New BioCube 14

Hey all.
Im starting a second tank. It was kind of an impulse buy. I found a BC12 at petco that was marked down to 150 because it was missing the packaging. I believe it was there display model at some point... Got it set up today and have two tiny damsels in there getting the cycle in gear. Added a cup of sand from my other tanks fuge to get it going faster. I plan on modding the chambers in the back to allow for other means of filtration aside from the bio balls and the filter bad. I'd like to get some cheato in there as well as be able to run more carbon and other media. I'm just not exactly sure what i want to do. So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Here are a few boring pics of the tank. Hopefully will be getting some more rock in after thanksgiving.

 

you should grow zoas in it.

 

O yes there will be zoas. Zoas, shrooms, some xenia or something. That will be a while tho... I want to make sure to fill it with nice looking rock first.

 

That was a good deal! Nice tank.

 

Great little tanks biocubes.

( The little damsels need a cycled tank though )

Following.

;D

 

Well the rather large chunk of live rock has been chilling in my fuge for about a year and is full of all kinds of algae and bacteria and i added a cup of my fuge sand so i dont think there will be much of a cycle. Plus the damsels are tiny... I also did a water change on my main tank today and used the waste water that is still perfectly fine to change 50% of the biocubes. So they should be fine. After thanksgiving break im gonna get some cheato in the back.

 

I also see that big als is having that huge hydor sale... Gonna have to order up a nano koralia when that sale goes up.

 

So i've got a question. I plan on switching the return pump out for a MJ1200, or something similar. I'm gonna get the Hydor rotating head also, i'm just wondering if i should get the 240 or 425 nano in addition? I plan on only softies, zoas, and MAYBE a frag of frogspawn or torch so i wont need anything with too much flow, would the 240 be enough in addition to the upgraded return? My only experience is with the Koralia 4 as i have two in my 46bf. I've never had any experience with any nano stuff before.

 

I have one..love it so far.

 

Well the tank appears to be cycled. I only had a very small spike in ammonia, only barely readable. I dosed a little amquel to save the damsels from too much torture. Over the weekend and this week i've been testing and there had been no evidence of ammonia. Nitrate levels were about 40-50 ppm on sunday when i did a 25% water change and i dosed more amquel to bring it down a bit.

I'm getting some hair algae growth now too, i'm not too worried about it at this point but it is ugly non the less. Tomorrow the hydor nano and hydor auto flow deflector is coming in the mail so hopefully that will help keep the nasty stuff to a minimum.

One semi annoying drawback that happened this morning is i noticed the actinics hadn't come on with the timer. I thought i had bumped a button or something but i have come to the conclusion i have a bad ballast. When i switch the ballasts around both the sockets and lights function, but one of the ballasts has stopped. I've got an email out to the manufacturer to see about getting it warrantied.

Later this week the two little damsels are going to become residents in my 29 fuge connected to the bowfront and 2 maroon clowns are going to replace them.