Official Biocube Thread

[SeattleFishGuy]

UPDATE:

Got the new 10k bulb today so now I have two 10k, 24w bulbs running. THe tank color looks much better...

I also made a DIY media basket for chamber two (sorry forgot to take pics)...I removed the bioballs and added floss and Purigen, will also add activated carbon bag once it gets here in a few days.

[SeattleFishGuy]

Oh yeah also got these on ebay for a good deal...

[SeattleFishGuy]

Update:

I've decided to take out the media chamber and add 3/4 of the bioballs (for the time being) in place and on top of the bioballs I added purigen and floss. I did remove the filter in chamber one and also cut the tab for better flow. Lastly I filled chamber three so there wasn't a trickle filter anymore as I don't want that for my CO2 that I will add Friday. The first one I ordered was missing a part...grrrr.

Today I bought both Dwarf Baby Tears and Dwarf Hair Grass. I added those tonight and here is what it looks like.



I did add Flourish Excel to the tank too to help kick things off, especially since my CO2 isn't running yet.

Lastly, I had a hitchhiker come in with my plants, looks like a shrimp to me, but can anyone ID this?

[samamorgan]

Looks like one of those sideways swimming shrimp things, scuds i think theyre called?

[SeattleFishGuy]

Originally Posted by samamorgan

Looks like one of those sideways swimming shrimp things, scuds i think theyre called?

yep, Gammarus I decided to post in the shrimp thread and I asked some local guys, everyone said the same, thanks!

Its the only living thing besides plants now in the tank!

So now I have a Gammarus Biocube 14!

[samamorgan]

Did you get those rocks from sierra fish and pets? I have some of the grey version they had for a while. They sold out pretty quickly.

[SeattleFishGuy]

No the fish store had them. Can't remember the name of the rocks though. Also Midway has a good selection right now...Seiryu, and two other similiar types.

[Chaoslord]

I did my resacpe in my 14.
I pulled my fish out and drained all the water.
My total water volume was 7gals completey drained all the way to gravel.
I do have 20 lbs of eco complete.
Now this would explain why my lights were burning everything. Just the one bulb is putting me a little over 3 wpg when I was trying to run both, thats over 6 wpg.
Maybe I should reconsider co2. Lol.
Attachment 44129
1 week after rescape.

[SeattleFishGuy]

Originally Posted by Chaoslord

I did my resacpe in my 14.
I pulled my fish out and drained all the water.
My total water volume was 7gals completey drained all the way to gravel.
I do have 20 lbs of eco complete.
Now this would explain why my lights were burning everything. Just the one bulb is putting me a little over 3 wpg when I was trying to run both, thats over 6 wpg.
Maybe I should reconsider co2. Lol.
Attachment 44129
1 week after rescape.

How do you like your Hydorflow? I was thinking about getting one but didn't get it because I was told it would agitate the surface and that's not good for CO2.

I just added my CO2 system (Hagen Nutrafin Natural CO2) a few days back and so far so good. I did add it to chamber 3 (return chamber) and so far so good. The ladder on the Hagen is ugly and I didn't want it in my tank so into chamber 3 it goes. If that doesn't work i'll lose the ladder and put the airline straight into the return pump. I think I will purchase a drop checker soon so I can see how i'm doing as far as CO2/PH in the tank. Also I might get a check valve for the CO2 system as my canister is below my tank level in the cabinet and I don't want it to take on water when it runs out of pressure. I was reading about somebody having that happen to them...yikes!

Its only been a few days with the plants but they seem to be hanging in there and maybe even starting to root...won't know for sure for a few more days but I'd say i don't see any die off and no real algae growth yet.

[SeattleFishGuy]

Originally Posted by Chaoslord

I did my resacpe in my 14.
I pulled my fish out and drained all the water.
My total water volume was 7gals completey drained all the way to gravel.
I do have 20 lbs of eco complete.
Now this would explain why my lights were burning everything. Just the one bulb is putting me a little over 3 wpg when I was trying to run both, thats over 6 wpg.
Maybe I should reconsider co2. Lol.
Attachment 44129
1 week after rescape.

One more thing regarding watts per gallon... I was reading this today:

WPG or watts per gallon is a rough rule of thumb that measures how much light you have. To figure your WPG you just take your total watts and divide it by the number of gallons your tank holds. Example: Standard 55 gallon tank normally comes with either 2 18 watt bulbs for a total of 36 watts or a single 40 watt bulb. In the first case 36÷55=0.65 wpg. In the second case 40÷55=0.72 wpg. For a 55 gallon tank you really want around 110 watts. Note that WPG is based on fluorescent watts and US gallons. Also it was based on T12 lighting with basic reflectors. With better lighting technology and reflectors you can get by with less light.

So watts per gallon is based on tank size and not how much water is in the tank.

[Chaoslord]

Originally Posted by SeattleFishGuy

How do you like your Hydorflow? I was thinking about getting one but didn't get it because I was told it would agitate the surface and that's not good for CO2.

I wouldn't think it would agitate the surface enough to off gas enough co2 to make that much of a difference. I might be wrong. I will get the hydro again when this one quits working its over 2 years old now.
I'm also thinking about going co2 now but I'll just diy if I do and run a line into pump.
Could you measure your main chamber to see how many gallons it holds?
I measured mine gravel up and came up with a little over 6 gallons. I'm figuring chambers 1-3 is holding my other gallon. I find it hard to believe that my gravel is taking up 7 gallons of space. The next time I see the 14 for sale I'm going to measure the whole main chamber and see what I get.

[SeattleFishGuy]

Originally Posted by Chaoslord

I wouldn't think it would agitate the surface enough to off gas enough co2 to make that much of a difference. I might be wrong. I will get the hydro again when this one quits working its over 2 years old now.
I'm also thinking about going co2 now but I'll just diy if I do and run a line into pump.
Could you measure your main chamber to see how many gallons it holds?
I measured mine gravel up and came up with a little over 6 gallons. I'm figuring chambers 1-3 is holding my other gallon. I find it hard to believe that my gravel is taking up 7 gallons of space. The next time I see the 14 for sale I'm going to measure the whole main chamber and see what I get.

when I filled mine for the first time with the gravel in it (20 lb eco complete like you) I used two 5 gallon buckets almost filled to the top so I'd say between 9 and 10 gallons i use...could be off though.

Going to the LFS today and hope to pick up drop checker to see where i'm at now that bubbles are flowing though my CO2 ladder.

[Chaoslord]

Originally Posted by SeattleFishGuy

One more thing regarding watts per gallon... I was reading this today:

WPG or watts per gallon is a rough rule of thumb that measures how much light you have. To figure your WPG you just take your total watts and divide it by the number of gallons your tank holds. Example: Standard 55 gallon tank normally comes with either 2 18 watt bulbs for a total of 36 watts or a single 40 watt bulb. In the first case 36÷55=0.65 wpg. In the second case 40÷55=0.72 wpg. For a 55 gallon tank you really want around 110 watts. Note that WPG is based on fluorescent watts and US gallons. Also it was based on T12 lighting with basic reflectors. With better lighting technology and reflectors you can get by with less light.

So watts per gallon is based on tank size and not how much water is in the tank.

So by this I could add another 3" of gravel to my tank and it would not effect the intensity of light recieved by plants in my tank.

To many variables for that to be acurate.

[samamorgan]

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/li...er-gallon.html

[Chaoslord]

Originally Posted by samamorgan

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/li...er-gallon.html

Lmao.
I found that very entertaining thank you.
Wpg is just a habit for me I've been doing it for over 30 years hard to break. 20 years reef tanks. Break for 8 years and 3 years fresh. I originally bought the biocube to get back into salt but it is for my son and he wanted fresh. I liked it so much I got my own and then some.