BioCube 16 For Home Office

[DiaTom]

I received a BioCube 16 unexpectedly at the beginning of October, and against my better judgement, decided to go ahead and set it up. My plan was to do as close to zero budget as possible by using equipment and stock that I already had and keep it low maintenance as well. Also came with a Jebao SW2.

 

[DiaTom]

I've been wanting something in my home office/study. The plants and nano terrariums weren't quite accomplishing what I wanted. I decided to put the tank in this corner by my reading chair.

 

[DiaTom]

The tank didn't fit on the table that was there, so I built a stand out of some scrap wood that I had.

 

[DiaTom]

I had some rock in a 10g tank sitting in the basement so I used that. I ended up exchanging a couple of pieces with live rock from my sump so that I wouldn't have to really cycle the tank.

I saw an awesome small cube tank at an LFS that was loaded with corals and looked so good, so I did a bit of research of what could be done with a tank this size. I don't have a pic of that tank at the LFS, but the last two pics below are pics that inspired me to put in a lot of rock work to start loading this tank up.

 

[DiaTom]

Here are pics and descriptions of what I did with the three compartments in the back of the BioCube. I don't care to mess with mechanical or chemical filtration, so I'm only using biological filtration.

The first compartment in the back has a lower and an upper section. I left the lower section empty, and loaded the top section with chaeto and a mini LED light. I need to get a timer for the refugium light, but for now it is on 24/7. The chaeto was full of pods so that was good. The refugium light cost $11 () and seems to be working fine.

The second section has a pull out basket, with a lower and upper section as well. For the lower section, I put two bags of ceramic bio media that also came from my sump. This was nice and dirty and also helped to seed the tank and skip the cycle. I put a couple chunks of live rock (from the overflow of my other tank) in the upper section.

The third section is supposed to have a sponge at the bottom, but I don't have that. This section for me has the pump, the heater, and the thermometer sensor.

So, I've spent $11 so far. Low budget is still in effect.

 

[DiaTom]

I'm not putting sand in this tank, so I mixed up and added water. Here is what it looks like in the corner and I'm stoked about having a tank in my study. I swore that I wouldn't have more than one tank, but less than a year after setting up my first reef, here we are.

 

[DiaTom]

Since I wanted to do a low maintenance tank, I wanted to stock with hardy fish and easy corals. I also thought it would be cool to do a sort of theme - like all one type of coral or something like that. I considered zoa/palys or softies that move, like xenia, but I decided to go with mushrooms. The problem is that I only had one mushroom in my other tank, so the idea of not spending any money by filling up this tank with frags from my other tank, may have just been defeated. Stay tuned for any stock that I may add to the tank. The pic below is of the first coral to be added to the tank, two little orange (or green under white lights) Ricordea Florida from my other tank.

 

[DiaTom]

I moved a few nems from my other tank - a rock flower, a mini maxi, and a Borneman. They all provided some challenges to remove them from their rocks, but they are doing pretty well in their new tank. No pic yet of the Borneman in the new tank.

 

[DiaTom]

Added a rhodactis mushroom and a florida yuma. Got these from two different stores. Interesting that the staff at both stores didn't know much about them. I think the rhodactis is a superman bullseye, what do you think? I was told at the LFS that the yuma was a rhodactis. Anyway, they were decently priced, so I picked them up. The rhodactis was $25 and the yuma was $35 for 3. So, I broke my plan of "zero budget", but I like these pieces.

 

[DiaTom]

Really enjoying the tank tonight. It's in such a great spot.

I've also added a yellow mini maxi (that moved behind a rock), and a purple and yellow discosoma. The Borneman looks really wacky - I think it is trying to split. The purple disco had trouble with the light and is half shaded now and is doing well. The only fish in the tank is a neon dottyback - it's fun to watch and is always active. It goes after brine shrimp like a missile.

I really underestimated how much I would enjoy this little tank.

 

[DiaTom]

So, to update my "zero budget" tank. I mostly used equipment and supplies that I already had. I spent $11 on a light and about $12 on some bio media. I moved a mushroom and 3 nems from my other tank, but then spent $130 on shrooms and a nem and $20 on a fish. Also spent $6 on snails. I'm going to try to leave it as is for now.

So my zero budget tank has cost me $179 so far. Really not too bad, and it has a way different feel than my other tank.

 

[DiaTom]

Here is an updated (bad blue) pic of the tank. The zero/low budget thing didn't happen since I wasn't patient enough to wait for mostly free or low cost stuff. I removed 2 rocks and placed some coral frags on the bottom to try to encrust the bottom glass.

The stock is:
1. neon dottyback
2. blue leg hermit crabs
3. astrea snails
4. neon green hairy mushrooms
5. superman discosoma
6. orange ricordea yuma
7. yellow ricordea florida
8. purple discosoma
9. mini maxi carpet nems (2 - red one and yellow one)
10. rock flower nem (orange)
11. rasta zoas
12. armageddon paly
13. superman bullseye rhodactis
14. chalice
15. angel eyes favia
16. purple and yellow favia