JBJ or Oceanic 29 Biocube or IM Nuvo 38?

[Convict2161]

Also have you read this?


http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f101/the-bio-cube-29-information-thread-221710.html

 

[brauny]

You just cut a piece to fit inside the inTank media rack. A little square. IMO a skimmer is useless in the bio cube 29. Just do your weekly water changes. Don't skimp on them and you'll be fine. I'm a little overboard so I change out my poly floss in the middle of the week also.

Any other questions just feel free to ask.

When you say overboard, I just can't see me doing weekly water changes, that seems expensive or is it not? What does a skimmer do? If you think it is useless what or how long do water changes take? Your tank looks great.

 

[Convict2161]

When you say overboard, I just can't see me doing weekly water changes, that seems expensive or is it not? What does a skimmer do? If you think it is useless what or how long do water changes take? Your tank looks great.

If you can't commit to maintaining your tank then maybe take a step back and look at the big picture. Is a saltwater tank for you? You NEED to perform your water changes. Weekly water changes are pretty much the norm for most of us.

It doesn't take long at all, I buy my water pre mixed so I grab a 5 gallon bucket on Friday after work, put a power head and heater in it and let it sit over night. Saturday I do the water change.

It take me in total... I dunno maybe 15-20 minutes. I'll time it next time. It's really not that hard. And look at the results!

If you really want it you'll make it work.

All I can say is make sure your ready before going through with it.

 

[Psychocircus91]

When you say overboard, I just can't see me doing weekly water changes, that seems expensive or is it not? What does a skimmer do? If you think it is useless what or how long do water changes take? Your tank looks great.

Salt is cheap. Water is potentially free. As mentioned its not very time consuming especially for a tank that size. People get skimmers in larger tanks to avoid doing thirty gallon water changes

 

[brauny]

If you can't commit to maintaining your tank then maybe take a step back and look at the big picture. Is a saltwater tank for you? You NEED to perform your water changes. Weekly water changes are pretty much the norm for most of us.

It doesn't take long at all, I buy my water pre mixed so I grab a 5 gallon bucket on Friday after work, put a power head and heater in it and let it sit over night. Saturday I do the water change.

It take me in total... I dunno maybe 15-20 minutes. I'll time it next time. It's really not that hard. And look at the results!

If you really want it you'll make it work.

All I can say is make sure your ready before going through with it.

I can commit, but am going off several opinions and wondering what is the best way to go about it, Dino's information has been very helpful, Thank you Dino. Water Changes are fine, but I do not have a local pet store anywhere close that will have pre-mixed water, that is the problem. Also what type of heater and powerhead for the bucket.

 

[brauny]

Salt is cheap. Water is potentially free. As mentioned its not very time consuming especially for a tank that size. People get skimmers in larger tanks to avoid doing thirty gallon water changes

Ok great, so the skimmer is out of the question then, but doesn't the HQI come with one of these? Do you just not hook it up? Are there any YouTube videos of these tanks being installed or setup to guide me.

 

[Convict2161]

I can commit, but am going off several opinions and wondering what is the best way to go about it, Dino's information has been very helpful, Thank you Dino. Water Changes are fine, but I do not have a local pet store anywhere close that will have pre-mixed water, that is the problem. Also what type of heater and powerhead for the bucket.

All you need is a small power head for a five gallon bucket. You can then cheap online. I use a koralia 750 and a AqueonPro 200 watt heater. I had them laying around that's why I use them in the bucket.

Mixing your own salt is easy (I don't do it often)

Just follow the measurements and add your RO or distilled water. And mix, let it mix over night and test the salinity with a refractometer a cheaper way is using a hydrometer which I've used for a while then graduated to the refractometer, honestly and this is just me... I don't see much of a difference between the both BUT the refractometer is cheap enough on amazon to invest in.

Ok great, so the skimmer is out of the question then, but doesn't the HQI come with one of these? Do you just not hook it up? Are there any YouTube videos of these tanks being installed or setup to guide me.

The HQI does come with a skimmer but again IMO its not needed. If you wanna run it then by all means do so.

Most of the videos on YouTube are of modified cubes. People adding sumps etc. keep it simple for now until your comfortable with it.

If the store is too far maybe buy 2 buckets, that will give you 2 weeks worth and then go back, if you don't wanna mix your own. Up to you... It is nice to have your own salt and equipment ready to go of you have to do a change. My local guy I can literally walk to so its just laziness and convenience of just picking up a bucket every week.

Glad I could help. I've been toying with my cube for a year and I might me doing a sump in the near future

 

[MahiMahi]

Yea I have the tunze 9001 protein skimmer doesn't do very much sadly...was also contemplating a sump/fuge for my 29 biocube

 

[Convict2161]

Yea I have the tunze 9001 protein skimmer doesn't do very much sadly...was also contemplating a sump/fuge for my 29 biocube

If you have the time I'd say go for it. There's a really good video on YouTube. Here's the link. I've been in phone contact with the guy and its pretty easy to do. Only thing he told me was sometimes there's a odor. I'm not familiar with sumps at all... So maybe others that have them will know if they do sometimes omit a odor.

 

[brauny]

Help with BIOCUBE

So what is the different between the Coralife Biocube 29 Gallon and the Oceanic HQI BIocube 29 Gallon? Price is $289 vs. $449 Is it worth it for $160 to do the HQI.

 

[Convict2161]

So what is the different between the Coralife Biocube 29 Gallon and the Oceanic HQI BIocube 29 Gallon? Price is $289 vs. $449 Is it worth it for $160 to do the HQI.

HQI is the light. Metal halide. You can keep pretty much what you want. The regular BC29 are PC or power compacts. Limited corals.

Depends on what you wanna keep.

Regular BC

Mushrooms
Leathers
Zoas
Ricordias
Xenia

HQI

Monti
SPS
clams
Nems


Others too. Look up low light corals and higher light corals.

 

[brauny]

HQI is the light. Metal halide. You can keep pretty much what you want. The regular BC29 are PC or power compacts. Limited corals.

Depends on what you wanna keep.

Regular BC

Mushrooms
Leathers
Zoas
Ricordias
Xenia

HQI

Monti
SPS
clams
Nems


Others too. Look up low light corals and higher light corals.

But you modified your lighting so I am wondering if I go with the nice light you got and get the normal Biocube. Or is it best to start with the HQI and do a few mods. Just need direction from the experts. Let me know what I need as I will purchase tomorrow.

 

[Convict2161]

Well my light with the controller was about 480.00. So.. If you wanna cut into your hood and spend the money then get the regular one.

The HQI has a better light BUT you can mod that also by adding the AI NANO. It will fit right into the spot where the metal halide goes. I love AI's LED fixture. You can customize it so it slowly ramps up to noon and back down to moonlight. You can even set it up for lighting storm effects.

It's a pretty cool light and can support anything.

The choice is really what you wanna mod and spend. Spend less on the tank and more on mods? Or vise versa.

The regular BC does have for mods available the HQI for some reason is limited. Not by much BUT limited non the less.

 

[brauny]

Ok so it sounds like you think the HQI and mod the fixture with the AI nano at some point. What is better for a beginner, HQI or REgular, just based off of price and what the capabilities with no mods. Can you text me, I PM'd my phone number? As I am going today to look.

 

[Convict2161]

Good luck today!! Can't wait to see what you get. Hope you got my last few text messages.

 

[brauny]

Good luck today!! Can't wait to see what you get. Hope you got my last few text messages.

Thanks, visited 4 different shops with my engineer nephew and all different opinions. I will buy online tomorrow and can't wait to start.

One opinion they all said was to add live sand first then live rock, when I thought it would the opposite. Which is it?

Also decided to go with the 29 Coralife biocube and upgrade to LED lighting and a few other MODS since recommendations from this thread say skimmer is not worth it and lighting should be modified anyhow. Will keep you updated.

 

[Convict2161]

I'm not sure why they would say that BUT... Add your rock first. Do your rock scape then add the same.

Reasons;

If you get sand sifting inverts they will move sand around and cause for a unstable scape.

Also if you get fish, like some goby's or say a pistol shrimp that also like to dig and can dig for days. You'll end up shifting the rock work and could cause damage to your fish and or tank.

Play it safe. Do the rock work then add your sand Make sure your rocks are stable and placed well so you don't have a rockslide, I did when I first started and its NOT fun.

 

[brauny]

I'm not sure why they would say that BUT... Add your rock first. Do your rock scape then add the same.

Reasons;

If you get sand sifting inverts they will move sand around and cause for a unstable scape.

Also if you get fish, like some goby's or say a pistol shrimp that also like to dig and can dig for days. You'll end up shifting the rock work and could cause damage to your fish and or tank.

Play it safe. Do the rock work then add your sand Make sure your rocks are stable and placed well so you don't have a rockslide, I did when I first started and its NOT fun.

Yes I am going with your advice Dino, not theirs, didn't sound right to me, who cares about the cloudiness at first, I don't expect my tank to be clear anyhow right away, I mean come on. Thanks again for being there. Purchase for the day was my nephews 3 Tee-Barbs and a good lunch

 

[Convict2161]

Yes I am going with your advice Dino, not theirs, didn't sound right to me, who cares about the cloudiness at first, I don't expect my tank to be clear anyhow right away, I mean come on. Thanks again for being there. Purchase for the day was my nephews 3 Tee-Barbs and a good lunch

Anytime bro, glad you got it all figured out and had a great day!!

 

[brauny]

Dino I plan on investing in a RO system and installing it near my water softener in the basement with a garbage can so I have my own RO water. What do you think? System is like $140 or less. You think I should do this?