My New Biocube 29 HQI

[JHall651]

Here are some front and side views of my new Biocube 29 HQI and one with Nocturnal lights on. I have yet to find anyone else with the Biocube 29 HQI. If you have one let me know how its going and what all you have done to it. Thanks.

[cmac23]

i also have one, no water or rocks yet, where did you get your nocturnal light, and where did you place it

[cmac23]

i see the noc light. how did you attach it? is that the one for $16.00? also, i think you have the wrong mag float, you need the blue one for acrylic. i put my heater and skimmer in the first chamber, im removing all the filter in the secondn chamber, and the sponge in the third one. going to put cheato in the second one, think i will use the tray thats in the second chamber for the cheato, being that is right at the window on the back

[cmac23]

did you put your ballast and pump for the skimmer in your stand, if so is it loud

[JHall651]

I attached the noc light with the black bread ties that came off some of the cords. I am going to replace those with black zip ties when i get some. I dont have a heater right now because I wanted to see how the water would heat up with just the light. So far on my second day the water is sitting at 79 degrees. Not really sure if it is still rising or not. But I think at the most I may need a small heater for when the MH light is off at night. Yes I put the the pump for the skimmer in the stand and it has rubber feet and you don't hear it at all. I have not been using it during the cycle though. As far as the ballast I believe you are talking about what looks like a power supply for the light if so yes that is also in the stand not loud. The noc light was like a two led blue light that I paid like 15 dollars for. Cmac why did you remove your charcoal filter? Right now i have a fiji live rock and some greens in my refugium and the charcoal filter keeps the water from pouring in and stirring up my refugium like crazy. Also why did you remove your sponge in the third chamber? What is cheato? Sorry I am a newbie this is my first salt tank.

[JHall651]

Refugium and Inside stand Pics. The refugium normally has the coralife mini 18 watt 2x9watt 6700k compact fluorescent lamps on it.

[JHall651]

As far as that mag cleaner i have what will that do? If you are worried about scratching the tank or something like that I have not noticed it doing that. The LFS I use has the same one in their biocube and it hasnt scratched theirs either.

[JHall651]

I just checked my temp again and it looks like it is still climbing. Looks like it is at 79 heading towards 80 now. keep in mind I have been running it from morning until night now for the last two days to see what it will do. Once I see what it will do I plan setting the light to come on at around 6am go off at about 11am, then come back on at around 4pm and run till around 8pm then stay off until 6am where it will start the lighting cycle over again. I think that will keep the temp from rising to high and also maintain about a total of 9 hours of MH lighting through out the day. The room I have it in is naturally lit but no direct sunlight will be on it. So during the day when the light is off it will have some natural light to keep it lit and warm. So during the night I will just do like I said before and get a small heater to maintain that 79 degree temp. What do you guys think?

[JHall651]

Any input guys?

[DustnF]

also, i think you have the wrong mag float, you need the blue one for acrylic.

BioCubes are glass.

[theyammieguy]

Awesome.

[cmac23]

this is what i did with the wires

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff133/danetty757/fish/022.jpg


http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff133/danetty757/fish/024.jpg


http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff133/danetty757/fish/025.jpg


my heater is 50 w, so its small, if i need it. mine did not come with the light from my LFS, but on the websites, i see the light on the back, but it says not inlcuded. the cube is glass so your good on the float. in the fuge i plan on putting cheato, its alge. just google it. i removed the sponge so it will not build up stuff. if you keep have to clean it often.

[cmac23]

oh and you need to make sure you have drip loops. i will have loops once i plug everything in.

[JHall651]

Ya after I found out I needed drip loops after I took that picture so since then I just mounted my power strip above to cord hole on the top shelf so I think that should Suffice. Just so you know if you bought and paid for that Biocube HQI it should have most definitely came with the light. That is what makes it an HQI. You need to look into that. Where does it say that it is not included?

[theyammieguy]

+1, if you had to pay extra for the light I would be raising a fuss.

[cmac23]

no it has the hqi light. im talking about the fuge light. if you look on the websites, or at the box there is a black box on the back of the window. of ocurse i got the HQI light with it.

[aqua_reef_01]

you have a nice set up going. Hope to see the progress. keep us posted.

[JHall651]

oh ok. yea i bought the refugium light seperate. it was made by coralife

[cmac23]

which one was it? do you have a website? ive been looking

[JHall651]

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsCA/ctl3684/cp18369/si1383410/cl0/coralifefreshwater9miniaqualight2x9w

this is the one i got. says they are out of stock though. just look around. this one says freshwater and there is a salt water one but for what we would be using it for I believe either one will work. i have the freshwater one.

[reefrookie5150]

looks like its gooin good....keep the pics cominm

[JHall651]

will do. i started this hobby 3 days ago now and i cant stop thinking about it. i have never used a forum so much. right now i am just telling my self to be patient. but i think i am hooked. but still i can't help but to worry when i read horror stories.

[cmac23]

from your pic it looks like you velcro the light on. is that correct

[JHall651]

ya used double sided tape. that pic show my first go at it when i didnt have enough tape. it doesnt get that hot and so far it has worked fine. as you know the back of the HQI biocube doesnt have anything to hook the light to and the light it self comes with nothing either. so that was all i could think of.

[JHall651]

oh and this is how i have the inside electrical now. i think that will prevent any water from getting to the electrical outlets now.

[cmac23]

looks good. im thinking of buying a cheap clip on light and clipping it to the hqi brace or a cord back there, and allowing the clip light to hang

[cmac23]

looks good, i may use this light, its a little smaller than yours

http://cgi.ebay.com/8-Economy-Aquarium-light-hood-Reef-Nano-Two-bulbs_W0QQitemZ230442057096QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a76abd88

[JHall651]

ya you could just hang it. what light is smaller? what light are you talking about?

[grassi]

I always thought biocubes were acrylic

[JHall651]

well i have to be honest I think it looks and feels like acrylic and probably is but on thier web site they call it curved glass. I have been trying to get a definite answer on this but havent really be able to find one. As far as the magnite type glass cleaner i have been using it now for a few days and it hasnt scratched it yet. isnt it safe to say that if its not scratching it now it shouldnt start scratching it later or will the acrylic wear down or get softer over time and then begin to scratch? sorry if that last part was kind of a silly question but im not really sure. let me know what you think.

[theyammieguy]

Tap on it with a penny.

[JHall651]

whats a sunpod?

[DustnF]

BioCubes are 100% Glass...
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=209859&st=0&p=2441908&#entry2441908

[JHall651]

cool ya i just got back from my lfs and he said the same thing. he said they are glass too.

[JHall651]

Ok so I have posted a few other threads and a few people told me I needed a little more live rock. In the previous pics I had right at 25 lbs in it. Seeing as this is a 29g tank I purchased almost 5 lbs more. Here is a pic of what it looks like now.

[dockery07]

They are great little tanks!

[grassi]

BioCubes are 100% Glass...
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=209859&st=0&p=2441908&#entry2441908

Thanks! I've been using the wrong magfloat since 2 years :thumbdown

[cmac23]

how is the k1 magnet holding up in the chamber?

[cmac23]

btw i ordered 10lbs of dry rock for $36.00, and will add about 15 lbs, live rock, that dry rock should look good in about 2 months.

[JHall651]

k1 mag holds up good in the chamber. pushes on the skimmer just a tad but not even enough to angle it so thats good. plan on putting my heater in that number 1 chamber too so its gonna get tight in there. pretty good deal on the rock. i pay 7.99 a pound for live rock from my LFS.

[SawdustInTank]

That cleaned up well. Nothing like keeping things organized. Your off to a good start.

[JasonBJones]

I think your rockwork looks great and you have more than enough. I dont think I would put anymore in there or you will not have much room for coral growth. However, I really like how it is now and think you have a good little aquascape there.

[JHall651]

Thanks for the complements. I did move a few rocks to give more of a cave over hang for if something wanted to be out of direct light but still looks pretty much the same. I am pretty happy with it now and think I am just going to leave it well enough alone. Thanks again.

[JHall651]

I did my first mod to my Biocube 29 HQI yesterday. You see I had a small heat problem that during the day using only my MH light on my BC the temp would get to a perfect 79/80 degrees but at night my BC would drop down to about 75 degrees and I didn't like that. So to fix the problem I bought a 100 watt Marineland Stealth Heater and I keeps my tank a perfect 79/80 degrees at night and I love it. But.... now that my temp is already good in the morning when my MH light kicks on it doesn't have to heat the water up so much to get to that 80 degrees mark and now it is getting too hot(around 82 degrees). So hence the need for my "first" mod. I bought a 3" fan from my LFS and installed it up inside the left side chamber cover directly below the factory cut vent. So now the fan pulls air from outside the tank and blows it directly down onto the water that my return pump sucks up. Keeping it cool during the day because for now I have it hooked up to the same timer my MH is on, so when it is on so is the fan. Obviously when my MH light is on and heating the BC the heater does even kick on. So far it has been working great. Temp staying right at 79/80 degrees day and night. I am going to improve on this though by using a Reef Keeper Lite Level 3 controller to control my lights, heat and fan. Here is some pics let me know what you guys think.

-Side Note: Heat is in 1st Chamber set to 80.

[JHall651]

Oh also today was a good day because I finally got a few more thing on my wish list. Today I ordered my RO/DI system from The Filter Guys. I bought the Ocean Reef +1 Five Stage 75 GPD RO/DI. Along with that I bought the Reef Keeper Lite Level 3 Aquarium Controller, and a Marine Depot Refractometer. In addition to those things I also bought another Marineland 100watt Stealth heater and the Rio 6HF submersible pump. The reason I bought the extra heater and pump is because I am going to swap out my stock pump with the Rio one and use my stock pump along with the new heater to mix my saltwater with. I am so excited! On my way to being self sufficient! No more buying water from my LFS!

[JHall651]

Oh I also bought some Chemi-Pure Elite and was thinking about placing it in the space where that sponge was just before my return pump in between chambers 2 & 3. Anyone here ever try that? On the Chemi-Pure Elite container it said to place in high flow area and I thought what better place.

[blennydude]

I put mine in the first chamber right where it runs into the second. I like your idea though.

[cmac23]

in the second chamber where the stock carbon was, i removed that built a tray out of gutterguard, i will try to rest my chempure, poly, and purigen on that tray, hopefully the water from the first chamber will have enuff flow to hit all three of those on the tray. by the way plan on having those in media bags on the tray, then flow down to the fuge

[JHall651]

I am just worried that there will not be enough flow of water actually hitting the whole bag in the second chamber. Right now my water dont even cover the entire stock filter. So I think I am going to try the 3rd chamber spot that way all the water coming from chamber 2 will pass threw it and then get sucked up and out into DT. I will let you know how it works. Again I'm not going to try this with the stock pump so I am going to wait to do this until I get my Rio 6HF this week.

[Fishinboy84]

Where did you find your lights? and how much?
I am looking for lights now that i found out the stock isnt that good.
what do you think about the stock lights?

[JHall651]

What lights are you talking about? My main light is stock HQI MH. This is a Biocube 29 HQI tank not the original Biocube 29. It comes like this.

[cmac23]

but you can buy that light. i saw it on marinedepot.com i think under metal halide lighting. i think is was about $200 something

[cmac23]

yea let me know about the third chamber thing. right now i have poly fil sitting on my tray i made and the poly fill turned brown after one day, so i took it out and replaced it. you only need a little bit, and the poly fill is 2.97 at walmart for a big bag

[JHall651]

K. I won't be doing this until I get my RO/DI system this week. Should be here by wed or thurs. Once I do my water change with my new system and reef crystal salt mix that is when I will put it in. I don't want to put it in now while my PH is a bit lower than I want because I was told this stuff helps maintain what ever lvl you are currently at. So I want it to be good first. Ill keep ya posted.

[cmac23]

sounds good

[cmac23]

jhall are you in the navy, i see you live in jax

[JHall651]

Yes I am a U.S. Navy Deep Sea Diver. Why?

[cmac23]

im a recruiter. i have been in for 9 years. you?

[JHall651]

8.5 years Your aquarium pic for your profile looks just like mine. Check it out.

[cmac23]

yea i see that they do look alike. when i saw how much money you was putting in this thing and that you lived in jax i figured you was in the navy, every one else is on a budget. i dont have a fuge light liek you though. thinking of a clip on light, my 4 watt from walmart doesnt stick too well. has your light fell of the back yet.

[JHall651]

Ya it has fell off several times. Its pretty annoying. You wanna see someone who has spent some money on their Biocube check this guys out. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1599870
Ya I have wanted a saltwater tank now for just under a year and I have to say I have been bitten by the bug. I love it. I just can't wait to get it fully set up. I do hate that because I am in the navy I will have to move and just start all over again. But yea I have been enjoying spending the cash to get this thing going and going good.

[JHall651]

Hey what date did you set yours up again? Did you say it was like 1 week after I did? What has your water parameters been? I have not seen much change in mine at all. My nitrates has been at 10 since week 1 and I only ever saw an ammonia spike of .25 max for like 3 days then it went away. Never saw any nitrites and like I said even after my ammonia went away I still didn't get much more than 10 nitrates. Did you do LR, LS, and RO/DI saltwater too?

[ninja_fish]

What are you guys plans for fish and CUC?

I'm Navy too. I have a friend on the Klackring down there in Jax. How do you like Jax?

[JHall651]

Its cool. We have like 3 really good LFS within like 20 mins drive each. Ya I've dove and done some work on the klackring.

[JHall651]

Oh ya and right now I have 10 Nassarius Snail, 6 turbo snails, 3 small hermits, 1 scarlet hermit, and 1 peppermint shrimp.

[cmac23]

Hey what date did you set yours up again? Did you say it was like 1 week after I did? What has your water parameters been? I have not seen much change in mine at all. My nitrates has been at 10 since week 1 and I only ever saw an ammonia spike of .25 max for like 3 days then it went away. Never saw any nitrites and like I said even after my ammonia went away I still didn't get much more than 10 nitrates. Did you do LR, LS, and RO/DI saltwater too?


yes i set my tank up a week after you i believe. march 6th. havent checked my params yet, but did take it to the LFS and got .1 on the amonia, so no need to check anything else. i have 10 lbs LR, 15lbs dry rock from bulk reef supply. and i use ro/di water from a reef club member. my heater has no use as my tank stays mostly at 76 sometimes goes to 78. need to find a light for my fuge. was thinking of getting the intank media basket for it, but may just build my own. $58 is alot for a media rack, even though its built well

[JHall651]

Your cube doesn't heat up any more than 78 degrees during the day with the light on? Thats weird. Mine reached almost 82 degrees before. I'm not planning on getting the media rack. I really don't see the point. Seems like it just takes up room from the fuge and even if you use the shelves for chemi-pure and others media there isn't enough flow threw it. JMO. I think there would be more flow under the grated false floor to place things like chemi-pure because that is where the water gets sucked up from the pump in chamber 3. I could be wrong though.

[cmac23]

you may be right, but i dont know how if purigen and chemipure can fit under the fuge tray. the purigen comes in a bag already, guess you could get a small bad for the chemipure, but the thing is you have to remove your fuge tray to remove those items, as with a media rack, you just pull the rack. my plan was to have a rack, with poly-fill(got it at walkmrt for 2.97, a big bad, and you dont need much) chemipure and purigen and sit my fuge rack like this /. one part leaning towards chamber 3, and the other side leaning against the media rack to prevent the cheato from going into the pump. also, do you have cheato, if so is it sitting on your fuge rack. i ziptied mine to the rack to prevent it from floating around

[cmac23]

oh and i will try to get a pic of my gutter tray sitting where the stock carbon filter was. i have poly fill sitting on it. its gets borwn after abotu 2 days, i throw it out and put more in

[JHall651]

I think it is suppose to float around. haha. I have a chunk of LR in there with some cheato. I think my fuge is working awesome. My nitrates have remained at like 10 for this entire 3 weeks and I have lots of pods in my tank. More copepods then amphipods. Cheato seems to have gotten bigger too. I am going to do like I said before is remove that filter from in front of the pump and place the chemi-pure bag there. Then I am going to mod chamber 1 (after I install my Rio 6hf pump) by cutting that top piece to get more flow and lay that purigen bag on top of my oceanic filter right where the water pures onto it. But before I do the purigen thing I first need to find out what it is even for... haha. Isn't it just like chemi-pure??? Im going to go google it but feel free to explain. I thought it was a tablet not a bag. Like something that looked like a toilet mint. :)

[cmac23]

i think purigen and chemi-pure are pretty much the same except purigen uses filtration. i awlays had both in my other tank and worked great. the chemipure elite has ph balancer in it i believe. and you put the purigen (toilet mint) in a media bag, it comes with one

[cmac23]

i have my cheato floating around above that tray, hopefully none goes thru my return pump

[JHall651]

I get pieces go threw my pump from time to time. I don't think something like that would really hurt that pump any how. As long as it wasn't like a huge chunk or something. Oh so that purigen does look like a toilet bowl mint? I wasn't sure it just looked like that from a picture I saw. Thats cool I guess I will have to pick some up. I've decided I am getting my two clowns this weekend. I check my parameters about 1 hour ago and again everything is still perfect.

[cmac23]

i will check mine this weekend (2 weeks). how is your cleanup crew doing. was your amonia at 0 when you added the CUC

[JHall651]

Yea. They were there when it made its huge climb to .25 ammonia as well. I think I may have lost 1 of my small hermits though. He is not in his shell anymore and I have several extra larger empty shells in the tank. Every thing else is doing great. My pep shrimp is loving it and right now he is my favorite. Such a cool little guy. I hand feed him and at night when I check out everything with a flash light he loves to come and check out what i am doing

[cmac23]

what are you feedind your pep. and once i get the CUC i will wait abotu 2 or 3 weeks before adding fish

[JHall651]

Ya that might be a good idea since all of your stuff wasn't "live" from the start. I have flake food for right now but I think I am going to switch to pellet food so it doesn't drift around all over the tank. I wash my hands good and grab the biggest flake out of the container and lower it down by hand and the pep will jump on my hand and take it from me and chow it down.

[cmac23]

it doesnt matter that it wasnt all live from the start. i had live sand and live rock, thats enuff to start the cycle. its a good pratice to wait about 2 weeks everytime you add something new. this allows acclimation, and to make sure the water is stable. but thats my .02

[bassbishop]

So glad I found this thread! I just moved my BC 29G (regular) to my new BC 29G HQi. I've always wanted to add some of the tougher corals and loved the fuge chamber as well. The transition was challenging to move the sand/rock/fish/corals but it all went well (I did things VERY slowly). Looking forward to reading more posts on this thread!

[bassbishop]

Guess I'll throw out my first questions...

What type of algae should I put in the fuge? I have been told Grape Cualerpa and or Chaeto.. Any cautions on these?

As far as lighting...cmac, where did you buy those blue LEDs?

Lighting on the fuge? Isn't there a cheaper, easier light to put back there? I was told a clamp light and a 6500K fluorescent bulb from Home Depot would be enough.

Last question..is your skimmer staying upright in chamber 1? My clip doesn't want to stay tight against the wall between chambers 1 and 2...my skimmer keeps leaning.

I've been in the hobby awhile, but the new tank presents new opportunities to learn!

[JHall651]

I have a chunk of LR and some chaeto in my fuge right now. I stayed away from Grape Cualerpa cause I was told it can go sexual and get out of hand. Once it does it is a bear to pick off your live rock. Other than that mine seems to be working out really well. My chaeto has be growing and my nitrates have not raised above 10. Also I have a pretty good amount of pods running around my tank and have seen them in the fuge. I have the coralife 2 x 9watt mini fluorescent light velcro'd to the back. It has heated up the adhesive a few times and fell of but only after I pulled it off to look in. As long as I put it up and leave it alone it seems to hold ok. If cmac has the same nocturnal lights as me, which I think he does, they are the Lunar Light Nocturnal Aquarium Lighting Simulators. I have seen them at all of my LFS and they are only like 15-20 dollars. The look great and give a nocturnal shimmer very well. As far as the skimmer goes I have not had that problem. Have you tried to bend in that clip on your skimmer a bit so that it has a tighter fit? If so just try and use those suction cups it came with. I have also ordered the Lee's Air Stones because I was told that they will draw alot more skimmate and make the skimmer work better. I will let you know about the air stones once I install them. I get them tomorrow. Hope this helps. Any more questions feel free to ask. Cmac and I started our around the same time (end of february) and are pretty much doing this together (via the world wide web) so feel free to join the club and we can bounce some Ideas off each other.

[cmac23]

the light is the same as jhall's . its a current usa lighting. i got mine from marine depot for $23 with shipping. i believe the light is $16. make sure you get the right one, there is one that is a link that is $12. yep, you can link up to 6 of these bad boys, they have moonlight white, and noc blue. there is a diy gang box light that people made, probably google it, or use this website and search. i have cheato in my fuge, no problems yet. still looking for a better light solution for the fuge. im thinking of doing a clamp light myself, if you do make sure to post pics. my skimmer leans ever so slightly, but not too much. i cut the platic tab off from chamber 1 to 2 to help with flow. the led light works great at night.

[JHall651]

Hey cmac you already cut the flap off chamber one? How is that working out. Does the water flow now cover your whole filter area instead of just the one side? How about the pump. Are you still running the stock pump with that mod? If so is it keeping up with that extra flow or are all of your chambers topped off now? Im going to do it too but was planning on waiting for my new pump.

[JHall651]

Also cmac how many noc lights do you have. Did you link another one or just the one?

[cmac23]

i have just the one light. also, it does have more flow since cutting the tab, but still goes toward the back of the compartment, just more than before. and my chambers are topped off. the third chamber is above that sqaure hole, about an inch below the top wall

[cmac23]

you know what, i cut the tab before putting water in, didnt want any plastic going in the water. so many people have done it on old biocubes, figured it wouldnt hurt

[JHall651]

I see. Yea im going to wait to get my other pump to do it cause I don't wait my chambers to be level and filled like that. Mainly my chamber 2 because I don't want my macro algea to be smashed up against my filter.

[cmac23]

how full is your chamber 3? and cheato seems to rest on the bottom of chambe 2 on top of the fuge tray. get to work man! whats the navy paying you for? being a recruiter my job is on the computer, someone is testing :)

[JHall651]

Haha. I was about to say the same thing to you. Haha. I'm a dive supervisior Iv'e done my time. Haha. Getting off soon any how. Going home to hook up my RO/DI. Just checked ups.com and it is sitting on my door step. Hope no one takes it. I thought about that and how funny it would be for someone to take it and open it up and be like. Oh...Man.. what is this crap. Hehe. To them it would be crap but to me it will make my night. Funny huh.

[JHall651]

Oh I try to keep my water level just at the top of the site glass, just out of view. That way when I can start to see it I know it's time to top off. I think if I am not mistaken when it is there it is either same level or just below that square hole. I'm going to have to verify that though. I haven't topped off this week though because I have been waiting to get my RO/DI system to top it off with. 0 TDS man!!!

[cmac23]

very true about the ro/di, but alot of people should know what those are. we had one when i was a teen, hooked up for drinking water. did you get it from the filter guys. my wife would probably kill me if i bought anything else, not a money issue, but she wants to see stuff in the tank, well her and my daughter. im looking at the court jester goby, i might try that or a clown goby

[cmac23]

but i still have about 3 week still i pick the fish so plenty of time to figure it out

[cmac23]

when you decide to get fish use this chart


http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/compatibility_chart.cfm

[ninja_fish]

I just added a koralia 1 for flow today. I can really see a lot more movement now. I want to replace the stock pump in the back next. Let us know how that new pump works when you get it.

My skimmer also stays upright with no problems. I replaced the stone with one I bought at the LFS and it made all the difference in the world. It's skimming like crazy now.

[cmac23]

my skimmer only sits uneven if i dont have it sitting on the wall 1/2 chamber correctly. i cut the tab, so you just have to make sure its sitting right. no big deal, im not having the same issue as the other guy. i also have a k1, i have it on the right side on the back, works wonders.

ninja fish how long has your tank been up

[JHall651]

Ya i have the hydor k1 and the new hydor nano 425. The nano 425 is a beast. It is like twice as small but with 25 more gph. I have the k1 mid right and nano lower left. I will let you know about the pump when I get it. Hopefully this week. I also am going to place a "Y" fitting on the return since I will have the added flow. One pointing down behind my rocks and the other pointing normal. I cannot wait to get my air stone man. Im glad to hear you confirm this. Oh and check out the pics man. Finally got my The Filter Guys Ocean Reef + 1 5 Stage up and running and Im loving it! Reading 0 TDS!!!

[ninja_fish]

I set mine up around the same time as you guys, somewhere around the end of Feb.

I took the sponge out and put the bag of purigen in that little spot. I also put a bag of chemipure elite in chamber 2 that is resting on the false floor with a few pieces of LR. I got rid of the stock filter cartridge and put some filter floss there and also a small piece in chamber 1. I should be getting some chaeto soon to go in chamber 2 as well.

I have 6 turbo snails, a cleaner shrimp and a fire shrimp in there so far.

[cmac23]

NO CUC YET, BUT I DO HAVE POLY-FILL FROM WALMART (2.97 FOR A BIG BAG) THAT I REPLACE EVERY OTHER DAY. NO REASON TO PUT CHEMIPURE OR PURIGEN YET, BUT WILL ONCE I GET FISH. THE BAG OF PURIGEN FITS IN THE SPOT THE SPONGE WAS IN? FIGURED IT WOULD. to hold my filter floss i left the rack in where the stock carbon filter was (basically i kept the recatngular plastic piece) went to HD got gutter guard cut a piece and now my polyfill sits on that, with the water from chamber one pouring directly on fitler floss till i build or order a media rack

[cmac23]

jhall that ro/di unit looks good, and that bucket looks like my silver lowes bucket

[cmac23]

what kind of airstone dod you change too? is it still wooden

[JHall651]

Thanks Cmac. Yea dude the bucket is from Lowes. My LFS swears by them. Plus I checked with Jim from The Filter Guys and he said that the plastic from the lowes buckets was safe to store water in. Basically he said as long as it has that triangle with the number 2 in it that means it is food safe plastic and that is what you want to use when you are storing your RO/DI water. The air stone I bought is the Lee's Wooden Air Stone 2". But what was recommended to me was the Coralife 2" ones. I didn't buy them because marinedepot.com didn't have them. I'm sure just about any after market ones will do good though. We'll see.

[JHall651]

Oh I just found out that I will be getting my pump tomorrow! So that means everything I ordered will be here at the same time! I will take some pics and let you know how it goes. Oh cmac by the way I checked on that square hole and it was like I said. If you fill your water just up to that it will be just above the site glass and chambers 2 and 3 won't be maxed out.

[ninja_fish]

I got the airstone form Petco. They came in a pack of 3 for just a few bucks. I think they were red sea brand.

I just moved my rocks around earlier because I didn't like the way it looked and so I could put the k1 in so my water is still a little cloudy. Once it clears up I'll post a pic for your guys.

[JHall651]

Sweet. Yea let it clear.

[cmac23]

i have a k1 but thinking of getting a nano and putting it low in the back somewhere to keep flow behind the rocks near the backwall. no rocks the sides of my glass. :)

[JHall651]

Ya our rock set up looks pretty similar. I am a firm believer in less is more. I wanted to keep it off the glass for husbandry purposes. I also wanted to get some flow back behind the rocks. I got one of those "Y" fittings for the return but with stock pump it just didn't have enough flow. So hoping the new one will do the job. My nano i just have pointing forward from the lower back left side of the tank. Im happy with the flow now but will feel better once I get some behind the rocks. As for a chill spot out of the flow for the fish the area inside the "cove" is where my yellow tail damsel likes to hang out.

[cmac23]

you got a dasmel? also do you have a k1? i have a k1, but may add a nano, or maxi jet 1200 with the fittings

[JHall651]

Dude I don't know the difference between the spec's of the two but I do know that the nano is small and puts out 425 gph. You can pretty much fit it anywhere. It doesn't have quite the adjustable angles the k1 has but for its size and power I love it. I will take a picture tomorrow and show you what it looks like. It tucks away in my lower left corner nicely. Yes I have had a yellow tail damsel since like week 2. He is awesome but I will not hesitate for one minute to take him back to my LFS if he bullies my clowns around when I get them. I have seen them in tanks with clowns but damsels are different one from the other from what I have been told. I do know that he pretty much thinks he owns that tank. When I put my Peppermint Shrimp in like less than a week later the damsel acted like he was going to be an a** to him but he wasn't and now they act like buddies. Hang out right next to each other and stuff. It is really cool. That is why I really would hate to lose him. He loves to dig and kick up sand though. That kind of bugs me but other than that he's cool.

[cmac23]

you got the nano 425. im looking at the nano 200. my k1 has 400gph already so i would only need a little flow under the rocks. if i add the 200gph nano i would be moving 600gph, which would work well

[JHall651]

Yea I went with the 425 cause once my tank is fully matured I plan on having some SPS corals. Plus to be totally honest with you I don't think the 425 really does 425. My K1 seems to push more flow than the 425. But I could be wrong.

[ninja_fish]

As promised...

[cmac23]

looks good, but i would get that rock away from the glass

[ninja_fish]

It's hard to arrange 45lbs of LR in a 29g. I have just enough clearance on the left side that my magfloat cleaner will fit between the rock and glass.

[cmac23]

i hear you about the rock. i only have 25lbs, i had to break up some smaller pieces

[ninja_fish]

I had to break up some of mine too. I ordered it online and they sent me a few huge pieces.

[JHall651]

I really like the cave look. That looks like some good rock. Did you say whether it was live or not?

[ninja_fish]

Thanks jhall!

Yeah it was live.

[JHall651]

Nice. I like that you got some big rocks. I would say that I want to get some big ones but I think I will just hold off on that. I already know that this BC29HQI was a gateway drug. I will most definitely have me a larger aquarium some day. So anyways I got my Rio pump and Reefkeeper yesterday. Happy and let down just a bit. Rio is just a bit loader than stock but was hoping for the same noise level. I do like the output of the Rio though. The Reefkeeper isn't the quality that I thought it was going to be, instructions for it sucks, and a few of the outlets have been acting funny. Other than that I do love the controls that it gives me. My temp is rock solid now with a fluctuation of like .5 degrees all day. But for some reason after seeing the quality of it and reading about some of the bugs it has had in the past it does make me a tad bit nervous knowing that the fate of my tank rest in the hands of a box that doesn't have much more computing power or construction of a dollar general calculator. Im a sucker for techy stuff though. Hope it proves me wrong. I will post a pic of my spider web of cable and module in a minute.

[JHall651]

RKL L.3 Pics. Sorry haven't had the chance to tidy up my cables yet. :spin3:

[cmac23]

wow you just keep getting stuff. im going to check my water params at the LFS tomm. i bought a GFCI unit from a brand called something buster. can remember the name, but it has good reviews. i was not comfortable with my normal 3 prong outlet. tonight i did a diy media rack, to see if i want one, if so i will buy one from stevie, if not i will just throw floss and cheato and purigen in chamber 2, and chemipure elite in chamber 3

[JHall651]

Yea I bought the chemi pure elite bag that is good for something like 40-100g tanks. I loosened the zip tie and pured half of it back into the container and resealed the bag. I figured if the full bag could handle up to 100 gallons then half could do atleast 29g. Anyways, with it being half the size it fit nicely inside that compartment for the sponge that was just before the pump in chamber 3. I also got my new pump in and cut that tab off. As long as parameters are all good tomorrow and I have a warm fuzzy then I'm going to pick up my two clowns and get some purigen as well. Now that I have the extra flow coming in I think it will be good enough to just set the purigen on the filter. Ill let you know. As far as spending the money and getting the new stuff I think Im going to be done for awhile except for things like buffers, calc, alk, and mag dosing when ever that time comes. Normal tank/reef maintenance time stuff. Oh but I do want a 3g pico desktop tank now

[cmac23]

i was thinking of putting the chemipure in the spot where the spong was in chamber three, and i made a tray otu of gutter gaurd thats sits on the rectangle piece that use to hold the carbon filter. i have poly fill sitting on there now.

[JHall651]

Hey where do you keep your skimmer now that the tab is gone? I had to zip tie mine so that it wasn't sitting to low. Do you know if that gutter wire has metal in it or not? If so that might not be good...rust and all.

[cmac23]

its not gutter wire. it looks like this except thats not mine, but mine is not dirty. its made out of pvc. i hung my smimmer as close as i could to the main disply wall. i think its fine. really dont need a skimmer in these tanks, but it can do nothing but help

http://gutter-comparison-protection-covers-review.ncreview.org/plastic-screen_gutter_cover_screen_cheap.jpg

[JHall651]

true about the skimmer from what i have heard. I plan on doing 5 gallon water changes weekly any how.

[Nano Chris]

Nice clean setup.

[cmac23]

my amonia was at zero today, purchased 1 cleaner, 2 peps, and 2 turbo's. my LFS had no nass snails

[JHall651]

The nass snails are pretty cool. They are surprisingly active and really get around. Plus my sand is super clean now. What was the highest your ammonia reached?

[cmac23]

the highest was 1, but its zero now :)

[cmac23]

nass sails are really quick when they do move. did you get yours from your LFS

[bassbishop]

Hi Everyone...

What do you think of this light for the HQi Refugium? I'm kinda leaning on "not enough light" with this one...but I've read a couple people recommending it for the HQi fuge...

Thoughts?

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=20601

[cmac23]

i still have no light, but i was going to go to HD and get a clip on light fixture, throw a normal energy efficent buld in there and call it a day. you can hang the clip on light to the hqi fixture and have the light shining in the window, but it may let some unwanted light leak out

[bassbishop]

Please let me know what you find at HD. I'd like to see how much light leaks out...

I'm thinking about doing the same thing for mine...

[cmac23]

i was thinking about one similiar to this? what do you think

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2112/2255974919_ac9eb6c32f.jpg

[basser1]

Hey fellas...... Looks like your tanks are coming along nicely! I was one of the first to get a Bio-Cube when they first came out. It has been going now for almost 3 1/2 years now without any problems. I did a major light upgrade and went with a 150 watt MH diy kit from nanotuners. It also has 2 double 36 watt actinic bulbs. I could not be more pleased with it as I have many SPS corals as well as a maxima clam!

As a suggestion for your filter media, I would recommend a media basket by inTank,LLC. It goes in chamber 2 and it has 3 compartments for any variety or combination of media you want to use. I have chemi-pure elite on the bottom, purigen in the middle and filter floss on top. Plus, if you go witha Tunze skimmer 9002, both will fit perfectly in the scond chamber. I would also remove the sponge and also not place anything there in its' place.

One of the most and easiest mod to do, if you haven't done it already, is to widen the opening between the first and second chambers to increase flow! If I can help or give suggestions, let me know.

[cmac23]

thanks for the info basser, i have been going back and forth about the intank rack for a month, just dont wanna spend the money.

@jhall did you install the rio pump? if so did it fit good? is is louder, not as loud, the same, how is the water flow

[basser1]

cmac23...... If you're talking about the Rio 6HF, it does fit. Mine is whisper quiet.

[JHall651]

The Rio 6HF does fit. You just need to remove the front grate looking part of it. It is a little bit loader than the pump that came with the BCHQI but IMO it is worth it. I placed the Y fitting on the discharge and I love it. I now have some flow behind the rock using the Y fitting. I don't know if I am going to do the inTank rack or not. It takes up so much room in the fuge so I am undecided. I like having my big chunk of LR in there along with a healthy clump of chaeto. As far as the light goes I love mine. It not only just looks good attached to the back of the tank but it does not leak out that much light at all. Right now I have it attached to the back with velcro tape. After about a week or so of it being on for 6 hours at night it does seem to want to pull away from the adhesive holding it on so I am in the process of coming up with something better to hold it on. I will let you know when I am done with that little project. I took out my yellow tail and got my two false percula clown fish along with a 6 line wrasse. I love all three of them and they seem to be doing really really good. I fed them along with my pep shrimp some of that new Instant Ocean gel packet stuff and they loved it. Of course the packet is a little too large for a nano tank with only 4 animals eating off of it so i only put about a third of it in. I have pretty much worked out the kinks in my Reef Keeper Lite system and I have to say I love how steady it keeps my temp. Before I was having maybe a 1 to 2 temp change through out the day using a combination of my heater and fan mod. Now I will get like a .5 degree temp change day or night at the very most. Most of the time it will only fluctuate like .2 degrees. I will get some new pics of everything tomorrow.

[cmac23]

what heater are you using?

[cmac23]

and is it the istant ocean marine grazing block omivore gel, krill, brine or seaweed one? if so how long will it last probably?

[VtheMaestro]

Hi Everyone...

What do you think of this light for the HQi Refugium? I'm kinda leaning on "not enough light" with this one...but I've read a couple people recommending it for the HQi fuge...

Thoughts?

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=20601

the jbj led fuge light is good on biocubes. My chaeto is growing like crazy

[JHall651]

The heater I am using is the 100watt Marineland Stealth heater. The food is the Instant Ocean Marine Blend. As far as how long the package of the food will last it all depends. I feed about every other day. I need to call instant ocean and find out if there is a way to keep the left overs from the packet. If there is a way to keep the left overs it will last a while considering there are 20 packets in a package and I use only a 3rd of each packet per feeding. Here are a few updated pics.

[cmac23]

yea i saw the food today at petco. nice looking clowns and wrasse. im liking that small coral in the middle, placed perfectly

[cmac23]

are you talking about the jbj manet led light?

[JHall651]

Yea I wanted to keep my GSP separated from the rest of my LR so that it wouldn't spread so fast. Plus I like the look of it in the middle. Kind of gives it a grassy little island look slash chinese rock garden thing.

[cmac23]

how does your heater do. my hydor theo isnt consistent. i set it 79 its goes to 82, i set it 71, it goes to 77, its all over the place. without a heater my temp goes from 76-78. only 2 degree drop, but the latest i have checked is 2 in the morning, the earliest is 6 in the morning, so i dont know if the temp drop between 3-6 a.m.

[JHall651]

No man my heater isn't like that at all. It was really consistant even without the reef keeper. Now I did have to use that fan I modded during the day but that was because of my MH light not the heater. I highly recommend the Marineland Stealth heater. I am very happy with it. I actually bought two so that I could have a back up and for the time being use it for when I am mixing my saltwater.

[cmac23]

i dont have all that big money like you(im only an e-5 and married with one kid) to get a reef keeper. here in montgomery, my temp gets to 80 with the mh lighting. but i will get the heater and use my other heater for making water

[cmac23]

what size is the y fitting tube? 1/2"? what powerheads do you have? it looks like a k1 and a nano? is that too much flow

[JHall651]

Yea I believe it is a 1/2" If fits the stock tubing. Yea I have a k1 and nano 425. No the flow it perfect I think.

[cmac23]

im starting to get my diaoms now

[JHall651]

Heres some updates. Torch coral, Aussie Acan Lords, and some Xenia coral.

[ninja_fish]

Looks good!

How does you guys fan sound when it first comes on? When I first turn my fan on it is loud as hell for about 2 min, then it gets quiet.

[JHall651]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqszxn3cumw&feature=channel

[ninja_fish]

Your tank is looking really nice!

Do you still use the built-in fan on the HQI light? I've been just turning mine on when the light is on and I haven't had any heat issues, but it's just annoying because it is so loud at first.

[JHall651]

Thanks ninja. Yea you have to use that fan anytime you have your light running. That fan doesn't do much to keep your water cool it is just made to keep the bulb from getting to hot in the lamp.

[ninja_fish]

Where exactly (what dept) at walmart did you guys find the poly fill stuff?

[JHall651]

Sorry can't help ya there. I don't use the stuff. I still buy the oceanic filters. 10 dollars for a pack that can last 2 month with the added benefit of charcoal filtering.... I'll take it!

[ninja_fish]

I guess it was cmac that was talking about using poly fill.

[cmac23]

i went the craft section. it works great. i think its for pillow stuffing. 2.97 for a huge bag. so far ive been using for a week, and it doesnt if seem like used any, so im guesing it will last for a month. i built a media rack out of egg crate, i have poly fill, purigen, chemi pure elite in that order. every 2 to 3 days throw the poly fill out, and put some more in. really catches alot of crap. trust me put some in and you will see stuff caught in it. if you google poly-fill pretty sure you will see alot of people with it. jhalls method works as well, just dont wanna spend money for those oceanic filters.

@jhall nice tank bro

[ggNoRe]

Hey guys, I'm strongly considering purchasing a biocube 29g HQI as well. When considering similar competition (jbl hqi/led, finnex, cadlights) are you pleased with your purchase? Is this system a good buy for a newbie (I've never owned a saltwater aquarium before, but have been doing solid research for a good 6 months)? From pics of other tanks I've found that th current usa powerbrite 460nm led strip really can essentuate (probably murdered the spelling of that word) the beauty of an aquarium and make coral colors pop. Do you think that this strip could possibly be attached the biocube in a clean neat fashion? Also, after a bit of research I'm thinking for flow I will want to replace the stock pump with a mj 900 and place a koralia evo (750gph) inside the tank, does this sound like a good idea? You all seem to be on the path to a great start and I appreciate any advice I may get. Sorry for asking so many questions and hijacking your build thread... maybe a official biocube 29g HQI owners thread can be started. :P

[Leviathan_XE]

Was actually wondering the same thing ggNoRe, I'm looking around for a new tank myself since having to downgrade from a 46 gallon (moved into an apartment, top floor). I see a lot of options out there and have been following this thread closely as the BC HQI was my main consideration. I see of lot of customization, which is typical as we all have our own preferences in this hobby. But how is it as a simple "plug & play" tank? Or do you guys find that most of the mods are nessecary?

[bassbishop]

I just noticed that rectangular cutout between chambers 2 and 3... I built my fuge and noticed that the water was just flowing through that hole into chamber 3. I lowered the water level in chamber two below that hole because I was told it was there to let the gasses out from the fuge. There is no mention (that I saw) in the reference guide. I'm a little worried that the water level in chamber 3 will get too low...

Any thoughts?

[ninja_fish]

cmac, post some pics of your media rack. I was thinking about about doing the same thing.

[cmac23]

ninja sorry i have no pics, and dont wanna pull it out, but basically looks like this

I-I
I-I *** <-----cheato
I_I ***
_______ <-----fuge tray


hopefully that makes sense. i used 3 pieces (made 2 side walls, one back wall) zip tied them together with cleat zip ties, cut the zip ties short, added 2 trays (waterfall from chamber one falls directly onto my poly fill, then to my purigen and then to the chemipure. dont see why it woldnt work, the water is still going thru it

[ninja_fish]

Thanks!

That's pretty much what I had sketched out in my head except I planned to superglue in together (as soon as I find out which superglue is safe).

[cmac23]

you could use aquarium safe silicone, they sell it at lowes and home depot

[ninja_fish]

Where did you get your egg crate?

[cmac23]

lowes. it was $11 for a big piece, but ask if they have scraps first, may get it cheaper

[JHall651]

Here are some updated pics. Added Frogspawn and Leather coral. The second pictures shows you a closer shot of the Frog and Leather but you can also see my blood shrimp and all the coralline algae growth I have on my power head alone. I have never used Purple Up and it is growing like crazy in my tank. I love the stuff.

@ Cmac do you have any updated pics? What all do you have in your tank now? Have you added anything?

[cmac23]

i have some updated pics, but i need to add them on here. i haev a clown goby, diamond goby, few shrooms, 2 peps, 2 turbo snails, and some whammin watermelon zoas. will update sometome this weekend. and i rescaped my rocks

[ninja_fish]

Tank looks great jhall.

So far I have a yellow watchman goby, clown, purple firefish, cleaner shrimp, fire shrimp, 2 hermits, and many snails. I'm looking to add my first corals soon.

[JHall651]

Thanks ninja. How do you like your watchman goby ninja? Im looking to get a yellow watchman goby for my next and probably final fish for this tank. Does he dig like crazy? I am just a little bit hesitant to get one cause I don't want something that is going to dig everywhere and stir up my water all the time. Let me know what you think.

[cmac23]

i have a clown goby and he is awesome. its about 1 inch long, and hides in my zoas. my diamond goby digs the hell out of my sand. he doesnt stir anything up, but makes hills all over the place. its kinda funny though. and clown gobys are anywhere from $6-$8

[cmac23]

oh btw i caught a fire worm tonight using a pvc trap. its about 6 inches long, will be giving it to a fellow reefer who wants it

[JHall651]

how does the pvc trap work?

[ninja_fish]

I love the watchman goby, he just sits there on the bottom. He doesn't dig at all. My only complaint with him is that his color isn't very bright yellow like I was hoping for, but that could just be because he is very young.

I'll be getting him a partner soon, a pistol shrimp, so then he may start digging.

[cmac23]

i took a pvc pip about 4 inches long (1 1/2", the diamater doesnt really matter, i had it laying around) i put a pvc cap on each side, drilled 3 holes in the top so that it would sink (holes big enuff for it to get in) and i put a little bit of the instant ocean omnivore gel. i just happen to walk in the living room and it was just starting to go in, when its whole body was in except a little piece if its tail, i pulled the pvc pipe out, to the cap off and dump it in a bucket, then used a net and put it in a ziploc bag, and now im letting it float in my tank till the other reffer comes get it. beats that $11 dollar trap the stores sell. btw i thought mine was a bristle worm, till i took a pic of it and the other reefer said it was a fire worm.

[arcangel06]

Does water seep through the top of the tank where the glass meets the plastic and leave salt residue?

[cmac23]

not really. notice is more near my cahmber 1 and 3. probably due to return pump and skimmer

[JHall651]

No the water shouldn't be up that high to seep through. There are two holes in the top of the tank directly in front of where the glass sits. The holes protrude down into the tank about two inches. Apparently the holes are suppose to be used for feed/dosing/vent. So if the water is even to high to where it is touching those holes and "seals" them off then you would not be getting proper ventilation to the waters surface and possibly have poor Ph levels.

[JHall651]

Cmac where are some pictures dude?

[cmac23]

my laptop is messing up, have to get it fixed. might can load them up from this desktop. i now have 1 diamond goby, 2 clowns, 1 frog spawn frag, 3 frags of blue athenia, 2 frags of zoas, a good zied colony of whammin watermelons, a frag of xenia, red mushrooms with green, and a purple mushroom with green stripes, and of course clean up crew. 2 nass snails, 2 turbo, 2 peps

[cmac23]

is that gsp at the front center of your profile pic

[arcangel06]

yeah that looks like star polyps. and a nice size too!:thumbsup:

[arcangel06]

cmac you install that lunar light? what kind is it?

[JHall651]

Yes its GSP. You need to get more cuc. I have 10 nass snails, 6 turbo, 15 small hermits, 5 bubble bee snails, and 2 scarlet hermits. Probably going to get like 10 more bubble bee and 5 more small hermits. They say to have 1 snail and 1 hermit per gallon.

[cmac23]

@arc is a lunar light form current usa ($16) just velcro it on the arm of the light, i believe jhall did the same.

@jhall, i will probably get 2 more nass snails, but you dont want to me, they want have anything to eat and starve. those CUC's online are ridiculous. i have been in this hobby for 3 years, and never overloaded my CUC. i only have two turbo's, and i have to feed them seaweed wraps cause they dont have any alge to eat of the wall/glass

[cmac23]

and i have read some bad things about bumble bee snails

[ninja_fish]

I also read somewhere that you should have about 1 snail per gallon. I wasn't sure about hermits and I read that they love to eat snails, so I only got 2 hermits. Here's my CUC:

6 turbo
10 nass
10 astraea
1 blue leg hermit
1 scarlet leg hermit

1 fire shrimp
1 cleaner shrimp
1 pistol shrimp

They seem to keep it pretty clean for the most part, but I was thinking of adding a few more hermits.

[JHall651]

I would look more into the number of cuc you should have cmac. Plus what have you heard about bumble bees? On the bright side if they do have some bad habits they are not hard to find and catch. I have never heard of someone feeding their snails. haha.

[cmac23]

here read this. it explains one of the reasons i dont have bumble bee, and also says feed them seaweed wrap. im no pro, but i have been doing this for a while bro, and feeding snails is not a problem, wehn you have no alge for them.

Bumble bee snails are an ideal addition to the cleaning crew for any tank as they will eat any uneaten food, decaying matter and most algae species. They can due to their small size get into very small cavities in the setup and clean them. Bumble bee snails are suitable for reef tanks but are not 100% reef safe as they will eat zooanthids and polyps if they are not provided with enough food. In the average aquarium this isn't a problem and the snails find enough food. If your aquarium contain little to eat it is recommended that you supplement the diet of your snails by feeding them at night. They will accept most foods but love dried sea weed rapped around a rock placed on the bottom of the tank. The diet supplement should also contain meaty food such as mysis shrimp.

[cmac23]

they also eat fauna too.

[cmac23]

People use way too many snails and hermits for their clean up crew and wonder why they have dead snails and hermits all the time - it's because they are starving to death! Unless you have a really big tank, or it's really dirty, start with a small crew and add as needed. until your tank is established you haev no food in there for them to eat, but they might ber fine also. in my tank im keeping just the two turbo's and will have 3 nass snails, i have 2 peps, and the diamond goby sifts the and as well. it works fine for me. may find a good snail to clean my rocks, but for right now the turbo's are cleaning the rock also

[IndianaDunes]

Hey fellas...... Looks like your tanks are coming along nicely! I was one of the first to get a Bio-Cube when they first came out. It has been going now for almost 3 1/2 years now without any problems. I did a major light upgrade and went with a 150 watt MH diy kit from nanotuners. It also has 2 double 36 watt actinic bulbs. I could not be more pleased with it as I have many SPS corals as well as a maxima clam!

As a suggestion for your filter media, I would recommend a media basket by inTank,LLC. It goes in chamber 2 and it has 3 compartments for any variety or combination of media you want to use. I have chemi-pure elite on the bottom, purigen in the middle and filter floss on top. Plus, if you go witha Tunze skimmer 9002, both will fit perfectly in the scond chamber. I would also remove the sponge and also not place anything there in its' place.

One of the most and easiest mod to do, if you haven't done it already, is to widen the opening between the first and second chambers to increase flow! If I can help or give suggestions, let me know.

Nice that the Tunze and media rack will fit into chamber 2. I was looking at this new Biocube HQI, JBJ 29 HQI, and RSM 130d. I am now tankless and new to the hobby. Been reading Sprung volume 3, Scott Michael, and most of the Conscientious Marine Aquarist just to get a handle on this stuff. Chemipure and Purigen seem like great options along with Tunze skimming. Nice to have the fuge too, wish that was possible - maybe aquac fuge hanging off the back? What do you use chamber 1 and 3 for?

[ninja_fish]

Chamber 1 - heater and skimmer
Chamber 3 - return pump (MJ 1200)

[MPevine11]

hey i have a 29 gallon biocube HQI i recently got. im trying to buy everything for it before i get it set up. i'd like to put moonlight LED's like your tank has. could you please take a pic or 2 how you mounted them, it looks great! i joined this fourm just for this thread. amazing tank!


-mike pevine-

[MPevine11]

hey i have a 29 gallon biocube HQI i recently got. im trying to buy everything for it before i get it set up. i'd like to put moonlight LED's like your tank has. could you please take a pic or 2 how you mounted them, it looks great! i joined this fourm just for this thread. amazing tank!


-mike pevine-

[bassbishop]

JHall...how is that fan in chamber 3 powered? Does it have a regular plug or is it connected to some other type of power source?

Thanks!

[JHall651]

It has a regular plug with a switch on it. But I just leave the switch on all the time because I have it running of the Reef Keeper. I really like that fan though. It is quiet and proven to work. I have watched it cool my water off right in front of me. It is made by coral life.

**By the way for the rest of you guys following my thread I will be posting some updated pics tonight with my new camera. I recently bought the Canon Rebel EOS T2i. It takes amazing 18MP Pics and Full 1080p HD Video. I will also be posting an updated youtube video. Pics and Vid should be up in about a hour and a half.

[JHall651]

Here are some updated pics of my tank. These were taken today and my tank now is just about 3 months old.

[JHall651]

Here is my updated video on youtube. I recorded it in 1080p so be sure to set it to HD on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqio2Tkl1Q4

[JHall651]

Cmac you got any pics of yours yet?

[arcangel06]

Hey, how you keep your tank cool b/c mines is sitting around 82+

[MPevine11]

Hey, how you keep your tank cool b/c mines is sitting around 82+



whats the temp outside? whats the room temp? whats your heater set to?

you could open your hood and have a fan blow across this will take off 2-3 degrees

[MPevine11]

Here are some updated pics of my tank. These were taken today and my tank now is just about 3 months old.


i like your rock scape. how many pounds do you have?

[arcangel06]

idk the temp inside the house. and i dont have a heater in the tank. I was thinking about buying a fan. not interested in buying a $300+ chiller.

[MPevine11]

chiller is the way to go. but i also dont want to spend that money. i use a fan or AC the room on hot days

[JHall651]

Arcangel06, My temp stays at a rock solid 79.5 degrees day and night. The room that it is kept in stays around 77 degrees day and night. The way I manage my tank temp is by 1 marineland 100w heater, coralife fan installed inside chamber three, both heater and fan running off reef keeper lite 3. I get a 0.1 degree temp swing max through out the day. No need for a chiller. If your room is not as cool then just remove the glass. I did anyways for better O2 flow to the water surface. Only down side to that is the evaporation increases.

MPevine11, Thanks. I have almost 30lbs of Fiji live rock.

[MPevine11]

MPevine11, Thanks. I have almost 30lbs of Fiji live rock.

All in display or do you run a sump/fuge?

i can wait to get my custom fuge/sump built so i can put some of my LR in there i have 32# and it looks to crowded

[JHall651]

I have a pound or so in my fuge.

[MPevine11]

im going to put alot from my display into my fuge when i recive it. 32 lbs is to crowed

[arcangel06]

Can anyone post a link to a site where they bought their light for the fuge?

[MPevine11]

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_viewitem.aspx?idproduct=JB9315&child=JB9315&utm_source=mdcsegooglebase2&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=mdcsegooglebase2&utm_content=JB9315



FAST shipping!!!

[fihsboy]

Have you guys found a skimmer that works with it besides the crappy one that comes with it? I have been looking.....and looking.....leaning towards trying the CPR bac-pak. I think it will fit on the back with a few mods to the cover.

[MPevine11]

Tunze 9002


:bounce3::bounce2::bounce3:only because im getting a custom sump/fuge made to go in my stand :bounce3::bounce2::bounce3:

[armywarrant914]

hi guys,

I just started up my new hqi about 14 days ago and so far I'm loving it.

How I set it up:
-about 12 pounds of live aragonite
-10 pounds live sand
-all the water came from the lfs system
-an oceanic uv sterilizer (not running while i wait for it to cycle)
-a hydor 450 gph submersible circulation power head
-26 pounds of fiji liverock
-a good sized ball of cheato in the refugium
-i put about an inch and a half of live sand and a chunk of liverock in the refugium chamber (more on this later)
-a moveable white led wand in the back for the fuge
-a submersible blue led wand in the tank for night lights. this wand came with an aeration feature that i just removed so i can just use the lights. it has two suction cups that i use to attach it to the front of the tank just above the waterline on the hood. the powercord is not visible because i ran it around the feed hole on the left and just kinda tucked up in the molded plastic area of the tank cover. And putting it on the front of the tank allows me to position the suction cups so that the light basically shines down at a 45 degree angle into the tank. great coverage!

Here's a question some of you guys might be able to help me out with. According to every post I've seen so far just by giving a cursory look around, folks have been having issues with their water levels. In my tank, the water level in all three chambers is about the same. My charcoal filter doesn't float out, but it is submerged. The water level in the third chamber may be around a quarter of an inch lower than the second. Water doesn't "skip" chambers, so the water flows correctly. I realize this has probably been caused by my addition of sand to the refugium chamber. Another friend of mine has done his the same way and his tank has been running fine, supporting corals, for months. No sand has ever been present in he third chamber and the pump is running fine. My thought is that the critters I capture with a turkey baster at night and put in the refugium will breed in there and exit the second chamber into the third via the small cutout between the two and get put back in the display via the pump. Is my logic here sound or am I all jacked up?

Also, after 9 days of liverock introduction, my water tests perfect. Every day. So, on day 10, mr. domino was introduced in the hopes of getting the tank to cycle. One of the lfs guys said that with all the live sand and rock as well as having used "used" water, my tank may not cycle but I'm not buying it. Thoughts? By the way, mr domino goes back to the store when the tank cycles. Things are way too mean. So, here I sit, 5 days later, and no chemical fluctuation. I am committed to being patient with my newest toy, unlike I used to be during the sins of my marine youth, but what gives? Is the lfs guy right? Or do I wait some more?

[JHall651]

@armywarrant914: My chambers seem to flow fine. If I had to guess I would say the sand in the second chamber is not allowing the water to flow from the bottom of the second chamber and into the third properly. I have a chunk of live rock and some chaeto back there and that is it. As far as the cycling goes the "used water" has nothing to do with cycling. Its all about building the bacteria up in the live sand and rocks. With that being said your rocks look pretty good and "seasoned" and your sand will soon follow. I really didn't see much of a cycle myself. I started with a few fish after my second week and a week or so after I noticed a small fluctuation in my parameters. After that my cycle was complete. Tank looks good but I would definitely remove the sand from the second chamber. There is absolutely no need for it. My chaeto grows like crazy back there. Good luck.

[armywarrant914]

Jhall,

Thanks man. Before your response I had already decided to get the sand out tomorrow morning. My sand is already fairly seasoned, the algae grows pretty deep already. Green, reddish brown, brown and even some coraline on the sand. Sooooo, two days ago my water tested fine and I went and got an emerald crab, ten dwarf blue hermits, and a tailspot blenny. Domino went back to the store.

I had never seen a tailspot blenny before and the lfs guys said he is great on nuisance algae. They were right, and he is one really neat fish. He sifts through sand some too. My rock has tons of tiny caves for him to hide in and he hovers around outside eating algae and darts from cave to cave to cave often. And he and the emerald are almost sybiotic. Got scared when I saw them close together but sometimes the blenny just follows him around and rubs on him. Crab won't bother him.

I'll post pics of the blenny tomorrow.

[bazineta]

Have you guys found a skimmer that works with it besides the crappy one that comes with it? I have been looking.....and looking.....leaning towards trying the CPR bac-pak. I think it will fit on the back with a few mods to the cover.

Personally, I found the included skimmer to be a pretty grim experience until I replaced the pump and valve that were included with a Tetra Whisper 10G. After the replacement, it's actually quite easy to tune and works well for me.

The pump that Oceanic included was just ridiculously loud, the valve was very hard to turn, and getting the valved tuned to the sweet spot seemed to be just about impossible. My guess is that it's oversized for the need; the Tetra is working well for me.

[JHall651]

Just posted an Update video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCJqxQV21eY
Let me know what you think.

[Ecthaelion]

Thanks for keeping the thread going, guys. I bought a slightly used Biocube 29 HQI a couple of weeks ago. It is sitting in my office, filled and circulating, but only one lonely piece of liverock just now. New shipment of good stuff expected at my LFS tomorrow night, so Tuesday night I'll be aquascaping (I hope). I appreciate all the good information you've shared here. Very good info!

[JHall651]

Nice Ecthaelion! Good luck on your Cube. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

[boogaman]

I want one of these so bad. Good looking tanks!

[JHall651]

Get one! They go so cheap used.

[MPevine11]

wish i could of found a used one!

where do you find them used?!

[JHall651]

Dude I see them on here all the time for sell. Always going for 300.00. Heck even that one guy that used to post on this thread Cmac is selling his already. Just search Biocube on here and half of the threads are F/S threads. I understand that people get BC's for starter tanks or because of limited space. But what I don't get is why people get rid of them when they step it up to a larger tank. They make perfect quarantine tanks. I like to think that I'll have mine for a long time. I love it. But I really really do want a 100 gallon shallow but I am moving in a little over a year and half so I have to wait. Oh and not to mention I like your refug and I want that too but I can see spending 800.00more dollars on this tank when I know I will be spending thousands on my shallow tank in a little over a year and a half. Nice refug though man. I would have some pretty sweet livestock down there too. Like a mantis shrimp!

[Ecthaelion]

Here is a photo of my BioCube 29 HQI, which was set up in September 2010. I've really enjoyed this tank. I had a couple of biology professors drop by my office today to take a look.

[cmac23]

JHALL,

What's going on man? I'm not selling mine. Just the rock and fish. Transferring back to VA in June. How's life treating you. My tank has been doing great, alot of purple on rocks, will try to get pics up

[JHall651]

Oh ok cmac my bad. Mine is doing good. Just posted a new video on youtube. Just search jhall651 on youtube and it is the #5 video.

[synrg]

Hey JHall 651 Just read this entire thread and watched your videos. Tank is looking great! Just picked up a used BC29HQI. Had one of the first BC29s but have been out of the hobby for awhile. I'm curious if your fan mod stode the test of time or not. Pretty harsh environment... Best solution I've seen so far for concealing the fan and still cooling the water w/o a chiller. Thanks!