14g Biocube Incubator

[blajoie]

Biocube 14g

 

FTS (11/20/11)

 

Equipment

• BioCube stock PC lighting
  
• BioCube Hood w/ upgraded fans in rear
  
• Hydor FLO rotating deflector
  
• Pico Evolution 1200
  
• Koralia Nano 245gph
  
• Maxi Jet 900
  
• Marineland Stealth 50W heater
  
• Jager Eheim 75W heater
  
• 16.5" Sunpod 70W w/ AB 13K
  
• Current 14K 70W bulb
  
• Zilla Digital Power Center
  
• DA reef keeper Lite
  
• Ecoxotic 453nm Stunner Strip
  
• Ecotech MP10 ES
  
• Tunze Osmolator ATO
  

Filtration

• inTank media basket
  
• Chemi Pure Elite
  
• Purigen
  
• Filter floss
  

Fish

• Clownfish - jumped to death
  
• Six Line Wrasse - jumped to death
  
• New Six Line Wrasse
  
• Purple Fire Fish
  
• Clownfish - jumped to death...again!
  
• Tail Spot Blenny - vanished
  
• New Tail Spot Blenny
  
• Peppermint Shrimp
  
• New Peppermint Shrimp
  
• Assorted Hermits + Snails
   
  (looking at this tally...I've been common denominator of many fish suicides)
  

[blajoie]

Goodies arriving...!

 

 

 

Tank Unboxing

• Oceanic 14g BioCube Tank + Stand
  

 

Dr. Foster and Smith essentials

• Purigen 100mL
  
• Nylon Bag
  
• Master Liquid Test Kit
  
• Marinelane Stealth Pro-Heater 50W
  
• NanoMag Alage Scaper
  
• Hydor Pico Evolution Mini Pump 1200
  
• Hydor Rotating Deflector FLO
  
• Free Food
  

• Hydor Koralia Nano Pump (245GHP)
  
• Chemi Pure Elite
  
• Purple Up
  

 

inTank

• BioCube Media Basket
  
• 6x Filter Floss
  

• 20lb bag Caribsea Live Sand
  
• 25lb Cured Live Rock (aqua addicts NH +skiptons MA)
  
• 25gal Instand Ocean Salt
  
• IO Hydrometer
  

[clownfish617]

Great start!

 

Stocking plans?

[blajoie]

• Initial aqua scape w/ 15lb live rock.
  

• Side shot
  

• First hitchhiker...
  

• No idea what this thing is...?
  

 

Current FTS

[Deleted User 6]

last pic is a pineapple sponge - cool hitchiker. they'll probably multiply for a few weeks and then disappear.

 

also, the purple up isn't going to do anything for your tank. i wouldn't use it if i were you. to grow coralline you need to keep your alk and calc levels steady and time.

[blajoie]

So its been about 3-4 weeks since initially setting things up...

Starting growing some decent alage...

 

 

• And found a polyp hitchhiker than was on some LR I bought...
  

 

So since params were looking good...off to the LFS the grab a small CUC.

• 2x Nassarius snails
  
• 1x Cerith
  
• 3x scarlet hermit crabs
  
• 1x peppermint shrimp
  

 

3 days after adding the snails, the nassarius snails laid 2 different patches of eggs on the front glass..

 

• Probably at LEAST a couple thousand eggs!
  

 

• And then about ~5 days later...maddness
  
• Snail larva all over the tank...glass + sand + rocks...hope that's good, because it's definitely too late to stop now hah.
  

 

 

Video of them crawling around...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTgeMOcPD8E

[19jeffro83]

Awsome!!! It looks like you've been researching. Great start!!

[blajoie]

Great start!

 

Stocking plans?

 

Still not really sure...

I'm think a couple different tangs, maybe a small school of nemos?

Oh and I like those mantis shrimp things

 

also, the purple up isn't going to do anything for your tank. i wouldn't use it if i were you. to grow coralline you need to keep your alk and calc levels steady and time.

 

Yeah - I've read a lot of mixed reviews...figured I'd at least give it a shot. I am under dosing just to be safe and not throw anything out of whack.

[19jeffro83]

You don't need to dose. I blame it for a horable cyano out break I had In my biocube 14. My best results where when I was doing 2-3 waterchanges a week. I'd change about 1-11/2 gallons every other day. That's the best way to keep your levels corect. As long as you have a good salt mix that is.

[blajoie]

You don't need to dose. I blame it for a horable cyano out break I had In my biocube 14. My best results where when I was doing 2-3 waterchanges a week. I'd change about 1-11/2 gallons every other day. That's the best way to keep your levels corect. As long as you have a good salt mix that is.

 

Doesn't sound fun. Maybe I'll hold off a bit on the purple up just to be safe...

I have access to milli-q lab grade water, so I hoping that + good salt should keep me in check.

[blajoie]

Tank mods + current setup...

 

BioCube 14g Mods.

• Remove false floor from chamber 1 (room for heater).
  
• Removed false floor from chamber 2 (room for media basket).
  
• Removed BioBalls from chamber 2 (to fit media basket).
  
• Removed water flow tab from chamber 1 -> chamber 2 (to fit media basket diverter).
  
• Switched Actinic and 10K bulb positions (for fun...=).
  
• Removed blue sponge from chamber 2 -> chamber 3 (just collects crap anyways).
  
• Removed 90' elbow on return pump line. Replaced with 5/8" ID tubing instead from pump ->hydor FLO (way more flow!).
  

BioCube 14g Chambers.

• Chamber 1 (far right) : heater (stealth pro-heater 50W set to 78')
  
• Chamber 2 : inTank Media Basket
  
• Chamber 3 : return pump (Pico Evolution 1200 with red plastic intake cover removed) connected to the hydor rotating deflector.
  

Media Basket

• Top Rack : filter floss
  
• Middle Rack : Purigen
  
• Bottom Rack : Chemi-pure elite
  

[19jeffro83]

The water changes for me wasn't a big deal. It took about five minutes a day. I usualy spend more than that at my tank anyway.

Do more research on the mantis. You need to have pretty much a species only tank for them they will eat your fish, shrimp, snails and pretty much anything they can catch. Indont recommend one especially in a tank the size. They can get rather large depending on the species.

[blajoie]

So it's been about 3 weeks since the last update.

 

Since everything was looking so good...decided to add some new livestock + some frags.

 

New Livestock.

• Purple Firefish
  
• 2 x Sexy Shrimp
  

 

 

 

Firefish was pretty timid at first, but now he is coming out into the open more often.

Sexy shrimp are pretty cool, but tend to stay in the back corner of the tank. Hoping to coax them out to the front sometime soon.

 

Then picked up some zoa frags from a local reefer.

 

Zoa Frags

• GSP
  
• Fire and Ice
  
• Tubb's Blue
  
• Dragon Eye
  
• Eagle Eye
  
• Peanut Butter Cup
  
• King Midas
  
• Lord Of Rings
  

 

GSP

GSP is pretty cool. Always moving in the current. Will give the tank some life until the zoo's fill in

Fire and Ice

Frag unglued from the plug, so instead, now have 3 x 2-3polyp frags...

Tubb's Blue

Pretty nice colors, but real small heads!

Dragon's Eye

Still waiting for all the heads to come out...

King Midas

Peanut Butter Cup

Lord of Rings

Eagle Eye's

 

Hoping everything starts to settle in, and gets multiplying very soon.

 

Front Shot (Actinic + 10K)

 

Front Shot (Actinic)

 

Hoping to pick up a few more frags sometime soon, and possible sell/trade the larger of the GSP colonies.

Really wanted to seed with 10-15 different types of zoas/rics, then sit back and watch the growth.

 

Next purchase is either going to be a DA ReefKeeper Lite L1 or possible some sort of DIY LED lighting upgrade or nanocustoms 3.24??? ...decisions decisions...

[animalmaster6]

Great Tank!!

 

It looks like you're off to an excellent start

[blajoie]

A lot has happened in the past 3 weeks...

Took some pretty big hits to the ole bank account...

But who ever said this hobby is cheap

 

• Digital Aquatics Reefkeeper Lite L1
  
• Current USA 70w 16.5" Sunpod
  
• Ecotech Vortech MP10 ES
  
• Maxi-jet 900
  

 

So I've been wanting to do some upgrades for awhile now....guess they all seemed to happen at once

 

First on the list was some sort of light timer to control the light cycle. Was getting sick of having to turn the lights on/off each day... Then i also wanted to help stabilize the tank temperature so started looking into controllers to kill 2 birds with one stone. The $99 RKL fit the bill and claimed to do so much more, so I gave it a shot. Love it so far! A little difficult to use right out of the box, but after playing with it, can really do some cool things.

 

Then I wanted to upgrade the lights. Never really liked the color/intensity of the stock PCs...and was battling some heat issues with the stock hood. Had been considering going the LED route, but after reading countless threads, decided the technology just is not ready yet. Plus the fact most early adopters seem to be selling off their parts to go back to MH...sunpod was my choice. It is still being shipped, hoping that gets here by end of is week to try it out.

 

MP10 was sort of an impulse buy. found a great deal and thought the tank could def use some additional random flow. It arrived today and all I can say is WOW! Crazy powerful, tons of different modes. Really like the new nutrient transport mode (NTM) so far, but time will tell which works the best. Soon as I fired it up, water column was filled with crap. No more turkey baster for me! It will probably only run at 25%... But figured I could always use it down the road on a bigger tank, or crank it to max during cleaning

 

Then decided to to put the 90' elbow back on my return pump because i was worried about the tubing slipping off the nozzle and causing a flood while I was not home. Problem is, the elbow kills the flow on the pico 1200, since it does not have enough head pressure. Hoping the maxi jet will solve that problem.

 

Lots of pics/vids to come shortly.

[animalmaster6]

Those are pretty much the best pieces of equipment out there. Nice!

[blajoie]

Alright, here we go.

Finally had some time to take some pics/vids of the new toys.

 

• Digital Aquatics Reefkeeper Lite Basic
  

Pretty pleased with the RKL so far. Tempurature has been much more stable. Has also saved me a few times when it's been 85'+ outside when it automatically turned the lights off because the tank rose > 82'F.

Theres a lot of cool features/options built in. I think I would need another PC4 to really make the most out of it though. For now, its an expensive temp. controller with built-in safety net.

 

 

 

• Current-USA 70W sunpod 16.5"
  

 

Was really getting sick of the stock PC lighting. Colors were all washed out, and the intensity really wasnt all that great. Plus the hood was causing some major heat issues. Found a member here on NR selling the sunpod, so had to give it a try. Remind me never to ship USPS again, took 10 days!

 

 

Before - w/ stock 2x24W PC.

 

After - w/ 70W 14K MH

 

-

 

Before close up - w/ stock 2x24W PC.

 

After close up - w/ 70W 14K MH

 

The 14K bulb looks pretty good. Nice and blue even w/o any actinics.

I'm hoping everything starts to color up again. Going to run a shorter photo period for 1-2 weeks to let everything gradually adjust. Then full blast!

 

• Ecotech Vortech MP10es
  

Love the MP10. Super powerful...turning it above 50% causes the sand bed to lift up. It's also nice to give the tank a nice blast every once and awhile during cleaning to get rid of some of the crap. Getting a wave dialed in is still a challenge. Feed mode is pretty cool. So is night mode. Still need some more time to play with all the different modes.

 

Controller is pretty slick looking.

 

Made some videos of the flow:

• Feed mode - barely on.
  
  
• Short pulse - level 4.
  
  
• Short pulse - level 6.
  
  
• Short pulse - level 8.
  
  

 

Short pulse on level 6 seems to do the trick. The delay is set to about ~1sec or so.

 

Also exchanged out the koralia evolution 1200 for a new MJ900 utility pump. The MJ seems to have a lot more head pressure which really helps with using the hydor flo. That thing kills flow more than it spreads it around

 

Current FTS

[blajoie]

Tank started to grow some algae today... Tried to vacuum most of it out before it got too out of control Almost looks like diatoms or some sort of cyano. Hoping it is only due to the new lighting switch. Was running a 8hr cycle, so am going to drop that down to 5 hours, then slowly bring the duration back up to 8-9. Also recently switched from ro/di to walmart distilled... Don't have an ro/di and with the new sunpod, the evaporation is almost 1 gallon every 3 days. The walmart water is a lot easier to get hold of.

 

Still in the market for some coral frags. Just waiting for mr. Coral or blue zoo to make some big updates .

 

Also considering adding an auto top off. Anyone build one into a RKL? Looks like i need to get an SL1 and some switches...which is almost the same price for a tunze....hmm..

 

New FTS (09/12/10)

[animalmaster6]

Tank is looking very good

 

Coming along great!

[blajoie]

The sun pod fan has been quite noisy lately...

Decided to order this as a replacement.

 

http://shop.willyselectronics.com/browse.c...2db/4,7109.html

 

Will post an update once it arrives and is installed.

 

And my peanut butter cup zoas are not very happy ATM.

They are all shriveled up, not opening at all and I noticed some stringy brown discharge from them today.

 

Fragged off half the colony and moved it to the sand bed to test if maybe they were getting too much light...all other zoas are quite happy. Only time will tell the cause.

 

Anyone have any good recommendations for a 70w hqi bulb replacement?

Figured i might as well order a replacement now just in case the current bulb ever burns out suddenly.

[tpme06]

As far as your ATO being plugged into your RKL, this is what I did and it works great for me: I ordered the DIY ATO from Bulkreefsupply, but I think any ATO system would work. It has 2 plugs to it, so I got a simple splitter at Home depot and plugged that into a basic timer that Pecto/Petsmart sells for like $5. I have it go on for 15 minutes every 4 hours or so. This way my ATO isn't clicking on and off repeatedly. This way it isn't taking up a plug on my RKL.

[Spencerx]

I am using the same pump/ph that you were using before (pico 1200 and nano). I was thinking of getting the hydor flo deflector, so you are saying it wasn't worth it on the 1200? As far as removing the red tab, did that increase flow? Your tank looks great btw, love the GSP.

[blajoie]

As far as your ATO being plugged into your RKL, this is what I did and it works great for me: I ordered the DIY ATO from Bulkreefsupply, but I think any ATO system would work. It has 2 plugs to it, so I got a simple splitter at Home depot and plugged that into a basic timer that Pecto/Petsmart sells for like $5. I have it go on for 15 minutes every 4 hours or so. This way my ATO isn't clicking on and off repeatedly. This way it isn't taking up a plug on my RKL.

 

Not a bad idea...I'd rather conserve the RKL plugs since buying another PC4 = $100.

I'll look into that, thanks!

 

 

 

I am using the same pump/ph that you were using before (pico 1200 and nano). I was thinking of getting the hydor flo deflector, so you are saying it wasn't worth it on the 1200? As far as removing the red tab, did that increase flow? Your tank looks great btw, love the GSP.

 

I really like the hydor flo and would recommend it.

 

Removing the 'red cover' did increase the flow quite a bit.

The reason i switched from the pico1200 -> MJ900 was that I wanted to add back in the black plastic 90' elbow. I had originally removed the elbow when using the pico1200 to up the flow a bit, which did work.

But I started to get worried that the tubing would slip off during the day, so I went back to using the elbow.

pico1200 + elbow was just too low of flow. But by using the MJ900 which has more head pressure, I could use the elbow and still get just as much, if not more flow then when using the pico1200 w/o the elbow.

[Kirin1]

Anyone have any good recommendations for a 70w hqi bulb replacement?

Figured i might as well order a replacement now just in case the current bulb ever burns out suddenly.

 

I have a 70w Sunpod on my BC14. I've used a Ushio 14k before, and am currently using a 20k Aqualine. I like the color of the 20k, though it's not quite as intense.

 

btw ,I've been thinking about an MP10. How much space does it take up? do you have a pick of that side?

[blajoie]

I have a 70w Sunpod on my BC14. I've used a Ushio 14k before, and am currently using a 20k Aqualine. I like the color of the 20k, though it's not quite as intense.

 

btw ,I've been thinking about an MP10. How much space does it take up? do you have a pick of that side?

 

It doesnt take up much space at all, there are some pics below. I'll try to take some more soon.

I highly reccoment the MP10, it is awesome.

 

--

 

Took a couple pics tonight...no new additions.

Both sexy shrimp are MIA. probably eaten by now...

Peanut butter cups almost melted away. Fragged off half the colony and moved them down to the sad bed. Still not 100% but at least they are opening now. Moved around a few rocks too while I was in there. Still hoping to buy some frags soon.