Biocube 32 question!

[Katie24]

Hey everyone! I have the biocube 32 stock. I have 2 black clowns and cuc. Parameters are looking good. What did you all add? I'm eventually getting corals? Do I need a wave maker? Also in chamber 2, I just have that stock filter. Advice/suggestions?


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[Ryan Darilek]

Here's what I did with my BC32. I've got 2 percs, a flame angel, blue chromis, a purple firefish and a diamond goby. Kept all my stock filter the same, just upgraded the lighting and have LPS and SPS corals

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[Katie24]

Originally Posted by Ryan Darilek

Here's what I did with my BC32. I've got 2 percs, a flame angel, blue chromis, a purple firefish and a diamond goby. Kept all my stock filter the same, just upgraded the lighting and have LPS and SPS corals

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Your tank is beautiful!! Thank you for the response!! How long in till you got your anemone? Did your clowns host?


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[imjdoggie]

Katie............patience is the key. I would definitely suggest some flow. How long have you had your tank setup? Are you testing parameters daily? How do you feel about bi-weekly water changes?

[Katie24]

Originally Posted by imjdoggie

Katie............patience is the key. I would definitely suggest some flow. How long have you had your tank setup? Are you testing parameters daily? How do you feel about bi-weekly water changes?

I'm planning on biweekly but I'm doing what I see with parameters. My new clowns have been in 3 days and my nitrates are up, so I'm doing a small water change today. Do I need more flow for my 2 clowns? Or more in the future with corals? What do you all have in your chambers? Do you guys have protein skimmers and what about in chamber 2? I just have the stock filter pad. Do I need to add to that? Just want to keep my clowns happy!!!
Thanks!


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[ReefWreak]

Fishes by themselves are pretty simple to maintain, and the stock pump and filtration combined with water changes are just fine for fishes.

When you want to take the dive (pun intended) into reef keeping, that's when you start looking into new filtration (protein skimming, new media, etc), adding more flow, more lighting, a controller, etc.

I would recommend spending 6 months minimum enjoying your new home for your clownfishes and taking the time to learn the ins-and-outs of the hobby, and then once you're more comfortable, you can take next steps into different types of fishes or adding corals. Of course most people don't want to wait, so they fill their tanks in 2 weeks and it crashes 2 months later and they blame the salt, a pump, or disease.

But if you can exercise patience and are open to learning (particularly through reading and participating on reefcentral), you'll be ready for success by the time the tank matures.

[TexChuck]

Congrats!! How long has your tank been up? I'll echo the post above -- patience is key.

I change water weekly to biweekly, 1 5g jug at a time. Makes it easy to remember. 1 bucket out, 1 5g jug in. Are you making your water or buying at LFS? How are you handling topoff? Are you calibrating our refractometer and checking salinity periodically?

I'd suggest adding easier coral after a couple of months. Zoa's are great. Also maybe a nice hammer or torch or frogspawn to host your clowns? My first fish after the clown pair was a yasha goby/shrimp pair. I think these are a lot of fun in a nano.

I'd also suggest flow -- I went with an inexpensive Jaebo powerhead and it's been fine. You can of course go Eotech for a better product. All depends on budget. I'm running a Tunze nano skimmer and the Intank media basket, which I've set up with flaw, chaeto, and purigen. If I had it to do over again I'd consider skipping the skimmer and using the Intank Fuge basket to run more chaeto. (I might do this)

Upgrading your lights is optional if you wanna grow fancier coral. I upgraded to the Steve's LED drop in kit and am very happy with it.

But remember .. go slow ! The BC stock is a great AIO -- I've really enjoyed mine.

[TexChuck]

Originally Posted by ReefWreak

Fishes by themselves are pretty simple to maintain, and the stock pump and filtration combined with water changes are just fine for fishes.

When you want to take the dive (pun intended) into reef keeping, that's when you start looking into new filtration (protein skimming, new media, etc), adding more flow, more lighting, a controller, etc.

I would recommend spending 6 months minimum enjoying your new home for your clownfishes and taking the time to learn the ins-and-outs of the hobby, and then once you're more comfortable, you can take next steps into different types of fishes or adding corals. Of course most people don't want to wait, so they fill their tanks in 2 weeks and it crashes 2 months later and they blame the salt, a pump, or disease.

But if you can exercise patience and are open to learning (particularly through reading and participating on reefcentral), you'll be ready for success by the time the tank matures.

This is the best advice.

[imjdoggie]

Great advice by these guys..........There is no rulebook to go by and stuff will happen you just have to be patient, ask questions and do things slowly. If you can post pics and your parameters there are some very very smart individuals in here that will definitely help you along the way. Agree also with Tex a skimmer is not needed with how often you guys are doing water changes again just my opinion you will see there are A LOT of opinions in this hobby.

One important rule of thumb when you decide to get into corals is DIP EVERYTHING before you put it in your tank. I learned the hard way.

[Katie24]

Wow thank you all so much!!! So much great advice!!! I'm happy to have this as a resource!!! Thank you, thank you!! I'm going to plan to hold out for 6 mos on corals.


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[Seattle_Reef]

I have the same tank and it's a little over a year old and doing great! I do weekly water changes of 3 gallons each, sometimes twice a week. In the back I have a heater and coralife skimmer in chamber 1. A lot of people don't like that skimmer but it's about the only thing that fits. I found that if you just upgrade the air pump it works much better (I used a cheap Whisper 10 and it made a world of difference). In the middle I have an InTank media rack with floss, purigen and chemipure elite from top to bottom. I upgraded the return pump in chamber 3 for more flow (Cobalt MJ 1200). I also have one Hydor 425 powerhead. I upgraded the lights to Steve's LED's about a month ago. All my corals and fish have been healthy and happy for 6+ months.

[JVan82]

I also have the 32, mines been up for 14 months... I have 2 clowns, 1 royal gramma, and one red mandarin. As far as equipment, I have a neo therm 100w heater in chamber 1, intank media basket and refugium rack in chamber 2. In the media basket i have poly fill on top (stuffing you get in craft section of walmart) purigen and the second shelf, and chemipure elite on the bottom. I run chaeto in the fuge, with the IM fuge light running opposite of the day lights. Cobalt MJ1200 return pump in chamber 3, with apex probes (temp and ph). Obviously running apex classic, with wxm module to control 2 mp10 wave makers and the radion XR15 gen4 pro. I tried to go with the nanobox retro fit, and what a nightmare... So topless it is for me.
There is a ton of info here, I followed ReefWreck and LQT's builds!

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