Phil's BioCube 29 Build Thread

[pkane11384]

Whats up MR. Tank has been going for about 6 months now but I feel I need to do a build thread here. Most of it will be brought over from my other thread on another site. Here we go...

From June 27th

The background on the tank is as follows. I wasn't planning on starting my tank until I bought a house. Paying for my upcoming wedding isn't leaving me with very much money to play with. Almost a week ago (6/22/12) a friend of mine said she was looking to get rid of her tank, which just so happened to be a BioCube 29. I asked her what she wanted, she told me that she didn't want any money for it. SCORE! This thought then came to my mind, what's wrong with the tank? Not that much apparently. This is what she has in the tank in her words...

Anyway right now I have one damsel fish, a cleaner shrimp, one huge hermit crap and a couple snails. I only have one hammerhead coral that is actually doing really well. The rest is Rock and gravel. You are welcome to the whole thing but it's a mess lol. Honestly I'm new at it and tried to keep up but I really don't know what I'm doing. There's a bunch of green algae on the rocks. Not sure you want to take on a project like that lol

Another score in my mind. I'll keep the rock ditch the gravel, but i'm not sure on what's in the tank. I can have my brother-in-law foster the coral but i'll probably end up giving the livestock back to my LFS.

Here are the planned modifications that I want to and plan on doing:
-Tunze 9002 Protein Skimmer w/ Upgrade Cup
-JBJ Nano-Glo Fuge Light
-BioCube 29 Media Basket
-Hydor THEO 100 watt Heater
-BioCube Mini UV Sterilizer V2
-Coralife Single Digital Power Center
-Rio 6HF Return Pump
-RapidLED Dimmable Hood Conversion

I don't have a powerhead listed yet. I'm not sure if I want to go with 2 Hydor Nano 425's or a Vortec MP10. I'll be picking the tank up this weekend if all goes well and should begin the cycling process also. I'll be posting plenty of pics along the way.

From June 30th

Did some shopping today to prepare for tomorrow:

-Four 5-Gallon buckets from Home Depot
-30# Nature's Ocean Bio-Active Aragonite Sand
-14# Instant Ocean Reef Crystals
-Small in tank thermometer
-Instant Ocean BIO-Spira 3.38oz

I have 20 gallons of water made ready to go into the tank. All water is from an RO/DI unit. Hopefully all goes well and we'll be up and running tomorrow mid-afternoon

From July 1st

Alright, well the tank is up and running. I got to my friends house and I had no idea how bad the tank was, but holy crap it was worse than bad. Couldn't see and sand because of the green hair algae and holy aiptasia batman. I counted at least 20 of them and then stopped counting. Scrubbed the tank when I got home, rinsed out the filters, cleaned the pump and the bio-balls. New heater in tank as the older one didn't seem to be working, the water was freezing when I put my hand in. All the livestock in the tank was given to my LFS. I have no pics of it before but as soon as the tank clears up i'll post after pictures. The BIO-Spira is in as well and my levels are good. I have a small CUC in their and two Peppermint Shrimp to take care of the apitasia's.

Here is the rock that had all the Aiptasia on it.

<a href="http://s1131.beta.photobucket.com/user/pkane11384/media/aiptasiarock.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/pkane11384/aiptasiarock.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/></a>

And that's pretty much where I left off. I was very bad about updating everything with work, planning a wedding and subsequently getting married. Things are just settling down so now I have more time for my tank. I'll post some more pictures for you guys...

 

[pkane11384]

As far as the modifications I wanted to when I originally got the tank, some have been done and some have changed.

Here's what I wanted to do originally...

-Tunze 9002 Protein Skimmer w/ Upgrade Cup
-JBJ Nano-Glo Fuge Light
-BioCube 29 Media Basket
-Hydor THEO 100 watt Heater
-BioCube Mini UV Sterilizer V2
-Coralife Single Digital Power Center
-Rio 6HF Return Pump
-RapidLED Dimmable Hood Conversion

Here's what I ended up with....
-AquaticLife Mini Protein Skimmer 115
-InTank 10W Refugium Light
-InTank Media Basket
-BioCube Mini UV Sterilizer V2
-Cobalt Aquatics MJ1200
-Hydor Koralia Nano 240
-CPR Nano Reactor
-RapidLED Dimmable Hood Conversion

I pretty much ended up with what I wanted for the most part. But we all know how hard it is to not buy equipment so here is what's on the waiting list for the tank...

-JBJ ATO
-RapidLED Moonlight kit
-Apex Controller
-Vortech MP10

Can't wait for that tax check!

 

[pkane11384]

Not much of an update but it's a small one. Picked up a VorTech MP10 yesterday. Didn't get the wireless due to the fact that I don't need it for the foreseeable future as the next tank i'm upgrading to is a 40 Breeder and that won't be until the end of the year. Also ordered my RapidLED Moonlight kit and got an extra BC29 hood that everything will get transferred to when I get my Apex. The old hood was modified to use a RapidLED Dimming kit and the top is cut. Also awaiting the rest of my Hanna Checkers. Gonna reorganize my cabinet soon. I'll take pictures when everything is done for before and after shots.

 

[pkane11384]

Here are the pictures of the before and after of the VorTech MP10 Installation

Before: With Hydor Koralia Nano 240 and Powersweep 214

After: With VorTech MP10

The area that the two previous powerheads took up was ridiculous compared to the MP10. A little more open and it doesn't look as cluttered

Getting the CPR Nano Reactor ready to put in the tank

 

[pkane11384]

Wow so it's been a while since i've updated this thread. I'm terrible with this. So the last update was almost a year ago. Since then here's pretty much the rundown on what's happened with the tank. Added an AI Sol in August that's since been converted to a Hydra. Won my battle with Cyano and GHA only to the have the GHA come back with the light upgrade. Started a zoa garden that has not only taken up space in the tank but has taken a lot out of my wallet as well. So with Christmas approaching i've pretty much asked anyone in my family for gift cards to BRS or any of the LFS's I frequent. Have a lot of equipment ordered and just waiting on everything. The tank will be hands free for the most part as soon as everything is installed minus the water changes and regular maintenance I do. Here's a list of everything that's been ordered:

-Apex Lite (In Hand)
-Neptune Standard Grade pH probe (Ordered)
-Neptune Breakout Box (Ordered)
-Neptune AWM Module (Need to order)
-Coralife 5W UV Replacement Bulb (Ordered)
-Reefkeeper Float Switch (Ordered)
-Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO (Ordered)