Jenna's Biocube

Sharkattackmack

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Hello everyone, this is our first tank. My girlfriend wanted to do a very simple tank for our first go so I found two biocubes on marketplace. A 16 and a 32. The 16 was used but the 32 was brand new.

After a trip to two of our local fish stores we left with a lot more knowledge than our 3 weeks of YouTube and googling. We didn't pick up much but just enough to get started. Some life rock, Fiji pink sand, salt water, RO water for top offs, ROWA phos, and Stability.

We built up the rocks out side of the tank then put them in and figured out a scape that we liked. Poured in the sand, then water, let the heater and pump sit in for about half an hour before we turned them on.

Our Amazon order shipped to my old address on the other side of the country so the filter media I ordered isn't here yet. I think I'll go back to the store today and pick up some Matrix for the back. My plans for the back is first chamber a small refugium, second will house the bio filter, carbon. Last chamber is the heater and return pump.

For stocking the tank we plan to keep it simple. Two clowns, a pistol shrimp, hermit crab, few snails and possibly one other fish. Possibly a yellow watchman, or Mandarin goby. Coral we are still looking and learning. Jenna would love an amemene but we're learning it might not be best for a smaller tank.

That's about as far as we are now. I will update more as we learn more and start to stock the tank. Any info, tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

PXL_20201207_125844277.jpg PXL_20201207_125855288.jpg PXL_20201207_125931031.jpg
 

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Looking good! I would suggest a turbo start cycle for bacteria when you add the clowns. Just add them and patiently wait for the ammonia cycle to begin. It could be 2weeks. It could be a month. It's different for everyone. You seem to be on the right path. Make 100% sure you get yourself some test kits. At the minimum you should get yourself a ph, ammonia, and nitrite/nitrate test kit. The rest of the testing will come when your ready to add corals. Dont add the snails until the tank has completed the cycle, and I would say the same for the shrimp. They need waste to feed on and if they dont have it they will eventually die. :( also, make absolutely certain before you buy a mandarin goby, that you have a thriving copepod population. This is goby and dragonettes main source of food. If there is not a thriving population they will either wipe them out and starve, or not have any and starve. If you have ANY questions about anything just reach out and I will answer as best I can. Good luck you two! :)
 
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Sharkattackmack

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Small update. Today I got a wavemaker, two thermometers, digital salinity meter, red sea test kit, chemipure blue, small bio balls and more salt/RO water. We also moved the tank away from the front door as we're being hit with some wonderful winter weather. Between coming in with groceries and going out with the dog we figured there would be less temperature fluctuations further away from the door.

On order I have the Intake media basket, coralife protein skimmer, back up heater, Sicce Syncra 1.0(for more flow and to use the original one as a back-up) along with a cheap back up wavemaker incase one goes out.

I've read in this hobby it's better to be proactive rather than reactive. I'd rather have some extra gear on hand just in case my LFS isn't open.

It isn't much but here's a small update picture. Hoping the water clears up a little more once I get the protein skimmer in there. After adding the power head it kicked up a lot of stuff and pushed it threw the tank. Next update will be after the weekend when we get our first fish.
 

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cngh

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you're off to a great start! is that the 16 or the 32? i have an old jbj24 nanocube, but am not familiar with the dimensions of the biocubes.

i'd suggest doing as much research as possible, starting with the cycle process. i don't recommend using fish to get your cycle going...it's very hard on the fish. if you have some ammonia, you can get it going that way. or ghost feed, which is just putting fish food in the tank for the non-existent fish. as the food decays, it'll feed the cycle. you can jump start it with bottle bacteria which will feed off the ammonia and eventually nitrite/nitrate (i don't remember the order). Dr. tims or microbacter7 or any of the other brands will do.

since i don't know the biocube set up, how is the water surface agitation and skimming? if the water level is the same in the front as in the back chamber, then the water doesn't skim properly and you end up with cloudy or oily looking water surface. the water needs to fall into the back chamber in order to skim the surface. and surface agitation will help with that as well. either point the return nozzle to the surface, or look for one of those rotating return nozzles.

i've seen a lot of very good looking and successful nanos with rock work set up similar to yours. just a word of caution, however, that the space between your rocks and the back wall will be a detritus trap if you don't have enough flow in the tank. all the eventual fish poop, uneaten food, etc. will settle back there. you want to get as much of the detritus up and out of the display and into the filter chambers. otherwise, it'll decay and become nutrients for nuisance algae and/or mess up your water parameters. get another wave maker and/or get a turkey baster so you can blow the detritus from behind/off the rocks.

which digital salinity meter did you get? did it come with some 35ppt solution? if not, you can search this forum to look for the recipe to make your own. your salt water should be 1.025-1.026 as that is about natural seawater. at that number, your other parameters (calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, pH, etc.) should be in target range as well. if you buy pre-made saltwater from the store, you want to check it to make sure they're on point.

also, get a tds meter to make sure your top off water is zero or as close to zero tds as possible. especially if you're buying top off water from a store. on that note, get a ro/di so you can make your own top off and saltwater. it's cheaper in the long run and stores are not always on top of (or honest about) the tds of their water.

down the road, try to avoid throwing away money on products you don't need or that make more work for you. in a nano, regular frequent water changes will fix most of the issues you'll encounter. sumps, reactors of various types, dosing, etc. are just more stuff to have to maintain. with a nano, just keep it simple and enjoy.

good luck!
 
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Sharkattackmack

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you're off to a great start! is that the 16 or the 32? i have an old jbj24 nanocube, but am not familiar with the dimensions of the biocubes.

i'd suggest doing as much research as possible, starting with the cycle process. i don't recommend using fish to get your cycle going...it's very hard on the fish. if you have some ammonia, you can get it going that way. or ghost feed, which is just putting fish food in the tank for the non-existent fish. as the food decays, it'll feed the cycle. you can jump start it with bottle bacteria which will feed off the ammonia and eventually nitrite/nitrate (i don't remember the order). Dr. tims or microbacter7 or any of the other brands will do.

since i don't know the biocube set up, how is the water surface agitation and skimming? if the water level is the same in the front as in the back chamber, then the water doesn't skim properly and you end up with cloudy or oily looking water surface. the water needs to fall into the back chamber in order to skim the surface. and surface agitation will help with that as well. either point the return nozzle to the surface, or look for one of those rotating return nozzles.

i've seen a lot of very good looking and successful nanos with rock work set up similar to yours. just a word of caution, however, that the space between your rocks and the back wall will be a detritus trap if you don't have enough flow in the tank. all the eventual fish poop, uneaten food, etc. will settle back there. you want to get as much of the detritus up and out of the display and into the filter chambers. otherwise, it'll decay and become nutrients for nuisance algae and/or mess up your water parameters. get another wave maker and/or get a turkey baster so you can blow the detritus from behind/off the rocks.

which digital salinity meter did you get? did it come with some 35ppt solution? if not, you can search this forum to look for the recipe to make your own. your salt water should be 1.025-1.026 as that is about natural seawater. at that number, your other parameters (calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, pH, etc.) should be in target range as well. if you buy pre-made saltwater from the store, you want to check it to make sure they're on point.

also, get a tds meter to make sure your top off water is zero or as close to zero tds as possible. especially if you're buying top off water from a store. on that note, get a ro/di so you can make your own top off and saltwater. it's cheaper in the long run and stores are not always on top of (or honest about) the tds of their water.

down the road, try to avoid throwing away money on products you don't need or that make more work for you. in a nano, regular frequent water changes will fix most of the issues you'll encounter. sumps, reactors of various types, dosing, etc. are just more stuff to have to maintain. with a nano, just keep it simple and enjoy.

good luck!
We dont plan on going too wild on this tank. It will be a small bioload and an easy maintenance tank. Thats why i picked up the skimmer. Plus for $60 i was hard to pass up on the deal. The media basket the biocube comes with is super flimsy so i was pretty happy with the INtank one. Other than that the Ive stayed pretty good at only buying the things that we need.

The tank is a 16gal. I have another 32 gallon in my garage but am waiting to set it up until i get my house finalized. Im actually debating selling it and buying a larger tank then building a stand/sump. That will be down the road so were focusing on this nano first.

There are 3 compartments in the back, first chamber(intake is the highest water level. I will be removing the shelf that's in there and installing the skimmer in there. Its made to fit in the back with the top on and Jenna likes the way the lid looks so we will be keeping it for the time being. Middle chamber is for filtration and the third has the pump and heater.

The water movement in the tank is pretty good and once the stronger return pump comes in and i set up the schedule on the powerhead i think it will be more than enough. I will have to keep an eye on the back of the rocks to make sure we don't start growing anything back there. i like the idea of the turkey baster and will defiantly have to throw that on the list.

As for meters ( dont roast me lol) i got a tds and salinity one off amazon. i bring it into the store with me and got the same numbers as they did with their fancy one. I believe it will work for now. The ro buddy will be a purchase of ours in the new year.
 
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Sharkattackmack

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Another small update. I'm away at work and Jenna picked up some Tigger and copepods. She also picked up some chaeto so on Monday when the intank media basket shows up I will be building a fuge in the back so that's where it will go. For now we poured half the bottle in the tank and put the chaeto in the front also. We've decided we want a Mandarin goby so starting to build a healthy population of food for them seems like a good idea. Sunday night I'll be picking up our first two fish so I'll have more to post then. Here's a photo of our aquatic tumbleweed. Lol
 

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Big shipment of goodies! Refugium light I got online was.much bigger than I expected so we wont be using that. The protein skimmer is a pain in the *** to fit in the tank so Im going to wait for is to do a water change. Before I start working on that. Jenna wonders why we need so many powerheads but forgets that I'd like to set up my own tank with me sometime.
 

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Welcome to R2R , congratulations on your Bio Cube, looks like your off to a good start. Looking forward to seeing more :)
 

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Things are moving along! All those boxes-- the holidays have come early! Haha.

One piece of advice: Save money (a lot) by buying used. Used equipment. Used livestock. But if you need something right away, that's different.

Looking forward to seeing more pictures as you move along!
 
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Sharkattackmack

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Things are moving along! All those boxes-- the holidays have come early! Haha.

One piece of advice: Save money (a lot) by buying used. Used equipment. Used livestock. But if you need something right away, that's different.

Looking forward to seeing more pictures as you move along!
I've been trying to use the local buy and sell groups as much as possible but with my work schedule and hours I always miss out on the deals. I'm going to be looking for a smaller fuge light so I'll check out the local groups first.
 
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We removed the false floor in the first chamber and got the protein skimmer in. Having an issue with micro bubbles as soon as I turn the skimmer on. So it's off for now until I get home later today and do some more testing. Tank appears to be thriving with life. Copepods are swimming all threw the tank(hopefully my refugium worked).

Today we will be getting our first fish. Popped into a fish store yesterday on the way home with Jenna and we picked them out. A pair of black ocellaris clowns. They seemed to have a lot of moment in the store, they ate very well and were inceperible. It helped that they were also having a 20% off livestock sale.
 

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Sharkattackmack

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Here they are! Benjamin and Jeremiah or Ben and Jerry. Jenna is incharge of naming and has quite the love for ice cream. They're black ocellaris clownfish. The store had quite a few paired but these were the ones we liked the most.
 

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Copes seem to be doing well. Before we added the fish I loaded the intank basket with the rest of the bottle of copepods. We had a thriving population but Ben/Jerry like to hangout by the intake and get their dinner delivered to them.
 

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Added some more CUC. Three mini blue hermit crabs, one nassarius snail, a trochus snail and a cleaner shrimp.
 

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cngh

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We removed the false floor in the first chamber and got the protein skimmer in. Having an issue with micro bubbles as soon as I turn the skimmer on. So it's off for now until I get home later today and do some more testing. Tank appears to be thriving with life. Copepods are swimming all threw the tank(hopefully my refugium worked).

Today we will be getting our first fish. Popped into a fish store yesterday on the way home with Jenna and we picked them out. A pair of black ocellaris clowns. They seemed to have a lot of moment in the store, they ate very well and were inceperible. It helped that they were also having a 20% off livestock sale.
Not sure it was mentioned in a reply, but the microbubbles are normal to a certain extent until the skimmer breaks in. might be a week or two before that happens. if you're still getting a ton of microbubbles after the break in period, then you might have to rig a sponge or bubble trap by the skimmer output to catch the bubbles before they enter your tank.

congrats on the fish!
 
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Sharkattackmack

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Some pre boxing day shopping turned into me buying some corals. Went to a new reef store got a zoa frag just for leaving them a Google review. Went to another store down the road and was blown away but what they had I couldn't leave empty handed. Trying to reserve myself for some boxing day spending but I couldn't help myself.

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I like your Cube! I have a 32 myself... been a lot of trial and error due to size, but it’s finally dialed on. Lookin good!
 

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