14 Gallon Biocube...

[Fish-Face]

I already have a 50 gallon reef tank up & running now for about 9 months & just got hooked up with a great deal on an Oceanic 14 gallon Biocube for $75.00 with a TON of extra stuff. I started the cycling process last night with some new sand, some sand from my tank, a good size peice of LR from my tank & 1/2 water from my tank & 1/2 new water. I have a question about heat for it... they say they are a "plug & play" system but I do not see anywhere there being a heater. Do I need to buy one? The girl I got it from said she never needed one. If I need to buy one, what size/kind do I get? I have never needed one for so small a tank before so I am a bit baffled. Also, since I am using 1/2 of everything from my already up & running tank, how long should I let the tank cycle before adding critters? The tank also has the one water pump built in. It seems to move stuff around pretty good, but should I get a small Korellia Nano pump too? Any help/advice from all you old timers would be great!

 

[luisse25]

u need to buy a heater since it is getting cold at night,u can put it in the 3rd chamber...100w heaters will be fine...
next is for flow add not koralia nano but koralia 1 or 2...thats for better flow and circulation that way theres no dead spot...
on the back chambers u can put rubble rocks or small pieces of live rock on the 2nd chamber...then u can put filter pad on the trickle tray that way it collects uneaten foods and dirts...
if u wanna put chaeto/macro algaes u can put it in the back chamber and put a small lighting there though i never done that before...

just regular water changes every week will do good and u dont even need a skimmer...
hope this help...

 

[Fish-Face]

Yes! Thanks so much! I do have the rubble rock in one chamber & cheato in the little cup compartment & filter pad over the top so we are on the same page there. I will go get a heater for it since this tank is in my room & I sleep with the fan on & window open even when it gets colder out... thanks for your help... I will post pics of before & after once it cycles & I can add some frags from my bigger tank... If anyone has frags they wanna throw my way let me know... wouldnt turn any down & may have some frags to trade as well... thanks again!

 

[luisse25]

you know when i had a bio cube 14 before i upgraded in to a 24 gal aquapod...i just transfer everything and add water and put new sand and a cup of sand from the old one..and i just had little cycle....

 

[hairoids]

Something you may want to consider for the middle chamber is a media rack. I have one and I put my cheato in that with filter pads on the top of it. You can get a couple of small bulbs to provide the light. Do a search for StevieT's media rack on nanoreef .com and you will see a lot of positive feedback on it. Here is a link to his web site (hope it is ok to post the link?):

http://www.mediabaskets.com/


Another option for increasing flow is to upgrade the pump used. I use a Rio 6hf which puts out 350gph. I added a locline "Y" on the the tank side of the outlet with a standard outlet on one end and a hydro-flo rotating deflector on the other. Works great for me.

 

[Fish-Face]

Ijust LOVE this site... you guys are so helpful. I will try that. I think I have an extra pwerhead that might work. I will have to see about the Y adapter though. I did use about 1/2 the sand I needed from my big tank & about 5 gallons of the water from it as well as the cheato that was in my skimmer. I am hoping to be able to add some frags next week. I am so excited to have this perfect little tank in my bedroom. My husband always calls me from the other room in front of my other tank late at night because I forget the time & am always late to bed... now I can see it from the comfort of my bed! Thanks again & any more suggestions are welcome

 

[Fish-Face]

Can anyone help me figure out why there are air bubble soming out of the built in pump on my 14 gallon? The water is all the way to the top of the tank. The compartments are as full as they can get...

 

[young_skywalker]

You're not supposed to run the compartments all the way full. If you look at the side there is a max fill line. I've also found that sometimes with those pumps you have to give them a gentle knock...