Goodbye Biocube Upgrade Time.

[chief hill]

Well after a year and a half I've took the plunge and upgraded.
Due to space issues I'm limited to 4" so I got a 60 gallon acrylic.
The tank is used and came with about 75 lbs of rock with sand. I was able to take about 25 gallons of the water with the tank but had to dump the rest. tank is in good shape but It can use some polishing on the outside for scratches is some spots. Today I took the time to set it all up and get it running. Due to the move and only having 25 gallons of water I guess I'll have to let it run through a full cycle before I can transfer everything from the biocube to the lager tank.
Don't mind the pics I took them just after setup.

I put in a 20 gallon long for a sump and it also came with a wet / dry style filter with bio balls. I modded it to accept a filter sock. This way I can add filter related materials to it. No baffles in sump either this time. I'll just add LR and that's it for now.
I have 2 cheapo led lights on top now (cheapo lights will be for sump) while it cycles and will move to the full spectrum leds from my biocube. (I'll have to buy a 2nd led fixture now)
Or go with T5s, I'm just unsure if I should do that or not I've always had Led. What so you guys suggest?
Still to come. Wife's orders build a hood for the top.
Get a proper skimmer (can't use a nano tune 9002) on this tank,
Jabeo mp25 WaveMaker. Hang and mount electrical to tidy wiring. Polish outside of tank.

 

[EricTMah]

Congrats on the new set up! Looks good.

Switching from LED to T5's? I'm a big LED guy, so I say keep the LED's. But it all depends what your personal experiences are. If you're happy with growth and color of your corals in the cube under your existing LED's. Why switch?

 

[yveterinarian]

As long as you kept the rock and sand wet you shouldn't have much of a cycle but you will get a small one because of the disturbance to the sand and the small die off of the bacteria during transportation. The bacteria for your biological filter is kept on your rock and sand, not the water so it doesn't matter that you only kept 25 gallons of the original water. Did you rinse the sand with fresh saltwater before you put it back into the tank? This helps decrease the buildup of detritus being added back into your tank and reduce the intensity of the cycle.
After your tank settles for a day or two and your ammonia and nitrite levels are 0, I would suggest adding a bit of the rock with coral from your existing tank and a fish or two and test your parameters. If the ammonia goes up a bit add some Prime and wait until the ammonia goes down then add some more livestock and rock from your biocube.
The new tank looks great!

 

[chief hill]

As long as you kept the rock and sand wet you shouldn't have much of a cycle but you will get a small one because of the disturbance to the sand and the small die off of the bacteria during transportation. The bacteria for your biological filter is kept on your rock and sand, not the water so it doesn't matter that you only kept 25 gallons of the original water. Did you rinse the sand with fresh saltwater before you put it back into the tank? This helps decrease the buildup of detritus being added back into your tank and reduce the intensity of the cycle.
After your tank settles for a day or two and your ammonia and nitrite levels are 0, I would suggest adding a bit of the rock with coral from your existing tank and a fish or two and test your parameters. If the ammonia goes up a bit add some Prime and wait until the ammonia goes down then add some more livestock and rock from your biocube.
The new tank looks great!

Well the acrylic tank was just running with lr and water. The guy I bought it from had no live stock in the tank. However when It was moved and stored over night I kept all rock and sand wet. The sand was so clean it seems brand new with no signs of detritus.
I'll follow your suggestions. I added all the substrate that was rinsed with saltwater from my biocube sump and it's in the new tank.
I'll start adding stock from the biocube slowly to the new tank as well.
As far as lights I have an evergrow d120 full spectrum led and like it I think I'll get a 2nd unit and use that on the new tank as well.

 

[Giglio324]

Congratulations on the upgrade, viva la Windsor reefers!

 

[TORX]

Great update chief hill. I love all the new tanks that are going up currently.

 

[Stevesault]

Any plans on selling the cube lol

 

[chief hill]

Any plans on selling the cube lol

Of course it's posted on Kijiji now.

 

[Stevesault]

Send me the link plz or pm me the specs

 

[chief hill]

One of the DT and one of the sump with wiring tidied up.
Lol look at the difference in the cheapo leds on the left. And the full spectrum on the right. That's turned all the way down too any higher the pictures won't turn out.
Keeping my fingers crossed that I don't have a big cycle. A little cycle would be fine.
I'll have to let nature take its course now.

 

[chief hill]

FTS. Built a hood for the tank. I will be adding trim to it. Have to make another trip to HD and decide what type and how.

Seeing as I made a dual front swing stage for the front it's gonna make the trim a bit more tricky.

Still waiting on my MP25 and 2nd evergrow Led light. Hence why there is a significant difference in color temperature to both sides of the tank.

Had a small diatom bloom and it's now going away slowly.
Now if I can just get the CBB to eat I'll be happy. I knew getting one of these was a gamble.
Fingers crossed.

 

[jeffopentax]

Try getting small clams (fresh or frozen) from grocery store. My CBB went crazy for them!

 

[chief hill]

Try getting small clams (fresh or frozen) from grocery store. My CBB went crazy for them!

Yea I have done that. Clam in 1/2 shell attached to rock by rubber band. Just swims up looks at it.
Mysis, Brine, bloodworm, just blows past it as well. It picks at rocks eating.
This one was probably caught with cyanide. It's more interested in hunting naturally and doesn't want prepared food.

 

[jeffopentax]

I dropped in whole clams, he would have to work to get it. Not sure if it matters, but worth trying.