My 14g biocube!

[atlweb]

i just picked up a 14g w/ a 150watt Viper hqi that is going to be set up next week.

As of right now, I am just looking for some live rock from an established tank to move things along. My plan is to stock it with an RBTA and some baby clowns, either maroon or percs.

I will eventually get a third fish once the tank is very settled. Perhaps a temporary mandarin (will feed it copepods that I buy), or a cherub angelfish (if I want to risk it snacking a little on corals), or a goby / pistol shrimp combo. I have not decided yet. Tough choices. We'll see what happens!

Either way... I am very excited. I had a 34g solana and ever since I got rid of it.. I have missed the saltwater life too much. I will be posting pictures every step of the way!

 

[markl]

Are you worried about keeping the temps down?If I dont have a fan on my biocube 14 with a 70w viper it hits 82 -83 degrees within a few hours of the light turning on.I put a hang on fan on the same timer as my light to help. with the fan I top off a 1/4 gallon of water a day

 

[atlweb]

I usually just set the heater temp. a little bit lower. I used to have a solana with a disco ball and it stayed at around 79. I was adding around a 1/4th of RO water every two days on that.

I keep my house at 64 in the winter, and about 71 in the summer, so it is always pretty cool inside. I suppose I will have to see how this viper works... but worst case, I will just remove the glass canopy that I have for it, and possibly get a fan for it.

I noticed a top is usually the culprit to trapping the heat.

 

[atlweb]

Next plan of action...

I am making the biocube rimless. I am going to use a hack saw to take off the top. I may even consider making it a little "riparium" with mangroves and a few other plants on top.

I have strayed away from the anemone idea... probably going to stick more to some torch, bubble, frogspawn and a wide range of other corals instead. I am just too worried about the anemone moving around.

If anyone has any advice for taking care of a few mangroves or stacking rock above the tank, please let me know.

I just saw the "volcano tank" and I cannot even believe how beautiful that is. I saw some other people make some rocks that came out of the water with mangroves that looked great as well, and now thats all I want to do.

I can't wait 'til I can afford a shallow rimless rectangle tank (75g) and can have my own little beach. This little 14g will have to hold me over in the mean time!

 

[bruce 1]

What are you going to do with the old top?

 

[atlweb]

It didn't come with the stock top when I bought it. So as of right now it just has the black rim on it. And that... will probably be thrown away.

 

[atlweb]

Bad news

So I got the stand up and it looks beautiful....

Then I proceeded to do what many others have done... I used a hack saw to cut off the top rim, and a razor blade to take the silicone off to loosen it, first side looks really good.... I continue to take the rim off the other side, and all of a sudden the glass cracks in half. I just cracked $200 worth of equipment. Great start to the new year. I am so mad right now.

Does anyone have an extra tank hanging around? Now I am back to drawing board.

 

[atlweb]

I am a bit torn. I just spent over $100 on a new custom stand that I spent 20 hours building, but the dimensions are 16 x 16 to hold the cube. Now that the bio is done for.. I am either going to just pick up a different biocube or look for a rimless 16x16... but I don't want to be limited to the stand size. arghhh.