New biocube 32g

soldier.1102 · Nov 3, 2019

Happy Sunday! So I’ve been setting this brand new biocube 32g up. It’s been running for 3 weeks now, I’ve been watching my Nitrate, nitrite and ammonia. Which nitrate is the only thing a little elevated sitting at 5 PPM. I’ve got 10 pounds dry live rock and 15 pounds live rock. Should I add more live? Or should I add more dry? When I got the live rock, I had a couple snails and four emerald crabs came with it...they are doing just fine in the tank. Anyway, when should I start getting a CUC in there? I’ve noticed some algae growing on the crabs which amuses me for some reason.

ruskimax · Nov 3, 2019

soldier.1102 said:
Happy Sunday! So I’ve been setting this brand new biocube 32g up. It’s been running for 3 weeks now, I’ve been watching my Nitrate, nitrite and ammonia. Which nitrate is the only thing a little elevated sitting at 5 PPM. I’ve got 10 pounds dry live rock and 15 pounds live rock. Should I add more live? Or should I add more dry? When I got the live rock, I had a couple snails and four emerald crabs came with it...they are doing just fine in the tank. Anyway, when should I start getting a CUC in there? I’ve noticed some algae growing on the crabs which amuses me for some reason.

You have plenty of rock and sand for bacterial filtration. I would warn that too much rock in a nano quickly makes coral placement and growth a PITA. Too much rock, and using sand are my biggest regrets. Otherwise tank looks great, keep it up.

Mikedawg · Nov 3, 2019

soldier.1102 said:
Happy Sunday! So I’ve been setting this brand new biocube 32g up. It’s been running for 3 weeks now, I’ve been watching my Nitrate, nitrite and ammonia. Which nitrate is the only thing a little elevated sitting at 5 PPM. I’ve got 10 pounds dry live rock and 15 pounds live rock. Should I add more live? Or should I add more dry? When I got the live rock, I had a couple snails and four emerald crabs came with it...they are doing just fine in the tank. Anyway, when should I start getting a CUC in there? I’ve noticed some algae growing on the crabs which amuses me for some reason.

Looks like a good start and I wouldn't add any more rock unless you like the look of it. BTW, I would consider moving the right side more to the left to make sure you have sufficient "margins" between glass and rock - this will improve flow, etc. Sounds like you already have an established CUC and as long as they can keep algae under control I wouldn't think you need any more. 5 ppm nitrate is fine and I would continue testing to see if this is a stable level or increasing/decreasing - would be an indicator of whether your tank has completed cycling. Good luck

splitting_lanes · Nov 3, 2019

Go ahead with the clean up crew, looks good to me. You’re probably fine to add a hardy fish

soldier.1102 · Nov 3, 2019

Mikedawg said:
Looks like a good start and I wouldn't add any more rock unless you like the look of it. BTW, I would consider moving the right side more to the left to make sure you have sufficient "margins" between glass and rock - this will improve flow, etc. Sounds like you already have an established CUC and as long as they can keep algae under control I wouldn't think you need any more. 5 ppm nitrate is fine and I would continue testing to see if this is a stable level or increasing/decreasing - would be an indicator of whether your tank has completed cycling. Good luck

Awesome whew that’s made my day....I am definitely testing ammonia, nitrite and nitrate daily at this point to figure out how I am looking as far as cycling and I totally understand it’ll be a while before adding any fish or corals....my thought process is grab a couple snails, help with the algae bloom plus it help start the bio load of the filtration. I do like the idea of shifting the rock around to help the flow and I’ve already upgraded the return the pump in the back as well. Outside of the rock recommendation you already stated, would you do anything else?

soldier.1102 · Nov 3, 2019

splitting_lanes said:
Go ahead with the clean up crew, looks good to me. You’re probably fine to add a hardy fish

What would you add? Couple of clowns? (not maroons of course)

splitting_lanes · Nov 3, 2019

soldier.1102 said:
What would you add? Couple of clowns? (not maroons of course)

That’s exactly what I have in my tank!

that would be a good choice.

Uptowngirl · Nov 3, 2019

Yay biocube club! I have a 29. My problem is there is too many big pieces of rock in my tank and the Xenia and gsp have taken over everything, giving me no room for anything else and reducing my flow. So I would definitely start with less rock if I redid it. Go ahead and add a clown or two, and maybe in like 8 months your tank will be old enough to add a nem, just be patient. The key is to slowly add stuff at this point to not stress your new system. Keep up with the testing until everything has evened out

soldier.1102 · Nov 3, 2019

Uptowngirl said:
Yay biocube club! I have a 29. My problem is there is too many big pieces of rock in my tank and the Xenia and gsp have taken over everything, giving me no room for anything else and reducing my flow. So I would definitely start with less rock if I redid it. Go ahead and add a clown or two, and maybe in like 8 months your tank will be old enough to add a nem, just be patient. The key is to slowly add stuff at this point to not stress your new system. Keep up with the testing until everything has evened out

Beautiful! I love it! That’s what I’ve been looking for....I’m scared I’ll do too much too quick...I really need some snails I’m scared of an algae over throw. What filter media do you have in your biocube? Right now, I have some carbon, a bunch of filter pads (I can’t remember the name something floss), and that’s it. I have some chemi-pure elite ready to go in.

Uptowngirl · Nov 3, 2019

soldier.1102 said:
Beautiful! I love it! That’s what I’ve been looking for....I’m scared I’ll do too much too quick...I really need some snails I’m scared of an algae over throw. What filter media do you have in your biocube? Right now, I have some carbon, a bunch of filter pads (I can’t remember the name something floss), and that’s it. I have some chemi-pure elite ready to go in.

Right now I just have carbon. I let my live rock do most of the work. I also have a skimmer that helps keep everything in check.
As for algae, you are probably going to have an algae bloom in the beginning, and my philosophy is to just leave it be. Don’t freak out and add a bunch of chemicals. New tanks go through ugly stages, but after the cycle is done the algae pretty much clears itself up in my opinion. Just make sure there isn’t sunlight or something else that could be encouraging the algae. Also if you add to much livestock too quickly before the bacteria on your rocks has built up you could cause problems with the algae. Just get a few snails and let them do their job, don’t go too overboard.
Make sure you are using ro/di water and good food that you rinse off with ro water before feeding it. This is the only reason I had an algae problem after my original cycle.
I also don’t like to get hermits, in my experience they like to kill my snails and take their shells. That’s just me though!

soldier.1102 · Nov 3, 2019

Uptowngirl said:
Right now I just have carbon. I let my live rock do most of the work. I also have a skimmer that helps keep everything in check.
As for algae, you are probably going to have an algae bloom in the beginning, and my philosophy is to just leave it be. Don’t freak out and add a bunch of chemicals. New tanks go through ugly stages, but after the cycle is done the algae pretty much clears itself up in my opinion. Just make sure there isn’t sunlight or something else that could be encouraging the algae. Also if you add to much livestock too quickly before the bacteria on your rocks has built up you could cause problems with the algae. Just get a few snails and let them do their job, don’t go too overboard.
Make sure you are using ro/di water and good food that you rinse off with ro water before feeding it. This is the only reason I had an algae problem after my original cycle.
I also don’t like to get hermits, in my experience they like to kill my snails and take their shells. That’s just me though!

Awesome! I’ve only used RO/DI when making water for replacements etc. I’m checking out a cleaner pack on live aquaria, my thought process is get that, let them adjust and start looking for a couple of clowns a couple weeks down the road. My first couple of builds were not biocubes and I learned very painfully slow and steady and avoid a bunch of chemicals as much as possible. What media do you use in the back aside from carbon? I have so much space back there and have zero clue how to arrange it or what to stock. I’ve seen one person use a net bag and fill it with bio balls. But I’m curious what a lot of people use. As far as lighting, I ditched the hood and have a kessil on top.

Uptowngirl · Nov 3, 2019

I also ditched my hood. I just got kessil 160we, it should be here this week. I’m excited for it! I currently have a Chinese black box over it and I’m not loving it.
As god the media and media chambers, I have a filter floss pad clipped onto the back of the overflow that helps catch crap, that gets rinsed off in ro/di water maybe every other day and changed out maybe once a month.I also have my carbon in that first chamber. The next bigger chamber has my skimmer hooked in, it’s a reef octopus hob skimmer. Nothing else in there. Next chamber is my heater, thermometer, and return pump. That’s it! All of the stock stuff is gone at this point

soldier.1102 · Nov 3, 2019

Uptowngirl said:
I also ditched my hood. I just got kessil 160we, it should be here this week. I’m excited for it! I currently have a Chinese black box over it and I’m not loving it.
As god the media and media chambers, I have a filter floss pad clipped onto the back of the overflow that helps catch crap, that gets rinsed off in ro/di water maybe every other day and changed out maybe once a month.I also have my carbon in that first chamber. The next bigger chamber has my skimmer hooked in, it’s a reef octopus hob skimmer. Nothing else in there. Next chamber is my heater, thermometer, and return pump. That’s it! All of the stock stuff is gone at this point

I’m gonna have to message you, it sounds like I need a lot of your knowledge about this haha...anyway, how did you get your carbon in the first chamber???

Gw2kpro · Nov 3, 2019

Mikedawg said:
Looks like a good start and I wouldn't add any more rock unless you like the look of it. BTW, I would consider moving the right side more to the left to make sure you have sufficient "margins" between glass and rock - this will improve flow, etc. Sounds like you already have an established CUC and as long as they can keep algae under control I wouldn't think you need any more. 5 ppm nitrate is fine and I would continue testing to see if this is a stable level or increasing/decreasing - would be an indicator of whether your tank has completed cycling. Good luck

Good advice here. I have a jbj 28. In regards to the rock placement you'll also want it far enough away from the glass that you can get an algae scraper past it. Had to rearrange mine once already for that

soldier.1102 · Nov 3, 2019

Gw2kpro said:
Good advice here. I have a jbj 28. In regards to the rock placement you'll also want it far enough away from the glass that you can get an algae scraper past it. Had to rearrange mine once already for that

I’m working on that now hahaha I didn’t even think about it

Mikedawg · Nov 3, 2019

soldier.1102 said:
Awesome whew that’s made my day....I am definitely testing ammonia, nitrite and nitrate daily at this point to figure out how I am looking as far as cycling and I totally understand it’ll be a while before adding any fish or corals....my thought process is grab a couple snails, help with the algae bloom plus it help start the bio load of the filtration. I do like the idea of shifting the rock around to help the flow and I’ve already upgraded the return the pump in the back as well. Outside of the rock recommendation you already stated, would you do anything else?

I added an InTank media basket which I think really increased filtration effectiveness, and like you I upgraded return pump, in my case to a Sicce 1.5 if I remember. A random flow generator nozzle would also help in a tank this size. LPS (acans, scolys, chalice) and softies did well for me under stock lighting, btw.
I miss my 'cube already!

soldier.1102 · Nov 3, 2019

Mikedawg said:
I added an InTank media basket which I think really increased filtration effectiveness, and like you I upgraded return pump, in my case to a Sicce 1.5 if I remember. A random flow generator nozzle would also help in a tank this size. LPS (acans, scolys, chalice) and softies did well for me under stock lighting, btw.
I miss my 'cube already!

That’s the pump I got...I read so many good things I did it myself....I’m gonna have to check out a random flow generator

Mikedawg · Nov 3, 2019

soldier.1102 said:
That’s the pump I got...I read so many good things I did it myself....I’m gonna have to check out a random flow generator

Vivid Creative Aquatics | Create a random flow in your mixed reef aquarium with the Random Flow Generator™ Nozzle.

vividcreativeaquatics.com

MERKEY · Nov 3, 2019

I love the little cubes as you can really do quite a lot with them...within their limits hahah

I have a 32 and also took the lid off and ditched the basket in the back. Added a hydra 32 filled the back with cheato and some pumps to move the water in the way I wanted.

There are a lot of things you can do with these setups.

I also got a lid from octo lids, really nicely made and fits perfect.

splitting_lanes · Nov 3, 2019

I had a biocube 29 for15 years. One of my two clowns is 11+ years old and lived in it until a couple months ago.

i tried several different filter/media setups in the first couple years, but eventually ran nothing but live rock/sand and macro algae. The only thing in the sump was a heater, I took all the media and bio balls out.

i built my own LED fixture, similar to what is on the new 32’s.

ps. The Random Flow Generator should be a great upgrade, I have one on my new tank