[mack23]

beautiful tank. what is the advantage to using the 8,000k bulb?

 

[james1542]

Thank you,

I don't know if there is a distinct advantage, but I was use to running 14,000k on my reef, so I was leeary of dropping to 6500K(feared it would be kinda yellow). They all cost the same so I went with an 8000. The plants do great and the colors pop.

 

[mack23]

yeah, for my plants i always go for something between 5,000k to 6700k, but your plants seem to love it, and the colors do look good. i may have to do a bit of experimenting....

 

[second]

James
I just picked up the 8 gallon version and would like to set mine up with plants and shrimp as well. Can you tell me about any other mods besides the light? How are you keeping shrimp out of the rear chambers?

thanks

 

[james1542]

Good question, The most important mod is keeping the shrimp out of the back. To do this, I plugged up the lower vents with some filter floss, you could also super glue a sheet of plastic over it, from the front side or the back, or glue some mesh screening, or stainless steel mesh over it. Then, I had a stainless steel filter intake screen, that was probably 1.5" in diameter and ~7" tall, I cut it open down one side and across the bottom then butterflied the thing open. I tried using superglue gel and hot glue to attach this over the upper vent slots, I found the hot glue works best, Just make sure you get this on good because if it busts loose later on it's a pain to fix! If you can manage this you get an awesome shrimp tank!

Other mods, I grew some emersed plants in the back chambers. That living basil you can get at the grocery store does really well with it's roots wet (might have to find a creative planter to keep it in, or a pot just larger up top than a chamber), but keep the stems above water. It will send down extensive roots, which will help keep the water clean.

Also-you may want to go open top with a custom light such as LED if the temps are running hot. With that enclosed lid and all that PC lighting, it can generate a lot of heat and keep it in. Just set it up and keep an eye on it for a few days.

 

[james1542]

yeah, for my plants i always go for something between 5,000k to 6700k, but your plants seem to love it, and the colors do look good. i may have to do a bit of experimenting....

Watt for watt the 5000-6500k spectrum will probably have better par than an 8,000k, or a 10,000k, the higher you go, the less reds and yellows you have in relation to the blues and purples. But when you have major overkill lights such as an HQI, your photosynthesis will be maxed out even at a higher Kelvin. I'd just keep it at 10,000k or under, but if you are at low light already, probably stick to the 5-6500k.

 

[tylergvolk]

Good question, The most important mod is keeping the shrimp out of the back. To do this, I plugged up the lower vents with some filter floss, you could also super glue a sheet of plastic over it, from the front side or the back, or glue some mesh screening, or stainless steel mesh over it. Then, I had a stainless steel filter intake screen, that was probably 1.5" in diameter and ~7" tall, I cut it open down one side and across the bottom then butterflied the thing open. I tried using superglue gel and hot glue to attach this over the upper vent slots, I found the hot glue works best, Just make sure you get this on good because if it busts loose later on it's a pain to fix! If you can manage this you get an awesome shrimp tank!

Other mods, I grew some emersed plants in the back chambers. That living basil you can get at the grocery store does really well with it's roots wet (might have to find a creative planter to keep it in, or a pot just larger up top than a chamber), but keep the stems above water. It will send down extensive roots, which will help keep the water clean.

Also-you may want to go open top with a custom light such as LED if the temps are running hot. With that enclosed lid and all that PC lighting, it can generate a lot of heat and keep it in. Just set it up and keep an eye on it for a few days.

I had the same problem with my planted biocube 14. I can't even get my hand down chamber 1 to plug the lower vent. I'd rather not block from the front due to ascetics. It's very much a pain!

It's nice to see another Biocube owner posting a planted tank!

 

[second]

I was thinking of going open top, or just running one of the lights that came with it.
Are you running with the stock filter?

 

[james1542]

The tank was used from craig's list and the guy had swapped out the stock pump for another model. He didn't indicate it was more powerful or anything though, maybe just more efficient, you know how those reefers are always concerned over heat issues. Has worked like a champ for a good 5-6 years or so that I've had it . I'll have to post some new pics tonight, the plants are looking good! Utricularia gibba is all over the upper moss, but it looks cool!

Oh yea, and I have this stock blue green foam block in the one back chamber, bunch of emergent plants in the others, a bag of carbon, a bag of crushed coral, a bag of purigen back there too.

 

[james1542]

New pics!
Fts:

Rusty brown C. babualti female, she might be berried, her eggs are so small it's hard to tell, but she looks like she's got more tail today:

Supreme red:

CBS:

Greenish yellow babaulti male

Floaters frogbit and giant duckweed:

 

[second]

Nice

 

[Basil]

That is a beautiful Biocube!

 

[tylergvolk]

Things are looking good!

 

[RobMc]

Beautiful tank, I think I liked it best all grown out and gnarly on 9/28