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Biocube 29 w/LEDs: A learning experience.


Rollermonkey

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Rollermonkey

Oceanic Biocube 29 HQI

Currently running:

Cobalt Aquatics MJ1200
EcoTech Vortech MP10 (So much flow at max setting...)
Eheim Jager 75 watt heater
three tier media basket (Floss over ChemiPure over Purigen)
JBJ Unibody 54w LED
JBJ LED Fuge Light
AquatiClear 115 Skimmer
media basket refugium tray
Apex Lite Controller

Water generation rig:
in line TDS meter for the RODI
SpectraPure 90gpd RODI

Quarantine Tank:
Mr. Aqua 7.5g cube
AquaClear 20 HOB filter
Eheim Jager 50 watt heater
PAR38 in an IKEA desk lamp for coral lighting
2.5" PVC "T"
2.5" PVC elbow

Backup stuff:

Hydor Koralia 425 (this will be the backup if the MP10 dies)
Stock Pump
Stock MH light (will be the back up if the LED ever dies)
Aqueon Pro 100 watt heater
Hydor Theo 100 watt heater
Hydor Theo 50 watt heater
Aquavia 100 watt heater
Oceanic V2 UV sterilizer

 

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Rollermonkey

Plans:

 

I'm not planning on 2 lbs per gallon for Live Rock, that's over 50 pounds of rock, and it sounds like too much for my taste. I think I'll get two boxes of the Foster & Smith Select Nano size rock and see how that looks. It comes partially cured, and that's a huge plus for me, as I am going to cure in-tank and the tank is set up in the dining room.

 

I think I'm going to go about 3" of live sand, but I haven't decided exactly what flavor I want yet. Going to be fairly fine, I want my diggers to have a good time of it....

 

The LFS sells several types of clean up crews online, so I think I'll be good to go there. I know that in addition to the CUC, I want one fire shrimp, the ones in the lfs are beautiful. Hermit crabs, too. Snails sound boring, but I know that I need them.

 

CUC:

 

5 Dwarf Ceriths

3 Nassarius

4 Florida Ceriths

3 Assorted Hermits

3 Small to Medium Nerites

1 Chiton

2 Limpets

 

The fish plan:

 

One Helfrichi Firefish, One Blue Assessor (Macneill's Basslet), One Dracula Goby / Red-banded Pistol shrimp pair and One Ocellaris Clownfish. That is the order of adding I plan to use, too.

 

Pictures will be up as soon as I get them into Photobucket. It's an empty tank right now, but I do also have pictures of all the mods I've made, too.

 

Coral Plan:

 

This is the list of corals I'd like to eventually add to my DT:

Blue Ridge Coral - (Heliopora coerulea) Substituted Aussie Duncan

Red Candy Cap Coral - (Montipora capricornis) Check.

Candy Cane Coral (Caulastrea furcata) Substituted turquoise trumpet

Lemon Tree Coral - (Stereonepthya sp.) Substituted magenta birdsnest

 

and one Zoa colony. (Reef Goddess Purple Fission and / or Teal Rings) Oops. Ended up with 4 small frags AND a blueberry mushroom

 

PICTURES!!!!

Pictures will be up as soon as I get them into Photobucket. It's an empty tank right now, but I do also have pictures of all the mods I've made, too.

 

Mods:

 

Like everyone, I cut the tab out of the wall between chamber one and chamber two.

 

To get the LED light clamp on the tank, I cut the fins off. If I was paying attention, I would have left the outer one on each side and only cut the 7 in the middle. Live and learn, I guess.

 

Next, I made another cut from the tank rim, with the light clamped on, (stock or the LED I substituted) I couldn't get the media basket out without removing the light. Annoying.

 

I extended the center notch all the way to the partition between chamber 1 and chamber 2. Now I can lift the basket straight up to replace the filter floss, chemi-pure or purigen. Yay.

 

If I move the light off center about 1/2", I can get the fuge basket out, too. I'll probably do that if I can get over the lamp being off center all the time.

 

A hole in the right side lid allowed me to raise the skimmer high enough to work properly.

 

Finally, the fuge light magnet is in the fuge basket, which is annoying. I have scraped enough paint so I can center the light on the fuge basket, and rotated the light 180 degrees without having the magnet in the media tray.

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Rollermonkey

Empty Tank, overall shot...

 

DSC00010.jpg

 

Cut off fins, should have left the outside fin on the right side, too...

 

DSC00004.jpg

 

Had to cut a hole in the back to get the MP10 controller into the stand, then mounted it on the door.

 

DSC00009.jpg

 

Otherwise, someone would be messing with the control all day... Yes, you.

 

DSC00013.jpg

 

I custom made this mesh lid because the stock glass lid was keeping in too much heat.

 

DSC00012.jpg

 

DSC00011.jpg

 

This must be new, because I don't see what a fish saver would do. The back wall goes all the way up to the lid.

 

DSC00008.jpg

 

You can also see where I put the moonlights.

 

DSC00007.jpg

 

I cut the notch in the tank rim over chamber two wider so it goes all the way to the wall with chamber one. Now I can remove the media basket without taking off the light.

 

DSC00006.jpg

 

With all of the lights on, it looks like this:

 

DSC00014.jpg

 

Just the actinic blue lights:

 

DSC00015.jpg

 

And finally just the moonlights:

 

DSC00017.jpg

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Rollermonkey

Well, so far I'm mad at myself for paying the extra for the HQI, but there was no way I could have guessed that I'd be running so hot here in Seattle. (Steady 82F with the stock light and lid plus a Koralia 425.)

 

With a regular 29 Cube, I would have needed to remove the bioballs (near as I can guess, that model still has them), get a fish saver and I could have saved $100 or so.

 

Oh, and the actual water volume is only 26 gallons. Don't know where the number 29 comes from...

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really?! I live in FL it hits 80 in December here and around 104 during the summer. Maybe a BC 29 is fine .... I know PC can grow my softies. Im using them now.

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Rollermonkey

Me, too. But I hear slow and steady wins the race with salt tanks.

 

I took 6 weeks to get this far. I've been very picky about temperature maintenance before proceeding. And I'm probably going to be picky with everything else as I proceed.

 

I need to look in the LR tank at my LFS again. With this being in the dining room, and living in an apartment with a 2-year old and a neat freak wife, I need to try and get rock as close to fully cured as possible.

 

My LFS is Barrier Reef Aquariums in Renton, WA. Seems like a fantastic shop. They do aquarium servicing for all the rich folk on Mercer Island and Bellevue, including providing livestock, so the operation is kind of amazing.

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Rollermonkey

Went to 3 stores and still didn't get a digital heater controller.

 

Online it is.

 

So much for trying to support the LFS's.

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looking good. i had the uv sterilizer hooked up to my return pump and not plugged in. i finally just took it out and i have a lot more flow. its also pumping through a chiller. every little bit helps. good luck

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Rollermonkey

Last night, I ordered live sand and a quarantine tank.

 

20 lbs of Carib-Sea ARAG-ALIVE FIJI PINK 1-2mm

20 lbs of ARAG-LIVE Special Grade 1-2mm

 

For a 3" bed, I should need 10 more pounds. I'll see if the LFS can support the cause with something from their tanks.

 

On the way:

Mr. Aqua 7.5g cube

AquaClear 20 HOB filter and extra media

Hydor Theo 50 watt heater

 

A quick trip to Lowe's got me a 2.5" PVC "T" and a 2.5" PVC elbow.

 

And since I hate squinting at my thermometer, I snagged a CoraLife digital thermometer until I can find a heater controller I like.

 

Down the road, I'm going to need a small light for the QT for quarantining corals. I have a couple ideas...

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Rollermonkey

From Doctors Foster & Smith / LiveAquaria:

22 pounds of Select Fiji Premium

&

16 pounds of Select Fiji Nano

 

I don't know if I'll put all 38 pounds (a hair under 1.5 pounds per gallon) in the tank, but hopefully, I should be able to make the scape and shape I want.

 

Hopefully it is as "pre-cured" as they claim. I have to cure in tank, and I can't be stinking up the dining room. I paid for the overnight shipping, so it'll be here Wednesday.

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Rollermonkey

My temperature gremlin is back.

 

I got mad and decided to throw money at the problem.

 

Ehiem Jager 75w heater and Apex Lite controller.

 

At least now if I end up needing a chiller, I already have the controller.

 

Also, I think I've finalized my fish plan. Now to look at CUC plans and corals.

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Rollermonkey

The new fish plan...

 

Order of addition:

 

#1 Helfrichi Firefish

 

#2 MacNeill's Assessor Basselett (Blue Assessor)

 

#3 Dracula Goby / Red-banded Snapping Shrimp

 

#4 Ocellaris Clownfish

 

After the first clown, I'll add a Fire Shrimp to the mix.

 

If everything is going swimmingly and the clown is behaving itself, I'd like to get a second O. Clown for the last vertebrate in the tank.

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Rollermonkey

Anybody in the Puget Sound area want a couple pounds of nano-sized LR?

 

3-6" pieces, mostly on the smaller end, IIRC.

 

It's from a box of Dr. Foster Fiji Select Premium Nano, supposedly pre- or partially cured.

 

I just can't use all of it.

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Rollermonkey

So, I've got 33-35 pounds of LR in there now.

 

Next, I gots to figure out how to scape what I have. it's all in a lump right now.

 

I was surprised at how little water I had to pull out to put the rock in. I guess it must be pretty porous.

 

Not as pleased as I could be with the shapes, and I'm almost 100% sure I'm going to have to pull out more rock. I'm going to have to use some rock chips to hold stuff in position, there's virtually nothing flat in there.

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Rollermonkey

8 hours later, the first tests:

 

Salinity: 1.025 (sg)

Ph: 8.0

Ammonia: 0.25ppm

Nitrate: 60ppm

Nitrite: 5.0ppm (maybe more)

 

OMG what's wrong with my tank!?!?!?

 

 

AAAArgh? Someone help! What do I dooooo?

 

 

Just kidding.

 

Let the cycle... BEGIN!

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Rollermonkey

Well, the rock was supposedly pre-cured by the saltwater spray method for at least a week.

 

I think I'll wait a while before I think that myself. Only 8 hours after dropping the rock in, there's still plenty of time for stuff to die and/or decay.

 

I had several fractions of sponges that I know I didn't get everything out of the holes, as well as a few things that looked like razor clams that I couldn't get the whole shell out of the holes and who knows what else. Doesn't all that need to rot out before the ammonia is done spiking?

 

Next time, I'll have tweezers for digging in the holes.

 

Oh, wait. There shouldn't BE a next time.

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Rollermonkey

Noob opinion:

 

Because fully cured rock doesn't exist?

 

I know that's not true, but even if you buy rock from the LFS that's been sitting there in a tank for weeks, stuff can still die on the way home. If decay is what causes ammonia, and in a tank there's nothing to knock it down until the rock goes in, it should still have a mini-cycle, even if it's just a period of relatively high nitrites/ nitrates.

 

I'd rather wait and make sure my parameters are stable, than throw a bunch of critters in, find out the hard way that the 'partially pre-cured' wasn't enough and have a crapload of snails die and rot.

 

Slow and steady. I do almost everything with lots of pre-planning.

 

If, on Tuesday, my ammonia is zero, and my nitrates and nitrites are falling, I would still need my sand to get here and be happy with my scape before I will consider getting my CUC.

 

Supplies and equipment I'll get too much of and as early as possible.

 

Living things? No way man. I don't want any dead snail karma, or as little as possible.

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Rollermonkey

Mr. Aqua 7.5 gallon cube arrived today.

 

I love the packing box to tank ratio. It's like burying a jewelry box with peanuts in a refrigerator box on Xmas.

 

Oh, I found it.

 

Pretty. I'm sure it'll work for my QT.

Now, to wait for the associated HOB filter and heater so I can make a lid.

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Rollermonkey

Went to the LFS and got some EcoTech Coral Glue and AquaScape aquarium epoxy.

 

Why not stuff from Home Depot you ask?

 

Volume vs. Cost.

 

The AquaScape is $9 / 4 oz. box, while for example WaterWeld is $7 / 2 oz. tube.

 

I can get the CoralGlue for $50 for 295g, while the Loc-Tite Super Glue Gel costs $4.49 for a 4g tube.

 

I was shocked, the lfs wins this round.

 

Went to Lowe's and checked out the gravel options. I found some busted bags and asked how much to buy just a couple handfuls of marble chips and was given them for free. I'm going to epoxy them onto the bottom of the rocks at the bottom of my scape as feet for added stability.

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Rollermonkey

Oh, I almost forgot: The Eheim Jager 75 watt heater showed up yesterday.

 

I set it for 77, and I'm steady at 79.5F all day so far.

 

I might finally be almost where I want to be, temperature-wise.

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