New 14g Oceanic Biocube

Well ive been reading this forum for a couple months now and ive decided to try doing the saltwater biocube, I have a 14g biocube everything is stock on it. Currently its been up for 24 hours. Im going to go thru the cycling process. There is 20 pounds of live sand and 12 pounds of live rock in it right now. I Just finished doing my first water test and this is what it looks like right now. Amonia is at .25 PH at 8.2 Nitrite at 0 and Nitrate at 10. Im hoping into turning this into a coral and fish tank. One question currently even though its a 14g theres only about 10g of water in it the powerhead is rated at 136gph should i upgrade to something stronger i was thinking about using an Eheim compact 600 anybody have any suggestions??. Thanks i will be updating post whenever something new or interesting happens. Heres a pic of my new cube.

not bad, there should be enough flow for most corals unless you want some sort of bare bottom, wild caught sps colony tank lol.

Great start Agree with Musho, if you want some more challenging corals, another powerhead is in order, otherwise leave it

Hey thanks for the info, for right now im going to stick with the begginer coral till i got more educated on reef keeping, Ive been staring at my cube alot even though all i have is live rock in it, still very interesting. Question?? since im cycling my tank how often should i test my water parameters. Also i have a red sea in tank hydrometer when i started salinity was at 1.023 now its at 1.020, i havent taken any water out, added water or had water evaporate so whats going on?? Ok well now to my hitchhikers, i saw a small red bristleworm, and also a long red worm very thin no legs or nothing but about 6 to 8 inches any ideas ???here are some pics i took maybee someone can help ID hopefully you can tell by the pics , i know one is sometype of snail very small though

The second picture is a feather duster worm. Filter feeder, part of your clean up crew, and good to have around. Can't make out the last picture really.

I stared at my live rock for weeks as well, dont worry!

Well its been a week now since ive had my nano running in the last few days i have experienced an algae bloom, i think i have every type of algea possible in my tank right now, not much yet but its there. I got a digital thermometer and its been holding steady at 80.4 i dont have a heater in but i dont think il need one. Also removed bioballs and added live rock rubble. Redid some of my rockwork think it looks a bit better this way and il have better spots to add coral once im able to do so.

Parameters:
PH: 8.0
Ammonia: .25ppm
Nitrate: 15ppm
Nitrite: 0

Well heres a pic of what it looks like now.. still wondering if i should add a stronger powerhead.

The algae is totally normal and nothing to worry about. Most tanks take a good 6 months to really mature and get past the algae bloom issues.
As for your s.g. it will swing a little until things settle I had the same issue with my tanks when I first set them up. thats why we dont add anytthing in the way of stock until everything settles. 10- 14 days is usual for cycled rock as long as you stats have been stable for a good few days, then you can add your clean up crew to help with the alge clean up.
I would test every few days and not every day, rather than use up all your tests kit in the first few weeks
So alls on track and keep up the good work.

Ok Ive had my cube running for about 30 days now i had an algea bloom issue about a week ago, i ended up purchasing 3 small blue legs hermits and now most of the algea is gone, i got some aptasia growing not alot i went to my lfs and got a peppermint shrimp also got talked into buying a frag wih some purple mushrooms, first coral that is going into this cube, i did the shot glass method of acclimating both. My shrooms where shriveled up a bit when i first put them in, but now there all nice and open. Well maybee next week depending on how things go with my shrimp and shrooms il get a skunk cleaner shrimp and maybee a fish. Well heres what my levels look like and a picture of my cube.

PH: 8.3
Ammonia .25
Nitrate 15ppm
Nitrite 0ppm

Its a bd idea to add anything when have an ammonia issue. I find it hard to believe that after 30 days you still have ammonia? Try getting your water tested elsewhere or buy a new test kit as if you where using fully cured live rock it should all be stable now.
Adding anything living with ammonia in the tank is not good and corals especially should go in after the CUC then fish... Corals last if you dont want to loose any. The fact that you have no nitrates and your bloom is over does point to a test kit issue

Well thanks for the advise i took a water sample to my lfs and there test show no amonia, maybee im reading the colors wrong, Im not color blind but man its hard to tell the difference sometimes. I would hate to be colorblind they wouldnt be able to tell the difference for sure. Well i figured i made a mistake putting in the mushrooms i got a little impatient but they seem to be doing good when lights of they get small when lights on they get really big so hopefully they will be ok. Patience is a virtue than i need to work on.

Just updated pix of mushrooms opened up:

They look well Ive found to my own cost that establised colonys do better. If you will loose any it will be the little tiddlers that get nuked first . If you have no ammonia then chances are all will be fine, Shrooms in general are quite hardy. With good stats maybe it is time to add the rest of your CUC, then the week after if all is stable then your first fish. Its all about giving the tank time to adjust to the new bio load, so its best to add small amounts with week intervals and test just before new stock to make sure all is well

littleme1969 said:

They look well Ive found to my own cost that establised colonys do better. If you will loose any it will be the little tiddlers that get nuked first . If you have no ammonia then chances are all will be fine, Shrooms in general are quite hardy. With good stats maybe it is time to add the rest of your CUC, then the week after if all is stable then your first fish. Its all about giving the tank time to adjust to the new bio load, so its best to add small amounts with week intervals and test just before new stock to make sure all is well

Click to expand...

Ok i have 2 questions what do you mean by an established colony?? and also what if i dont really want fish and just want coral i was thinking of just one more skunk shrimp which now that i think about it wouldnt have anyfish to clean hmmm? well thanks for the advise again.

Established colony, shrooms that have settled on a rock and are happily divinding and making little shrooms..lol
No you dont need to add fish and the shrimp will be happy with no fish to clean, my fish wont let him anywhere near them But you will have to feed the shrimp just as you would fish, or he will starve as they prefer meaty treats to greens off the rocks. make sure you get a good selection of CUC though to help keep your rock work clean otherwise you will soon have hair alage/red slime and every algae known to man if you have nothing to keep on top of it.

View attachment 47510View attachment 47510Well here's and update, LOVE my biocube everything seems to be going good the only think i cant seem to get down is my nitrates they are currently at 20 and seem to fluctuate between 15 and 20 ppm. I think im going to end up taking the filter pad out of the rear first chamber adding live rock there. In second chamber il use it as a refugium with some chateu in there. the third chamber has the powerhead and i will problably take out the sponge which ive been cleaning every few days. Maybee i will add some chemipure in the third chamber. This is a list of the clean up crew 2 ceriths, 2 nerites and 2 trochus snails 3 hermits, and 1 peppermint shrimp which has molted once. (1 unknown small white crab came as hitchhiker thats molted twice) Corals: purple mushroom colony, polyps not sure what kind, a pagoda cup, and 1 very small frag of star polyps only about 10-15 heads. I want one skunk shrimp and possibly 1 small clown fish(my kids want a nemo). For CUC and fish that will be it. for coral not sure what else to get but i will figure it out as time goes by Well heres some pictures of what my tank is looking like. thanks for looking