
  
• Add some submersible lightbulbs to the second chamber (on a reverse lighting schedule) for chaeto.
  

That's about all for now. I've been trying to do as much homework as possible to get things right, and I'm certainly open to continued suggestions.

 

Let me know what you think!

[stallen]

Looks nice rev! What do you have in mind for fish and corals?

[rev138]

Looks nice rev! What do you have in mind for fish and corals?

 

Not sure. That's mostly up to my other half.

 

I guess the quick answer is: Whatever we can get away with using stock lighting

[rev138]

I've been thinking about a flower anemone, but I'm worried that they might get too large for a nano. Some people are posting about theirs getting to 8 or 9" in diameter.

 

Any thoughts on that?

[stallen]

Maybe someone else can chime in. I don't know much about flower anemones. My thoughts are... How big are the ones that are available to you for purchase? And How long does it take to get 8" - 9" in diameter. If you can get one that is only 1 - 2" diamter and they only grow about an inch per year then I'd say go for it and just down size to a smaller one after several years when it gets to big.

 

Just do some homework I guess.

[rev138]

The ones currently at my LFS are about 2", but I won't be stocking for about 7 more weeks, so it's anyone's guess what they'll have then.

 

BTW -

 

Mod: I just swapped the two bulbs in the hood, so the 10,000K is directly over the LR, instead of over the sand (with the thought that I can put the more light-craving stuff on top of the LR, closer to the source), and now the whole tank looks brighter.

 

edit: I'm also starting to get a diatom bloom.

[flyingjeff]

The setup looks great so far.

 

The hitchhikers are alot of fun to watch. And then you will find yourself staring at snails and whatever else you put in your cleanup crew!!!! Who knew all that little stuff could be so interesting!

 

I agree with Stallen on the Anenome. Make sure you do your research. There is agreat amount of knowledge lurking in these forums, that is for sure.

 

Keep up the good work.

[lemiwinks]

i like the rocks. its looks good

[rev138]

i like the rocks. its looks good

 

Thanks.

 

I'd like to get a really cool looking rock to put right up on top, where it will be prominent. I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled.

[rev138]

A few days ago, I started getting the expected diatom bloom on my substrate. Tonight, the brown areas are covered in hundreds of tiny bubbles.

 

Question: What gas is this, and is it normal?

[rev138]

I'm starting to get green algae all over my LR, so I'm going to leave the lights of completely while I'm away this weekend and see if that helps.

 

I also ordered a bag of chaeto from FreakShow, and bought a couple of 5w submersible halogens from mainlandmart.com, so hopefully by the end of next week, I'll have my fuge complete, and it can start competing with the algae for nutrients

[Anime Gee]

Sounds like the tank has pretty much cycled. From here on, just run the lights 4 to 6 hours straight daily. That should be enough for the corals & it should keep the algae under control. (^_^ )

[rev138]

Since I have the chaeto and lights on the way, I've been thinking:

 

I'd have to drill some holes in the drip tray for the lights to fit in, but do I really need the drip tray in there at all? It's designed to diffuse the flow over the bio-balls.

 

I see a lot of modded fuges with chaeto where the drip tray is left in. Does it serve any purpose in that setup?

[stallen]

It serves a purpose for me. It also blocks light from coming into the main display and I have filter floss sitting on top.

[rev138]

It serves a purpose for me. It also blocks light from coming into the main display and I have filter floss sitting on top.

 

Oh, right. I do too.

 

Now I feel stupid.

[rev138]

Leaving the lights off for two days did wonders. I came back from my trip today, and ALL of the diatoms were gone!

 

I did a water change, and while the water level was low, I widened the overflow into chamber 2. I don't have a dremel tool like the rest of you fine gentlemen (I never realized it was such a critical fish-keeping tool!), so I used my dog's nail clippers to cut out the plastic. The end result isn't pretty, but it works fine

[rev138]

Heh... I just realized that the curved piece of LR pictured above is fake.

 

I just learned about the existence of DIY live rock, made of cement and oyster shells, and realized that this is what I have. If you look back on my original post, you'll see that I thought something was funny about this piece from the get-go.

 

I'm not complaining at all -- it's a cool shape, and it has a ton of critters on it

 

My guess is that someone was breaking down a tank and sold off all of their LR to my LFS, including this piece, because I doubt a LR supplier would have sent them a load of real LR with one DIY piece in it.

[rev138]

I took the opportunity of having today off to go to my LFS and pick up a clean-up crew.

 

I got 3 hermits, 3 trochus snails, and one nassarius snail. I also got a bunch of empty shells for the hermits.

 

I know this is less than most of the recommendations out there, but I believe in going slow, and I can always add more.

 

The nass immediately buried himself in the spot I dropped him, the trochus snails have been sloooooooowly exploring the tank, and the hermits have been going nuts on the piles of detritus that were built up on the sand.

 

It's nice to have something moving around in my tank that isn't teensy.

[rev138]

New Mod: Fuge Lighting

The 5w submersible halogen bulbs that I ordered came in tonight. I got them from mainlandmart.com for $18, shipping included. I'm glad that the lights arrived before the chaeto.

 

I was happy to find out that I had a drill bit just big enough to match the diameter of the lights.

 

I drilled two holes in the drip plate. The first one was easy, as I just widened one of the existing holes. The other, on the grating, looks kind of gnarly, but I couldn't use any of the other holes because of the lip that the drip tray sits on. The hole fits the bulb snugly though.

 

Here it is installed. I secured the wires to the hood using some small zip ties:

 

From the top, the chamber looks pretty well lit, and I can easily take the bulbs out without disturbing the drip plate. I can now see the lights through the black film on the back of the cube, and funnily enough with the water dappling, it kind of looks like there's a fire burning in there

 

I've been running the lights for about an hour now, and I see a 0.5 degree bump in temps. Definitely something I can live with.

 

As a side note, my CUC is doing well, and they totally MURDERED all of the detritus on the sand in the past 24 hours. All that's left is some scattered snail poop, which I guess is unavoidable

[stallen]

I didn't get my CUC until about 2 weeks after I had introduced my two fish (mistake). I had a TON of macro algae. However, I was amazed how quickly the CUC got the job done!

 

Have you replaced the stock pump yet? I'm a little surprised that you have detrius and visible snail poo on your sand. Seems like the high flow alone in my tank is enough to keep everything sucked out (and into the filter floss).

[rev138]

Have you replaced the stock pump yet?

 

Nope. My MJ900 is in transit, and should be here by Friday, but for now I'm running stock.

[rev138]

MJ900 and Hydor Flo arrived today

 

Installation was a snap, but the Flo sticks out about 1.5" because of the output tube.

 

Any idea if it's possible to remove that tube and mount the Flo flush with the back wall?

 

I found another aiptasia today, and also one of these, which I still have no firm idea about.

 

Anyway, all I have left to wait on is my chaeto (probably tomorrow or the next day, it already shipped), and then my tank will be "done" in terms of filtration tweaking

[rev138]

It turns out that the tube which the stock outflow nozzle attaches to is just a sleeve, which can be pulled off by hand. The tube within is molded to the back wall, but it's about 1/2" shorter. I was able to attach the Flo to it with a different adapter. It still sticks out, but not quite as much.

 

I'm definitely getting the characteristic sand-movement in the left front corner from the current. I'll have to pick up another small hunk of LR to stick up there.

 

Aaaannd... the chaeto is in!

[rev138]

We picked up another small piece of LR this weekend to try to stop the Hydor Flo from blwoing away all the sand:

Looks like it's going to take a little trial and error with the placement, as the sand is still mounding around it.

 

New FTS:

We also picked up an anemone crab, which is apparently actually closer to a lobster than a crab, but so far he hasn't been very photogenic.

[rev138]

Ever get the feeling you're just talking to yourself?