siege Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Hi all... long time listener, first time caller. Long story short, a recent long-term power outage killed my tank and I'm planning to rebuild. I had a backup battery, but it didn't last long enough. Now we're considering a generator (and not just for the tank). Anyway, The tank is a BC14 (so, 10 gallons) with a typical 12xLED lighting upgrade, MJ900, media basket, heater, koralita nano, and a phosban reactor plumbed in. There's about 15lbs of LR and about 10lbs of sand. Tank was up for about 13 months, pretty much all beginner corals. I'd been having GHA problems for a long time which, I think, were mostly the result of some of my CUC getting stuck behind the rock scape and dying where I couldn't see or remove them. I've also discovered a couple of stinkbugs floating in the tank, which infuriated me (little monsters get in through my crummy windows and they're all over the place). I want to take my lessons learned and rebuild, and I'm looking for suggestions. First, I'd like to plumb in a sump when I re-build, and I realize this is difficult at best with a biocube. I have the equipment I'd need: a spare 20g AGA (or a 10g if I need that), lights, extra heater, pump, plenty of tubing and hose, even a skimmer that I'm not using. My wonder is: is it worth doing, and is it worth doing with a BC? Should I bite the bullet and replace the BC with something else (a picoaquariums' Deep Blue, or a Glasscages acrylic cube would look nice on my desk) that would make plumbing easier? Next, I'm not planning to attempt to salvage my sand. Should I? Last, I am planning to salvage my LR. Should I not? What I'd like to do is use it to seed a bunch of nicer looking, better 'scaped base rock and then move it into the sump. Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions. Link to comment
Coastie Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 My thought is why not sell the biocube and buy another tank? If you are going to sump it why not get the space back that the chambers in the biocube take up, and it would probably be less hassle. The whole transaction could be profitable for you. Heck ripping the rim off of a 10-15 gallon glass aquarium makes them look pretty sexy IMO. I derimmed a 15 (I have pictures on here) and I think it looks awesome, and it seems pretty sturdy. Link to comment
jojoe972 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 sorry to hear that your tank is dead but at least you are contemplating a new build. Congrats to you on going on. I would like to know how to plumb a 14g biocube as well but I only have room for a 5.5g sump. Would like to know how to do one cheap and effective at the same time. Oh and also clean looking. Maybe someone can give both of us insight on that. As far a keeping the sand I dont know since everything is shot and it might be better off just starting with clean new sand and its not much to get. I would go with getting new sand then trying to salvage the old stuff. I would keep the rock but would find pieces that did not contain GHA on them to seed your other rock. you only need one or two rocks with coraline to seed the others. I have heard a quick way to get coraline algae to spread is to scrub the coraline off the rock into the tank and then it would be spread all over the tank but I would do that after the new tank cycles. Never done this but have heard that it works great. Sorry I couldnt answer all of your questions but good luck and I will be tagging along! Link to comment
Macron Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 I could see a sump working with a biocube 14 easily. You could remove the false wall and drill the back - have an overflow and a return. Check out this thread you could do something similar: Matt's 11 gallon green leaf rimless He drilled the back of the tank and added a kit from glass-holes.com and got the super nano overflow kit. If you removed the false wall you would also have more display area and I don't think it would be that difficult. IME salvaging bad sand has led to difficulties as some of the bad stuff that was in there before grows back again. I would just get new sand. As for the LR I would just dry it out and clean it so you can use it again, that is if it is infested with algae and other undesirable organisms. Link to comment
siege Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 When I first bought the equipment for the sump, my idea was to do a U shaped "backpack" overflow device out of PVC. I found the idea on some guy's blog site, but I don't remember where. I actually assembled it but never got around to installing it. I can snap some pics when I get home. I think it would work fine, but I my worry is that it would be a little bulkier than I'd like (the tank doesn't back up to a wall, so I need to keep the rear "cleanish" looking). I guess I really am leaning towards retiring the BC. Not sure about selling it... maybe my 2g freshwater river frog tank could use an upgrade. Thanks for the feedback. Link to comment
siege Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 Check out this thread you could do something similar:Matt's 11 gallon green leaf rimless Wow, I like that Green Leaf aquarium... They have an 18" cube for $119. Add the glass holes overflow and return kits, plus shipping... bit over $250 would buy me a pretty nice setup. Hmm... Link to comment
jojoe972 Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 if I didnt have leds in my 14g bio I would even do that.... sweet set up Link to comment
Lawnman Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Long time listener first time caller LMAO you must be from the midwest Bob&Tom Link to comment
Pickle010 Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Long time listener first time caller LMAO you must be from the midwest Bob&Tom Or a Leykis 101 student. Link to comment
siege Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 if I didnt have leds in my 14g bio I would even do that.... sweet set up I have LEDs in my BC14 (which, by the way, is not 14 gallons... it's about 10 in the display and 10.75 total) and I was thinking of doing it anyway. :-) It would be easy enough to move the LEDs into a canopy over the new tank. That whole rig looks like exactly what I wanted. My concern is that I kept my BC on my desk and I don't really feel comfortable putting anything heavier there. I could opt for a smaller tank (something in the 10g range), but I'm kinda feeling like I want to take the nano out of my nano reef. To that end, I'm considering selling off my entire LED modified BC tank and stepping up to a larger tank (50-75 gallon range). Funny thing is it was actually the wife's suggestion. ;-) Long time listener first time caller LMAO you must be from the midwest Bob&Tom Actually, I'ze a Yankee carpetbagger living in Virginia. I just watched a lot of TV when I was a kid. ;-) Link to comment
matt frizz Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I'd definitely take the oppurtunity to move up to a 40 Breeder or something similar. The dimensions are great for stocking. You have much more room for crazy rockscapes and I just am in love with breeder tanks. I love the dimensions. They're deep and long but not too tall. Perfect IMO. Link to comment
siege Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 I'd definitely take the oppurtunity to move up to a 40 Breeder or something similar. The dimensions are great for stocking. You have much more room for crazy rockscapes and I just am in love with breeder tanks. I love the dimensions. They're deep and long but not too tall. Perfect IMO. That's actually one of the sizes I'm considering. The area I'd most likely use for a larger tank (right at the base of the main stairway, so it would get a lot of visibility) has room for a 36"x18" tank with plenty of clearance. The only question is how high/what capacity? 13"/40g, 17"/50g, or 25"/70g. The thing is, I already have a 400w MH lighting system that I can recycle from a DIY projector I no longer use, so I'm leaning toward a taller tank. Link to comment
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