The Biocube Resource Guide

[Maddevil1]

Please add my Biocube 14 to the list.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=195166

 

[HighCurrent]

What is the dry doc? Is it the same thing as the media rack?

 

No, a dry doc is a box that goes in the rear chambers to keep the mp10 from getting wet.

[benoitcdc]

No, a dry doc is a box that goes in the rear chambers to keep the mp10 from getting wet.

Cool Beans. Thanks.

[evoIX]

i was wondering if anyone tried to mod their bc hood DIY t5/MH?

 

basically remove whats there and either cut open the top portion of the hood or modifiy the hood and place internal. anyone with pictures/instructions please post!!!

 

thanks,

-mikey

[iKenn]

Has anyone done the fan replacement? Mine is so loud that it its REALLY annoying. I want to smash it sometimes. haha. Its also not doing a good job anymore. The temps have risen 2 degrees from the time it was working fine. How long does it take to get the replacement fans in? Would I be better off just buying a computer fan?

 

Oh its a BC 8 by the way.

[TheStar]

i was wondering if anyone tried to mod their bc hood DIY t5/MH?

 

basically remove whats there and either cut open the top portion of the hood or modifiy the hood and place internal. anyone with pictures/instructions please post!!!

 

thanks,

-mikey

 

Nanocustoms.com has the MH upgrade, you will need a chiller. Many of us are upgrading to LED's instead of MH/T5.

 

Has anyone done the fan replacement? Mine is so loud that it its REALLY annoying. I want to smash it sometimes. haha. Its also not doing a good job anymore. The temps have risen 2 degrees from the time it was working fine. How long does it take to get the replacement fans in? Would I be better off just buying a computer fan?

 

Oh its a BC 8 by the way.

 

I did replace the fans in my BC29 with computer fans for my LED upgrade. Actually just did it tonight. I went to work on a lot of the plastic to make room. The flow was much better.

[benoitcdc]

I replaced the fans and they worked quietly for a while. I called Oceanic and they sent me new fans for free. They themselves were out of stock at the time so it took about 6 weeks of so. They are easy enough to replace. I will change them out with better fans when I get around to upgrading my lights. LEDs are starting to sound nice.

[evoIX]

Nanocustoms.com has the MH upgrade, you will need a chiller. Many of us are upgrading to LED's instead of MH/T5.

 

 

 

I did replace the fans in my BC29 with computer fans for my LED upgrade. Actually just did it tonight. I went to work on a lot of the plastic to make room. The flow was much better.

 

 

i know the overall concensus of LEDs vs MH/T5 due to power consumption and overall cleanliness and heat issues. but the price is INSANE to say i'm going to spend 600-1k on lights for my nano. i'll wait til it gets a bit cheaper down the road.

[Crazy Tiki]

Led's are more economical than PC's, when factoring the cost of bulb changes and so forth. I am not aware of a T5 retro kit for the Bio cube. The MH kits are like $359 for the BC14 and given the close quarters a chiller would be recommended which would cost an additional $300+.

 

I got my whole retrofit of LED's for $350 plus I have all the added benefits of color control (as I can independently adjust my cool white and royal blue LED's), longevity: 50,000 hours of operation, lower power consumption, etc. etc.)

 

I agree that on a lot larger tank LED's would not be economical. I am thinking of putting together a 40-50g tank and to do that in all LED's would hit my walled hard, but doing a combo of HO T5's and LED's would be sufficient.

[crazy tarzan]

Please add my BC 29 to the list as well. This thread has been useful.

[MizTanks]

What do you put into the first chamber? Do you put the phosban on top of the bioballs?

Edited September 7, 2009 by MizTanks

[benoitcdc]

What do you put into the first chamber? Do you put the phosban on top of the bioballs?

Hi MizTanks,

 

You can put phosban or any other scrubbers you want in chamber one. I have Pura Complete in mine. If my heater was shorter, I would have put it in chamber one and put the Pura Complete into chamber 2 or 3. Actually, if I knock out the fales floor in chamber 1 my heater would fit, but, I haven't done that yet. If you are running a SW or reef tank you may want to leave the bio balls out. By design, they go into chamber 2 but they cause a build up of debris and wind up as a nitrate factory. Most reefers remove the bioballs and some will place a fiber pad to filter large particals and change it out every other day or so, or put in a small refugium into chamber 2. HTH.

[basser1]

Hi MizTanks,

 

You can put phosban or any other scrubbers you want in chamber one. I have Pura Complete in mine. If my heater was shorter, I would have put it in chamber one and put the Pura Complete into chamber 2 or 3. Actually, if I knock out the fales floor in chamber 1 my heater would fit, but, I haven't done that yet. If you are running a SW or reef tank you may want to leave the bio balls out. By design, they go into chamber 2 but they cause a build up of debris and wind up as a nitrate factory. Most reefers remove the bioballs and some will place a fiber pad to filter large particals and change it out every other day or so, or put in a small refugium into chamber 2. HTH.

 

 

Or in my tank, I have the new SapphireAquatics skimmer in chamber 2. It has been re-designed and I am now able to also have a media rack from Intank next to it. In the media rack I have a bag of chemi-pure, then a bag of rowa-phos (for phosphate removal), and I have filter floss on top. This is a great combo and I highly recommend it.

[benoitcdc]

Or in my tank, I have the new SapphireAquatics skimmer in chamber 2. It has been re-designed and I am now able to also have a media rack from Intank next to it. In the media rack I have a bag of chemi-pure, then a bag of rowa-phos (for phosphate removal), and I have filter floss on top. This is a great combo and I highly recommend it.

I've heard some good things about the Sapphire skimmer. Was thinking about getting one for my BC 14.

[James411]

i was wondering if anyone tried to mod their bc hood DIY t5/MH?

 

basically remove whats there and either cut open the top portion of the hood or modifiy the hood and place internal. anyone with pictures/instructions please post!!!

 

thanks,

-mikey

 

 

I took the internal workings of a Nova Extreme 18" T5HO and put them into my cube, the link is;

 

Here!

 

It was just a quick DIY. Effective, adds more light which never hurts.

 

Has anyone purchased a LED Fixture that sits perfectly ontop of a BC29? I wouldnt mind loosing the hood, but I want something that looks nice.

 

Or has anyone added strictly LED's to their BC29 inside the stock hood?

 

Let me know, I am interested and would like to hear about either of these options..

Edited September 9, 2009 by James411

[crazy tarzan]

There are several who have swapped out to led's in their bc29's. If you follow the link to my tank thread (see signature) I've linked there to one that's been swapped and that I'll probably copy down the road.

[evoIX]

individuals with sumps. did you go with overflow or did you drill the back?

[autopro]

Great thread.... I really enjoyed this when i was starting up, it helped me soooo much!

 

Here is the thread of my 14 BioCube with all I have done:

 

Autopro's 14g BioCube

[cwinson85]

what do you guys dose with on your 14 BC's?? Went through the thread and didnt see much discussion on this? my BC is about a month old with a pair of percs. So far i dont really dose much, ive got a bag of chemi pure elite where my sponge was, and i hit up some purple up here and there. What else do i need to be adding?

 

 

Great thread.... I really enjoyed this when i was starting up, it helped me soooo much!

 

Here is the thread of my 14 BioCube with all I have done:

 

Autopro's 14g BioCube

[autopro]

what do you guys dose with on your 14 BC's?? Went through the thread and didnt see much discussion on this? my BC is about a month old with a pair of percs. So far i dont really dose much, ive got a bag of chemi pure elite where my sponge was, and i hit up some purple up here and there. What else do i need to be adding?

 

 

I really have not dosed anything in my tank yet since it is so new. I use natural sea water on this one as I did on my old 72g. On the 72 if I did not keep up with the water changes I would have to dose B-Ionic to keep my calcium up. I expect that with regular water changes on this one I should not have to dose anything, especially with the corals that I want to keep. I test regularly and if I find something isn't right then I find out why and act accordingly.

[nor_cal_nano]

what do you guys dose with on your 14 BC's?? Went through the thread and didnt see much discussion on this? my BC is about a month old with a pair of percs. So far i dont really dose much, ive got a bag of chemi pure elite where my sponge was, and i hit up some purple up here and there. What else do i need to be adding?

 

depends on whats IN the tank, not what tank it is. What kind of corals do you have in there? Any macro-algae? Water changes are most likely enough... how much and how often do you w/c?

 

Don't buy anymore purple-up... its pretty much useless.

Edited September 30, 2009 by nor_cal_nano

[benoitcdc]

what do you guys dose with on your 14 BC's?? Went through the thread and didnt see much discussion on this? my BC is about a month old with a pair of percs. So far i dont really dose much, ive got a bag of chemi pure elite where my sponge was, and i hit up some purple up here and there. What else do i need to be adding?

 

Hi cwinson85,

 

Never dose with anything you do not test for. You will be asking for problems if you do. When it does come to doseing, most of it depends on what you are keeping. Your post said you have a pair of percs. If fish is all you have, then there is nothing to dose. If you have corals, then you need to cater to their needs. Besides water quality parameters you test for, if you are keeping corals, you should be teseting for calcium and alkalinity and dose as required. The bag of chemi pure elite is a good idea. It will help with your water quality. I wouldn't worry about using purple up, if your water is goog, the lights are on, and you have some live rock with some coralline algea on it, it will spread with in 2-3 months. HTH

Edited September 30, 2009 by benoitcdc

[cwinson85]

ok, well i put in a bag of chemi pure where my sponge was so i guess that was a good move. ive got several zoa's in the tank, some gsp, frog spawn and some mushrooms. thats about it. i did pic up some bionic and have been dosing that lightly. I made a small fuge in the back with cheato in it. i run that light when the others are off... let me see if i can get a pic up. things are a little changes around now, but heres a visual

 

Hi cwinson85,

 

Never dose with anything you do not test for. You will be asking for problems if you do. When it does come to doseing, most of it depends on what you are keeping. Your post said you have a pair of percs. If fish is all you have, then there is nothing to dose. If you have corals, then you need to cater to their needs. Besides water quality parameters you test for, if you are keeping corals, you should be teseting for calcium and alkalinity and dose as required. The bag of chemi pure elite is a good idea. It will help with your water quality. I wouldn't worry about using purple up, if your water is goog, the lights are on, and you have some live rock with some coralline algea on it, it will spread with in 2-3 months. HTH

[uwwmatt]

You don't really need to dose anything with that stocking list. Just keep up with regular water changes and you will be fine.

[benoitcdc]

You don't really need to dose anything with that stocking list. Just keep up with regular water changes and you will be fine.

 

+1 with what uwwmatt said. Regular water changes will provide your corals what they need. Because of the frogspawn, I would keep an eye on your calcium levels/alk levels and adjust accordingly . Again, regular water changes with usually take care of that as well.