10 year old biocube

[PrincessGumdrop]

Hi! I tried doing a sw tank like 10 years ago just some clown fish nothing crazy. I managed to keep everything alive decided that I didn't have as much time for it as I thought. I wanna jump back in! Now I'm older and wiser and interwebs. So basically I wanted to see if I can get this old guy up and running and then possibly doing something bigger. I took some pix of it while cleaning it up and checking to see if everything still works. It does. I'm basically new to all this again and not sure what anything that I pulled out of the tank is and if I need it or if I should replace it with something else (I've read to trash the bioballs) or just get new of what I already have or scrap this tank and get a new one all together. Halp! I'm a little worried with its age it's going to burn my house down lol jk but kind of serious. Also if anyone wants to adopt me as their 'aquarium kid' I'm totally down for direction, advise, help, and anyone to answer my questions

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Ps I would love to do some corals with some clowns ?

 

[Ghxst]

As long as the seals hold use it for your quarantine while you build your new tank.

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

As long as the seals hold use it for your quarantine while you build your new tank.

I filled it up and didn't see any leaks lights still work and the pump too

 

[Ghxst]

Honestly, It would be best to reseal in the long run. Do the seals look smooth and intact or dry, cracked, not even? Same for the pump, heater and anything else like the hood fans, make sure they work and are not damaged. New bulbs would be good once you got coral in there or if your worried about it failing keep the hood off and light to mount.

If anything looks bad I would drain it. If they look good just remember it's riskier and they could fail, be prepared. Like the pump, I would probably just get a new one and use the old one for water changes.

I am currently doing the same thing with an IM 16gal long. It looked okay and so far a year in it only slightly leaks.... lol. Check out other biocube builds and look for good mods and tricks to keep it running well. Make a build and progression thread in nano tanks, you'll get lots of help!! Best of luck!

 

[Killer Karma]

I helped my mom when she had a tank just like that. It worked fine for some fish and a few coral. Stick with the softies like some zoas or ricordia and an anemone for the clowns. Heat ended up being a slight issue but she had hers near a window. If you have that problem just remove the little flap or prop it open slightly. You will need new bulbs although you can start off the nitrogen cycle with the ones you have without any problems. I suggest a nano protein skimmer for nutrient export, they have some great ones on the market, also I'm not sure about others opinion of the stuff but if you add Seachem Laboratories Matrix in place of bio-balls or the ceramic it should help with your filtration.

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Honestly, It would be best to reseal in the long run. Do the seals look smooth and intact or dry, cracked, not even? Same for the pump, heater and anything else like the hood fans, make sure they work and are not damaged. New bulbs would be good once you got coral in there or if your worried about it failing keep the hood off and light to mount.

If anything looks bad I would drain it. If they look good just remember it's riskier and they could fail, be prepared. Like the pump, I would probably just get a new one and use the old one for water changes.

I am currently doing the same thing with an IM 16gal long. It looked okay and so far a year in it only slightly leaks.... lol. Check out other biocube builds and look for good mods and tricks to keep it running well. Make a build and progression thread in nano tanks, you'll get lots of help!! Best of luck!

Thank you! I will reseal just to be sure but it looks smooth no cracks. I'm going to do everything really slow and if I can get this up and running do a splurge on a bigger tank. I love the look of a rimless tank but if I put fish in it will they jump out?

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

I helped my mom when she had a tank just like that. It worked fine for some fish and a few coral. Stick with the softies like some zoas or ricordia and an anemone for the clowns. Heat ended up being a slight issue but she had hers near a window. If you have that problem just remove the little flap or prop it open slightly. You will need new bulbs although you can start off the nitrogen cycle with the ones you have without any problems. I suggest a nano protein skimmer for nutrient export, they have some great ones on the market, also I'm not sure about others opinion of the stuff but if you add Seachem Laboratories Matrix in place of bio-balls or the ceramic it should help with your filtration.

Thank you! Ill check out the seachem. Hopefully I can get this ball rolling this weekend.

 

[Barrett]

Check out sca aquariums for there rimless plug and play systems, as for the fish jumping I just built a screen top for mine.

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Check out sca aquariums for there rimless plug and play systems, as for the fish jumping I just built a screen top for mine.

I knew there had to be something! Lo l

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Update-boyfriend talked me into just going bigger and new. Going to get water and rock sometime this week. Here goes nothing

 

[Sabellafella]

Update-boyfriend talked me into just going bigger and new. Going to get water and rock sometime this week. Here goes nothing

Lolol. Welcome to the forum! Ive had one of these biocubes up and running now. Had the tank for about 9 years, but has only been in use for about 6 years and the seams are fine if it makes you feel any better. Prob just jinx myself, but look into redsea reefer tanks, there beautiful cheap and rimless. Comes with sump, drilled and plumbing to get you on the right track. I have one with a lid and 2 of my fish still managed to get out unfortunately.

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Lolol. Welcome to the forum! Ive had one of these biocubes up and running now. Had the tank for about 9 years, but has only been in use for about 6 years and the seams are fine if it makes you feel any better. Prob just jinx myself, but look into redsea reefer tanks, there beautiful cheap and rimless. Comes with sump, drilled and plumbing to get you on the right track. I have one with a lid and 2 of my fish still managed to get out unfortunately.

Thank you! I just got it filled and it's been running for a couple hours. The red sea reefers are beautiful! If I am successful with this one that will be my upgrade for sure. 2 of them got out?! did you call your tank shawshank after that?

 

[Sabellafella]

Thank you! I just got it filled and it's been running for a couple hours. The red sea reefers are beautiful! If I am successful with this one that will be my upgrade for sure. 2 of them got out?! did you call your tank shawshank after that?

Haha love that movie. A clown jumped one night when i left the feeding spot open, also had an anthias jump out a tiny hole that i have all my probes blocking anyway but yea she still made it out

 

[Joshua Huff]

Update-boyfriend talked me into just going bigger and new. Going to get water and rock sometime this week. Here goes nothing

Very Nice! I'm running the 32g bio cube with seachem's matrix, works well. I recommend bagging the matrix then placing it into the tank because you need to rinse it off periodically and replace after a year or so. If you don't bag it, it will get real messy in the tank when you try to remove it. Also like others have said check out some of the many many different ways of setting up your filtration. I feel simpler is much better in a tank this size because either way it does require more attention on a day to day then a large tank with big sump. I also highly recommend a 10gal quarantine tank right off the bat, so you want have to deal with any pests. You can set one up for around $100.00. The coral life uv filter for the bio cube seems to work well, I'm still on the fence about the coralife protein skimmer, it requires some experimenting to setup correctly. I also recommend carbon and the large black filter pads, junk the stock carbon treat that come with it and use a bag.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing a build thread!

 

[Radman73]

I started with a Biocube. It was a great little tank that I bought used. I ran it for 4-5 years before upgrading and then used it as a QT tank before selling it. There were some great accessories made for them like media racks if you're willing to spend a bit vs using egg crate. In my case, I used an LED retrofit kit and was able to keep and grow any corals including a couple acro's if I put them right at the top.

Highly suggest an ATO. Stability is key and on nano's it can be hard to manage. Plus, 2 gallons can last a couple of weeks depending on where you live lol!

Good luck!

 

[revhtree]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Reefltx]

I was expecting to see a biocube that's been running for 10 years. . ;Photogenic

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

I was expecting to see a biocube that's been running for 10 years. . ;Photogenic

Lol no it was just sitting in storage for ever. I was looking for suggestions as to what I should do with it.

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Very Nice! I'm running the 32g bio cube with seachem's matrix, works well. I recommend bagging the matrix then placing it into the tank because you need to rinse it off periodically and replace after a year or so. If you don't bag it, it will get real messy in the tank when you try to remove it. Also like others have said check out some of the many many different ways of setting up your filtration. I feel simpler is much better in a tank this size because either way it does require more attention on a day to day then a large tank with big sump. I also highly recommend a 10gal quarantine tank right off the bat, so you want have to deal with any pests. You can set one up for around $100.00. The coral life uv filter for the bio cube seems to work well, I'm still on the fence about the coralife protein skimmer, it requires some experimenting to setup correctly. I also recommend carbon and the large black filter pads, junk the stock carbon treat that come with it and use a bag.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing a build thread!

Thank you! I was super confused with what I wanted to do with filtration. The guys at the LFs told me to keep the bioballs and filters but I've read to ditch them for the seachem or live rock but I was told that they would die in the back of the tank because of no light? . I have a 14 biocube in the basement that I could totally set up for qt. I picked up the coralife skimmer but don't need to put that in until I've cycled? So far I have kept everything stock at the moment and have water live sand and rock in there going on day 2. I see 2 aiptasias and a snail thing. Should I treat the aiptasias now or wait is there something that will eat it?