Chris 29 biocube trials and errors before a 65 G

[Basile]

Well, i'm starting this thread after 10 months of biocubing with a 29G and now that i'm setting up a 65 g after Xmass , i thoug of going through my trial and tribulations. The good and the bad.

Here goes

Jan. 2007 i bough the Oceanic Bioncube 29 at Big Al's.

 

[Basile]

35 lb of Fidji Live rock, 30 lb of Aragonite sand.

 

[Basile]

I place the tank in front of 2 large windows in my Pc room, because i'm thinking cooling the tank with my Air conditioner which is there in the summer, so no chiller at $ 500. I rather use my $ 400 AC that does the hole Condo tank you.

 

[Basile]

I tried to make as many nooks and crannies, cave and burrows as instructed by the store guys and the books i bought for this new hobby, expensive hobby i might add......

So thats my rockwork for now 2 1/2 weeks into the process of curing.

 

[Basile]

Got some more equipment to facilitate the monitoring of temp, and a little skimmer( which i will discover later doesn't work all that good) in the first chamber at the top of the pic

 

[Basile]

Now after 55 days of curring the rocks, i started to think fish.

The clown fish are one of the hardyiest according to the store, cool it happens i always wanted those little guys and their anemone. It will never happen.....

They died 6 days after this pic.

Then i bough a second pair which also died 7 days into the journey

 

[Basile]

Very disturbed by this i concentrate on the enviroment, maybe i'll have better luck.

 

[Basile]

Found a little critter in the tank. Its a Cowrie (Cypraea spp.).

I had to have a look at it, night crawler, didn't see it for long. The temp might be a factor these guys like the mid 60 o F degrees , the tank is 79-81 o F. so too hot to handle i guess.

I'm sorry i couln't keep the temp at what it usually care for but i didn't know better at the time.Kina cool isn't he.

 

[yungreefer2410]

so you have no fish in the tank correct? what are your lvls?

 

[Basile]

Oh, yes i do, sorry i'm just posting my " adventure" for other beginer like me i'm 9 months later now, i stoped this morning for groceries lol. I'm not finish posting, my experiences and thriumph and failiure alike. I do have fishes now stick around, you'll see the finish product soon.

 

[Basile]

Ok i'm back for the rest of the tale or tail lol.

Ok you see that red pinkish coral in the middle, it was sold to me has "Daisy" coral, NOT
its was a "Goniopora sp" nearly impossible to keep. So beware of vendors at $50 a piece, better to look it over on the net before buying.It lasted 6 months before having to replace it.

 

[Basile]

I found out i could do some modification on my tank. Although restrained by the fact that its a enclosed system, some where doable some not good , some not necessary and some bad.

I change the elbow with tubing, much better flow.And Added a bag of carbon for my water quality.

I did this contraption to filter better with a floss between grids, not good became a nitrate trap a real "conTRAPtion"

 

[Basile]

Then i moved to the serious Mods
I took out the bioballs and proceeded to make a refugium.

The light

The Cheato in the second chamber where use to be the bioballs

Oh ya you have to scrape the paint off the back, the size of the chamber

The finish look

 

[Basile]

Unfortunatly the ideal a good one is not practicle in this small cube. The benefits are hardly noticeable. So don't bother with this mod. So to replace the fiasco i bought the protein Skimmer for the second chamber, sold on
Pet Solution, the SR3 Protein Skimmer for Oceanic BioCube is suppose to be the best for that type of cube, we'll see, i should get it next week.

 

[Basile]

Ok after 9 moths look at the tank now

 

[Basile]

My clown fish( third generation...)

Mr Cardinal

Some corals............................................

Fox

 

[Basile]

What have we here....A KILLER, it actually got my Yellow Watchman goby, poor thing , he was just trying to make friends.

 

[yungreefer2410]

wow very nice im impressed. hopefully i can get my 8g bc to look this good

 

[Basile]

Thanks, i think i got lucky.
I did have some casulties along the way, but i red alot and didn't set up to make the best aquarium . I just tried to make mine work the best i could and it turned out good i hope. I'm still learning, specially about paring species, coral, fish or otherwise.

 

[jsindorf]

Beautiful tank - congratulations!

I just got a 29g BioCube yesterday -- it's still empty. From your experience, how should I set it up? (what do find works best in each of the three back segments?)

Did you upgrade the lighting or the fans?

How much extra flow did you add? I see at least one extra pump in the tank.

thanks
Joe