Nano-Reef Newbie - Biocube 14g - Arlington, MA

[agentfive]

Just thought I'd say hi! We have a 14 Gallon Biocube we started in November.

We're mostly going to get softies and then add maybe 1-2 more fish over the next several months. We currently have a Royal Gramma and really enjoy him.

Also - other big hits - our emerald crab and NAS snails at night. Those suckers move fast.

 

[stingythingy45]

:w

Hello and welcome to the club.
Yup,nassarius are pretty fast for snails.
What leather's/softies are you planning on?

 

[afboundguy]

Welcome... post some pics... we love pics...

 

[agentfive]

We've got a zoa, mushroom, a ric, green star polyps, and daisy coral.

Mostly stuff like that - Leather we are picking up this week or next to get started.

Our blue light ballast just went out in the cube yesterday afternoon - now we only have the white light on - bummed - the tank is only 1.5 months old.

Hopefully I'll be able to secure a new ballast by Wed before the holiday - they are not in stock anywhere but pet solutions. So far the corals are opening - etc.

We are also experiencing a bit of red cyano on the top of our sand - but that's normal from what I've read - we'll just have to adjust feedings/supplements to ensure it goes away.

 

[Aquaman_68]

welcome to the hobby & the forum!! & pics are manditory!! J/K

 

[agentfive]

Here's a current picture.

 

[agentfive]

Here's some more...

 

[reeferpj]

looks good and welcome to the hobby

 

[jojo1n2]

very nice

 

[afboundguy]

Looks good... bet you can't wait to fill it out with corals

 

[agentfive]

Yep - that's the problem. Hopefully get this light ballast fixed this week early on and start the filling.

 

[bigmike76l]

:w
Looks Good! Nice Color!

 

[brokereefer]

wow thats clean ahh a bulb already blow welcome to the hobby

 

[jbishop]

Welcome to the club. Looks like your off to a great start.

 

[somewhereinri]

Nice looking tank!

I just bought a biocube. How do you like yours? Any tips/observations?

 

[Palyanna]

Welcome to BRS! Looks like you are off to a great start. There are SO many amazing things you can do with your nano. Keep up the good work!

 

[agentfive]

The hood fan will jam if you open it while on - etc. It's god so far - just did a water change - etc. this morning.

 

[agentfive]

Okay - more on the Biocube...

1. We had one of the ballasts go already and the fans make some noise. Dealing with the customer support at Oceanic was great - I left messages for Brian - he's the head person and got replacement fans too - as they were making noise. Sucks to have a two month old setup have an issue - but in these modern days - it's expected.

2. I think the overall tank and stand looks amazing - we've gotten nothing but compliments.

3. The filter and such is easy to change - and I'm going stock for now and doing the 1.5 gallons a week water change.

4. I now know after buying the BioCube - there's a host of other options - but I'm new to the hobby - and if I want to upgrade in the future I will - probably won't choose a Biocube - but I'll want some Sunpod or such.

But - right now I love the little guy - it's perfect for our family and I have a backup battery pump and backup battery for the heater if the power goes out. I suggest at least getting a backup battery pump for power outages if you can't do both. After being at the local fish stores several times with people bringing in their corals and fish from frozen tanks - seems like a no brainer to have some backup.

 

[agentfive]

Also - I did order an extra ballast from PetSolutions.com - both PetSolutions.com and NanoTuners.com have replacement parts - etc.

 

[Palyanna]

I got rid of the stock hood on my BioCube all together, had a custom glass top cut and put a Viper HQI metal halide clamp lamp on it. The stock hood is kind of a PITA . . .