kgoldy's BC 29 HQI obsession

[kgoldy]

DISCLAIMER: I have a huge hangover and will probably have to edit this later to translate it to English...

 

This is my first time venturing into saltwater and reefing... and after years of wanting to get a setup, I finally can afford to get started.

 

I went with biocube after falling in love with a 14 gallon that my friend had. After his kid put chocolate milk in the tank and killed everything, he gave me his whole system. Because I've got an obsessive personality, I still went out and bought a new BC 29 HQI so I could start fresh. ...and maybe use the 14 for seahorses when I get some experience under my belt.

 

Substrate-

20 lbs Nature's Ocean Live Sand, Pink Fiji, and 10lbs of some super fine LS from the same company.

 

Lighting-

Stock HQI 14k bulb, with add on Lunar Light Nocturnal Blue for night viewing. Oceanic fuge light goes on when main lighting goes off. Current "day" schedule is from 4pm to midnight... any more time than that, or starting daytime earlier cooks my tank.

 

Live Rock-

35-ish pounds from the LFS, with a lot of skeletons I'm keeping in there to seed future projects

 

Mods-

Removed the tab that everyone else takes out, using a sharp knife.

Took out the stock skimmer because it's a piece of junk.

Koralia 2 on the back wall.

Maxi Jet 1200 with Hydor rotating deflector (poor man's wavemaker).

Bought the inTank full setup, had it in for a few weeks, then removed it because I find it to be more of a waste of space than anything else. (PS it's for sale, pretty much brand new).

 

Chambers-

1- Stealth heater

2- Using the plastic part of the biocube filters as a rack to put filter floss on. Chaeto growing in the fuge (lots more space without inTank stuff taking up all the room). Little bit of live sand under the bottom rack because I'd like microfauna to have something to hold on to. Jammed in Chemi-Pure Elite down there too so I could force the water through it before it can get into chamber three.

3- MJ1200 and thermometer probe.

 

Using API Reef and Saltwater Master Kits for testing. Refractometer to measure salinity.

 

Salinity stays around 25, temps about 81. Run the air conditioner at 72 degrees all day and night, and the ceiling fan always stays on.

 

Since I'm a forum noob I still haven't figured out how to post pics, so here's the link to my facebook aquarium album. kgoldy's facebook aquarium photo album

[bhskicker18]

I clicked your Facebook link, and nice tank!

[kgoldy]

Finally figured out photobucket!! Guess I'll be posting things out of chronological order... But here's The Obsession's current occupants!

 

The cleaner shrimp-

 

The Dendro and Nuclear Polyps-

 

Lettuce-

 

Duncan-

 

Some sort of Brain-

 

Torch-

 

The tiny tiny baby coral that came as a hitch hiker-

 

RBTA just after shipping... Thought it was dead for a bit-

 

RBTA after it found it's spot-

 

Mac the Emerald Crab-

 

Jose the Algae Blenny and the Fighting Conch (Jose is my fav little buddy and was my first permanent resident for this tank)-

 

Right side view of the tank, with the pair of Ocellaris Clowns-

 

One of the clowns ####### off my Dendro... She didn't want to host anything until the day I spent a bunch of money on a Nem. What a jerk...-

[loftedfalcon]

Great tank, looking good!

 

I'm just in the process of putting together a shopping list for a new tank and equipment and the BC 29G HQI was my fav too. How is it for heat and evap?

[MPevine11]

Great tank, looking good!

 

I'm just in the process of putting together a shopping list for a new tank and equipment and the BC 29G HQI was my fav too. How is it for heat and evap?

 

 

heat, with room temp at 89 (which is like the hottest my room ever gets) the tanks about 81

when i run the AC in my room which puts my room at about 69, with my Fluval E200 watt heater set to 78, the tank stays at about 77.5 (heater is in chamber one and the temp reading is comming from the middle of the display)

 

 

as for evap, with the glass top isnt bad at all. i thought it was going to be alot of evrapation but i was wrong!

 

 

 

 

 

Great looking tank! ^^

[loftedfalcon]

heat, with room temp at 89 (which is like the hottest my room ever gets) the tanks about 81

when i run the AC in my room which puts my room at about 69, with my Fluval E200 watt heater set to 78, the tank stays at about 77.5 (heater is in chamber one and the temp reading is comming from the middle of the display)

 

 

as for evap, with the glass top isnt bad at all. i thought it was going to be alot of evrapation but i was wrong!

 

 

 

 

 

Great looking tank! ^^

 

How many gallons a week do you have to top up?

[MPevine11]

i just top off daily, i have a cup 7inchs tall, 3.5 inchs wide. i fill that about 1/4th daily to top off.... so not bad at all

[loftedfalcon]

Cool, thanks for that!

[MPevine11]

not a problem, any other questios, i'd love to help

[kgoldy]

Great tank, looking good!

 

I'm just in the process of putting together a shopping list for a new tank and equipment and the BC 29G HQI was my fav too. How is it for heat and evap?

 

Thanks!

 

Temps are fine as long as I only run my lights from 3pm or later, in a room with a constant 72` air conditioner running. 81 degrees is normal for my tank, but if I start the day cycle any earlier, the tank rises up to 84`.

 

As for evaporation... It's something I barely notice. I try to do weekly water changes, and when that's the case, it's the only topping off that I have to do.

[loftedfalcon]

Sweet!!!

 

Looks like you just saved me $200 by talking me out of an ATO

 

Thanks dude!!

[loftedfalcon]

So what do you have in the back of your tank? I know you took the standard kit out and did the mods. Did you get Stevies media baskets for it?

 

How do you get the water through the back is that where your maxijet is?

 

If you stand in front of your tank and number the chambers left to right, one being on the left, what do you have in them?

 

Sorry for all the questions but I really want to get this right the first time! I planned on mine to have 2x Koralia Nano 425's plugged into a wavemaker and ditch the standard equipment but it suddenly dawned on me last night that I'd have nothing to pull the water through the back

[kgoldy]

Looking from the front of the tank, you count chambers from right to left... The way the water flows. Chamber 1 - Stealth heater.

Chamber 2 - Biocube filter with everything ripped off it, down to the plastic frame... I put filter floss in there and change it weekly. Under the filter floss is chaetomorpha (macro algae) with a light that shines in through the fuge window at "night time" when my MH lamp is off. Under the bottom rack of chamber 2 I have Chemi-Pure Elite.

Chamber 3- Maxijet 1200, which has a Hydor Rotating Deflector attached to disperse water into the tank and create random flow.

 

Fill the tank with water until water fills the chambers, turn on the maxijet, and you're good to go.

 

Two Koralia Nano's and a wave maker sounds great- my Koralia 2 is overkill, so I'm switching to the VorTech MP-10.

 

 

 

 

So what do you have in the back of your tank? I know you took the standard kit out and did the mods. Did you get Stevies media baskets for it?

 

How do you get the water through the back is that where your maxijet is?

 

If you stand in front of your tank and number the chambers left to right, one being on the left, what do you have in them?

 

Sorry for all the questions but I really want to get this right the first time! I planned on mine to have 2x Koralia Nano 425's plugged into a wavemaker and ditch the standard equipment but it suddenly dawned on me last night that I'd have nothing to pull the water through the back

[loftedfalcon]

I've heard that Mp10's can be a little noisy.

 

So I have a queston about the Maxijet. Is the 1200 a bit large, would a smaller one do or is that amount of flow through the back really needed in your opinion?

 

I ask because it's a fairly smal tank and I wonder if there's such a thing as too much flow, buffetting etc

[Ecthaelion]

So glad to find this string. I purchased a BioCube 29 HQI last weekend and hope to set it up in my office very soon. Your setup looks great!

 

I was also curious about the MaxiJet 1200 upgrade. Lots of folks recommend the 900, but I wonder if the stock pump (rated at 240-ish gph) would drive the hydor? Worth a try, I guess.

 

How long is your light cycle with the metal hallide bulb? I want to run "daytime" during business hours, but worry that 8 or 9 hours might overheat the tank.

 

Do you use any moonglow type lighting opposite the MH?

[plainrt]

So glad to find this string. I purchased a BioCube 29 HQI last weekend and hope to set it up in my office very soon. Your setup looks great!

 

I was also curious about the MaxiJet 1200 upgrade. Lots of folks recommend the 900, but I wonder if the stock pump (rated at 240-ish gph) would drive the hydor? Worth a try, I guess.

 

How long is your light cycle with the metal hallide bulb? I want to run "daytime" during business hours, but worry that 8 or 9 hours might overheat the tank.

 

Do you use any moonglow type lighting opposite the MH?

 

 

im at about 8 hours with my hqi cube and run the moon lights and fuge light when main light is off.Im happy with my hqi biocube.I left the stock pump till it dies cause i have a vortech mp20 inside it also for extra flow lol

[kgoldy]

Been neglecting my own thread, so I'm gunna try to get pics of all the new house mates in the 29HQI...

 

"Trained" Spotted Mandarin - eats frozen foods. I highly recommend Long Islanders go to Tropical Island Aquarium in Deer Park for stuff like this.

 

Look at all the coraline!!

 

Got two Pom-Pom crabs. One's got white anemones, the other has brown. They're always out in the open, unless I have a camera ready...

 

Upgraded to the Vortec, got rid of the Koralia 2... suddenly I have no heat problems... Also, look closely and you see that the Duncan is growing a new head.

 

My RBTA split because my porcelain crabs were jerks... Here's one just after being fed some mysis.

 

New SPS and the original hitch-hiker zoa that's started to colonize...

 

Pulsing Zenia that pulses like crazy- when the pumps are off.

 

New zoos, with the Nuclear polyps that have grown a bit, and the bleached- and recovering brain coral.

 

Orange yuma

 

Hitch-hiker macro algae that's been starting to finally grow out. Looks pretty different.

 

Sexy shrimp and the 2nd half of my RBTA

 

New zoo's and the second Green Clown Goby

 

Those two bigger polyps... Are they zoos, or palys?

 

Hitchiker macro from above

[kgoldy]

Here's a terrible cell phone video of my tank. It shows how terrible I am with keeping my glass clean before showing off my livestock. Hahah

 

http://s873.photobucket.com/albums/ab300/k...0111_175448.mp4