chill105 Posted September 20, 2006 Author Share Posted September 20, 2006 Nice set up, Love the elusive "Sparks" fish. I Too have a 8 gallon, I was trying to come up with some better filteration for that back compartment, I think you have given me some wicked ideas!!!! what did the water changer run you $$??? The Sparks fish is a wild one! Really the only major component of the water changer system is the dosing pump, and that ran me around $130 (shipped) off ebay from the seller "tanksalot". You can also get the pump at innovativeaquatics.com (it's the same person, but it's less expensive on ebay). UPDATE: Chaeto arrived today. Ordered it from "pufferpoison" in the classified forums. Here's how it arrived: I rinsed it in some old tank water, and threw it in my fuge in chamber 2: It's a perfect amount, and it's getting tons of light. Should be interesting to see how well it grows. Will probably order my clean-up crew and skunk cleaner shrimp next week. Link to comment
drowsyfirefly Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 This looks awesome! I'm thinking of the 14g, and this is a super awesome thing to see--all the mods you've done. It really does look amazing. Any pictures of livestock or the like? Link to comment
jas0n Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 question....does the chaeto need to be fully submerged? i set my 14g biocube up like this and the water just drops on top of the chaeto which is lying on top of the live rock... thx Link to comment
chill105 Posted September 28, 2006 Author Share Posted September 28, 2006 question....does the chaeto need to be fully submerged? i set my 14g biocube up like this and the water just drops on top of the chaeto which is lying on top of the live rock... thx That's a good questions. To be honest, I'm not sure. I would expect that as long as it stays WET it should be fine, but probably does better when submerged. I have my water level in the back chambers pretty high, so mine is completely under water. Hope that helps! Link to comment
mdbrit Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 So did you remove the drip tray completely from the top of the 2nd chamber? Link to comment
schwaz Posted October 6, 2006 Share Posted October 6, 2006 Would you be able to tell us how you increased the flow from chamber 1 to 2? Link to comment
chill105 Posted October 6, 2006 Author Share Posted October 6, 2006 mdbrit: The drip tray is still there. I just have some filter floss on top to capture particulates and prevent light in the fuge from escaping into the main tank. schwaz: The way the tank is designed, the opening from chamber 1 to 2 only extends halfway across the width of the chambers. If you're using the stock filter cartridge (which I'm not), this design prevents water from bypassing the cartridge. I just used a sharp knife to extend the opening to the full width of the chambers, and this allows for a lot more water flow. There are other threads on this topic which include pictures. UPDATE Added my cleanup crew, a few mushrooms and a frogspawn frag. Pics to come soon. Link to comment
mdbrit Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 Keep the pics coming! I'm finally getting under way with my own. I've just scraped the back of the 2nd chamber and ordered a Galaxy light from drsfostersmith. I have one of these on my main tank 24x7 on an AC500 converted to a fuge. I really like fuges, I'm convinced they make maintenance so much easier and keep the water quality higher. I have to trim my cheato all the time, maybe I feed my guys too much I'm going to take this tank to work. Can't decide whether to run it at home for a while or just take it in and start it from scratch there. So how high's the water level in your return pump chamber? Do you keep it nearly full? Did you switch the lights over also, so that the fan comes on with the Actinic? I think that means the Actinic is then at the front, do you think it will matter? Link to comment
grink dude Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 ok that water exchange thing looks really cool, but i don't understand it properly, are you basically syphoning out water and putting in new mixed saltwater. Do you top off??? im so confused lol!! Link to comment
mdbrit Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 I'm also wondering how you like your fuge light. It sounds like it's working well, although the color looks a little yellow in the photos. I guess it's not a problem if you're getting enough growth anyway! What about the temperature? I'm toying with getting a galaxy clip on or maybe even trying some LED's. I'm wondering if they'll run bright enough, they'll certainly be cooler. Can't wait to see those pics, what's the delay? Link to comment
stallen Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 @ Chill105 (or whom ever might know the answer) I'm a total noob with saltwater. Just ordered the BioCube 8. Thinking about doing some of your mods. To start with I think I'll switch the pump for sure. My silly question is... The water outlet that you show in your first pic you have it labeled as "hydro-flo". Looks like something to direct the flow. Where did you get the "hydro-flo"? Can't find it with a google search. I probably don't know the right keywords to use. Thanks and keep the pics coming they are great! Link to comment
SaltyVT Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Its a Hydor Flo you get them from the Doctors I found mine on ebay for cheap! Link to comment
stallen Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Duh... See I told you I was a total noob. I actually saw that chill had it labeled as hydor-flo, but I thought it was a typo. Thanks SaltyVT. I found them on ebay. chill105 needs to quit drinking beer and post some more pics Link to comment
chill105 Posted October 12, 2006 Author Share Posted October 12, 2006 chill105 needs to quit drinking beer and post some more pics Haha, OK. Here you go: From the side: mdbrit: The water level in my back chambers is all the way at the top of the little clear "level indicator" on the side of the 3rd chamber. High enough so that the chaeto in chamber 2 has plenty of water. The fuge is working extremely well. I've had to harvest the chaeto twice already! I never even had a diatom outbreak, and I think my snails and hermits are starving! Maybe I'll extend the daylight cycle a little. grink dude: The water changer is slowly and constantly adding new saltwater to the tank and simultaneously removing the same amount of "old" water from the tank. It does not affect the water level in the tank at all, as it is always adding the exact same amount it is taking out. I am ALSO using an auto top-off that maintains the water level- float switch is in the 3rd chamber. (FYI, I've been using "Wet's battery powered air pump auto-top off". It's been working great.) LIVESTOCK LIST: Cleanup 2 unidentified small hermits (1 other one went missing- I think it may have crawled up the silicon in the corner of the tank and made it into chamber 1) 4 tiny sand-sifting brittle stars 2 baby conchs 2 trochus snails Corals Neon green mushrooms Flame red mushrooms Frogspawn Green star polyps Toadstool Leather Green leather (not sure which type) Pulsing Xenia Fish Baby ocellaris (so cute!) Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 holy moly! i havent seen your tank for a while and now it's all stocked with life! the tank is looking really good! Link to comment
grink dude Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 how long does it take for you to fill up the bucket with old water, and use up all the new salt water??? Link to comment
Johnny Deluxe Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Hey there Looks great!!!!!!!!! I am thinking of doing the same....Question...how long did you cycle, any chemical dosing or additives and did you use an adhesive to attach the frags if so what thanks JD Link to comment
chill105 Posted October 12, 2006 Author Share Posted October 12, 2006 how long does it take for you to fill up the bucket with old water, and use up all the new salt water??? I can set the pump to whatever speed I want. The two bins fill and empty at exactly the same rate. The last batch lasted a little over 2 weeks, meaning I was exchanging over 2 gallons a week. Now that the cycle is done, I'll be slowing that down to about half of that speed, so each batch should last a good 4 weeks. This is a prety "hands off" system. Johnny D: I let my tank cycle for ~17 days before adding any livestock. The rock I received was fairly cured though, so that may have shortened my cycle time. Also, I added the Chaeto to my fuge about a week after the rock went in with 24hr light in the fuge. The only dosing I'm doing is coming from my top-off water. Each liter of top-off water seems to last at least 2 weeks, so whatever I dose is going in pretty slowly. I was using Seachem's Reef Builder at first, and just switched over to a Kalkwasser solution to keep my calcium and alkalinity in balance. Gotta get that coralline going! Hope that helps! Link to comment
Johnny Deluxe Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Great!! STUFF!~ Also wanted to know what you are using to attach the frags JD Link to comment
chill105 Posted October 12, 2006 Author Share Posted October 12, 2006 Great!! STUFF!~Also wanted to know what you are using to attach the frags JD All of them are either balanced or wedged in place. The mushrooms, which came attached to gravel, have since become attached to the rock. My hermits/snails do occasionally knock things over though, so I may be looking to get some reef glue soon. Link to comment
rleon3003 Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 very nice tank. i like all the colors in there. Link to comment
Johnny Deluxe Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 I really think the ket to sucess ins in the Cheato, I have had nanos before with Algae problems, and corals that didnt do well, I have tried to look up the member you got the Cheato from but could not find him, my local LFS doesnt carry it...any tips Regards JD Link to comment
mdbrit Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 I got my cheato on ebay. Once you have some you're golden, the stuff grows like crazy in a fuge. I think it's key to maintaining water quality. Ever since I started using a fuge, I have WAY fewer problems with algae plus useful pods and critters can live there. Link to comment
jasonf08 Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Hey guys, how does running a nano with chaeto vs a skimmer? in regards to water clairity & algae? Thanks, Link to comment
mdbrit Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 On my 36, after I added a fuge, I still get the odd tuft of hair algae from time to time, but it never spreads and after I remove it, takes forever to reappear. This is bearing in mind that I probably seriously over-feed my tank, but I like well-fed corals and fat fish The cheato grows like, well, weeds, so it stands to reason it takes away vast quantites of nutrients in the water that would otherwise grow algae. It does work well and I'm hoping that it'll work well on the 8g too. I'm waiting for a couple of LED lights to light my fuge, went with them in the end to try instead of a PC clip-on. Link to comment
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