chris's 29g biocube tank build (lots of pics)

[chris31]

Hey my names chris and im starting a 29 gallon biocube so i thought i would do a tank building thread being i have never done one before so bare with me. I will be updating almost everyday and will have as many pics as possible. Oh and might post some random photos from time to time about some other hobbies of mine non fish related :). If anyone has any info on ANYTHING please let me know. Well thanks for following along everyone enjoy!

Ok so sry but the tank itself isn’t actually here yet it was suppose to be here on thursday but due to some shipping problems it will be on tuesday. I ordered the tank form nano customs so im sure it will be great.(thanks nick). So in the mean time i picked up some equipment and cleaned out some sand that i had from a old tank along with some rocks. Also i have the old rocks in a container with some new rocks to seed them a little until the tank comes. I put a heater and a powerhead in with the rock with some ro/di water. I also threw on a old PC lighting system that i had laying around. So that’s basically where im at right now at least till tuesday. Heres some pics of my equipment that i picked up and the rocks.


http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0249.jpg
heater 150 watt
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0248.jpg
Biocube skimmer(just for a month or so until i can get some money together to get the sapphire)
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0246.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0247.jpg
powerheads not sure if with the retun if that is going to be to much flow or not but we will have to wait and see wont we:)

[NaClH20reeffish]

Nice. Good luck! I have a 29 but not a BC.

[chris31]

ROCKS
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0252.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0253.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0242.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0243.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0245-1.jpg

[chris31]

Just some random pics :)
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0256.jpg
My 2 sugar gliders lelow & stitch who in a few weeks will be proud parents of two babies(not sure on the babies sexes yet)but will keep you updated :)
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0019.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0241.jpg
no one can pass up a puppy face hahaha my 1 year old yellow lab bella(have another 12 year old lab but i have to get a pic of her )

[crvz]

sounds like a fun project, good luck with it!

[chris31]

thanks guys

[chrismunn]

are you going to make any mods to your bc29?

you should show your sugar gliders to nanogurl. i havent seen her in a while though? but she has some also.

what are you going to keep in your tank?

[chris31]

yea i had mods done to it from nanocustoms (nick) already put them on for me i had a 70 watt hqi bulb put on there so it has that and the 2 pc bulbs. I might also swap out the return pump on it.
yea i know idk what happen to her i havent seen her around either
and as far as what im keeping i really would like a little variety as far as corals. deff a clam.and fish wise this is what i got
1.pair perc clowns
2.yellow clown goby
3.Yellow Multibanded Pipefish
4.Jade Filefish
5.some type of sand sifting goby watchman maybe
6.jawfish
7.purple firefish
dont worry everyone im not putting all of these in these are just the ones i came up with that i like and will chose from ill prob end up puttin like 4 in

[chris31]

FINALLY THE TANK IS HERE!!!!!!
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0257.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0258.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0260.jpg

Igot a ? though on the return shouldnt there be a cover over the propeller of the pump????
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0261.jpg

im going to start to get it running today and will post some more pics tonight

oo also im taking a ride up to the LFS can i get cheto to put it in the tank today???

[chris31]

????

[crvz]

Not sure about that pump, but I would assume it would have a cover. Might be something to look into. I'd get the rocks in a tank for a bit before putting any macro algaes in it. I also would ditch those bio-balls, but some folks like them.

[chris31]

yea the bio-balls are already gone those things are like a ticking time bomb wating to explode with problems....and the pump i called nick from nanocustoms and he said there isnt sappose to be like a grid like cover over it but there is a cover to protect the impeller so its how its sappose to be im in the middle of filling it right now so im gonna try and get some pics up tonight

[chris31]

ok well ill post some pics later on but as a update i called oceanic and nick from nanocuztoms and they both say the chamber was the way it was sappose to be but i still dont understand how people are able to keep a fuge in that 2nd chamber with the amount of water that is in there so if anyone has a pic of their 2nd chamber that would help me a lot...... I have the biocube skimmer for about a hour now and i cant stand it what a piece of s*** so i am looking into the tunze skimmer but other then that the tank is up and running still got a sand storm so thats the update ***PICS TO COME****

[slumpysix]

Yep there's a cover that goes with that pump. Good luck with your setup. I have the 4.36 light mod on the tank and that keeps the heat up these days between 79-83. I keep the rear lid open to help with air movement. Those koralia's you have will rock that tank. Maybe just use one...JMO.
As far as the second chamber I have the old sapphire skimmer in there and it still works well. If you want more flow in there, you have to make the notch bigger between ch. 1 and 2. Not using the bioballs and the bigger notch will allow for more water in both 2 -3 chambers so the water line on the side will mean nothing. I had bought a 50 w heater for ch.1 and never plug it in anymore. I recently pulled it so I don't think you will need it, again JMO... I have some pictures in my gallery and at photobucket if you would like to see.

http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa106/slumpysix/


I have pictures of the filter mod in the gallery also

[chris31]

i decided that im going to make the notch a little bigger so that there is more water flow into the 2nd chamber which should raise the water
also i cant stand this skimmer at all so what does everyone think i should i get the tunze seems to be pretty popular what does everyone think????
heres to shots from last night...i think im going to do the aquascaping tomorrow and i will post some more pics when it is done.....as of now when i just got home i just ran to quick test cuz im on my way out again and the saltanity is rght between 102.2 and 102.3 so i added a little salt so ill be fine by tonight and then i ran a quick ph test and it was 8.0 so i added a little ph buffer. I will do the rest of the test tomorrow so anyway heres some pics more to come tomorrow.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0262.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0263.jpg

[rooneyguh]

Good start. The Tunze 9002 nano works great for me in my 24g Aquapod, however it has a large collection cup and it will not fit in the Biocube with the lid closed.

[chris31]

so how do you make it fit then eventhough i have the 29g it wont fit????

[chris31]

???

[chris31]

ok so today I aquascaped and did some test and kinda got the tank how I want it to run.
I have the lights on from antics(7:30am-7:30pm) and HQI bulb (8:30am-6:30pm)

I did a 50% water change today since i was playing around with the rocks a lot and what not
so far my parms are
ph-8.4 i added some adjuster to knock it down
amonia-0 didnt expect there to be any
nitirte-0 again didnt expect it
nirtrate-0 well you know the deal
saltinity-102.5
what other test should i get im taking a trip to the lfs this weekend i also have a calcium and a po4 what others should i get????

i tryed something new i added some bio-spira to help kick start the cycle hey if it works it works if it dont who cares not gonna harm anything

I tryed the korilia 3 and it was to much in the tank if i had corals in there it would of blown them threw the oppsite glass panel so i stuck with the #1 with that and the return which i will be upgrading its a good amount of flow

The temp in the tank is what im working on i have the thermometer set at 78 and today i came home and the temp was 80.5 but here in NY it also was a unusally hot day and so was yesterday (85-90) and today i forgot to turn on the a/c before i left this morn so the tank temp went a little high. the tank temp is sappose to be between 74-79 right?????

so heres so pic of the new rockwork sry there not that great
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0271.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0273.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/chris31photo/GEDC0269.jpg

[chrismunn]

you dont have to keep the water level in the rear chambers at the recomended level indicated by the water level gauge on the side of the tank. my rear chambers are almost full to the top. i scraped the paint off the back of my bc14 to add an extra light. ill be suprised if you havent seen these pics yet as ive posted them in about a thousand threads already :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/chrismunn/DSC04736.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/chrismunn/DSC04743.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/chrismunn/DSC04745.jpg

[chrismunn]

my tanks temp runs mid 80's. never abouve 86, never below 82... i thought about addid a chiller but decided against it. i also dont have a heater. of course my tanks a bit smaller (15g's) and i dont have a MH either. i also use the BC skimmer because its the only thing that will fit into my tank. it doesnt preform as well as ide like it to, but for a tank my size its better than nothing. for your 29 the BC skimmer probably isnt that great. i rely about 85% on my refugium w/ cheato & live rock along with water changes for filtration. since you can fit a larger and better preforming skimmer into your tank you might not need to depend on a refugium the way i do, but as tank size increase, so does the relativity between the efficiency of the skimmer and the bio-load.

also, your SG is 1.023, not 102.3 right???

[LulusMoogle]

Don't forget your alk test kit. :)

I've seen tank temps ranging from 76 to 82. I think that's a safe level. I, personally, am most comfortable with running it at 79.

[chris31]

my saltanity is 1.025 i had it at 1.023 then some one on here had to me to bumb it up to 1.025 what should it be???

[Michael]

1.025 is good enough, 1.026 is the best, however with 1.025 you have alittle lea way with top ups etc, no problems there

[chris31]

ok so my saltinity is good?????????
ok yea im gonna get a alk kit anything else????
ooo and when should i start dosing my tank wit like 2 part solutions and calcium stuff like that?????Is there anything i should by and start doing now???

[Michael]

forget dosing, theres no need at present, when your system is up and running with stock, then start monitoring calcium and alk, if you discover they are low then start dosing, not before

[chrismunn]

your salinity being at 1.025 is fine. i keep mine at 1.026. most people keep it inbetween 1.023 and 1.026. the trend seems to be lower for fish only tanks, and higher for tanks with coral.

i say buy whatever stupid test kit you can afford ! :D

ammonia
nitrate
nitrite
ph
alkalinity
phosphate
silicate
magnesium
you dont neccesarily need that many but they come in handy when your questioning certain parameters.

as for dosing a 2 part, you dont really need to just yet. i on the other hand started dosing immideatly simply because i wanted get my dosing schedual down BEFORE adding live stock to the tank. i didnt want to accidentally over dose the tank while i had new fish and coral so i started early. i probably dosed for a month or more before adding anything into my tank. that way i knew how much of everything to add per day, and at what rate any amount of product would affect the percentage in the tank. plus it encourages coralline to start gowing. i would recommend dt's 3 part ca, alk and mg additives instead of the b-ionic 2 part. not that there is anything wrong with the b-ionic, its just that he dt's comes with mg as part of a balanced system.

and naturally when you start adding certain corals, the demand for calcium will slowly increase. right now im adding twice as much product as i was 2 months ago.

[chris31]

ok yea im gonna take a trip to the lfs tomorrow and see what i can find

[chris31]

ok so i took a trip to the lfs (yea i know ;)) today and i had them test my water while i was there and this is what they got
ph 8.2
amonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate he said there were a small amount wasent spacefic with a #
sooo my orignal ? to him was in my tank i was starting to see some diatoms in my tank a little on the sand and a little on the rocks but was still getting zero amonia? so he ran the test and said to me it seemed my tank was cycled. but then i said to him its only bein up for about 2 and a half weeks and he said its possible pluse i added that bio sporia so i wonder it that had anything to do with it????

but anyway whats everyones feelings on the tank being cycled??? and about the whole diatom thing????

ooo also picked up a pepermint shirp while i was there and going back to get the snails they were getting for me 10 nassiurs(sry if spelling is wrong) and 2 turbos
**** ill post pics tomorrow*****

[chris31]

ok so im having a little prob with my PH its at 8.4... i thought it should be at 8.2 but when i was at the pet store i saw that a marine buffer say rasies and matanes a ph of 8.3......so what should i PH be???????