BioCube for my dorm room!

[rive1404]

I started a tank build on another site, but I figured I owed something to the online forum that got me started in the hobby.

Just bought an Oceanic 8 gallon BioCube yesterday for $131 shipped on eBay! The University has a 10 gallon limit on fish tanks so I settled for an 8g AIO. I was considering a 3 gallon pico by JBJ, but I just thought of how much the water conditions would fluctuate and how much I'd have to top off on an open top system.

I'll be leaving all my saltwater tanks to my dad to take care of, who I just got addicted to the hobby 3 months ago. He's kept freshwater all his life, and he's picked up pretty quickly on the dark (expensive) side of the force that is saltwater.

I'll be seeding the new tank with sand, LR, and water from my 20 gallon reef. I'm hoping the cycle will be minimal or non-existent.

Seeing as it's an 8 gallon tank I'm planning to put a yellow tang in it...KIDDING! My plans are to make it a coral and CUC only tank. I'm wanting to be able to leave the tank in Lexington while I go home on occasional weekends. I'm looking to keep zoas, rics, and small frogspawn with the stock lighting--36 watt PC, 1x18watt Daylight and 1x18watt actinic with 2 led lunar lights.

This is the good part...my parents are funding my tank $50 A WEEK!!! So check back frequently for new additions.

All questions, comments, and advice are MUCH appreciated!

 

[thominil]

Pics? You could get a clown goby as they max out at 1.5in. A weekend without feeding a fish is fine as most healthy fish could go a week or 2 without food. I think this will be fun to follow along with. Good luck and have fun!

 

[rive1404]

Pics? You could get a clown goby as they max out at 1.5in. A weekend without feeding a fish is fine as most healthy fish could go a week or 2 without food. I think this will be fun to follow along with. Good luck and have fun!

I will get pics up as soon as I get the tank in, hopefully by Friday but it's looking more like Monday. As for the clown goby: I really like that suggestion. I've been thinking about getting one for a week now, but I've seen threads with people having problems with them eating coral. Any thoughts on this? The LFS I'm going to tomorrow had 2 of them in last week. I hope it'll be as fun for all of you as it will be for me.

 

[mcgrady7761]

this sounds like an awsome idea. next year i go away to college and i plan on doing the same thing.

 

[rive1404]

this sounds like an awsome idea. next year i go away to college and i plan on doing the same thing.

Nice! Hopefully this thread will benefit you in some way. I went to orientation and all I could think about were doing water changes and feeding the tanks. I can't go a day without my tanks.

 

[thominil]

Haven't heard about them nipping coral, but I'll look into it.

 

[rive1404]

Haven't heard about them nipping coral, but I'll look into it.

I think it was targeted around LPS-Montipora. I'm leaning towards adding a yellow or green clown goby as the only fish in the system. I don't think I read about them bothering any zoas, rics, or frogspawn.

 

[thominil]

If you get one, definately go for the green.

 

[rive1404]

If you get one, definately go for the green.

I dig the green, too.

 

[thominil]

I can see why.

 

[rive1404]

I can see why.

I don't like how they perch on coral though. It's not detrimental to the health of the coral is it? Just a little irritating...

 

[thominil]

Nah, the coral's fine.

 

[rive1404]

Then in that case, I'll be ordering a green clown goby at my LFS tomorrow!

 

[thominil]

Sounds good to me. In a tank that small, I would just add all cured live rock (10lbs. maybe) and acclimate the goby and put him in. The clown goby doesn't have a heavy bioload so you won't really see a cycle if you get all cured live rock.

 

[rive1404]

I'm using rock from my 20 gallon so I'm guessing there will be no cycle. I might start off adding coral first and add the goby later on when I see that everything is going well. I went to my LFS today with high hopes and came back empty handed...their shipment is stuck at the airport and they get it in the morning. Unfortunately, I will be in Evansville so maybe I'll have better luck there. I'll be coming back with some coral tomorrow...hopefully.

Still no news on the BioCube's shipping status...I'm getting too anxious.

 

[thominil]

No tracking info.?

 

[rive1404]

Nope, nothing yet. Payment cleared monday night, the 27th. Free shipping via UPS. I'm just being impatient, surely I'll hear something by tomorrow evening.

 

[thominil]

Did you get shipping confirmation?

 

[rive1404]

Nope, not yet. All I have is the Paypal receipt.

 

[thominil]

That stinks.... At least you can still dream about it......lol UPS is usually pretty good about getting packages to their correct destination on time so I wouldn't worry. Despite how much I make fun of UPS......