Brauney: New Biocube 29 Gallon SW Reef Tank

[brauny]

Brauny: New Biocube 29 Gallon SW Reef Tank

Today starts my journey into the beginning stages of a Salt Water Aquarium. I just purchased from petsolutions a Coralife 29 Gallon Biocube for a great price and bought both white and lunar LED's. Shipment is expected on in a week. I will use this thread to keep you up to date on my progress. Big thanks goes to Dino and others who gave me advice and who will continue to give me advice as I learn. Thanks Brauny.

 

[brauny]

Biocube 29 Gallon Has Arrived

My Biocube has finally arrived and is in the box. Now I am nervous as heck and afraid I will make a mistake. Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks Brauny

 

[Convict2161]

My Biocube has finally arrived and is in the box. Now I am nervous as heck and afraid I will make a mistake. Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks Brauny

Your very welcome buddy. Shoot away. What's got a hold of your nerves?

Unbox it. Check and make sure everything is there. Pump, filter etc etc. check for cracks in glass, plastic all over check with a flash light inside the chambers as well. I think last time we spoke you didn't go with the stand right?

 

[brauny]

Correct, no stand, but thinking I may have to get one. What do you think? Still in box. I hope I am not bothering you, but don't want to fug this up.

 

[Convict2161]

Correct, no stand, but thinking I may have to get one. What do you think? Still in box. I hope I am not bothering you, but don't want to fug this up.

No bother bro. Anytime you don't need a stand if you have a sturdy strong place to put it. Once you have a place all set up. Add some rock and then your sand and we'll get ya in your way to the cycling that bad boy.

 

[brauny]

Ok unboxing this lovely thing Saturday morning. Stay tuned.

 

[brauny]

Ok Convict2161 here we go, ready to unbox this bad boy.

 

[Convict2161]

Ok Convict2161 here we go, ready to unbox this bad boy.

Awesome!! Lets see it!

 

[Evansimp]

Can't wait to see this thing as well! Gonna be a cool build

 

[brauny]

Ok, Convict has been helping me all day, much appreciated. Doing leak test now and have my 23 lbs of live rock, live sand, ready to roll, will wait a few more hours to test if any slow leaks.

A few questions I need answered. My cover does not fit correctly, is there an adjustment or something, it is bothering me and it does not fit properly.

Also I installed another LUNAR and then a WHITE LED lights in slots #1 and #2 to go with the LUNAR provided and 2 sets of fluorescent lights. I hit LED 1 button and main Lunar lights up, I hit LED 2 button and then the 2 additional LED's I bought and insert go on. How would I do these once there is fish or corals in there? I do not know the sequence or even if I installed in the correct slots. Thanks again.

 

[brauny]

Here is my tank the morning of 2/17/2013. Have several questions.

A few things. Want to make sure all is set.

1. What temperature range is ideal for right now? Currently at 74 degrees as thermometer is set to 79 degrees
2. 20lbs of live sand and 23 lbs of live rock is in the tank. I have an additional bag of live sand ready to go, seems low to me, should I add it?
3. Salinity or measurement was high, now is is 1.019, if it is too low I just add some salt right or does it not matter as much right now? I did what Instant Ocean said, and went on the safe low side and still off. I think I am close though.
4. What is the best way to clean the sides? Lots of bubbles and film present.
5. What is the best way to arrange electrical plugs with outlets? Power Strip or just multi-tap.
6. I need a turkey baster to remove sand off live rock right?

I am sure there will be more questions.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

I started a coral life bio cube about 5 weeks ago too. If you're doing a reef, you need to bump up the salinity to 1.24-25 ish. The bubbles on the glass will go away but you can wipe them off with an algae magnet or even your hand. Is the live rock established or was it dry? I used about 14 pounds of established live rock and my tank cycled in like a week and water has been stable every since. You might also want to upgrade to intank's media basket and possibly fuge basket. I just added the fuge basket with chaeto and a fuge light myself.

 

[brauny]

Thanks for the reply. Yes establised live rock. I have wiped off with hand, but wonder if easier way. Convict has me getting the media basket. I added another 20lbs of live sand 5 minutes ago so cloudy again, but now the tank seems louder as water seems lounder in the chambers. Is this normal? I didn't notice it before as it was pretty darn quiet.

 

[brauny]

Also have a question looking at the tank, how are the chambers numbered from left to right? The left chamber as I will call it has a MIN and MAX line, what is this for because my water in that chamber is way above that MAX line if that is what it is for.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Chamber 1 is the intake from the tank. Chamber 2 is the middle is where a media basket/fuge would go. Chamber 3 is the min/max line. I wouldn't worry too much about the water line.

 

[Convict2161]

You did a awesome job with the scape! Your doing just fine and on your way to an amazing tank!

 

[Convict2161]

Lets see some more pics under different lighting. Btw... You don't need light on for cycle and prepare yourself for diatoms.

 

[brauny]

I will send you a video through as I think I have my lighting installed wrong for LED's. I am assuming when I turn on LUNAR both LUNAR's should go on. Right now second LED button is the 2nd LUNAR and the other White LED I purchased.

 

[brauny]

The fan and blue flurorescent light is the 3rd button which the fan goes on with. The 4th button is the white fluorescent light which the fan is not on with.

 

[brauny]

Fill me in on Diatoms?