Subielover's Biocube 14 Diary

subielover

subielover

Active Member
If for no other reason then to simply be able to look back on this to see my progress, I have decided to log what is sure to become a learning experience. A bit of background, I do not have any experience hands-on in the hobby, but have done my fair share of research on this site as well as others for the best way to get started.
My goal was originally to buy a 24 gallon aquapod, but that will have to come at a later date. As of now the budget allows the purchase of a new Biocube 8
I am very excited and anxious to get started, although I plan to do things right and take it slow
I will be going later today, to pick up the tank and I will be updating with everything else I purchase later, until then, I will be watching the clock

This will be set-up as a reef tank, and while I know the challenges of upkeep in this type environment, I am confident that I will be fine. I have been waiting a while to be able to afford a larger nano, but have decided to just bite the bullet and get the best I can given my finances. I have to go to work now, but rest assured "I'll be bach!"
And here we go!
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
Ok tank is home, I am about to set everything up now. I was able to get water right out of my lfs' display tank, and live rock was all precured. I am not sure if I will have a cycle, I wouldn't think so, but I still will wait for a few weeks. I will post pics soon!
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
Change of plans, upon opening my brand new biocube 8 I find a gigantic crack across the front and down the side

I took it back to my lfs, who apologized, and made me a offer I couldn't refuse on the Biocube 14!
So i will have to change the title of my thread. Anyhow, just put about 5 lbs of live rock in, I know I need more. Also put about 5-6 pounds of black sand. I would take pics, but it is so cloudy I can't even see the rocks. Stay tuned, the adventure has started.

My plan is to make the rear second chamber into a fuge with some rubble and chaeto, also will be a nice place to cultivate pods. Bye for now.
 
blazin2k6

blazin2k6

Active Member
Not much sand there ? Nice that you finally got a tank though. I am sure you will have a great looking tank. Its not so great to use water straight out of the LFS's tank. Im not trying to bash you or anything but i have heard to never put tank water from an lfs into your display tank cause alot of lfs if it is water that only houses fish they use copper to keep ich away. So hopefully it didnt have any copper in the water or anything. But anyways i am sure they wouldnt give you any water that would be bad or something so hopefully everything is ok :) I hope you enjoy the hobby, i know you will anyways. So have fun and hope to see pics soon.
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
Yeah I know I didn't put sand in, I still have a lot left in the bag. i just wanted it to settle before I just started piling it in. I really don't want it to be a deep bed anyhow.
As far as the water, it is my LFS' tank that has all of their corals growing, beautiful tank, no fish though. They are well known in my area, and I do trust them as far as that goes. In the future I will be mixing my own, but for the time being this works.
Thanks for the comments
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
Do you all think I should just add the rest of the sand , I have 22 lbs total. i only put in about 1/3 of it, but any recommendations would be helpful.
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
PA boy all the way, country boy at heart. It is starting to clear a bit now, can start to see the other side, one thing is for certain, the stock pump is terrible. That will be replaced very soon. I also added 2 more pounds of live rock when I went to get another gallon of water. Right now I have the filter that came with the cube in until it clears up. I also got a bag of purigen and put that under the drip tray in chamber 2.
Oh yeah, I widened the channel from chamber 1 to chamber 2, less than 24 hours old and already modded.

Will try to post pics tonight
 
chroniccoral35

chroniccoral35

Member
My filter and pumps are really good on the JBJ. Still A lot of air bubbles all over...tanks cleared but not completely due to the massive amounts of air bubbles, I just put all the sand, rock, and water Tuesday so it will be a little while before it all clears up.
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
I think I am going to replace the stock pump with a maxi-jet 900, and maybe a koralia nano on the side wall once I get coral, I guess I will just wait and see how the flow is when I add more rock.
 
silverdak

silverdak

Active Member
I was going to suggest paying a few bucks more for a BC 14G... thats what I have and LOVE it!!! as far as sand.. 5lbs will cover the bottom about 1-1/2" I went with 10lbs 5lbs sand and 5lbs LS... so 10 I think would be a good number to aim for. lets see some pictures too! I have wanted and wondered what black sand would look lik in my tank
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
Here we go with some pics, very cloudy still, but getting better


Side View

Little zoo hitchhiker

FTS
Very early, haven't even rearranged all that much yet. Having fun!
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
I will be getting a refractometer soon, but I wanted to know what you guys and gals recommend for testing kits. I have seen API around me and maybe some others. Let me know what you think is good and reliable. Thanks.
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
OK, today after work I picked up a seachem testing kit. These were my readings:
PH- 8.0-8.1
Nitrate- 0.0
Nitrite- 0.1
Alkalinity- 3.5meq/L
Free ammonia-.05
Total ammonia-.20
What do you think??
Here are some new pics now that the sand has settled. It is still a little cloudy though.
FTS

Unidentified hitchers, anybody have a id?

Left Side View

Right Side View

Let me know what you peeps think, and if anyone can id the little hitchhikers there that would be great too.
 
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