First time bimac keeper

[The_reef_doc]

Hey everyone! I am new to keeping octopus, but have kept reef tanks and saltwater fish for over 10 years. I have kept a lot of sensitive saltwater species and tons of demanding corals. I am definitely intimidated by keeping an octopus. I stumbled across this site and have been reading up and researching for the past few months. A couple of days ago I saw a post by @Tomh about bimacs available for sale, jumped on it and planning to have one shipped to me by the end of the week.
I am posting to document the journey as well as gain insight from the many experienced members here. The tank setup is a 60 gallon cube tank on a diy stand (33in length, 24in deep) with a cube sump (little over 30gallons), (herbie overflow), a diablo protein skimmer (rated for 220 gallons), a brs dual reactor (can be used for anything). I started the tank with cycled media, sand and rock. Also filling it up with saltwater from my reef tank. For the lid I am using a tight fitting acrylic sheet. Lights are viparspectra running at about 5-10% (haven’t decided yet).
the tank is located between two walls so it can only be viewed from the front. I am also adding a chiller to keep the temperature lower than 70 degrees. I will update with more pics of the tank up and running!
PLEASE PLEASE give me any advice you can.

 

[pkilian]

Hey this setup looks great! The only advice I would give is to have a weight on top of your lid (rock, brick, etc) and also use some velcro or make sure there is a lip on the lid to prevent the animal from being able to side the lid horizontally off the tank.

Excited to see how your journey progresses!

 

[The_reef_doc]

Hey this setup looks great! The only advice I would give is to have a weight on top of your lid (rock, brick, etc) and also use some velcro or make sure there is a lip on the lid to prevent the animal from being able to side the lid horizontally off the tank.

Excited to see how your journey progresses!

Thanks! The velcro is actually a great idea and very easy to implement. I 3d printed some brackets to hold the lid inside the top of the tank since it’s rimless.

 

[The_reef_doc]

So the octo has finally arrived. He’s been eith me since yesterday. I floated the bag for about an hour and drip acclimated him for another hour. He settled in very well and actually ate a piece of shrimp in the bucket. The salinity in the back was a bit high so I was kind of worried but he did great. He spent the first day and half of today just hiding on a rock and observing us. This afternoon he started coming up to us. He was changing colors and the false eyespot looked like a blinking LED. Everyone was amused by him and I think he was entertained by us watching him. I can’t thank @Tomh enough for this wonderful opportunity, he’s been such a great help through it all. He ended up eating two pieces of shrimp and stealing the feeding stick from me. Now he’s just resting and digesting. I plan on adding some corals next week and tweaking the filtration a bit once I see what the nutrients level off at.

 

[The_reef_doc]

some more pics of the setup and tank. The lid is made out of acrylic and is not able to slide, velcro on the sides and added weights on the top for now. The overflow and weird are blocked off with coarse filter sponge so there’s no room and it’s totally blocked off when the lid is on, I’ll also be adding some netting around the overflow tomorrow.

 

[sedna]

Sorry I missed your initial posts- welcome to TONMO! Your set up looks great, I hope you start a journal for your new family member!

 

[The_reef_doc]

Sorry I missed your initial posts- welcome to TONMO! Your set up looks great, I hope you start a journal for your new family member!

Thanks! I definitely will

 

[RCLasley]

some more pics of the setup and tank. The lid is made out of acrylic and is not able to slide, velcro on the sides and added weights on the top for now. The overflow and weird are blocked off with coarse filter sponge so there’s no room and it’s totally blocked off when the lid is on, I’ll also be adding some netting around the overflow tomorrow.

Would you mind posting a pic of how you have the lid done with the Velcro and weights?

My current octo tank has a hood that conceals all the containment measures but we are looking to upgrade to a Waterbox 180 next year and the rimless part makes me nervous for security reasons

 

[The_reef_doc]

Would you mind posting a pic of how you have the lid done with the Velcro and weights?

My current octo tank has a hood that conceals all the containment measures but we are looking to upgrade to a Waterbox 180 next year and the rimless part makes me nervous for security reasons

Yes! Will post some picks later on today. I bought a polycarbonate sheet which is about 3/4” thick so it’s pretty heavy. Then bought the 3M heavy duty stick on velcro and haven’t had any issues. Each strip can support up to 30 pounds. I have two on each corner and 4 in the back.

 

[The_reef_doc]

And I don’t need the weights anymore so it looks much cleaner

 

[RCLasley]

Yes! Will post some picks later on today. I bought a polycarbonate sheet which is about 3/4” thick so it’s pretty heavy. Then bought the 3M heavy duty stick on velcro and haven’t had any issues. Each strip can support up to 30 pounds. I have two on each corner and 4 in the back.

We use the 3M Velcro on our tank as well. The added weight of the heavy wooden hood helps too but rimmed aquariums are hard to come by now. I got a quote through Custom Aquarium Builders and it was double the price and a few gallons smaller

 

[The_reef_doc]

We use the 3M Velcro on our tank as well. The added weight of the heavy wooden hood helps too but rimmed aquariums are hard to come by now. I got a quote through Custom Aquarium Builders and it was double the price and a few gallons smaller

Yeah they’re sparse nowadays. I have a rimless cube but I don’t trust the bigger volume rimless tanks. My reef tank is a 180 gallon rimmed tank. Depending on the species the velcro should be enough with the weight of the poly carbonate. I also 3-D printed some clips so the lid can sit inside the tank but I ended up scrapping that idea and got the lid to fit perfectly on top of the tank.

 

[RCLasley]

Yeah they’re sparse nowadays. I have a rimless cube but I don’t trust the bigger volume rimless tanks. My reef tank is a 180 gallon rimmed tank. Depending on the species the velcro should be enough with the weight of the poly carbonate. I also 3-D printed some clips so the lid can sit inside the tank but I ended up scrapping that idea and got the lid to fit perfectly on top of the tank.

I’ve got a Bimac now and went the custom lid route too. I’ve seen some of your Tik toks. What corals are you keeping in there? I want to add some later down the road when we upgrade. I’m scared if I did it now they would get moved around before they had time to grow

 

[The_reef_doc]

I’ve got a Bimac now and went the custom lid route too. I’ve seen some of your Tik toks. What corals are you keeping in there? I want to add some later down the road when we upgrade. I’m scared if I did it now they would get moved around before they had time to grow

I’ve tried everything from euphyllia to scolys. The only things that do really well and thrive are softies, leathers (but be careful bc they can shed toxins), mushrooms, I have these weird cold water nems? And bubble tip anemones. Everything else can’t withstand the harassment and the cooler water and I have a lot of macro algaes like halimeda, pompom, dragons breath etc.

I would add them in a protected area and let them grab hold. I started by gluing to a shell or small rock, then gluing that and sticking it in a crevice. They grow really fast, especially with the bimac. They’ll also help export some of the nutrients.

 

[RCLasley]

Awesome! Did you do a slow drip on them to get them acclimated to the colder water? I’ll probably end up waiting until we upgrade the tank to add corals. I’ve got some macros in there now to give it more of an organic feel but I think it would be cool to have a few more pops of color.

What do you keep your temp at?