Twenty12's BioCube 29 Diary

[twenty12]

I received a BioCube 29 for Christmas from my wife. I have talked about a salt water tank forever and she finaly got one for me and this is the diary of my setup and the life of the tank.First thing first I ordered an RO/DI unit. I installed this after a few plumbing issues and made all my water for the tank. The RO/DI unit has two DI chambers and a source for drinking water. My water tests at 360+ on the TDS meter I bought. After the filters for drinking water its down to about 50 on the TDS. After the DI chambers its a reading of zero! So now I have good water for my tank.Here is the unit I installed.

 

[twenty12]

After the RO setup I filled the tank with water to test the tank for leaks. No leaks. I leveled the tank, put in drip lines, installed the digital outlet timer and turned on the lights and pumps. All seems to be working which is good.I also got my live rock and sand the other day. I went with Kadavu Rock (Fiji Island) off the internet and could not be more pleased with it. I purchase 45 pounds. I ended up using almost all of it except for one smaller piece. The sand I used is AgraAlive Fiji Pink.So now I am in the cycle. Readings of high Amonia.... so it has started.Here is a picture of the setup so far...

 

[sac10918]

I like your aquascaping.....I can already tell that your tank will look great once you get it going!

 

[poop_head]

Looking good. I also like the rock work. I got a JBJ nano cube 24 gallon for christmas. I'm enjoying mine so far. Have you done any mods to it?

 

[twenty12]

Thanks for the reponses on the aquascaping. Hard to tell.. but lots of caves and tunnels in it.

No real mods at this point. In the future I plan on doing some more. I added a Hydor Koralia 1 pump to the tank to increase water flow. I also ordered a Rio 6HF but it has not been delivered. When I install that I may need to increase the flow as most people do. During the cycle I am running nothing but filter floss in the second chamber. I will be using Chemi-pure and/or Purigen with filter floss after the cycle. I am also running the Oceanic BioCube protein skimmer in chamber 1.
In the future (hopefully not to distant) I will be doing a lighting upgrade. Besides that we'll see as I go since this is my first tank. Figured I would take it slow and mod over time.

 

[poop_head]

Thats a good idea to take it slow. One thing people do is to load one chamber with LR rubble to add to your natural filtration. Ya I took basically everything out of the back setup. I have LR, carbon, and a heater in there. I added a MJ 1200 with a rotating flow head to change the flow up a little. Your in for a new addiction. Especially when you get your first corals. You can't have enough and you always want something new/different. I also need to get a nano skimmer for mine. I am looking at getting the biocube one. People said its one of the better ones for a cheap price.

 

[nemo2]

So, I got a 29 g bio-cube for christmas, too. I have not modified it at all, I am using the bio-balls it came with along withthe carbon filter. SO do you put the LR rubble in the middle chamber where the Bio-balls are? What are the advantages? I plan on adding another power head for flow but am wondering what size? GPH? I am already so excited! you are right, this is an addicting hobby.
Twenty12-your LR looks awesome.

 

[twenty12]

I may do the LR in the middle chamber, but I am doing other filters first to see how it works.
Basically my understanding is this. Put some LR and light back there. And essentially it creates a breading area of micro organisims to help keep levels stable and reduce algae outbreaks. People do different things. I felt with 45 lbs of live rock I could do without it. But only time will tell.
I did not do it right away because it requires scratching off the paint to get light access, etc. So while its still under warranty I figured I would keep it as "stock" as possible.
Seems people have success with bio balls (but most say ditch these), with chemi-pure and purgen (as I plan on using) and LR. LR seems to be the most common.. but I think you can get any to work.

 

[nemo2]

I Have heard the same abouy the bio-balls. Thanks for the input, I say good choice on the LR. It looks great. I only got 25 lbs, and now I am wondering if I should have got more. I think I will try the Purigen and Chemi-pure though, as I have heard good things about them as well. Good luck. i can't wait to see what you do with it in the future!

 

[poop_head]

Yes ditch the bioballs and rings. They are there if your doing FOWLR. They can build up crap which isn't good for your corals, so people just put LR and also chaeto as a mini refugium to help clean the water. The chaeto requires light so you do need some system for light to get in their which I didn't do.

 

[twenty12]

Very exciting day last night... my cycle finally hit 0 amonia and 0 nitrite. So I did my first water change last night. I did about a 10% change (3.5 gallons). All seemed to work alright. Some of the top live rock was exposed during the change for a couple minutes. I am assuming thats not a big issue. Not sure what to do if there are corals up high in the future. Should I change the water out without exposing any rock?
At this point I plan on cheecking my levels and doing another water change based on the results. I planned on doing it tonight, but not sure if I should wait longer. Is there problems with doing another change this soon to help bring nitrates down?
I hope to go to the LFS and get the start of my cuc. Not sure what to get as I see a lot of posts with all different options, so any thoughts on initial items to get would be appreciated.