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Ahanix 
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 Topic: 14g Bio Cube Build - New Modifications
Posted: February 14 2010 at 11:19pm |
Hey Everyone, my name is Matt, I decided a few weeks ago after dealing with fresh water for most of my life that I wanted to venture into the whole reef scene. I do not have a lot of room in my current house, so I figured that I would look for a BioCube. One of the members on here happened to be selling his BioCube. So hopefully I don't ruin his old tank 
Anyways, here is my build thread, currently I am running the following peices of hardware.
Maxi Jet 900
Hydor Flo
Koralia Nano Power Head
AquaClear 100w Heater
24w 10,000k Daylight PC
24w Actinic PC
I decided after reading some that I would drop out the 1st floor to make room for the heater. The bioballs and everything was already removed.
Tonight I started running fresh water through the tank (after cleaning it down with vinegar) to both make sure the traces of vinegar I wasn't able to clean off with fresh water were removed, and to test the tank to make sure everything was working.
The tank so far seems to be running great, I pulled apart the hood and cleaned the fans to make sure they were silent. cleaned the bulbs a little bit. will probably replace them sometime in the future with two 50/50 bulbs (unless anyone has any other suggestions)
Tomorrow I was able to find someone to trade me some live water for salt. Someone wanting to get rid of a half bucket of live sand. And someone else that had some live rock they would trade me as well, so hopefully my cycle will go through pretty fast. - I can't believe how nice people are here!
Edited by Ahanix - June 04 2010 at 12:10pm
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Ahanix
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Posted: February 15 2010 at 4:57pm |
Update 1:
Ran the tank for a solid 24 hours and everything seems to be going great. When I get home today from work i'll be pulling all the water out of the tank, wiping it down and then mixing / adding the RO water I picked up at walmart today (they only had 5 1 gallon jugs, so i'll have to make two more trips while the first bucket is mixing the salt and heating up t the correct temp) I am picking up a half bucket of live sand, and will be combining that with the current sand I have to make a 2" bed in my tank, though I may have to wait until tomorrow to dump the sand in, because I am getting some lw and some lr from a friendly member that lives a few blocks away from me. Or should I just go ahead and add as much LS and salt water as I have and just let it settle in the tank until I can put the rock / live water in that I am getting tomorrow? Then fire up the pump powerheads / lights again? or I guess I can just get all the sand in there, fill the water all the way to the top and then do a partial water change with the water live rock that I will get tomorrow
Edited by Ahanix - February 15 2010 at 4:59pm
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MadReefer
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Posted: February 15 2010 at 5:07pm |
Welcome. People here are very nice and also full of tons of info and experience. You have come to the right place to do this tank right. I wish I would have known about this site when I got started.
I would probably just add fresh mixed salt water and sand to the tank. It might make the water clouded but it will settle. By the time you add LR and LW it will be somewhat clear and then only take 12-48 more hours to clear up after everything is running.
Edited by MadReefer - February 15 2010 at 5:08pm
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Ahanix
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Posted: February 15 2010 at 6:24pm |
Awesome, thanks for your help!, one thing I was never able to find, is should I turn everything on and let it run to get my sand to settle, or just let it settle on its own before I start running my pump.etc?
Edited by Ahanix - February 15 2010 at 6:25pm
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Mad Dawg
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Posted: February 16 2010 at 2:31am |
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I bought collapsible 5 gallon jugs and took them to Marine Aquatics in Midvale. They gave me 10 gallons of lw for free. I know Aquatica in Orem sells lw for cheap. Your tank will cycle more quickly the more live stuff you can use up front. I put in 2" of bagged live sand, 8 lbs of lr from two different sources, and lw from another source. I ran the pumps immediately to clear the water. It took about a day. A couple days later I added a cleaning crew and had a small brown algae bloom the next day. A few days later I added the clowns and a couple hardy corals (shrooms, xenia, green star polyps) and had a small green algae bloom the next day. From what I've been told, the algae blooms are a normal part of the cycle and will continually happen during the life of the reef.
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Todd
14g nano mixed reef project
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Ahanix
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Posted: February 16 2010 at 10:30am |
Day #3 update
Last night I picked up a half bucket of sand plus ~1g of live water from one of our friendly members, put the sand in with all of the water I could get out of the bucket (I still have sand left over) and then filled the the rest of the tank with water that I picked up from "Where's Nemo" in Spanish Fork.
I have to say that the tank was pretty cloudy last night, but I woke up this morning and it was crystal clear. I don't know if that means that the sand just settled, or that my cycle is going better than I had hoped.
Today I will be going to a lfs (still can't decide which since I work near Thanksgiving Point) to purchase maybe a pound of live rock just to get the dead rock that I have seeded. I have about 10 pounds of dead rock that I put in a bucket of salt water last night just to see if I could free up any loose debris before it goes in my tank.
I figure its not too exciting to post a tank that just has sand in it, so i'll post some pictures of my tank when I have set up the rock and it has cleared up.
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MadReefer
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Posted: February 16 2010 at 1:31pm |
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Cycling can happen very fast if you put good LS, LR, and LW in the tank. But the tank will still need to mature before it will fuction its best. Just something to keep in mind.
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Ahanix
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Posted: February 16 2010 at 9:49pm |
Day 3.5 Update:
Alright, so since I spent my monthly alottment for my tank, I just decided to be patient, throw in my dead live rock and see how that goes. I'll probably try to find atleast a pound or two of live rock (since I really don't have a lot of rock in my tank as you can see), just to get the little bugs to migrate to the dead rock and get it started faster, unless my live sand will do the same thing?
Anyways, here's a pic of my rock and sand set up, still a little cloudy from me shifting the sand everywhere, but should be clear tomorrow.
Edited by Ahanix - February 16 2010 at 9:49pm
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Mad Dawg
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Posted: February 17 2010 at 12:25am |
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I vote for more rock. I didn't really like Where's Nemo when they were in AF. It was dirty and kinda ghetto. Hopefully their SF location is better. Aquatica in Orem is nice and the owner is friendly and quite helpful.
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Todd
14g nano mixed reef project
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Ahanix
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Posted: February 17 2010 at 12:28am |
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Yeah, I need to pick up quite a bit more rock. I kind of went over the wifes budget this month, but I still need to pick up some live rock to populate my tank, so I guess we will see how that goes :P
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jcoulter17
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Posted: February 17 2010 at 12:48am |
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If you on a budget buy the rock here. Members are always selling live rock for $2-$3 a lb.
I got some nice live Tonga rock from sitaga for $3 a lbs.
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Ahanix
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Posted: February 17 2010 at 9:10pm |
Day 4: Decided to get some live rock, a couple members on our forums really helped me out. Got a few polyps, tank water and a bunch of live rocks, so thanks everyone again, i'll be sure to pay it forward in the future.
Heres an updated pic of my tank, any constructive criticism is more than welcome.
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Mad Dawg
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Posted: February 18 2010 at 12:01am |
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I like it! You may find it easier to clean the glass if you keep the rock off the glass at least enough to get a brush or magfloat past it. I've got two spots where I thought I'd have enough clearance, but I don't want to disturb everything now to move the rock a little.
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Todd
14g nano mixed reef project
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Ahanix
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Posted: February 18 2010 at 2:30pm |
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Well tonight I think i'll try and slide a jawfish condo underneath my rock and move some of the rock over that is on the right so my magfloat (yet to be purchased) will fit around my tank. Thanks for the suggestion
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ksmart
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Posted: February 18 2010 at 3:20pm |
Looking good! have you thought about what fish you want?
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Ahanix
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Posted: February 18 2010 at 3:46pm |
I know for sure i want to get some kind of Jawfish (going to make a tunnel for it tonight before all my stuff sets in (whats another day of cloudy water, right?) Probably a Yellow Headed, just because of the price, unless I can get an amazing deal on a BSJ. After that I am not sure, my wife really likes clownfish, so maybe i'll get a couple of those.. not really sure how many fish I could host in this tank, I would love to have 2 clowns and 2 Jawfish, but I think the Jaw's would fight all the time with the limited space.
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Ryan Thompson
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Posted: February 18 2010 at 4:00pm |
Reef Runners gets in BSJ for $69 all the time so watch out for t if you want a good deal on one. Man when I started in the hobby 4 years ago, BSJ cost $200 a piece!
You may also want to move the Koralia more towards the surface if possible. That way it will disturb the surface and cause aerations and gas exchange.
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Ahanix
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Posted: February 18 2010 at 4:01pm |
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Thanks for that pointer Ryan, I was trying to decide where to put it, i'll do that tonight when I move some of my rocks around that are on the right / throw in my jaw tunnel if its done
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Ahanix
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Posted: February 18 2010 at 8:52pm |
Day 5:
Moved rock on the right a few inches to make room for magfloat when the time comes.
Cut the stem on the Pom Pom and placed it in a new location, reacting to the new location a lot better than where it was before (might have been from all the stress, sitting in a sump.etc)
Moved Zoo's up higher in the tank, they are wide open now and doing great
Star Polyps were down to the stems, no growth when I had put them in the tank, wanted to see if they would grow and they started growing heads. So I guess this must mean my tank is doing good so far.
I also pointed the Koralia upward to stir the surface water a little bit to help with gas exchange, moved filter floss to make better tank flow.
When the bubbles clear up,etc i'll start shooting the tank with the dslr.
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jwoo
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Posted: February 18 2010 at 9:32pm |
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Looks good!
If you want to have two jawfish there are many sites that sell mated pairs . . . if you are worried about fighting!
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None at the moment
Soon: 72 Gallon Bowfront
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