saltwater 14g biocube??

[fishgal]

so i might buy a 14 gallon biocube and use it for SW.

does anyone have any experience with this setup??does it work well??

i know there are limitations with a tank this size,but i just want to try something small first.

this will be first sw setup.


any advice, stocking suggestion, and past expereinces would be great to hear.


thanx

[Diztrbd1]

I don't know much about saltwater set-ups &I could be wrong. But I believe these were designed more so for saltwater. Seems most of them I have seen have been SW set-ups.

[monkE]

Like John, i don't know much about salt water set ups, but i do know that the smaller the tank, the harder it is to keep the water parameters right, so if this will be your first Salt tank then it may be quite difficult to maintain the proper water for your fish/coral to thrive...
But also what John said is very true, the majority of those biocubes that i've seen have been salt setups so it definitely can be done!

[scherzo]

I used to have a 29 gallon biocube.... Just go really slow with a salt setup.

Get some live rock in there and wait anywhere between 1.5 months - 5 months before adding livestock.

The problem with a small saltwater tank is that thing go well really slowly and go bad really fast!

Are you thinking of doing corals? Do you just have the stock lights or are they modified?

[gklaw]

With 14g. You just have to watch the bio-load. Also, with minimum internal filtration, you will need more frequent water change and maintenance if you want a pristine SW setup.

I have "1" clown fish in an 8g with a couple of small live rock and thin layer of aragonite. Change water only once every few months. The fish is healthy but the tank is definitely not pristine.

[fresh]

My opinion is: THEY ARE GREAT.

I have a biocube 14 and I love it. They are easy to do water changes on, and doesn't require a lot to stock it full (this can be good or bad depending on what you plan to keep in it).

You do need to know what you are doing, but that goes for any saltwater setup you have. Whether larger or smaller tanks, you need to do a lot of research and be fully aware of what you are doing, otherwise you will have a lot of failures. Read and learn before you try, otherwise, you will end up spending more than you like.

That being said, for the biocube specifically, they are meant as nano reef tank mainly with a couple of fish, and that goes for both the 14 and 29 gal sizes. They are not meant to house larger fish such as Tangs and Angels. The less fish you keep in them the higher your success will be.

If you are looking for a reef tank with soft corals and some LPS corals with a couple of smaller fish then the biocube (14 or 29) is for you and you will enjoy it a lot. If you are mainly looking to keep many different larger and/or smaller fish, then get a MUCH larger tank.

I hope this helps.

[fishgal]

ya, i just wanna a keep a small clown and another small fish. im not sure what other small fish will get along with the clown, ive read they are a little
aggressive.

I physically dont have the tank yet but,
i think im going to go with stock lights and some soft corals eventually

im also a little unsure on wheteher or not to use the bio balls or use LR rubble?

or whether to cycle with bioballs then slowly swap out for LR.

thanx again for all advice etc...

[Rastapus]

ya, i just wanna a keep a small clown and another small fish. im not sure what other small fish will get along with the clown, ive read they are a little
aggressive.

I physically dont have the tank yet but,
i think im going to go with stock lights and some soft corals eventually

im also a little unsure on wheteher or not to use the bio balls or use LR rubble?

or whether to cycle with bioballs then slowly swap out for LR.

thanx again for all advice etc...

Fishgal,
Bio Cubes are great. The stock lights will support soft corals, some have had success with LPS as well. With live rock in the aquarium you do not need the bio balls and the aquarium can be cycled with the rock. If the rock is "cured" meaning cycled at the LFS, a cycle or new tank syndrome is avoided and you can introduce fish and critters slowly, but without otherwise waiting for the cycling period.

[effox]

I've seen the biocube 14g at IPU and 2 other fish stores for SW setups. They looked great in all cases. Grant (IPU) mentioned great success with his.

[spit.fire]

Fishgal,
Bio Cubes are great. The stock lights will support soft corals, some have had success with LPS as well. With live rock in the aquarium you do not need the bio balls and the aquarium can be cycled with the rock. If the rock is "cured" meaning cycled at the LFS, a cycle or new tank syndrome is avoided and you can introduce fish and critters slowly, but without otherwise waiting for the cycling period.

Tanks will still cycle when starting with live rock but the cycle will be alot shorter, imo liverock is the better route to go

your best bet for fish for a clown is probably a smaller goby, they usually leave eachother alone and theres quite a bit of selection when it comes to gobies.

the most important advice i can think of to give you is DO NOT RUSH saltwater, do everything slow, dont rush the cycle, dont put to much in the tank at once. just set it up and let it do its thing. also try and start with liverock that already has coraline algae on it

heres a few pics from my tanks:






sorry about the lines in the pics, the camera doesnt seem to like the metal halides (running dual 400w 10 000k bulbs over my 55g) and single 150w 10 000k over my 72 but planning on upgrading to dual 400s over that one aswell