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[BC 14] Jon's Reef


nanoreef11

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Hey Jon. Good to see that you still enjoying this beautiful hobby.

 

I just update my thread and posted my latest FTS. Now let see yours...

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Hey Jon. Good to see that you still enjoying this beautiful hobby.

 

I just update my thread and posted my latest FTS. Now let see yours...

 

Hey jdantunes,

 

I was out of town last weekend so tank cleaning tonight or tomorrow and a FTS to come shortly after that. Glad to see you still hang around here.

 

Jon

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey Everyone,

 

Thought I would post a new fts of the tank. Been difficult to keep the tank cleaned weekly with my summer internship. Instead of weekly water changes, it's been more like every other week. Not totally bad but feel that I need to keep tank maintenance to a weekly ordeal.

 

IMG_0523.jpg

 

IMG_0534.jpg

 

Will post some more pics of the tank tomorrow. Pics were taken with custom white balance setting. Put a piece of white plastic in there and set the custom setting. Looks a little on the red side but let me know what you think.

 

Happy Reefing,

 

Jon

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Jon, I've followed your tank since the beginning. Your very post said you plan to take it nice and slow. It's nice to see a successful nano reef like a BC14 still doing well at 3 yrs. Well done.

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Jon, I've followed your tank since the beginning. Your very post said you plan to take it nice and slow. It's nice to see a successful nano reef like a BC14 still doing well at 3 yrs. Well done.

 

Knoxvegas,

 

Thanks for following my thread. I have learned that if you try to do too many things at once in a short amount of time then things have a better chance of going wrong. After my tank crashed the first time due to heater malfunction and later on a power outage, I realized that I wanted to do things right the first time instead of chasing my tail to get it done right down the road. This has been a great tank to learn about the reef hobby and I plan to build a tank around 50 gallons (is that still nano? haha) in the next couple of years when I get out of school.

 

More pics to come.

 

Jon

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Jon,

 

I found your thread while searching for info on how to get a chiller to work with a BC14.

I love your tank. I'm so impressed with how lush and mature it looks.

 

I just set mine up two weeks ago and I can already tell that I'm going to have endless problems with temperature control and I'm hoping to have a plan in place by the time I finish cycling.

 

I see you used an Oceanic 1/10 hp Chiller w/ Rio+ 800 pump in the first chamber and I've got a couple of questions about your setup. Is your chiller on the floor? A standard bc14 stand height drop and back up? Did you manage to fit your heater into the same chamber? Did you use the Rio Plus 800 Pump/Powerhead with Venturi UL? - when I search I come up with more than one kind named Rio 800. Do you think a 1/10 is necessary or could I use a 1/15?

 

Would you do anything different now that you've lived with it for a couple of years?

 

...So many questions... If you have time, I'd love any advice or recommendations. It's great to see a tank of this size that's been going for a while.

 

Cheers, - pbj

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  • 1 month later...
Your tank looks great. Really easy to look at. I like how you don't have too many corals, just really grown out ones. It looks really clean too.

 

Hey Macron,

 

Thanks for the compliment on the tank. I wish I had more time to spend on this forum and had more money to buy more corals. I guess my tank ended up looking this way because I am only able to buy corals every once in a while which is why the tank is not over crowded. It is an easy tank to look at and I am very happy with it. Everything is doing great and everyone is happy.

 

Jon

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Hi Jon,

 

I found your thread while searching for info on how to get a chiller to work with a BC14.

I love your tank. I'm so impressed with how lush and mature it looks.

 

I just set mine up two weeks ago and I can already tell that I'm going to have endless problems with temperature control and I'm hoping to have a plan in place by the time I finish cycling.

 

I see you used an Oceanic 1/10 hp Chiller w/ Rio+ 800 pump in the first chamber and I've got a couple of questions about your setup. Is your chiller on the floor? A standard bc14 stand height drop and back up? Did you manage to fit your heater into the same chamber? Did you use the Rio Plus 800 Pump/Powerhead with Venturi UL? - when I search I come up with more than one kind named Rio 800. Do you think a 1/10 is necessary or could I use a 1/15?

 

Would you do anything different now that you've lived with it for a couple of years?

 

...So many questions... If you have time, I'd love any advice or recommendations. It's great to see a tank of this size that's been going for a while.

 

Cheers, - pbj

 

Hey pbj,

 

Sorry that I am responding to your request so late. I hope that I am still able to help you out in setting up a tank. I am not able to check this forum often. Thank you for the compliment on the tank. I am so happy with everything in the tank and can't believe it has been over 3 years since I set it up.

 

To answer some of the questions.

My chiller currently sits on the floor next to my tank. Make sure to leave some space between it and the wall to allow it to move air through it. My tank stand is 36 inches compared to the standard stand at 30 inches.

Setup from the chamber contains a clear tubing (1/2" I believe) to plastic adapter fitting (1/2" to 1/4" I believe) to JBJ overflow tubes. These are both in the pump return chamber(#3) and the heater is in the #1 chamber with false floor removed. I think any pump around the Rio800 will work. You don't want the flow to be too much or too little. The chiller needs some time to cool the water as it passes through yet needs to make it back up to the tank. Look at the flow rate vs. head chart of the pump. You head will be the height difference from the top of the tank to the chiller plus the height difference from the pump location to the top of the tank. Should be around 3-4 feet. This is how much head will be on the pump and you can correspond this value to the flow rate vs. head chart.

 

I think that you would be able to get a 1/15HP chiller depending on the temperature of the ambient air. I used to live in a very hot city where summers reached 100-110F. I now live close to the coast where the chiller still comes on mid day with the lights on and it is <80F outside. I run my tank closer to 76F and with the 1/10HP it is not a problem. If you live in a hot environment I would go with a slightly bigger chiller than not big enough. You don't want it to run 24/7 as you will be using up more electricity than the price difference in the two chillers. Let me know how your tank is coming and look forward to helping you.

 

Jon

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  • 2 months later...
  • 6 months later...

All,

 

After 4 years and just now moving the tank for the 4th time this past weekend (Labor Day) to the new house, I feel I should post a bit of an update.

 

Tank has been running steadily with minimal upkeep. This has been good because life has been busy and keeping my schedule full. Just finished school and all my summer trips are over, which should free some time to focus more on the reef tank. After this weekend I almost forgot how much I love this hobby and why most of us get into it in the first place. Sometimes we just need to take a break from our busy lives and look into our marine world placed inside of our living rooms.

 

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the tank but it seems to be doing well. Took about 4 hours to tear the tank down yesterday, drive a couple miles to the new house, and set it all back up. Definitely a chore but well worth it. The aquascaping went more smoothly than I had thought it would go. Fish are doing well and corals seem to be doing well. Corals have been placed randomly in the tank and will get mounted in appropriate positions later this week. The lights are currently off for stress purposes and I will be firing these up tomorrow night. I also plan to clean up the cabinet and hang all the power cords to allow for ample storage space.

 

I appreciate all of the people that have subscribed to this feed and all the comments. I am back to keeping a thriving reef and hopefully keep posted for an upgrade in the future. I'll try my best to keep people updated as much as possible.

 

Happy Reefing,

Jon

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Snapped this picture a couple of days ago. Just after this shot I blew the rocks off and the tank got clouded really quick. Trying to keep on top of the maintenance and upkeep to help fill this tank out with corals. Its been 4 years and there is still room to grow, which is good.

 

image.jpg

 

Happy Reefing

Jon

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Thank you Jaime. I'm looking to maybe frag out the frogspawn and candy came corals soon. This would free up some space to put some other corals.

 

Jon

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Took care of most of the electrical in the stand this evening. About 80% done with it. Will finish it tomorrow night but this is what it looks like so far:

 

From the Front

 

FA73F6BC-CFD0-4C14-AE57-FDAB269A536B-8707-000007A07E42D1B9.jpg

 

 

Ballasts and Timers

 

E85CA3E8-6D2C-4F34-BBF8-796515B2D135-8707-000007A0823B68C4.jpg

 

 

Power Strips

 

E199A4A2-75E0-4617-9B2B-1874A6F61803-8707-000007A085C76163.jpg

 

 

Water change tomorrow and finish electrical tie ups.

 

Jon

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Performed a water change and cleaned up the rest of the electrical on Monday night. Everything is doing really well. Considering fragging some corals this weekend to clear up some room. Probably will be selling them locally. So if anyone lives in Southern California, let me know.

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  • 5 months later...

Now you got me wondering, boy!!!

 

Four and a half years running a Biocube14. You're rocking!

 

Lol... And look how much adult you look in your new avatar. Even with a nice looking chick and all...

 

Well congrats with your success but you left this thread hanging waiting for pictures. We're are they?

 

 

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