New 8 Gal BioCube Set-Up and Heater Question

tlkng1

Small Fish
Jul 17, 2009
46
0
0
Glen Burnie, MD
#1
Hi All :)

This may be a double post.

I had a very busy fishy type weekend..I won't tell you just how much $$ I spent upgrading, creating and modifying things :)

I now have a 29 gallon percolating with liverock on its way to a small reef. I used roughly 30 pounds of Aragonite for the substrate and have about 30 pounds of liverock; Fiji and Solomon Island. Right now, I just have a powerhead at one end and a canister filter with nothing but filter floss currently running. I plan to swap over to a hang-on refugium once the liverock is cured.

I have also set up an 8 gallon BioCube. I modified the set-up, removing the upper "wall" between chambers 1 and 2. I added a 1/2 unit of Chemi Pure under the false floor in chamber 2, removed the bio balls and filled the middle seciton with filter floss and a bag of charcoal (filter bag plus loose charcoal..not a filter type pad). Chamber 3 now has a mini-jet 600 in place of the stock powerhead. It took some arguing but I finally got the water level in chamber 3 to where it was supposed to be and managed to do so without flooding the room :)

One issue I have, however, is the heater for the BioCube. Ihave a 50 watt, 8 inch heater which I intended to mount in chamber 1, however, the heater is too long. Does anyone have the heater in the actual display area of a similar tank?

Also, I haven't done any aquascaping as yet. Should I let the rock "cook" in individual pieces as I have it now, or do the aquascaping?

Thanks

T
 

Lotus

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
Aug 26, 2003
15,115
13
38
Southern California
home.earthlink.net
#2
I'm not sure what to tell you about the heater. It would be OK in the display area, but, obviously, it won't look great.

You can aquascape while your rock cures. Moving the rocks won't make any difference. Because there won't be anything in the tank for a while, you may as well play with rock placement until you're happy with it.
 

tlkng1

Small Fish
Jul 17, 2009
46
0
0
Glen Burnie, MD
#4
New Pic

Evening all :)

The 8 gal is "cooking" nicely and for perhaps the first time, I was actually happy to finally see an ammonia reading. Ammonia is running about 1 ppm and slainity levels and temp are staying steady. I am replacing roughly 20% every three days in order to maintain salinity.

Pic for day ten is attached.

I have more or less finished the aquascaping. The picture is a little deceiving as the tank looks pretty packed, but, there isn't nearly as much live rock in there as it seems :)
 

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tlkng1

Small Fish
Jul 17, 2009
46
0
0
Glen Burnie, MD
#6
Hmmmm...replace, topoff. What I am finding is that as evaporation occurs, the salinity level was marginally spiking (1.028ish) and it takes more than just the top off with fresh water (distilled) to get it back into the correct range.