Brian’s Biocube Build

twofinhogie

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So After a decade+ and 5 moves, I decided back in February that it was finally time to break out the old Biocube 14 and get back into it.

This is one of the old Oceanic Biocube’s that the only thing I’ve changed out from stock, is the lighting. It now has an “upgraded” LED system that a friend of mine was prototyping for the Biocube when he was in college. So if you ask about PAR, intensity, or wavelength, the only answer I can give you is the light’s are blue :)

As for water parameters, I really just rely on my LFS as I get all my water from them and just top off with distilled.

Since I was last in the hobby it’d seemed like some things had changed, one of them being the lack of cultured live rock and coralline algae. I took that as an opportunity to do my own aquascaping using gorilla glue gel to secure it all how I wanted.
IMG_0489.jpeg

This is the design I more or less went with, keeping the front two rocks independent so I’d always have the option to remove or rearrange if needed.
The next few months we’re agonizing as I didn’t realize how much longer the tank takes to cycle using dry rock. Eventually in May I started stocking the tank. I started with some Zoas a frogspawn a Digi and a cleaner shrimp.
IMG_1846.jpeg
IMG_1845.jpeg

It did no take long for the coral bug to really bite and within 2-3 weeks I just had frags coming left and right.
IMG_1858.jpeg

(I tried changing some of the individual LEDs out for some white lights. Didn’t last long.)
IMG_1918.jpeg


At the same time I was working on making a stand for the tank since everything I found was either too short or didn’t have enough depth to hold the tank. Also, Biocube’s $200 laminated particle board stand was too expensive for much too ugly of a stand. Here’s what I came up with.

IMG_1868.jpeg


IMG_1904.jpeg

IMG_2028.jpeg

IMG_2027.jpeg


So back to the tank,
In June I kept buying frags and kept stuffing them in.

IMG_2063.jpeg

IMG_2070.jpeg

IMG_2093.jpeg


Ended up getting 2 clownfish but unfortunately they only lasted about 2 weeks before succumbing to a bad case of ick.
IMG_2215.jpeg


Up to this point, I’ve been having some trouble stabilizing the temperature and deciding what to do with how much flow I wanted so in the next month there were ups and downs but I think I finally have it how I want now.

The rest of these photos are just photos of the tank and corals in chronological from the end of June to now. Enjoy!

IMG_2312.jpeg

IMG_2342.jpeg

IMG_2318.jpeg
IMG_2346.jpeg

IMG_2348.jpeg
IMG_2362.jpeg

IMG_2400.jpeg
IMG_2556.jpeg
IMG_2557.jpeg
IMG_2785.jpeg
IMG_2786.jpeg
IMG_2821.jpeg

IMG_2822.jpeg
 

Gumbies R Us

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So After a decade+ and 5 moves, I decided back in February that it was finally time to break out the old Biocube 14 and get back into it.

This is one of the old Oceanic Biocube’s that the only thing I’ve changed out from stock, is the lighting. It now has an “upgraded” LED system that a friend of mine was prototyping for the Biocube when he was in college. So if you ask about PAR, intensity, or wavelength, the only answer I can give you is the light’s are blue :)

As for water parameters, I really just rely on my LFS as I get all my water from them and just top off with distilled.

Since I was last in the hobby it’d seemed like some things had changed, one of them being the lack of cultured live rock and coralline algae. I took that as an opportunity to do my own aquascaping using gorilla glue gel to secure it all how I wanted.
IMG_0489.jpeg

This is the design I more or less went with, keeping the front two rocks independent so I’d always have the option to remove or rearrange if needed.
The next few months we’re agonizing as I didn’t realize how much longer the tank takes to cycle using dry rock. Eventually in May I started stocking the tank. I started with some Zoas a frogspawn a Digi and a cleaner shrimp.
IMG_1846.jpeg
IMG_1845.jpeg

It did no take long for the coral bug to really bite and within 2-3 weeks I just had frags coming left and right.
IMG_1858.jpeg

(I tried changing some of the individual LEDs out for some white lights. Didn’t last long.)
IMG_1918.jpeg


At the same time I was working on making a stand for the tank since everything I found was either too short or didn’t have enough depth to hold the tank. Also, Biocube’s $200 laminated particle board stand was too expensive for much too ugly of a stand. Here’s what I came up with.

IMG_1868.jpeg


IMG_1904.jpeg

IMG_2028.jpeg

IMG_2027.jpeg


So back to the tank,
In June I kept buying frags and kept stuffing them in.

IMG_2063.jpeg

IMG_2070.jpeg

IMG_2093.jpeg


Ended up getting 2 clownfish but unfortunately they only lasted about 2 weeks before succumbing to a bad case of ick.
IMG_2215.jpeg


Up to this point, I’ve been having some trouble stabilizing the temperature and deciding what to do with how much flow I wanted so in the next month there were ups and downs but I think I finally have it how I want now.

The rest of these photos are just photos of the tank and corals in chronological from the end of June to now. Enjoy!

IMG_2312.jpeg

IMG_2342.jpeg

IMG_2318.jpeg
IMG_2346.jpeg

IMG_2348.jpeg
IMG_2362.jpeg

IMG_2400.jpeg
IMG_2556.jpeg
IMG_2557.jpeg
IMG_2785.jpeg
IMG_2786.jpeg
IMG_2821.jpeg

IMG_2822.jpeg
Great looking coral!
 
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twofinhogie

twofinhogie

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Todays new additions. Nuclear Yumas I believe. First try at mushrooms so we’ll see how it goes.
 
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