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Mushroom Boy's BC29 - Steve's LED Install Page 2


Mushroom Boy

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After a few years out of the hobby, I've decided to get back into it with a BioCube 29. I set it up 12/14/2010 and so far am really happy with it.

 

The lighting is stock, and I ordered a Tunze 9002 today, as well as a skimmer cup and media basket from inTank today - can't wait for them to arrive!

 

I'm going to be taking this tank nice and slowly and have not quite yet decided on the inhabitants. Here are a few shots. Any input and suggestions would be appreciated. I'm excited to be back in the hobby!

 

FTS...

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From above...

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Actinics only...

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Welcome back to reefing, Mushroom Boy. Looks like you have a nice start. Keep us posted on your progress. There are lots of us out here with BC29s.

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Welcome Back and to the BC29 club! Looks like you have some quality pieces of LR.

 

Watch out this addiction has no cure and some serious side effects. Uncontrollable trances with drooling while sitting to close to your tank. Oh! not to mention money flying out of your bank account at rates never seen before. But I don't have to tell you that you already know.

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Watch out this addiction has no cure and some serious side effects. Uncontrollable trances with drooling while sitting to close to your tank. Oh! not to mention money flying out of your bank account at rates never seen before. But I don't have to tell you that you already know.

 

+1 did you read this? one more time, lest you have forgotten already :) Nice start, how many lbs of rock is that?

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Wait a minute, you mean to tell me this is an expensive hobby? Hold on, I gotta wipe up some spittle off my shoe :lol:

 

I'm estimating there is about 12-14 pounds of live rock in there. The large(ish) piece in the middle on the sand is about 6 pounds, and I'm guessing the other 3 total that amount, maybe a little more.

 

Deano, how do you like having the coral beauty in yours? Those are beautiful fish!

 

Tunze arrives Thursday and my media basket (and skimmer cup) next Tuesday. I'm stoked!

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Deano, how do you like having the coral beauty in yours? Those are beautiful fish!

 

 

I love the Coral Beauty, it is the second one I have had, The 1st one was originally added to my BC29 early 2007 when I 1st started it. I move the tank out of my office to home and it temporally set empty for several months. I move all my live stock from the BC29 into my 135 at that time. The Coral Beauty grew quite a bit in the 135. Unfortunately one day a few months back I found it laying dead on my 135 cross brace. I suspected my 6 Line Wrasse chased it up there. Which both the 6 Line and C/B came from my BC29. The 6 Line has gotten pretty big and mean.

 

Since I loved the C/B so much I went and got another a few months back to add back into my 135 but the 6 Line had nothing to do with that and chased that C/B into the over flow of the 135. As well the 6 line ended up there during the chase. So in the end the C/B ended up back into my BC29. Not my original intentions!

 

I do have a bit of a concern with my current BC29 fish load. I suspect that in a few years that most all of the fish in that tank will out grow it. Especially the C/B. I guess by then I will have to go to a 40 breeder or get rid of the 6 Line and add the C/B back into my 135. For now everything is happy and looking good. I'll cross the stocking issue when I get there.

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I suspect that in a few years that most all of the fish in that tank will out grow it.

 

This really is limiting our choices, and the BC29 is really a mid size nano as it is. Any other stocking choices for us, in addition to the standard Ocellaris clowns? The C/B is amazing, but I'm afraid for its long term longevity. The 6 line sounds like a mean arse, but will take care of all the micro bugs and random small flatworms we have. I like the look (and price) of the green chromis, but i guess they get big too...

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This really is limiting our choices, and the BC29 is really a mid size nano as it is. Any other stocking choices for us, in addition to the standard Ocellaris clowns? The C/B is amazing, but I'm afraid for its long term longevity. The 6 line sounds like a mean arse, but will take care of all the micro bugs and random small flatworms we have. I like the look (and price) of the green chromis, but i guess they get big too...

 

Don't get me wrong the 6 Line is a great fish but they get mean. I think a better option for a wrasse and taking care of pests would be a Yellow or Green Coris or a Fairy wrasse of some type. I have both a Yellow Coris and Fairy Wrasse and they have a much better domineer then my 6 line.

 

If you get the true Green Chromis they don't get as big as the Blue green ones. I have had both and the Blue Greens ones get pretty dang big.

 

It is tough to properly stock a 30 gal or less tank. I am currently building a 20L and I have built this tank to house Gobies and Blennies along with a Pygmy Angel. Hopefully he minds himself and leaves my corals alone. But I really am liking the Goby with a Shrimp and Bennie tank theme. I think I got a male and female pair of Barnacle Blennies because I seen some mating courtship stuff going on this morning. Barnacle Blennies are gas to watch. The Goby and Blenny theme is much easier to stock when it comes to a small tank.

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Good feedback on the C/B, thanks for that. Is it primarily a volume concern? If so, would any of the smaller centropyges be better choices (cherubs, nox...)? I love the nox, but rarely see them offered for sale.

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Good feedback on the C/B, thanks for that. Is it primarily a volume concern? If so, would any of the smaller centropyges be better choices (cherubs, nox...)? I love the nox, but rarely see them offered for sale.

 

 

Volume and room are both issues. As fish get bigger things get crowded. This results in stress and can kill fish. As for volume, if you are a cat owner you will understand this. But I look at a tank like a cat litter box. The more cats you have using the litter box the quicker you have to clean it and more often. As the cats get bigger the issue continues to grow.

 

I have never owned a Cherub Angel fish but I recently added one to my new 20L . It is an awesome little fish, but they do have a reputation of nipping corals, so fare no issues here. Most angels have this reputation.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Here's an update of the tank as of tonight.

 

The tank cycled relatively quickly and I've been maintaining weekly 5 gallon water changes. I added the Tunze 9002 and an inTank media basket. Things have been running pretty smoothly. I've got a few tufts of algae that I'm worried about, but am hoping they'll pass with the aging of the tank. You can see one of them above the fish in the first pic. I don't know if it's bryopsis or not - any opinions?

 

This past week, I got a CUC from reefcleaners (AWESOME!). And, this past Saturday, I picked up this little fella. What a cool fish!

 

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In this shot you can see some of the CUC...

 

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  • 1 year later...

Time for an annual update :o

 

The tank has been chugging along all year and I really haven't had too much time for it other than feedings and ~monthly water changes. I added some more rock a couple of months ago and all seems well. All of the inhabitants are doing very well and I just added these 2 fellas yesterday. They were too cute to pass up and I'd been waiting for a very small pair of locally bred ocellaris to come available...

 

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Here's a FTS as of this morning (also gives you a better idea of how small the clowns are)...

 

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Side shot (the angle that's visible from the couch)...

 

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I'm planning on upgrading the lighting to LED (seriously considering the Rapid plug n play for the BC29) - any input on those (bulb combination)? Also, I feel that the tank is well established now and I'm going to start adding more and more frags to see how things progress (I told you I was taking this one slowly :P )

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Cool! Looking good. I have pair of clowns in mine right now and they have quite the personality. They can be jerks though. The Blenny picture is awesome.

 

Sorry I am not a LED guy so I can't give you no advise there. From what I have read dimmable is a major benefit so I would recommend the dimmable retro kit.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey, thanks Deano! I love the blenny - he's been a great member of the tank since the beginning.

 

A friend of mine gave me an RBTA last weekend. It did a little moving around at first, but seems to have found a spot in the tank that it really likes (so far). If you ask me, I hope it stays put as I think this is the ideal spot for it. As of today, the clowns have adopted it as their home. It's amazing too, how much the color on the clowns has improved in the last couple of weeks. Here's a couple of shots...

 

FTS

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Closer up of anemone and clowns...

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Great tank and congrats on taking it slow! I did the rapidled retro back when it was just 20 LED's. I went with 12RB and 8CW. I love the lights but do wish I would have split the whites between NW and CW. Also, with 24 LED's now go with 8RB, 4B, and then a couple red, green, or violet. The kit is awesome and fairly straight forward though.

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Thanks RedStang! So, for a 24 kit, would the following make a good bulb lineup? 8 RB, 4B, 5 NW, 5 CW, 1 red, 1 violet. What is the function of the red, green and violet bulbs? Is it just to round out the spectrum or for visual effect?

 

Here's a few actinic shots from last night...

 

Front...

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From the right...

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Closeup of the clowns at home...

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That LED setup sounds good. I'm not sure how much the violets, reds, and greens help the corals but visually they should help. Might order a couple extra so you can play with the ratio's. Expensive hobby this is for sure....

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  • 2 months later...
Mushroom Boy

So here's an update of the tank as of today. The clowns are growing nicely and everything seems to be moving along. I switched to Seachem's Salinity salt a couple months back (~4 gallon/week change) and have noticed a nice improvement in the coralline growth. Still haven't pulled the trigger on the LED's, but I'm getting close. Here's some updated shots..

 

Starting with a cool sponge growth in one of the caves...

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This guy's hard to get a shot of, but here's the priolepis goby - cool fish!

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Clowns gonna clown...

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And a FTS from today...

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Mushroom Boy

Here's a few more shots I just took...

 

Herman and Lily doing what they do - all day long :lol:

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Bob, "The Pig", mandarin. I'm very lucky with this fish. She (I think she's a she) eats everything (pellet, flakes, mysis, brine, shrimp roe...)

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  • 2 weeks later...
Mushroom Boy

Here's a couple shots I took of the right side of the tank (from the couch) last night...

 

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