A record of My Biocube 32

[Adalwulf]

I've kept freshwater tanks for 10+ years but a couple years ago I broke down almost all of then except for a single low maintenance 55 gallon planted tank with a couple shrimp, tetras and rams. I decided that I greatly miss the routine of multiple water changes, different types of fish, and a lot of other things. I also realized that in the past I had wanted to do reef tanks but let myself be intimidated by salinity and other parameters only to start managing chemical levels(co2, iron, phosphate, etc) for a few of my planted tanks before I broke them down. Meaning that I had no reason not to do the same in a reef tank since I have always found coral/reef tanks much more interesting.
Of course, even though I know that I set up a quarantine tank that I cycled, added inverts, added a clownfish, and then let it run as I did tests as a way to both make sure I could prevent disease and to see if I could easily manage parameters. As it's been more than a few months I can reasonably say that I can definitely handle it. So I bought a AIO Biocube 32 to start off with and I know that I will inevitably upgrade to a much bigger tank in a few years just like I did in freshwater before I had to break them down to move.

This thread is to keep track of me building up the biocube

 

[Adalwulf]

I just finished building the stand and my cat decided that she needed to inspect it. Something I definitely find convenient about AIO tanks is that most of them seem to come with a stand as well

 

[Adalwulf]

I put the tank on top and then put in the rock formation that I cemented last week.

...before I even got the stand or tank... I was a bit excited to work with cement, hammers, and glue.

 

[Adalwulf]

Just put enough sand for a depth of around 2 inches and am mixing some salt water from some rodi that I have in a separate bucket

 

[Brady4000]

Love the rock work!!! Following.

 

[Adalwulf]

As a previously stated my quarantine tank is more like a tank to see if I can manage reef tanks and the clown and inverts have already been watched and are free of disease. So right now they are "quarantined" but are actually in a bare bottom tank with a few rocks. I might use that to my advantage since that means their filter media is cycled alongside their rock.

edit: I ended up keeping them seperate and using dr tims bacteria

 

[Adalwulf]

Ill post a pic after it's filled with water but after I add new media+filter floss and ammonia with Dr tims bacteria it will be a waiting game as I let the beneficial bacteria build up.

 

[Adalwulf]

I'm glad I have a large rodi container... I fell asleep to letting it run but at least it's full now and I won't have to touch it for a while.

Now it's just a case of putting the water in a few different buckets and mixing up some water. I'll start out with mixing 25 gallons.

 

[Adalwulf]

NOTE TO SELF: While it is a 32 biocube, as I predicted, the actual water volume with rocks and sand is a bit over 28 gallons.

20lbs sand + a bit under 16lbs rock

I can add a gallon or so based on how much water I put in the back of the AIO with the pump

Edit: with the purple rock it becomes 27 gallons

 

[Adalwulf]

PAR according to the company

When I tested myself, since tons of people say the stock lights aren't good, I found that the values have a few small differences in PAR but that could be due to user error and it's miniscule enough that I don't see the point in upgrading the lights. If I get a larger tank in the future I'll splurge for some great lights then

Edit: found a youtube video on it too! Thanks man! I'm definitely a subscriber now too. I liked the other vids as well.


I'm lucky enough that my hand and most of my arm fits through the feeder door (barely) so I had an easier time

 

[Adalwulf]

All filled up with the light settings rigged up.
I added a powerhead in the back right that I like right now but may change later when I add coral and fish in order to suit their needs

 

[Oldsman]

Nice work ! We have a 32 thats been running almost a yr now .

 

[Adalwulf]

Nice work ! We have a 32 thats been running almost a yr now .

thanks! I'm really looking forward to adding coral at different levels. I'm hoping my platforms and the downward slope of rock will be good lighting wise. It should be but you never know! What coral or fish have you been keeping? Any anemones? BTAs are my favorite thing in the reefing community but I'm determined to wait long enough for the aquarium can be well established before I chance having one. I definitly don't want to get one only for it to suffer or die.

 

[ShaneWedge]

Following.

 

[Adalwulf]

Nitrite: <.5 Nitrate: 5 Ammonia: 1 pH: 8.4 KH: 210

Since I'm testing for the cycle I figured I would post a picture to go with the information Mostly because this time as the cycle happens I want to compare algae growth from day 1 to future pictures

 

[Adalwulf]

Ammonia has lowered(not to 0.5 yet) but other parameters are almost identical

 

[Adalwulf]

Nitrite is the same and Nitrate has increased to 10. Ammonia has decreased to 0.5

 

[Adalwulf]

I have noted complaints across the forum about how the biocube runs hot. So far I have been leaving my feeder door open and that has kept it at or below 80°s but I also noticed that some people put computer fans in the back that worked well. Since I have a couple extra fans and a ton of velcro I'm going to add that to the back, close the feeder door, and compare how well it works.

 

[Brady4000]

I have noted complaints across the forum about how the biocube runs hot. So far I have been leaving my feeder door open and that has kept it at or below 80°s but I also noticed that some people put computer fans in the back that worked well. Since I have a couple extra fans and a ton of velcro I'm going to add that to the back, close the feeder door, and compare how well it works.

Hey that’s exactly what I did lol! Works great.

 

[Adalwulf]

Hey that’s exactly what I did lol! Works great.

Thx for the reply! I am pretty sure it will work but reassurance is nice. Its larger cousin works with my PC and I have the small version because I bought it without checking for size. When I saw that people used the exact same thing for the biocube I couldn't pass up the chance to try.