The Biocube Resource Guide

[superspec]

This is because salt doesn't evaporate like water. So when you lose water to evaporation, the salt stays in your tank and topping off with fresh water replaces what has been lost. If you top off with salt water, your SG will eventually start to creep up.

 

 

 

ahhhhh, i never knew that. ive always used salt water but i seldom do a top off. i do a weekly 2g change. the only time ive had to top off was when i would skip 1 to 2 weeks.

[paratiddies]

So how does one determine when a top off is needed in a Biocube then?

 

About every 3 or 4 days (which is between water changes) I change out the floss and do a top off. I turn off the pumps and add RO/DI water to raise the water level back to a point that I have marked on the front of the tank, this should raise the water level in the back chambers also. Then I change the floss, the reason I do this second is because you're going to be removing some salt water that the floss has absorbed which would cause you to add more RO/DI that over time could lower your salinity slightly. I'm sure other people have different methods of doing it, but it makes sense and works for me - never had a problem with salinity in my 8g tank

[benoitcdc]

Yes benoitcdc, my tank is pretty new, about 2 1/2 months old. I have 6 snails, a hermit crab, and a fish I feed lightly every four days because he eats enough of the bugs that he really doesn't need more at this point. I tend to blow the rocks off every other day tho is why I think it collects fast in the floss. So much junk seems to collect on the rocks that it bothers me as I also have a ton of bug and worm like things living in them shoving junk and poo out the holes. lol And I mean not even a lot of junk in the floss, just a little, will lower my chamber 3 water level. That's what I don't get. I don't ever let my floss get really clogged and dirty as I know that is not good.

 

Cool beans. Good job on blowing the rocks off. Try doing that when you do water changes too and see if that helps with the floss. Also, I don't know if you already have one in your tank, but try adding a small power head and have it flow over the rocks. That should help get the detritus up into the water column and filtered out. Some of the detritus is going over or through your floss and its settling in the bottom of the chambers. When you do a water change, try to siphon some of the detritus out of the back. What kind of floss are you using? is it tightly compact? I use the polyester pillow stuffing I stole from my wife's crafts cabinet and that works well. Inexpensive too.

[little_ocean_treasures]

Cool beans. Good job on blowing the rocks off. Try doing that when you do water changes too and see if that helps with the floss. Also, I don't know if you already have one in your tank, but try adding a small power head and have it flow over the rocks. That should help get the detritus up into the water column and filtered out. Some of the detritus is going over or through your floss and its settling in the bottom of the chambers. When you do a water change, try to siphon some of the detritus out of the back. What kind of floss are you using? is it tightly compact? I use the polyester pillow stuffing I stole from my wife's crafts cabinet and that works well. Inexpensive too.

 

Yep, me has a power head in there, Hydor Koralia Nano that's on the right side of the tank. The floss is a flat type batting that I cut into squares as needed. I got it from an aquarium website. Never really thought of using fluffy pillow stuffing from the craft store, or that I could. I guess I always thought it needed to be designed for aquariums. lol I might be a little scared of using stuff from the craft store if it has things like mold inhibitor or anti allergen chemical stuff, so on...if it even does, that is. lol

 

Anyways, I usually cut my floss in a square and rotate it twice a day because it gets somewhat brown after just half a day in there. After 2 days of rotating it 3 times I either rinse it well under the faucet with my sprayer then drain very well, and rinse well again in RO/DI water to remove tap water or I just toss it out if it's been rinsed once or twice.

 

And yes, I realize that junk settles in the back so I occasionally use my turkey baster back there too and spend about 5 minutes blasting until I see no more junk rising up to the top. Like I said, I don't know what to do cause I do all those things already. lol I've spent hours, days, weeks, (lol) reading as much as I could find when I first set this tank up (and still do read) so I knew most of all that basic stuff but am wondering if I'm the only one who can't do a top off right. lol

[benoitcdc]

but am wondering if I'm the only one who can't do a top off right. lol

 

LOL. I think most people wonder the first time too. I did.

[cital]

For my BC14 I already upgraded the stock pump to a Hydor Pico 1200 (300 gph), but I don't know if I should go with a Koralia Nano 240gph or 425gph? Does anyone have any experience with using these powerheads on a BC14? Thanks!

[rfalk]

For my BC14 I already upgraded the stock pump to a Hydor Pico 1200 (300 gph), but I don't know if I should go with a Koralia Nano 240gph or 425gph? Does anyone have any experience with using these powerheads on a BC14? Thanks!

 

 

Not sure what you are stocking but I would think the 240 should be more than enough. If you have a bare bottom with mostly sps than I would def go 425.

[Adam_T]

So, I just setup my first BC14 today and I have a few questions. I'm not new to SW and have had a 34gal Solana, 20gal long, and a 55gal, but this BC14 setup is confusing me a little bit.

 

1. I have 14lbs of Live-rock in the display, no filtration in the back yet (inTank stuff coming in next week), and I was only able to fill the tank up with 8 gallons of water! I use an MJ900 as the return pump as well. Is this normal? For a 14 gallon tank, I didn't think that 14lbs of Live-rock would take away 6 gallons worth of water space!

 

2. With my tank only being full with 8 gallons of water (BC14 remember...), the water level is about an INCH above the maximum line on the side of the tank in the 3rd chamber, the 2nd chamber is only filled to the same level as the 3rd. Is this normal? Seems a bit odd?

 

3. With all said above....my water level at the front of the BC14 is a tad below the plastic line....is this normal or should it be above?

 

 

Anyway...thx!

[superspec]

So, I just setup my first BC14 today and I have a few questions. I'm not new to SW and have had a 34gal Solana, 20gal long, and a 55gal, but this BC14 setup is confusing me a little bit.

 

1. I have 14lbs of Live-rock in the display, no filtration in the back yet (inTank stuff coming in next week), and I was only able to fill the tank up with 8 gallons of water! I use an MJ900 as the return pump as well. Is this normal? For a 14 gallon tank, I didn't think that 14lbs of Live-rock would take away 6 gallons worth of water space!

 

2. With my tank only being full with 8 gallons of water (BC14 remember...), the water level is about an INCH above the maximum line on the side of the tank in the 3rd chamber, the 2nd chamber is only filled to the same level as the 3rd. Is this normal? Seems a bit odd?

 

3. With all said above....my water level at the front of the BC14 is a tad below the plastic line....is this normal or should it be above?

 

 

Anyway...thx!

 

the water line on the side is useless. i fill my tank up to the lip right below the door.

[Adam_T]

Are the fans in my Biocube 14 supposed to be on at all times that the PC lighting is on? Because they aren't on and I've had the tank up for about 2 hours now.

[superspec]

Are the fans in my Biocube 14 supposed to be on at all times that the PC lighting is on? Because they aren't on and I've had the tank up for about 2 hours now.

 

 

my fans only come on when the white light is on.

[paratiddies]

Are the fans in my Biocube 14 supposed to be on at all times that the PC lighting is on? Because they aren't on and I've had the tank up for about 2 hours now.

 

Out of the box the fans should come on with the white lights, most people switch the actinic and white bulbs so that the fans come on with the actinic bulb. That way you can set up a more "natural" light cycle and have the fans on the whole time - actinic only for the first hr, actinic and white for 6 hrs or so, actinic only for the last hr as an example

[OOtzie]

yes the fans should be on

[tlkng1]

Hi All...I realize these questions may have already been answered, but, I admit I am tired of wading through the responses ..so, one more time.

 

I had started the 14g BioCube last year but ended up having to go out of the country for work soon after and had to break it back down; I had not made any modifications upon that intial set-up. Now that I am back in country, I am resetting and working on the moifications....

 

1. I finally managed to remove the false bottom from chamber 1 thanks to a rogue post elsewhere that suggested a coat hanger...bottom popped out with just a gentle "jerk" after I had been fighting with it for an hour.

 

2. Chamber 2 top and bottom removed..planning on getting a media basket. The tab between chambers 1 and 2 is now level. My concern here is that I have been seeing posts about a fish guard but the top of the back wall seems to be pretty high. This tank is only a year old...is a fish guard needed?

 

3. I had upgraded the pump to a Mini-Jet 606...I believe I have been seeing upgrade suggestion to the Maxi-Jet 900? I have used these as powerheads before but never a straight pump...how does this work in the Bio..it looks a little big for Chamber 3.

 

4. I am also seeing the suggestion for the Koralia Nano. Should these be placed near the top of the water or more centered? I would imagine that too low would play havoc with any sand at the bottom...my planned substrate is a layer of livesand under the liverock.

 

Thanks for the patience

 

Terese

Edited May 18, 2011 by tlkng1

[benoitcdc]

Hi Terese,

 

Congrats on your BC 14. I have one of the older models. HTH.

 

If your back wall goes all they way up then a fish guard should not be necessary. I think Oceanic did a good job when they did that.

 

I still use the stock pump in my BC 14 and its been fine for me. I may up grade later. On the MJs you should be able to connect the return tube to the out flow of the pump. I believe the tube can slide up over the end of the pump. It will be a tight fit though. Hope you have small hands.

 

I have the Koralia nano and I have it on the opposite side of the return. I have the return diverter pointing upwards and to the right so it breaks the surface of the water for better gas exchange and to push the water towards the overflow for surface skimming. I have the nano attached to the back wall in chamber one just below the grooves and it is pointing some what downward and to the left. You can point the out flow anywhere you want really, but I would recommend that you have at least the return or the nano breaking up the surface of the water. HTH

[BowieReefer84]

Member's Biocubes

Take a look at what other Biocube owners have done and learn from their experiences.

 

 

*post a link to your biocube thread and I will add it to this list.

 

Table of Contents:

-Biocube FAQ

-UWWMatt's Mod Review

-Biocube Signature Badges

-Member's Biocubes

-Helpful Links

Link to my tank in signature.

[Thrassian Atoll]

Link to mine as well, in my signature

[sstuckey]

Finally getting around to making my BC14 thread. Link is under my sig.

 

If anyone swings by, send me a vote (you know, at the top of the page) just for kicks.

Edited May 31, 2011 by sstuckey

[olemanwinter]

I'm having a little bit of trouble setting up the filtration in a new bc14 model. While I will be getting a media basket, I don't have it yet. Here is my problem.

 

If I place filter floss at the top of chamber two, the water is only slightly higher coming from chamber one, so it only goes over about an inch of the floss before dropping down. Four inches of the filter pad are 100% clean and one inch is already filled with gunk.

 

So, I thought maybe I should drop it down deeper in chamber two and rest it on the second divider that comes with the stock filtration. The problem is that there is a small hole between chamber 2 and 3 about half way up, so most of the water (or flow rather) is not even making it down to the bottom of chamber 2 where the chemipure is and where the floss was located.

 

I don't know if the filtration system just sucked, my water level is just too low somehow, or if there is another piece I need to remove. I cut the tab between chamber 1 and 2 to be even. The overflow divider between chamber 1 and 2 is only about 1/4 inch below the water level.

 

As it stands now, it appears to me that almost all of the flow is coming from the top grate in the display, going strait over into chamber 2, down a few inches and then out a small hole into chamber 3.

 

Any ideas? Thanks.

Edited June 4, 2011 by olemanwinter

[csmith]

You can plug up that hole either with a piece of filter floss or by gluing something over it. As for the filter floss problem, I had the same issue. I ended up making a shelf out of eggcrate and zipties to hold the floss a little lower than the top shelf allows. It was easy, just a couple of legs and a top.

 

--Colin

[Thrassian Atoll]

I have a 29g and I am wanting to add chaeto. I have a intank media basket with floss, purigen and cpe. I also have a tunze in the second chamber. My question is, how can I set this up to keep the purigen and cpe but add chaeto as well? Put the purigen or cpe in between the 2nd and 3rd chamber?

[Euphyllia]

Do you have a skimmer in there? If so, what kind?

[Thrassian Atoll]

Do you have a skimmer in there? If so, what kind?

 

 

Yeah, I have a tunze in the second chamber beside the intank media basket

[DK_Reef]

thanks for this guide

Edited July 4, 2011 by DK_Reef

[Emisis]

Once again a dreaded sponge question.......

 

Bio29 with inTank media basket and fuge. Chaeto in fuge....

 

I still have the sponge in between 2 & 3 and rinsing out every 3 days. Remove it? if so how does one keep Chaeto out of pump if it flakes off or what-not?

 

 

TIA,

Emisis