Bio Cube Owner's Thread

[AngelandNathan]

Has anybody here had the springs for the back latch of a biocube rust? Mine have and I want to get these out of here but can't figure out how.

[ArgoReef]

Hey all. Longtime lurker.
I recently rejoined the BC owners club. I've had a 29 gal. Oceanic BC for a while and I'm just now getting ready to rebuild. I know I should get a media basket and I plan on running LEDs when the time comes. What other mods should I make?

[Coelli]

Originally Posted by ArgoReef

Hey all. Longtime lurker.
I recently rejoined the BC owners club. I've had a 29 gal. Oceanic BC for a while and I'm just now getting ready to rebuild. I know I should get a media basket and I plan on running LEDs when the time comes. What other mods should I make?

When you get the media basket, be sure to break the tab between chambers 1 & 2, and remove any false floors in those chambers too.

[Coelli]

Hi fellow BC owners, just introducing myself. My BC29 was purchased used from CL and was stock except for a Nanotuners 5.6 LED retro (Nanotuners is out of business now - the guy went to work for JBJ designing their lights. ).

Now it also has:

AquaticLife 115 skimmer
R2 Moonlight
Cobalt Aquatics MJ1200
InTank Media Basket (floss, Purigen, Chemi-pure Elite, extra GFO)
InTank Fuge Basket (with sumbersible light and chaeto)
JBJ Oceanstream 500 Wavemaker kit
Koralia 425
ViaAqua Titanium 100W heater
Apex w/lab PH probe & wireless adapter (LOVE LOVE LOVE this)
Tunze Nano ATO
Noctua 60mm fans in hood
And until I pick up a used JBJ Arctica 1/15 chiller this weekend, I'm cooling with a little fan over the filtration chambers

The tank is still really new so it has 30lbs LR, ~5 dry rock, and 10# dead sand. Hitchhikers haven't been very plentiful; a bunch of feather dusters, a baby stomatella, a couple of yet unidentified baby snails, some pods in the chaeto, and a tiny green nudibranch that was seen once and disappeared back into the rock never to be seen again.

I've added turbo, astraea, trochus, and nassarius snails, a nimble spray crab, a yellow watchman goby, and the goby's baby pistol shrimp buddy who got lost in the rock when he went into the tank and is still missing.

At some point I may want to upgrade the lights to something programmable that will still fit in the hood (any suggestions?), and replace the wavemaker with a couple of Jaebo WP10s with cables for the Apex. For now I think my wallet has had enough. This project certainly snowballed... but it's been a lot of fun.

[Jrhunter0000]

Originally Posted by AngelandNathan

Has anybody here had the springs for the back latch of a biocube rust? Mine have and I want to get these out of here but can't figure out how.

im in similar boat i need hinges cant find them no where.

[jswo]

Wanting to buy a apex for a coralife 29. Wanting to know the best probe mount, I have nothing in chamber 1, intank media basket only in chamber 2. Someday want a skimmer in 1 or the space left in 2 also may get a ATO. Hope this helps.

[Coelli]

Originally Posted by jswo

Wanting to buy a apex for a coralife 29. Wanting to know the best probe mount, I have nothing in chamber 1, intank media basket only in chamber 2. Someday want a skimmer in 1 or the space left in 2 also may get a ATO. Hope this helps.

In my Oceanic, I have the temp probe zip tied to one side of the intake (tank side), and the PH probe is hanging in chamber 3 with the return, ATO float valve, ATO feed, and heater (temperature shouldn't affect the reading). The probes shouldn't be fully submerged but they're pretty lightweight and easy to find places for without buying a special mount or anything.

[AngelandNathan]

Originally Posted by Jrhunter0000

im in similar boat i need hinges cant find them no where.

I called the manufacturer today and they are sending me replacements but I am still trying to get these old rusting things to come out

[Billybatz9]

Filtration? Hey guys, I just bought a coralife biocube and have no idea what to do for the back chambers?

I have the coralife biocube skimmer in the first chamber and the return pump in the third.

But...

What goes in the second (middle)? Advice needed. I want to get started with my tank thanks

[Coelli]

Originally Posted by Billybatz9

Filtration? Hey guys, I just bought a coralife biocube and have no idea what to do for the back chambers?

I have the coralife biocube skimmer in the first chamber and the return pump in the third.

But...

What goes in the second (middle)? Advice needed. I want to get started with my tank thanks

That's for filtration and refugium, or both. Check out the InTank products. In my 3rd chamber I have their Media Basket and Fuge Basket (the latter has chaeto and a light that comes on opposite the lights in the main tank). Some skimmers will only fit there, too.

[Billybatz9]

Originally Posted by Coelli

That's for filtration and refugium, or both. Check out the InTank products. In my 3rd chamber I have their Media Basket and Fuge Basket (the latter has chaeto and a light that comes on opposite the lights in the main tank). Some skimmers will only fit there, too.

Yikes, thats like $100, not including the bags of chemipure and etc..

Do you know of an alternative

[Coelli]

Originally Posted by Billybatz9

Yikes, thats like $100, not including the bags of chemipure and etc..

Do you know of an alternative

Just build them out of egg crate!

[Billybatz9]

Originally Posted by Coelli

Just build them out of egg crate!

Not a bad idea. Thanks

[Billybatz9]

Is the filter floss, chemi pure, and purigen really needed? Just curious. What benefits do these add to the biocube? Also, when do you replace these items?

And what do you use for filter floss? Any cheap home depot, wal mart items that you use?

[r_jay]

Originally Posted by Billybatz9

Is the filter floss, chemi pure, and purigen really needed? Just curious. What benefits do these add to the biocube? Also, when do you replace these items?

And what do you use for filter floss? Any cheap home depot, wal mart items that you use?

I've used it all and I've gone without most of it. I at least use floss to help catch the particulates and keep the water clear. One day I was feeling crafty and made some small filter socks to put in there. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1411952919.549010.jpg

[Billybatz9]

Originally Posted by r_jay

I've used it all and I've gone without most of it. I at least use floss to help catch the particulates and keep the water clear. One day I was feeling crafty and made some small filter socks to put in there. Attachment 292465

Did you notice any difference when using the items? What else do you use except for filter floss?

[r_jay]

I used chemipure and did notice the water clarity improve, otherwise it didn't make any of the algae go away or make my parameters change. The purigen...I may as well have just spent that money on water changes. I put way more emphasis on a healthy refugium.

[Coelli]

My tank is really new so this may or may not mean anything. I'm using floss (changed out as soon as it's grungy), purigen, Chemi-pure Elite, and extra GFO as well as chaeto in the back and in a soap dish in the DT. Oh, and a small skimmer (AquaticLife 115). I have 2 nassarius snails for the shallow sand bed and 8 assorted other snails. Other than an initial diatom bloom that the snails handled magnificently, I have yet to see the dreaded new tank algae bloom. I have green coralline, but no green algae yet and crystal clear water (changing 20% weekly and I buy my water from a great coral store so it's always the same). We'll see how it goes. Nitrates have

[BioCubeGuy]

Originally Posted by Coelli

My tank is really new so this may or may not mean anything. I'm using floss (changed out as soon as it's grungy), purigen, Chemi-pure Elite, and extra GFO as well as chaeto in the back and in a soap dish in the DT. Oh, and a small skimmer (AquaticLife 115). I have 2 nassarius snails for the shallow sand bed and 8 assorted other snails. Other than an initial diatom bloom that the snails handled magnificently, I have yet to see the dreaded new tank algae bloom. I have green coralline, but no green algae yet and crystal clear water (changing 20% weekly and I buy my water from a great coral store so it's always the same). We'll see how it goes. Nitrates have

Hey Coelii,

How long has your tank been up and running? Is your skimmer in chamber 1? Just curious to know how well your skimmer is working. I've had mine for about 3 weeks now, it's been producing some nice skimmate.

[Coelli]

Originally Posted by BioCubeGuy

Hey Coelii,

How long has your tank been up and running? Is your skimmer in chamber 1? Just curious to know how well your skimmer is working. I've had mine for about 3 weeks now, it's been producing some nice skimmate.

It's only been a couple of weeks but I had virtually no cycle and added the CUC (snails) after a few days and then a YWG, pistol shrimp, and sally lightfoot crab the weekend before last. Also have a bunch of very happy feather dusters and added the first coral frags on Saturday. So far all good, while I am probably losing 2 of the 3 xenia frags (they were unceremoniously ripped by hand from an outdoor tank, sat in a deli cup for 2 hours and were then superglued to rocks - rough day!) the third xenia seems to have taken it in stride and the GSP frag I bought the same day was open in the morning and seems happy, as well as the red monti cap and green birds nest frags.

I have an AquaticLife 115 in chamber 1 and while it seems to have its ups and downs, it is producing a watery skimmate, with lots of buildup in the neck and outside of the cone. The ATO seems to help a lot with not having to adjust it as much as when I was topping off manually.

I'm on the fence about keeping it though - it feels like anything that comes through the intake is going to hit the skimmer pump first which probably isn't good, and I think I would get better water flow if it wasn't there (the flow diverter that comes with InTank's media basket helps a lot though). Ideally it would go in chamber 2 after the media basket/floss but then I'd have to give up the fuge. Not sure at this point whether I'm getting enough benefit from the skimmer or not. My water's really clear though, so for now I'm not doing anything.

Edit: Whoops, I see I started writing something about nitrates... They've been hovering around 5-10ppm. Need to retest, and for phosphate too which was .14 when I started the tank.

[BioCubeGuy]

Originally Posted by Coelli

It's only been a couple of weeks but I had virtually no cycle and added the CUC (snails) after a few days and then a YWG, pistol shrimp, and sally lightfoot crab the weekend before last. Also have a bunch of very happy feather dusters and added the first coral frags on Saturday. So far all good, while I am probably losing 2 of the 3 xenia frags (they were unceremoniously ripped by hand from an outdoor tank, sat in a deli cup for 2 hours and were then superglued to rocks - rough day!) the third xenia seems to have taken it in stride and the GSP frag I bought the same day was open in the morning and seems happy, as well as the red monti cap and green birds nest frags.

I have an AquaticLife 115 in chamber 1 and while it seems to have its ups and downs, it is producing a watery skimmate, with lots of buildup in the neck and outside of the cone. The ATO seems to help a lot with not having to adjust it as much as when I was topping off manually.

I'm on the fence about keeping it though - it feels like anything that comes through the intake is going to hit the skimmer pump first which probably isn't good, and I think I would get better water flow if it wasn't there (the flow diverter that comes with InTank's media basket helps a lot though). Ideally it would go in chamber 2 after the media basket/floss but then I'd have to give up the fuge. Not sure at this point whether I'm getting enough benefit from the skimmer or not. My water's really clear though, so for now I'm not doing anything.

Edit: Whoops, I see I started writing something about nitrates... They've been hovering around 5-10ppm. Need to retest, and for phosphate too which was .14 when I started the tank.

Thanks for the response. I've only adjusted mine once when I first installed it. I too wish is was a little thicker as it looks like dark tea. But is seems to be doing the trick. Water flow seems ok for me, although my chamber 2 is still completely stock (filter/chemi-pure/bio balls.) I was thinking about adding a media basket to customize my setup but I'm just not sure. I was told you need to cut some of the plastic down from chamber 1 etc... I need to do more research.

[Coelli]

I think you can remove the tab between 1/2 even without a media basket, but you should get the bioballs out of there. Even the Biocube instructions say not to use them for reefs. They are nothing but a detritus trap and over time will cause you a lot of problems!

As for the tab, it's really easy to remove. I used a serrated steak knife to cut straight down next to the wall and then snapped it out. Watch InTank's video about the media basket, etc - they show you how to do it. I've also removed all of the false floors in chambers 1 & 2. When I took them out there was a TON of dried detritus down there from the first owner.

[BioCubeGuy]

Originally Posted by Coelli

I think you can remove the tab between 1/2 even without a media basket, but you should get the bioballs out of there. Even the Biocube instructions say not to use them for reefs. They are nothing but a detritus trap and over time will cause you a lot of problems!

As for the tab, it's really easy to remove. I used a serrated steak knife to cut straight down next to the wall and then snapped it out. Watch InTank's video about the media basket, etc - they show you how to do it. I've also removed all of the false floors in chambers 1 & 2. When I took them out there was a TON of dried detritus down there from the first owner.

oops... I guess I'll remove the bio balls then. I didn't realize they're not reef safe/recommended. I'll be checking out the InTank video after work, thanks so much for the info.

[BioCubeGuy]

Originally Posted by Coelli

I think you can remove the tab between 1/2 even without a media basket, but you should get the bioballs out of there. Even the Biocube instructions say not to use them for reefs. They are nothing but a detritus trap and over time will cause you a lot of problems!

As for the tab, it's really easy to remove. I used a serrated steak knife to cut straight down next to the wall and then snapped it out. Watch InTank's video about the media basket, etc - they show you how to do it. I've also removed all of the false floors in chambers 1 & 2. When I took them out there was a TON of dried detritus down there from the first owner.

Just about to purchase the media basket. Do I also need the fuge basket as well? Or will the media basket stay in place and work without it?

[Coelli]

Originally Posted by BioCubeGuy

Just about to purchase the media basket. Do I also need the fuge basket as well? Or will the media basket stay in place and work without it?

It'll stay in place without it because the flow diverter kind of snaps onto the wall and the basket, holding it in place. Just be gentle when putting it on - difficult with the skimmer there. I've had to superglue mine back together twice now. >.< As for the fuge you don't *need* it - but it's a nice-to-have.