Tricks, Hints and Cheats, for Bio cubes and Nano

[TUDIZZLE]

ok so its a noise reduction/water distrubution grate, but def not a surface skimmer

[Sexy Shrimp]

Its not a skimmer in the normal sense of the work - it's a bit of a misnoma... It does however "skim" any dust floating on the surface of the water, aswell as reducing noise and cortolling the flow. I noticed a difference when I decided to ditch mine. Ended up putting it back on.

[Basile]

Yes it redirect the flow evenly on the bioballs or bail, what ever you got cooking in there, lol.

To L34NN , do you have a fuge, if so how did you put it back. I'm about to do myne following Fishhead Junkie instructions and great ideals. Here some of the mods i had done before the fuge and will show after the fuge is done, going to home depot to get the part i need. Got some new corals, my agropora died learned it an impossible to keep in small system.

[Fishhead Junkie]

Its not a skimmer in the normal sense of the work - it's a bit of a misnoma... It does however "skim" any dust floating on the surface of the water, aswell as reducing noise and cortolling the flow. I noticed a difference when I decided to ditch mine. Ended up putting it back on.

 

You are right about that one...I did notice that once I removed the top grate, cut out that water reducer wall notch, and took out the bio balls, that when sitting on the couch looking at my tank(lovingly ) you notice the surface looks a little filmy but the wave maker head I have on my pump hits the surface and agitates it every revolution so it sorta breaks it up. I forgot to take that advice and get rid of the elbow connection on the pump, I can always use more flow with less restrictions...that was the whole point of the Maxijet 1200 upgrade, I didn't spend $25 for nothing, although having that old stock pump to mix my saltwater over night does come in handy.

 

Steve

[Basile]

The lights are attached to the back of the tank and shine only into the middle chamber just below the waters surface, by the time it travels into the chaeto and thru the water it's pretty much diffused. The pictures aren't the greatest, but you'll get the general idea.

 

Here I scraped the black paint off the back

 

Here are the 2 lights from Home Depot, they are like 9watts a piece, cost about $10 each..I used zip straps to hold them inside the paint tray and then put velcro around it.

 

Here is the finished product attached to the back of the tank, I have it on the timer to turn on at night when the 10,000K light goes off.

 

It's kind of hard to see the light shining thru in the pic, I've tweaked it since then.

 

Steve

 

Hey Steve, just bought the stuff, but the lights are 20w Xenon, couldn't find your 9W one. Do you thing Heat will be an issue. I could replace the 20W bulb by 10 W , but Xenon areless hot than halogene but still hot... What do you think any other place i could get this stuff. Tryed other store already, but nada.

Send me the name of your light, and will try to find it on the net. Thanks

[Fishhead Junkie]

I can't remember what brand they were, I just know they were 9 watts each at $10 a piece at home depot and lowes. I tried searching both of their websites but nothing comes up. I am trying to remember which forum I saw the mod on originally, the guy that first mentioned doing this showed a picture of the lights in the actual package..I am drawing a blank. If I can think of or find the name, I will post. The less heat they put off the better, mine do put off some heat but nothing horrible.

 

Steve

[wabbit]

Just another filter mod for biocube that I did. Post #5 in link:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...mp;hl=drip+tray

[Flyingg Fish]

Doesn't the light from the BioCube (8) reach the back chambers? So you wouldn't need an extra light to set up a fuge?

[Fishhead Junkie]

It's a pretty small space back there in any of the 3 different sized cubes...not sure if with the smaller cubes the light from the hood would make it down deep enough into the fuge area...might hit the surface chaeto but the stuff down below would probably die? I could be wrong though.

 

Steve

[fsu1dolfan]

Just another filter mod for biocube that I did. Post #5 in link:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...mp;hl=drip+tray

 

 

Thanks....this is one i followed way back when i first read it.....lovely being able to have a filter there and still have my fuge underneath....while a skimmer in the first chamber!! Kudos

[Basile]

Hey everyone, new Mods , and new pics

 

I finished my new fuge in the 2 chamber, i was told by the vendor that i didn't need to put LR in the back since the system is so small, and it would only trap gunk and ######, lol. And he told me to siphon the back every month after clearing up the extra chio. Debrit and gunk =nitrates he says so no rocks in the back, just some hermits and snails for the eventual alges that wil develop on the chio itself.

[Basile]

Next sets of pics all other mods that i've done following some good tips from all of you who wrote. Changed the elbow for a straight tube, give more flow for sure. Scavenged the mid grid from 2 chamber and tied it to the drip grid( it reduce the water noise and it traps debris at the same time , and stop the light from reaching the main tank at night. great barrier also for jumping fish. I change that floss when ever its too dirty, i don't wait a week or whatever, if it take 2 days or 10 days. Remember its a nitrate trap.

[Basile]

I changed my pump to a maxi-jet 1200 -350gph instead of 245gph. Its enough with my Koralia powerhead.

For lighting, i find that my original conopy is enough with the combination of 2 bright windows. Lets face it boys , i'm not gona go Mh with this shalow cube and spend $ for expensive or rare corals in this tank i will for my 65G. Besides natural light i ten time better tan MH and cost less lol. And too much light bring alge so i can control with my blinds and no extra heat from halides , beside don't know if you noticed, but we pay more for the cube anyway for a contained system so why take of the canopy? the thing that cost the most in this system, might as well start with an ordinary aquarium and put all these adds on at cost. Anyway thats my view on it. My system works great , just got to whatch the temp more closely because of the fuge light. it gives a bit more heat than expected.

 

A few more lol

 

From the top.

[Basile]

Last ones and tha last ones is my starting point 9 months ago.

[Fishhead Junkie]

Great pics. Your fuge light looks really good. What is the cover made out of?? Your corals are looking great too.

 

Steve

[dan3949]

Tired of having high temp issues (I was hitting 82+)?

 

Get a $5 computer cooling fan, cut a cirle in the back of the canopy and mount (I used black cable ties). Temp never exceeds 79F.

 

 

Tired of salinity fluctuations due to evaporation (especially if you add a cooling fan)?

 

Get a float switch and install in chamber 3. Wire the switch to a small pump/powerhead in a makeup water tank with a hose running to feed makeup water to any back chamber. Salinity is rock solid stable and you never have to think about it.

 

These mods, along with converting chamber 2 to a fuge with chaeto, getting rid of the stock filter and adding LR rubble to chamber 1, and installing a better pump in chamber 3, made my BC14 a perfect, low-maintenance nano-reef.

[johnmaloney]

i wonder why they don't just make em like that. i know the freshwater is the gorilla of the industry, but why not make a reef edition?

[Basile]

Great pics. Your fuge light looks really good. What is the cover made out of?? Your corals are looking great too.

 

Steve

 

 

Thanks, have since put some rock debris and sand, in the chamber. One of the vendors told me that rock and sand will generate better critters for food to my fish and that the gunk that accumulate there is absorbed by the plants and the community that will live there soon. The bulb is different ,thats the bulb that came with it, The cover is made of hard plastic. I got a 50/50 mini bulb 10 w in there now. For the color of my coral i use a supplement; ULTRA MINs amino acids , its cheap $ 12 for a year supply. 2 drops a day. Its good for SPS and LPS.

 

A question ; did you have to rased the water level higher than the maximum, i did.

 

Tired of having high temp issues (I was hitting 82+)?

 

Get a $5 computer cooling fan, cut a cirle in the back of the canopy and mount (I used black cable ties). Temp never exceeds 79F.

 

 

Tired of salinity fluctuations due to evaporation (especially if you add a cooling fan)?

 

Get a float switch and install in chamber 3. Wire the switch to a small pump/powerhead in a makeup water tank with a hose running to feed makeup water to any back chamber. Salinity is rock solid stable and you never have to think about it.

 

These mods, along with converting chamber 2 to a fuge with chaeto, getting rid of the stock filter and adding LR rubble to chamber 1, and installing a better pump in chamber 3, made my BC14 a perfect, low-maintenance nano-reef.

 

 

Thanks for the tips, will look into it. i'll get rid of it. i got a maxi-jet 1200 in already, and got rid of the elbow. That seem to be a smart set up , how big is you ATO tank?

[dan3949]

I use a 5 gallon home depot paint bucket, but it provides makeup water to the BC14 and a 30 gallon SPS tank (separate pump for each tank). However, 1 gallon would be more than enough for the BC14. I get about 1/3 - 1/2 gallon of evaporation per week. The SPS tank has about 1/3 gallon per day evaporation.

[Marine1]

I changed my pump to a maxi-jet 1200 -350gph instead of 245gph. Its enough with my Koralia powerhead.

For lighting, i find that my original conopy is enough with the combination of 2 bright windows. Lets face it boys , i'm not gona go Mh with this shalow cube and spend $ for expensive or rare corals in this tank i will for my 65G. Besides natural light i ten time better tan MH and cost less lol. And too much light bring alge so i can control with my blinds and no extra heat from halides , beside don't know if you noticed, but we pay more for the cube anyway for a contained system so why take of the canopy? the thing that cost the most in this system, might as well start with an ordinary aquarium and put all these adds on at cost. Anyway thats my view on it. My system works great , just got to whatch the temp more closely because of the fuge light. it gives a bit more heat than expected.

 

A few more lol

 

From the top.

 

Great looking tank! Its nice to see that you can have such nice corals w/ the stock lighting.

For the heat issues, run your fuge light at night when the compacts are off (run fuge on opposite schedule as main tank lights)

[Basile]

Great looking tank! Its nice to see that you can have such nice corals w/ the stock lighting.

For the heat issues, run your fuge light at night when the compacts are off (run fuge on opposite schedule as main tank lights)

 

 

Yes thats what i do but i guess the light is too close to the glass and it heat its up. Will makes some more holes on the canopy to give the heat a way out.

[jeremys]

When your tank is full up to the water line, start it; if the water in the pump chamber is below the minimum, add some until its equalise between the main tank and the chamber.

 

as far as water level, I fill mine to the top of the window on the side of the tank, Im running the sapphire skimmer, thier is less micro bubbles when water level is higher, I could prob. put another gallon in and not worry about overflow

[Basile]

as far as water level, I fill mine to the top of the window on the side of the tank, Im running the sapphire skimmer, thier is less micro bubbles when water level is higher, I could prob. put another gallon in and not worry about overflow

 

 

I fill mine right up to 1 inch from the top of the tank, to give as much room to my fuge, no problem and i tested it by putting my hole arm in the tank, no problem, even when pum is stoped. The only thing i got a problem now is microbubbles. But i'll fix it by adding more LR rubble and sand where the sponge use to be.

 

I got a questions for all though. We usually put are skimmer in chamber one(for those who use the original biocube skimmer;works fine for me anyway), but could we put it in with the return pump in chamber 3? I noticed that the water is calmer and could be more effective in that chamber...What say you???

[Fishhead Junkie]

I keep my water level high enough that I don't get alot of noise as the water falls over the edge from chamber 1 to 2, but low enough where I do get a nice waterfall effect churning the water.

 

I need to build back up that wall between chamber 1 and 2. I orginally cut out the notch of plastic that was there to open it up, but by doing that, you have to keep your tank really full so that the water level in the actual tank is up to the black cover edge. I hate seeing the water level below it..looks really junky

 

Steve

[Basile]

Hi, i have no pretentions,i'm new to the hobby, but i just red it and it blew me away. A magazine at my dentist had that article about aquarists and lack of hygene that can kill. A 25 years veterant aquarist ; had a 390G , home built tank. He came back one night , and saw one of his coral that he had fraged himself lying at the bottom of his tank. So he replaced it where he had put it before. Two days later he found all his inverts, dead and in a week most of his corals and fish, lost the hole tank in 10 days. Didn't have a clue at what had happen or why. Did all his test...nothing out of the ordinary. He was so mad , and desperate to find the cause of this tragedy( his tank was 10 years old), he when to a private company specialised in water sampling, test his water, $ 250 for the hole test battery. From chemical, biological and other kind i'm not familiar with. The test results where mind blowing, from heavy metals , from benzen and other i don't remember to 16 kinds of bacterias and different kinds of polycarbs i think they are called if i remember. Anyway , all indicative of oil. Its on the way back home from the test center that it hit him. He was on his way to fill his truck and it hit him. That day that he had replaced his coral, he had stoped at the gaz station to fill up his car, and had probably not washed his hands. Basically a cross contamination, from the nozzel to his tank. It gets worse.... The company told him that not only the bacteria but all the polycarbs something where probably lodged in his rocks , plumbing or any material and could not be removed. So he had to clean out everything, including his tank. Which by the way had been built in his limestone wall; man what a crap that must of been... anyway all his plumbing, motors everything had to be taken out, par of his wall becaused he had planed his tank and made a work of it, from special power box etc a real pro job, they didn't say how much it was$$$ but man talk about hitting yourself with a frying pan.... So i guess we'll all wash are hands after filling up won't we. I just thought that , this story was worth mentioning, because we all do it, filling up don't we? New and Veterant! Bye now.