my biocube 14

contents of this tank were moved to my 20H build

well I was planning on setting up a 30 in January but the folks got me a bio cube for Christmas, so i will go with this and see how it goes.

1st pic is after i added salt and live sand so it is really cloudy
2nd pic is inside my stand (what a mess)
3rd pic is live rock i put in i added about 15 pounds give or take (still a bit cloudy, and the heater is out because it was taking forever just being in the back)

thats it for now I will keep this updated.

 

you may want to switch ur substrate. something finer.

 

why? just curious

 

I also have a biocube and wanna share some tips with ya

Take out the filter cartridge for the first week, also remove all those bioballs. They will cause you pain in the long run.

Move your lights, put the blue infront and the white in the back. This will allow you to use the center chamber in the back as a mini fuge till you can mod it better.

Next,
You want to look into drilling a few holes on the top for additional exhaust because those lights are VERY close to the surface of the water and you will notice it get's hot SUPER fast.

OAH YEA -- Almost forgot..... Keep the water filled past the MAX slot on the side. If you don't, you will notice MAJOR water noise .. it's also good to schedule a water change every other week. Since you have the 14, I would do 3 gallons as your water change.

Those are the most important things you gotta do when you get a biocube (IMHO)...

In the future, you wanna try and pick up a Koralia Nano and a Hydor FLO Rotating Deflector for the main return.

Good luck and I hope you have as much fun with your biocube as I do!

-Fritts

 

with it being finer, and with such a small space as we get with the cubes, it fills up a lot of spaces and reduces the amount of dead space in the substrate.

I went with some very fine FL sand that looks awesome. I also mixed in some of the larger stuff too but it's mostly the fine stuff for me.

I'm so excited to find another biocube user! I'll be checking back A LOT!!

-fritts

 

hey thanks
i was thinking of taking the bioball out and adding lr rubble but should i still run the carbon too?
also i was planning on getting marineland penguin ph and switch it with the stock pump to up the flow
also i was planning on 3 gallon water change each week is that ok?

thanks for the tips

 

Yea, LR rubble is what I'm using with mine in the center chamber.(My heater is in the 3rd chamber where the water waits to be returned to the display) . I took out that silly drip tray tho ... I felt it was over-kill and it was not letting light in to the back chamber.

** On the water changes:
Every week would be a bit much, I would go with the 2 week method and just keep ontop of it. You will quickly realize that your having to top-off a lot tho cause the lights are just so hot that your gonna have evaporation issues no matter what you do. So keep a 1g jug close to top off as needed.

** Running Carbon/Filter Pad:
I would not run the filter pad for the first week or so just so it does not cause issues with your cycle. During those first few weeks, your only going to want to top off and not do a real water change. One thing I noticed is that my biocube took 9 days to cycle and that's mostly just because of the small amount of water and the fact I had all cured rock and sand. But you don't want to run the carbon filter till your cycle is over.

Other than that, your pretty much set!!

Also, throw in a lil "bit" of some frozen shrimp. That will kick start your cycle really fast in that cube.

Good luck!!!!!
I'll be watching!

p.s. I run the carbon filter in mine... Keeps the water crystal clear and in the event something starts to die off - I have a lil bit of time to rescue the tank from it as the carbon is keeping things in check.

-fritts

 

Hi Jake, I have the 14 gal. Biocube (Oceanic) and it came with 2 fans built in so no need to worry about heat. Set the heater at 76 and it will only get to 80 through the course of the day. Heater in the 3rd chamber could potentially cause a problem if it is one that has to have the water to its' water line mark (could over heat and short out). I would not recommend filling over the Max line. It is there so when power goes out or you turn off for water change the tank doesn't over flow and flood or worse short out everything.

 

My water level is above yet there is still an inch of dead space before it comes close to the top. When the "power" is lost - it goes up a quarter of an inch but still plenty of room before any type of over flow takes place.

All three units put off massive heat (even with the stock fans) and that required a few extra holes for exhaust to keep the tank from going "white" (if you have ever over-heated a tank, you know what I'm talking about) ..



I have the biocube 8/14 and a 29 and setup a aquapod 24 just a week or so ago.

-Fritts

 

well its day two and the water already has cleared up it's not cloudy at all now, also it warmed up to temp so i moved heater back into 3rd chamber it's at like 76-78 degrees F
also i just puled out the test kit to see how it worked alkalinity and nitrites were fine but ph was 8.1 is this ok?
anyways here are some more pics