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~JLwaves 29 Gallon Biocube ~


JLwaves

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"And you know thisss.... MANNNNN!!!!"

 

Well it was time for this Bay Area boy to get himself a reef tank after many years of watching those around him succeed, struggle and fail at their own respective tanks. I had saw nano tanks about three years ago and I was interested, I just was broke and in college. It didn't fit into my.... Jamesons and Mickey's funds so to speak.

 

So here I am a couple years later, married.... and now I have a tank. I have seen a lot of tanks, and lurked around here for months before I finally made the commitment. While so many of you have nice setups that have inspired where I'm going, major props to Bonsai for putting up with so many of my questions and allowing me to replicate what he seems to be thriving off of.

 

My Setup

-29 Gallon Oceanic Biocube + Stand

-Koralia-2 Power Head

-Visi-Therm 200w Stealth Heater

-Filter Floss (the green goodness bag from Wal-Mart)

-Purigen

-Chemi-Pure Elite

-5w submersible Halogen Light

-Stevie T Media Basket/Fuge

-27 lbs. Jakarta / Tonga live rock

 

I'm sure there will be much more to update in the future. Basically like most, removed the bio-balls and removed the floors in chambers 1 & 2. Widened the gap between chambers 1 & 2 to increase waterflow (noticed I started spitting more bubbles when I added the mechanical filtration/floss, so the widening helped). Down the line I'll make sure the purigen and chemi-pure elite are added in my media basket, and get Chaeto growing in the fuge cell with the halogen submersed and hopefully my nitrates will be controllable.

 

Without futher adieu~

 

The obligatory "cloudy shots"-

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And now that the dust has settled.... today's less cloudy action!

 

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Side Angle-

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And some more...

 

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I gotta figure out a way to get my Kodak camera to turn the brightness down, as I realize the picture quality isn't bad... as much as its a little too bright. Sand and rock = not really radioactive white.

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Edmonton fish noob

Nice rocks, but what do you think about moving the rocks flatter so you will have more space to put coral to get enough light

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Was wondering if anyone else could chime in with regards to the aquascape... it feels like I almost have too much rock or that it is too high stacked. My aim was to not have it resting against the back or the sides, I know I didn't want the glass to be touched but is the back ok or does that make it a pain in the long run? Any help = greatly appreciated.

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latteslave
Was wondering if anyone else could chime in with regards to the aquascape... it feels like I almost have too much rock or that it is too high stacked. My aim was to not have it resting against the back or the sides, I know I didn't want the glass to be touched but is the back ok or does that make it a pain in the long run? Any help = greatly appreciated.

 

I would agree to flatten a little bit - spread it out a bit more to the front. As far as the back - Mine covers the back wall - it's pretty hard to get the mag-float back there with the chambers, so having a powerhead blow accross the back wall and the rocks helps keep things moving...

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Was wondering if anyone else could chime in with regards to the aquascape... it feels like I almost have too much rock or that it is too high stacked. My aim was to not have it resting against the back or the sides, I know I didn't want the glass to be touched but is the back ok or does that make it a pain in the long run? Any help = greatly appreciated.

 

Are your rocks laying on the sand, or are they laying on the glass bottom of the aquarium? If its the former, you'll need to wiggle them through the sand until you hit glass ... you'll want your rocks on the glass.

 

A lot of nano-reefer's opt for a sloping aquascape, where the back is the highest point and the front is generally the lowest. This creates a lot of different horizontal planes for coral placement, and also allows you to place corals needing more light in the back of the tank and corals requiring lower light in the front. :)

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Yeah I'm going to try sloping it a little more and making it less 'mountainous', and yeah the rocks on the bottom are on glass not just sand so they have a good grip on the bottom.

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Ok well I decided to take the Matterhorn down in my tank, and scape it a little bit more sloped - it's got some arches, and a little cave but all around a much much better switch to where it was from, and everything is dug nice and tight into the sand.

 

Pics tonight for sure, as I ran out of battery to take any last night.

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Ok so I went ahead and rescaped my rock since it's early on, and now there is no more 'Matterhorn'. I like the way it came out much better.

 

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I started running my tests....

 

Salinity - looks to be about 1.022.

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pH - looks to be between 8.2 and 8.4

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Ammonia - looks about 0 ppm, but there is a slight green tinge so minimal if anything.

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Nitrites - 0 ppm.

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Nitrates - to my eyesight, looks like 5.0ppm but maybe a little more.

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Definitely like the new aquascape better. The first looked more like a flat wall, now you have many more options for placement.

 

One thing I would change though, take the middle rock out of the sand and place it up top. That'll give you more sand room for acans, plates, a clam, whatever in the center sand bad. When you get some movement and CUC in the tank, the top right rock doesn't look too stable from those pics, you may want to reposition it a bit different, unless I'm looking at it wrong, to avoid a fall later on. I would put the middle sand rock in the right top rock's place, then lay that rock in the gap and over the new top right rock. If that makes sense. :P

 

What's the side shots look like?

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Definitely like the new aquascape better. The first looked more like a flat wall, now you have many more options for placement.

 

One thing I would change though, take the middle rock out of the sand and place it up top. That'll give you more sand room for acans, plates, a clam, whatever in the center sand bad. When you get some movement and CUC in the tank, the top right rock doesn't look too stable from those pics, you may want to reposition it a bit different, unless I'm looking at it wrong, to avoid a fall later on. I would put the middle sand rock in the right top rock's place, then lay that rock in the gap and over the new top right rock. If that makes sense. :P

 

What's the side shots look like?

 

I'll take some side shots tonight, and update my parameters. That rock on the right is fairly stable, but it was adjusted when I needed to take care of some Aiptasia. But yeah nevertheless I'll double check to make sure all my rocks are situated so that they won't topple over, and that middle rock was the one I was really struggling to find a location for... so it's subject to be moved.... we'll see. I think I might move it to sort of stabilize between the bottom right rock, and the top right rock so the archways connect and have a lot of support (more than they do already).

 

As for the tank, I'm starting to get some brown algae on the rocks and a little hair algae growing here and there - everything looks pretty normal, and the anemones seem to be dead so I think I'm fairly set. Pics to come tonight.

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akabryanhall

Looks good so far, love that rock bottom middle, definitely a spot for a centerpiece coral...or the rare stationary fish genus. Looking forward to seeing it develop!

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Looks good so far, love that rock bottom middle, definitely a spot for a centerpiece coral...or the rare stationary fish genus. Looking forward to seeing it develop!

 

Well as much as I liked it, I realized I was low on sand space. I took it and sort of connected it with the lower rock on the right bridging towards the upper rock on the right, but I repositioned the top one on the right too so it all hold much more solid, and provides an arch for fish to swim under, and then the middle is finally a little cave like as well. I think you'll like it - and though I promised pictures the other night, my camera battery was dead.

 

So I anticipate photos when I get home, as the battery was chargin!

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akabryanhall

Didn't want to say it, but it will be better like that, I chose to do the horseshoe thing with my scape and I love the look. Almosts looks like a caldera. Can't wait to see the pics!! I will be patient

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Finally took some new shots of the tank. Did all my tests yesterday, and pH was 8.4 and my ammonia looked very low possibly 0.10 just a little above 0, and nitrates and nitrites were both 0. Meanwhile in the tank there's the brown bloom going on, and everything looks fine for now. I have green algae that is.... well questionable, as I hope it's not the start of Bryopsis but it's so tiny that I can't tell either way - gotta let it grow out to see, but it doesn't look completely feathery yet it branches ever slightly. Could be hair algae, let's pray for the best.

 

As for photos, you'll notice the rock originally center is bridging to the right side - between it, the bottom right rock and the top right rock it's all very very stable, and provides some nice archways and paths for the upcoming fish to swim with, and the bottom now has a cool little cave/arch to it as well and more sand present. Overall I'm liking it more and more as it comes along, but suggestions are always appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

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Much nicer scape than your first and second arrangement! You'll have plenty of places to mount your coral frags with that scape...and your fish will love it too.

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That's what I was thinking too. Thanks for the replies guys I do appreciate em.... it's been a couple weeks now and I'm getting a little anxious to start building the livestock - but all in due time.

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Patience young graqsshopper lol

 

Heh yep - I was doing good for awhile... but now I really want to step it up and get some amazing stuff so I can take some good pictures and show them to others.

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akabryanhall

Just be glad that at this point in time, you aren't spending money, once it starts, you'll look back at this and say, man I wish I had more money lol

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Just be glad that at this point in time, you aren't spending money, once it starts, you'll look back at this and say, man I wish I had more money lol

 

LOL, little too late... just bought a Sunpod 150w MH. GOOD TIMES!

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Ok so I'm about at the 3 week mark, and my cycle occurred really quickly. I added a turbo snail, 3 astrea snails, and a little emerald crab to the tank. The emerald was cheap and he's a little guy, and he went straight for what I thought was the start of a little bubble algae so I'm already happy with his performance. I figure I could probably just monitor him as he grows, and if he becomes a problem take him back to the LFS.

 

I don't plan on keeping the turbo in there forever, as I know they're prone to knocking over coral... but he's my best member so far. He has tore up the hair algae, and the astreas have moved around and done their part as well. Tank is starting to get real clean again, and my tests/parameters all seem to check out real well so it might be time for the first big water change here in a week or so.

 

Going to post some pictures tonight, and do another water check to see where I am at.

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Sounds like you're getting close...I'm curious to see what your params are.

 

What do you have planned for livestock?

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Well I had some ideas, but as soon as I bought the Sunpod I suppose all bets are off now - coral-wise my options expanded a bit now =)

 

I really like SPS corals especially Acropora and Montipora, but I know I'll end up putting Frogspawn, Chalice, Zoas, Plate Coral and Ricordia. It's going to have to go by what I see and what I want, but I'm pretty sure I'll be eyeing those mainly for the coral of the tank.

 

For fish I'm still undecided - I know my wife is going to want a pair of clowns, so I'll probably look around and see what variation if any I choose to stock with. I like the true percs, but she seems to like the ocellaris so I'll figure it out in a couple of weeks - not going to rush it.

 

I like Gobies, but I'm undecided on which I like the most - and I like tailspot and starry blennies.

 

That gives you sort of an idea for now. In the end I'm aiming for a really clean reef tank with a little SPS focus and some really colorful examples of other types as well. I'm a lot more patient with this tank than everyone else around me (friends, wife, family, etc.) - just want to make sure everything is really healthy.

 

In other news - tonight I'm going to see where this minibubble issue I have is deriving from. I'm about 95% sure it's the return pump, so I'm going to shut off the powerhead and see what happens after a little bit that way I can confirm. I'm also going to clean down and install the media racks I got from StevieT, but wait on most of the media (Purigen, Chemi-Pure) until after I do the first water change and confirm everything is very stable. But for the minibubbles, I think changing the racks would help with the waterflow especially post-filterfloss - I'll also check the return pump, the hose itself and connection to the main tank to make sure everything's operating correctly.

 

Thanks for the reply mkregs :)

 

edit: one parameter I'm not happy is my salinity, it's a little low for my liking (1.023) - so when I do my water change, I'm going to try to raise it to around 1.025-1.026 - and then start eventually testing for additional parameters outside of the salinity/ph/NH4/NO2/NO3.

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I'm happy that you are being very patient with this. It will pay off for you.

 

A pair of clowns would be a nice start. If you decide to add them as your first fish, I would suggest adding a few nassarius snails. They will help to keep your substrate clean by consuming the meaty food that settles while you feed your fish.

 

Also, you might want to consider adding a small conch. They also help to keep your substrate and lower sections of your LR clean.

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