Shopping list for a New BIOCUBE 29 project
- Thread starter rhino31
- Start date
StevieT
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Now there's your problem lol
well I just bought a biocube off craigslist. has all the chemicals, and test kits. even has stevie T's fuge and media baskets! one this it has as well is a CPR skimmer, which I can't find any info on. I'll post pics once I get a chance. I noticed one of the areas where you screw the canopy for the light down is cracked. hope it won't case condensation to get into the light fixture. I'll post pics once I get a chance. it came with one powerhead, but a standard pump. still thinking about going with the MP10. would one MP10 and a korilla power head be too much?
question for you all. the package I just bought had both the fuge and media basket. I was going to go with the media basket and a TUNZE skimmer, but I am debating just skipping the skimmer and going with the fuge and media combo. would that suffice, or am I better off buying a new skimmer?
also, the get up had the biocube UV sterilizer that hooks up to the pump. I am upgrading the pump, but I was wondering if I needed to go with something more powerful then the RIO 6HF to forge the water through the UV sterilizer? I'd imagine that going through the sterilizer obstructs the flow a little. would it make sense to up the pump size? would a mag drive 5 be too much?
finally, I am debating what to do with the light fixture. the clear plastic housing that separates the water from the bulbs has one of the "pillars" cracked. when I say pillar I mean the area where the screws attach the plastic cover to the hood. I am concerned that evap will cause condensation buiold up in the canopy and f the light. plus one of the fans is loud, and sounds like it needs to be replaced. I'm thinking of just buying a new hood, and installing the guts from my current hood into the new hood, OR I'll buy an upgraded hood, but I'm not trying to drop 500+ on an upgrade.
Any suggestions?
also, the get up had the biocube UV sterilizer that hooks up to the pump. I am upgrading the pump, but I was wondering if I needed to go with something more powerful then the RIO 6HF to forge the water through the UV sterilizer? I'd imagine that going through the sterilizer obstructs the flow a little. would it make sense to up the pump size? would a mag drive 5 be too much?
finally, I am debating what to do with the light fixture. the clear plastic housing that separates the water from the bulbs has one of the "pillars" cracked. when I say pillar I mean the area where the screws attach the plastic cover to the hood. I am concerned that evap will cause condensation buiold up in the canopy and f the light. plus one of the fans is loud, and sounds like it needs to be replaced. I'm thinking of just buying a new hood, and installing the guts from my current hood into the new hood, OR I'll buy an upgraded hood, but I'm not trying to drop 500+ on an upgrade.
Any suggestions?
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Would you even be able to fit a Mag5 down in there? Reading around when I was looking at upgrading my pump it sounded like the Rio 6hf was one of the only ones that would fit down in the chamber properly. Granted with the media/fuge baskets we run the water level higher than the markings on the tank so maybe that wouldn't be an issue...
question..... if I were to buy my sand, and rock from an established tank, would I still need to cycle the tank? I understand the point in establishing a tank with good bacteria, but if you put all ready established product into RO/DI water, is it still necessary? I want to do this correctly, so let me know
You'd still need to cycle, but the time would be much less. Are you talking using only LR/substrate out of an existing tank or mixing it with dry stuff to seed it?
If you took all dry rock/substrate, you might take a month to fully cycle.
If you took some dry/some live, which most people do, you might take 1-2 weeks.
If you used only liverock from another tank and substrate from another tank and it wasn't out of the water more than an hour or two, you could potentially see a cycle as short as a day. It would probably still have a 'mini' cycle because there will be some dieoff in transport, but minimal.
Regardless of which way you go about it you still have to wait until your tests are coming up clean long enough to instill confidence.
If you took all dry rock/substrate, you might take a month to fully cycle.
If you took some dry/some live, which most people do, you might take 1-2 weeks.
If you used only liverock from another tank and substrate from another tank and it wasn't out of the water more than an hour or two, you could potentially see a cycle as short as a day. It would probably still have a 'mini' cycle because there will be some dieoff in transport, but minimal.
Regardless of which way you go about it you still have to wait until your tests are coming up clean long enough to instill confidence.
the guy selling his rock and sand lives about 30 minutes door to door. I was going to buy both live rock, and substrate directly from his tank, bring it to my tank loaded with new RO/DI, and go from there. good idea, or bad? also, I have a CPR SR3 skimmer, and StevieT's media and fuge basket. Obviously since both fit in chamber two, I can't run all three, but I have been reading a lot of posts about people running the biocube skimmer in chamber one. I know it's apparently not the best skimmer, but if I were to run the biocube skimmer in chamber one, media and fuge in two, would that be over kill, or good to go?
Ok, to cover your questions:
LR/Sand - Good idea. I'd still let it sit a day or two just to be totally on the safe side before stocking, but with only a half hour of air time that's not too big an issue, with the basic assumption that your water is very close in salinity, pH, and temp to his.
Skimmer in chamber 1 - Should work just fine, its not overkill since there isn't any skimming going on with the media/fuge basket and while the fuge with chaeto will reduce some nutrients they don't remove DOCs which the skimmer still will.
LR/Sand - Good idea. I'd still let it sit a day or two just to be totally on the safe side before stocking, but with only a half hour of air time that's not too big an issue, with the basic assumption that your water is very close in salinity, pH, and temp to his.
Skimmer in chamber 1 - Should work just fine, its not overkill since there isn't any skimming going on with the media/fuge basket and while the fuge with chaeto will reduce some nutrients they don't remove DOCs which the skimmer still will.
awesome thanks for the input brother! all right so I actually have a CPR SR3 skimmer, but I want to run both the fuge the media basket, and a skimmer. the guy I bought this from actually had the UV sterilizer too, so my filtration will be oceanic biocube skimmer, to media basket, to fuge, to UV sterilizer. that makes sense? he had a airstone too, which I'm not too sure what to do with.
I'm not planning on stocking the tank itself for 2-3 weeks, if even that soon. I want to make sure I have the water and temp set perfectly before I move on it. I'm also looking for a new upgraded hood, or I might get brave enough to upgrade the hood with one of nanotuners DIY kits.... we'll see. but as far as fish, etc, I'll probably go with a CUC in a week or so after my tests come back consistently clean. appreciate all the help
also, I was going to load a cooler with fresh RO/DI for the transport of the rock. the sand I will do in buckets with water as well. I'm guessing that would prolong the life of the live stuff
I'm not planning on stocking the tank itself for 2-3 weeks, if even that soon. I want to make sure I have the water and temp set perfectly before I move on it. I'm also looking for a new upgraded hood, or I might get brave enough to upgrade the hood with one of nanotuners DIY kits.... we'll see. but as far as fish, etc, I'll probably go with a CUC in a week or so after my tests come back consistently clean. appreciate all the help
also, I was going to load a cooler with fresh RO/DI for the transport of the rock. the sand I will do in buckets with water as well. I'm guessing that would prolong the life of the live stuff
When you say a cooler/bucket full of fresh RO/DI you do mean mixed with salt to the same salinity as his tank, right? Otherwise you're dropping saltwater organisms on the rock into freshwater and that'll kill quite a bit off. Ideally you can transport the rock in damp newspaper, just take a little tank water out to get the paper wet, wrap the rock in it. That's how they ship it cross country and most of the stuff on it lives. The sand you should be getting enough tank water mixed in when you pull it out that you shouldn't have to worry about it for the little half hour jaunt. If you do put any saltmix/RODI water in either the bucket or the cooler, you'll have to make sure you match salinity, pH, and temp to his water to minimize die off, but like I said, I don't think you need to go that far.
The airstone he may have just had running in a chamber, or if he had the biocube skimmer I think that's airstone driven. If it's not part of the skimmer and is just seperate, you don't need it.
I did the nanotuner 4.36W hood upgrade. It's pretty simple if you watch the videos for it. There was one spot in the video where they forget to tell you one step, which means you have to undo a connection to fix it, but if you do a search on google someone tells you exactly where it is (I don't remember offhand).
When you get around to stocking your CUC, give John a call over at reefcleaners.org, you can have him set you up a custom package, or just buy their prebuilt 30g package which is what I did.
The airstone he may have just had running in a chamber, or if he had the biocube skimmer I think that's airstone driven. If it's not part of the skimmer and is just seperate, you don't need it.
I did the nanotuner 4.36W hood upgrade. It's pretty simple if you watch the videos for it. There was one spot in the video where they forget to tell you one step, which means you have to undo a connection to fix it, but if you do a search on google someone tells you exactly where it is (I don't remember offhand).
When you get around to stocking your CUC, give John a call over at reefcleaners.org, you can have him set you up a custom package, or just buy their prebuilt 30g package which is what I did.
yes by fresh ro/di I mean what the rocks will be seeing in my tank, but if I can get away with wrapping them in wet newspaper, then that's the route i'll take! thanks for the input.
I'm just a big pu**y when it comes to trying to upgrade my light. i want to do it, but I'm afraid I'll f something up, then I'll be out big bucks, and a hood. i'll grow a pair I'm sure.
thanks for the info brother, and thanks for the reccomendation on the CUC. I'll def give them a shout when i'm ready
I'm just a big pu**y when it comes to trying to upgrade my light. i want to do it, but I'm afraid I'll f something up, then I'll be out big bucks, and a hood. i'll grow a pair I'm sure.
thanks for the info brother, and thanks for the reccomendation on the CUC. I'll def give them a shout when i'm ready