Bonsai Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 On August 23rd, I took the plunge and upgraded to a 29 Gallon BioCube. Here's how I did it, after reading recommendations on this board and from several people I trust at my LFS. Emptied 14G's tank water into 5 gallon buckets, then put livestock, live rock, and coral into those buckets I moved the BC14 (with the sand and just enough water to cover the sand) off it's stand onto the floor, then moved the stand away. Put the BC29's stand in it's place, put the BC29 on top, and added 30Lbs of sand (new). I then took the top layer of sand from the BC14 and placed it on top of the new sand in the BC29 to seed the new sand with some "live sand." I added 15Lbs of new, fully cured, live rock to the tank, wiggling it down to the bottom glass. I added the exisiting live rock with corals attached on top of that. Transfered all of the water from the 5G buckets (the BC14's water) into the BC29. Filled the tank the remaining way with new saltwater. Added the rest of the coral Acclimated the fish to the new water (as a precaution) and added him in Acclimated the cleaner shrimp to the new water (again, as a precaution) and added him in HELD MY BREATH AND HOPED THERE WILL BE NO CYCLE (this is still happening, I haven't taken a breath in 24 hrs). So - there we have it. Both tanks had to live in the same space in my living room, so I didn't have the option of cycling the 29G before moving the stock over ... so hopefully this way works The corals are all responding favorably. The crabs, snails, fish, and shrimp are all doing well. I actually sort of haphazardly added the rock in an effort to get everything in the tank and underwater, but I kind of like how the rocks look ... I'm sure I'll re-scape at some point, but for now, I'm leaving things alone as not to stress anything. Pictures to come. Livestock - Updated 1/13/09 Fish, Inverts Blue Spotted Jawfish Ocellaris Clownfish Pair Purple Firefish Banggai Cardinal Fish Skunk Cleaner Emerald Crab Blue-legged Hermit Crab & Scarlet Hermit Crab Trochus, Turbo and Nassarius Snails Corals Assorted Zoanthids (Fire & Ice, Radioactive Dragon Eyes, Tubb's Blues, etc) Fungia (Plate Coral) Trumpet Coral Assorted Ricordea Florida Kenya Trees Hammer Coral Frogspawn Coral Superman Mushrooms Favia Pom Pom Xenia Jason Link to comment
dahliaheartsyou Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 COOLIO!!!!!! did you get the LR from preuss? they have a big sale right now... i can't WAIT for pics!!! Link to comment
Bonsai Posted August 25, 2008 Author Share Posted August 25, 2008 COOLIO!!!!!!did you get the LR from preuss? they have a big sale right now... i can't WAIT for pics!!! You bet. I didn't even know about the sale ... Kirby told me about it ... that they had "just posted it on michiganreefers.com an hour ago." That's what I love about that place. Link to comment
Bonsai Posted August 25, 2008 Author Share Posted August 25, 2008 i can't WAIT for pics!!! First photo of the new tank: Link to comment
mnherper Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Wow your tank looks amazing!!! Link to comment
m'akoyPINOY Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 nice set up!i'm tagging along for more pics. Link to comment
nanoreef11 Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Where is the pic at. I don't see it. Link to comment
Bonsai Posted August 25, 2008 Author Share Posted August 25, 2008 Where is the pic at. I don't see it. Post #4 ... scroll up. Link to comment
nanoreef11 Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 First photo of the new tank: The first time the page loaded the pic wasn't there. haha I refreshed the page and I see it now. Amazing tank. I thought about upgrading also but gonna stick it out with the 14 gallon first. Link to comment
Zombo Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Wow. Do not, under any circumstances, re-aquascape that! It looks *perfect* ! Link to comment
diggman08 Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Stunning!... aquascape is Perfect,,very natural... also what kind of sand is that.. im luvin it.. Link to comment
Bonsai Posted August 25, 2008 Author Share Posted August 25, 2008 Wow. Do not, under any circumstances, re-aquascape that! It looks *perfect* ! Ha! Thanks Stunning!... aquascape is Perfect,,very natural... also what kind of sand is that.. im luvin it.. Thanks. The sand is the "sugar sized" stuff ... aragonite: http://www.caribsea.com/pages/products/dry_aragonite.html Link to comment
Bonsai Posted August 25, 2008 Author Share Posted August 25, 2008 Quick update ... I did the BC14 -> BC29 upgrade on 8/23 ... today is 8/25, and everything looks good. I just ran my first test, and things look a little bit off: SG - 1.026ish pH - 7.8 Ammonia 0.25 Nitrite - 0 Nitrate - 0 So it appears that my pH is a little low, and my new live rock is having a mini-cycle of some sort. I guess I'm doing a water change tonight ... maybe I should do a few 10% changes this week just to be safe. Jason Link to comment
rainydave Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 That looks very nice. I like the aquascaping. Link to comment
dahliaheartsyou Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 freakin awesome! but the aquascaping could use more height seriously, it looks GREAT! i love the zoas in the top left, beautiful specimens! that will look so sweet when they cover it! are you happy with the BC 29 so far? Link to comment
TUDIZZLE Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 looks great! Funny how every thing that was crammed into a 14 can look so spacious in a 29! Link to comment
Isodore Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 What is that in the bottom left corner? Looks very nice. Link to comment
Bonsai Posted August 25, 2008 Author Share Posted August 25, 2008 What is that in the bottom left corner? Looks very nice. That's a bi-colored frogspawn. At that particular moment, it wasn't very opened up .. but it's a very nice piece Link to comment
Bonsai Posted August 25, 2008 Author Share Posted August 25, 2008 freakin awesome!but the aquascaping could use more height I tend to agree, but I might let the rocks hang out where they currently are for a bit before I move them around. There is a nice sized rock right in the middle of the rock work that I could move to the back of the tank ... right behind the Zoa filled rock (but centered). Thanks for the compliments everyone! Link to comment
Bonsai Posted August 26, 2008 Author Share Posted August 26, 2008 Well - whatever Ammonia that was testing at 0.25 this morning is now testing at 0 now ... good sign! Whew Link to comment
dahliaheartsyou Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 Well - whatever Ammonia that was testing at 0.25 this morning is now testing at 0 now ... good sign! Whew yay! that makes me happy! i'm still jealous of the bi-color frogspawn... that is next on my list from there... Link to comment
nanoreef11 Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 Sounds good. I agree on more height for the aquascape. Tank still looks amazing for being thrown together. Good job on keeping everything alive. Link to comment
Cali-girl Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 Lookin' good! Lookin' good! I'm so glad i upgraded to the 29. It gave me much more room and more of a variety of what i could keep in there. Ur going to love it!! Link to comment
Bonsai Posted August 26, 2008 Author Share Posted August 26, 2008 Lookin' good! Lookin' good! I'm so glad i upgraded to the 29. It gave me much more room and more of a variety of what i could keep in there. Ur going to love it!! Thanks! When you did the upgrade (I read your thread before upgrading mine) -- did you end up losing anything? Did you add additional rock? Did you see any sort of cycle? Jason Link to comment
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