Bio Cube or Regular Tank

[seanbarron]

Hey Folks,

I am new to the world of fish and am hoping to get my tank up and started in the next few days. However i have a dilemma:

There is a $200 29 gallon biocube for sale that has fish and live rock already in it plus a few corals. Seems to have lots of algae growing in it, but i think i could clean it out.

or.. Should I start my own system.

Thoughts?

I would go with it if you are satisfied with a little nano cube for awhile. What type of algae are you talking about? We can definetely combat it or you can cure the live rock and buy some new one.

[seanbarron]

This is what it looks like

http://www.usedottawa.com/ReportSele...osition=1&hb=1

That's not bad. I would go for it. Just a little bit of hair algae but easy to deal with. Try to get it for a little cheaper. You might have to replace the light bulbs.

Now take that and turn it into this. Without the bag of doritos of course.

IMG_2838.jpg

[lastlight]

I believe in skimming a reef tank and I don't believe in skimmers built for all-in-one tanks (Tunze 9002 included) so I would never buy another system like that again (I had a Solana). I would always choose the drilled tank/sump even if it meant spending a bit more.

[scherzo]

You could get a biocube 29 and drill it.
I had one that was drilled and had a 20 gallon sump. Worked well.

Just be stingy with the feeding (or maybe just careful) and you should be able to turn it around.

[gobytron]

Originally Posted by lastlight

I believe in skimming a reef tank and I don't believe in skimmers built for all-in-one tanks (Tunze 9002 included) so I would never buy another system like that again (I had a Solana). I would always choose the drilled tank/sump even if it meant spending a bit more.

you must hate water changes...

I have no problems keeping skimmerless tanks as long as water changes are regular.

I've also had great results with nutrient export through controlled macro algae harvesting.

[seanbarron]

Hello Everyone thanks for the help!

So i am going with that tank, went to see it yesterday and its covered in algae (yuck). I am moving it thursday. Whats the best way to clean the tank without harming the coral or rocks. Thanks.

[Lampshade]

If there's Hair algae you'll want to do a water change and suck as much out as you can. Do that regularly, like said ealier, water changes on a skimmerless tank are very critical.

As for the algae on the glass pick up a magfloat(i believe there's one made specially for bio-cube's). Takes it off great.

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by gobytron

you must hate water changes...

My tank always looks best when I'm doing my weekly changes and my POS skimmer is doing well. I believe in both... but I personally like to skim.

I suppose with a smaller tank it's that much easier to do larger % changes too.