New 14g BioCube. Need Help!!

clarky

clarky

New Member
Hello Everybody:
I want to thank you all very much. All of your threads on this forum have helped me very much. I decided to purchase a 14g Biocube tonight. I just finished placing the live rock and live sand into the tank. I think it looks pretty good right now. It's only been running for about an hour. I know i need more live rock and live sand . I have a few questions for all of you. Where have you hidden your heaters in the tank? I couldn't get mine to fit behind the filter pad. I also want to know what supplements you use to make you tanks look outstanding. I purchased Dt's Phytoplankton, Reef Solutions, and Reef Vital DNA. Any suggestions would be great. Here's my new setup!
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
Originally Posted by clarky
Hello Everybody:
I want to thank you all very much. All of your threads on this forum have helped me very much. I decided to purchase a 14g Biocube tonight. I just finished placing the live rock and live sand into the tank. I think it looks pretty good right now. It's only been running for about an hour. I know i need more live rock and live sand . I have a few questions for all of you. Where have you hidden your heaters in the tank? I couldn't get mine to fit behind the filter pad. I also want to know what supplements you use to make you tanks look outstanding. I purchased Dt's Phytoplankton, Reef Solutions, and Reef Vital DNA. Any suggestions would be great. Here's my new setup!

Welcome clarky,
To be honest all those supplements you purchased you prob wont use. You will see if you search the threads that most people dont use that filter cartridge that the cube supplies you. Do a search for Bio Cube modifications, there are tons of them. The heaters do fit in that right hand chamber once the filter pad is removed. If you do regular weekly water changes of 20% with RO/DI water and test your water chemistry you will find that you prob wont have to use supplements at all. Dosing small tanks can be very dangerous and unless something is so far out of whack I personally wouldnt recomend it. But you still have a long way to go before that is even a concern for you. Phytoplankton is used for some corals but not all so until then you wont need it. I use it every so often for my purple gorgonian and my carnation coral. But mostly feed all my other corals with cyclops and they filter feed the rest of the time. I have yet to dose my tank with anything or lose a coral but its still early in the game LOL.. Good luck..
 
clarky

clarky

New Member
Thank you for your suggestion! I'm going to my lfs to pick up some filter floss and activated carbon. I'll throw away that filter pad asap. Did you replace your bio balls with live rock rubble? Your tank looks awesome perfect dark. I hope mine will look as good as yours some day.
 
meleerock

meleerock

Member
Originally Posted by clarky
Thank you for your suggestion! I'm going to my lfs to pick up some filter floss and activated carbon. I'll throw away that filter pad asap. Did you replace your bio balls with live rock rubble? Your tank looks awesome perfect dark. I hope mine will look as good as yours some day.
Hi there! I just recently started a 14 gal BioCube as well, but it was pre-established so came with all the great mods to do with it. The bio balls were replaced for LR rubble in my tank to add a more natural and effective filtration. Check out my thread, there is another mod where cheato was added to help with nitrates and phosphates in another chamber. Good luck, tank looks like its coming alone great!
Bryan
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
Originally Posted by clarky
Thank you for your suggestion! I'm going to my lfs to pick up some filter floss and activated carbon. I'll throw away that filter pad asap. Did you replace your bio balls with live rock rubble? Your tank looks awesome perfect dark. I hope mine will look as good as yours some day.
Thank you clarky, yes I finally switched to LR rubble I find it a much better alternative.
 
clarky

clarky

New Member
Thanks Melee,
I'm going to replace the Bio Balls with Live Rock Rubble. How many pounds do you think it will take to fill the middle chamber. I'm going to go back my lfs and pick up more live rock and live sand.
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
Good question... I bought 6 lbs for mine but I bought whole pieces I just made sure they were pourus (sp) LOL. Anyway when it was full I stopped chopping away and put what I had left in my main tank. I think the 29 Gal Cube took about 4 lbs but its a tough thing to say your measuring weight against volume some pieces are more dense so they weigh more but arent very large.
 
meleerock

meleerock

Member
There is just smaller peices in mine as well, maybe like goldbalf size and smaller. I am not sure on the weight though. Juat make sure your pieces arent crazy small. That might be a pain in the butt.
 
clarky

clarky

New Member
I added another piece of live rock and some more live sand. I removed the bio balls, and filled the chamber with live rock rubble. How long do I have to wait before I can add a few corals?
 
R

reefernana

Guest
I have a 29g biocube. First thing I did was remove the bioballs, too. I have 40 lbs of live sand and 26 lbs of live rock. I do not have a heater cuz at this time of the year I have to cool down the water if anything. I am able to keep it around 79-80 by adding ice in a plastic container and floating it thru the front feeding compartment. It fits perfectly with just the bottom touching the water surface. Much cheaper than having to add a chiller. I replaced the bioballs with 2 jars of Seachem's Matrix (a great filtering material that you never have to replace), a bag of Seachem's Purigen (which you can recharge when dirty and use over again), and some filter/foam floss over that. I run a small bag of Seachem's Carbon in the right chamber. I got rid of the cartridge there, too. In the left chamber is the filtering sponge in front of the original pump. I bought 2-6" pieces of loc-line with the splitter and replaced the return nozzle with it. That added more directional flow. I, also, have a MaxiJet 900 PH behind my rock on the right side which adds more surface adjutation. I do 3-4 gal water changes every week so I don't need a skimmer. I have a good size cleanup crew, some corals and only 2 fish, so far. Mine has been up since May 1st. I slowly started adding my CUC little by little after 3 weeks, when my water parameters were reading perfect. Added a couple corals 3 weeks after the CUC and didn't add my first fish until my tank was a couple of months old. Waited a few weeks then added my next fish and just added a few more corals last week. My water readings have remained perfect this whole time. I felt like I had plenty of live rock in my tank so I decided to go with the other filtering media instead of adding rubble in the mid chamber. So far, I'm extremely pleased with this set-up. Don't add anything to your tank until you have perfect consistency with your water. The slower the better in this hobby as I have been told and have read. Good luck!
 
clarky

clarky

New Member
I knew i would have to wait a few weeks! I'm glad that i have a lot of patience. Thanks for the compliment Coral keeper. I've got another question for you guys. As you can see in the picture; you are able to see the water line. Is there any way i can get the water level to raise slightly?
 
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