mkregs Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Hi all...I started cycling my BC29 on Jan 2 of this year. I am returning to this hobby after about 18 or so years of being away. Years ago, I had a 40gal saltwater tank with a 10gal sump that my wet/dry tower was in. I decided to go with the BC29 as: 1. It looks really cool! 2. I love the cube design for a saltwater display. 3. I have a young cat that would surely go for a swim if I didn't have a tank with an all encompassing hood. Stuff used on first day of setup: >My BC29 started with approx 7gal of water mixed in from my Brother's tank which has been operational for a couple years or so. >Substrate - 15lbs CaribSea Argonite-Aragamax Select. >22lbs base rock - 5lbs LR scattered on top of base rock >Hydor Koralia 1 >Stealth 250w heater. (I know that's huge for a BC29, but my brother wasn't using it, so he gave it to me...plus it keeps the temp very stable in the tank). The heater is in chamber 1 (false floor popped out obviously). >Stock lighting >Stock return pump I started it with the bioballs in as similar media was "all the rage" years ago when I had my first saltwater tank....However, I quickly pulled them out thanks to the advise on many threads I have read on this site and michiganreefers.com. Stuff added over last few weeks: >Upgraded my stock pump to a maxijet 1200...huge difference in flow. >Replaced all but 1 piece of my base rock with 2 nice rocks from my brother's tank and a couple nice pieces from my LFS. I wasn't happy with the base rock I bought originally as it didn't have any personality. The pieces I got from my brother and my LFS have tons of life on them. Most of the LR changes were made early in my tank's cycle, so I didn't have to look at the blaaaahhh rock for too long...lol. >Bought a Tunze 9002 skimmer which is now having a good time blowing bubbles into an inTank collection cup in chamber 2. The stock collection cup is a monster and not shaped well for closed hood applications. StevieT's cup is a perfect alternative for closed-hood tanks. >API Saltwater Master Test Kit >inTank Fish Guard - haven't received, but I believe is in the shipping process. >inTank Fuge Basket - I prob should have bought the Media Basket instead as this is a 2 sided fuge basket and my calupera escaped on the first night (which was last night) and found its way into my tunze pump and my return pump. So, I had some take apart and clean up to do this morning. I may order the media basket which will probably contain chaeto or calupera better as it is 4-sided. This is how the tank looked after my 1st rescaping when I added the 2 pieces I got from my brother (the piece that looks like a skull in the top center came out of my brother's tank). This is how the tank looks now after I pulled all but one piece of the original base rock out and I added a few pieces from my LFS. Also, I upgraded to the maxijet 1200, so notice the difference in flow at the top surface from the first pic to this one. My parameters have been pretty solid for about a week and a half now, so I'm going to start slowly adding in my CUC soon. This is a pic of the first frag I bought a few days ago. I'll post more pics and info as I add to the tank. Thanks for reading! Link to comment
Nosey Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Cool, good to see your page up. Just finished reading your posts, and it will be good to see it fully stocked. What did you end up doing with the rock that looked like a scull? I really like the comparison photo between the stock pump, and mj1200. I didn’t think there would be that much of a difference. I’m now glade that I did the same as you, and upgraded my pump to the 1200mj. I’m running StevieT’s media basket right now, and love it. Like you said it has four sides, makes it very easy to pull everything out. I have both a fuge, and media in mine. Maybe I missed this in your post, but are you going to turn one of your back chambers into a Fuge? I'm the first to post on your page! Link to comment
mkregs Posted January 23, 2009 Author Share Posted January 23, 2009 Thanks for the post! The rock that looks like a skull is still in the tank and still in the same spot. It's the one with that caramel/orange colored sponge on it. It must be feeding time right now, cause there are tons of hairs that are popping out of the sponge (pretty cool looking). I love that rock because it's loaded with coralline algae and a bunch of other live stuff. I was planning on a fuge in chamber 2 along side my Tunze skimmer. StevieT's fuge basket is well made, but I would have to mod it for it to work where I want it to be. If you have his media basket and fuge basket right next to each other, then it's almost like the fuge has 4 walls (2 are part of the fuge basket and the other 2 would be the wall between chambers 2 and 3 on one side and one of the media basket's walls on the other side). The problem I have is the Tunze and the fuge basket fit pretty tight, but the Tunze is not thick enough to span the width of the fuge basket which would help the greens from escaping. So, I'm thinking the media basket with floss on top, then macroalgae, then chemipure elite would be a better mousetrap for me. That way, I'm not feeding my pumps more than their RDA of veggies. Link to comment
Nosey Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 ya that's the same set up that I'm running, and it works well with the Tunze. Before i had the rack i was getting cheato in my return pump, but not now! Link to comment
furious george Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 i like the rockwork... ...keep us posted ! Link to comment
StevieT Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 The media basket is going to work out much better than the fuge basket. You are totally correct, without it being four sided the chaeto is going to escape too easily. The work really well together or without the Tunze. Good to hear the cup fits well, I was experimenting and came up with larger dimentions than previous customers had ordered. Rack and fish saver will ship out Monday! Thanks again for the order. Link to comment
mkregs Posted January 24, 2009 Author Share Posted January 24, 2009 i like the rockwork... ...keep us posted ! Thanks! I like the rockwork now too. Now it's just a matter of adding some frags It just so happens that I made a stop at my LFS tonight and bought a small zoa frag and a rock with a handful of mushrooms on it. I also bought a cleaner shrimp, sally lightfoot, and 6 snails. Steve, Looking forward to receiving the 2 other pieces and getting them installed. Once everything is put together, I'll get some more pics posted. Link to comment
Nosey Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 You should see if you can get on of those zoa frag’s to grow on the top of you skull looking rock, then you could give him a hair cut every other month or so. I see it in the first pic you have, and I know you say it’s still there, but where? I love that first pick, It reminds me of Skull island! Link to comment
mkregs Posted January 26, 2009 Author Share Posted January 26, 2009 You should see if you can get on of those zoa frag’s to grow on the top of you skull looking rock, then you could give him a hair cut every other month or so. I see it in the first pic you have, and I know you say it’s still there, but where? I love that first pick, It reminds me of Skull island! LMAO...yeah, it could be my own little Chia Skull. Link to comment
mkregs Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 So, it's been a busy week in my BC29. My new Tunze is starting to earn its' keep...Steve, if you happen to read this, your Tunze collection cup is working out great. I picked up a few corals and started a CUC a few days ago (3 Mexican Turbo Snails, 6 Nassarius Snails, 1 Sally Lightfoot Crab, and a Cleaner Shrimp). Corals: Green Hairy Mushrooms A couple of small Zoa colonies Yellow Polyps I'm buying small colonies as I want to watch them grow over time. Here's a pic of my tank that I took tonight (Nosey, the skull is on the top and in the center. It has a couple pieces of LR next to it on both sides) Since my params have been pretty solid for a couple weeks, I decided to buy my first fish last night. Let me introduce my Black Clown It's been fun so far and I'm happy to start adding some livestock. I'm only planning on 4~5 fish of which 2 will be clowns (my picks). My Daughter and Son will be picking out 2 fish to add, then we may or may not add a 5th. My fuge light was delivered today (double 10 watt submersible) I'll be dropping that in a StevieT media basket sometime this week. I'll post some pics of the rear chambers once everything is assembled. My LFS guys wanted to see a pic, so I have to take one anyway and might as well add it to my thread. Link to comment
Nosey Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Looking good! Did you get a diatom boom at the end of your cycle? Link to comment
mkregs Posted January 28, 2009 Author Share Posted January 28, 2009 Looking good! Did you get a diatom boom at the end of your cycle? Thanks! Yep, my tank got some brown on the substrate surface and some also on the rocks. Then green algae took over. Link to comment
mkregs Posted January 31, 2009 Author Share Posted January 31, 2009 My inTank media basket and fish guard arrived this week. As mentioned earlier in my post, I already have an inTank collection cup that has been working atop my Tunze 9002 skimmer for a little while now. Everything fits really well. What? You don't beleive me? Ok...here's a pic for you (Nice work StevieT!): http://www.flickr.com/photos/34663408@N06/...83605/?edited=1 So far, I only have floss at the top of my media basket, but will have some chaeto or calupera in there soon. I've also read a few threads where people have made claims that Tunze 9002s are not very good skimmers. I've emptied mine a number of times now and it's been pulling a good amount of nasty stuff. http://www.flickr.com/photos/34663408@N06/3241484387/ I also got a few new frags since my last post and picked up a friend for my Black Clown. Here are some pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34663408@N06/...82801/?edited=1 http://www.flickr.com/photos/34663408@N06/...15512/?edited=1 http://www.flickr.com/photos/34663408@N06/...80941/?edited=1 http://www.flickr.com/photos/34663408@N06/3242313756/ Link to comment
mkregs Posted January 31, 2009 Author Share Posted January 31, 2009 sweet cup Yeah...it was made by a once independent craftsman who turned all NR sponsor corporate-type on us.... Kidding of coarse... The day before I got the fish guard, I had a Mexican Turbo Snail scale the wall into chamber 2. Now that the fish guard is installed, my livestock are in total lockdown. Link to comment
inTank Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 nice, those fish guards are key, who designes a tank like that? Oh well allowed me to fill in the gaps. Yeah Yeah yeah, I will have you talk to my board of directors about that Link to comment
Ando Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 any new corals? Hows the light? Link to comment
mkregs Posted February 6, 2009 Author Share Posted February 6, 2009 any new corals? Hows the light? I have added a few things since my last post. I picked up a couple really nice zoa frags and some nice palys. Everything seems to be doing really well so far. I have even seen a number of new polyps shooting up on my yellow polyp colony I would say the stock lighting is adequate for the corals I have. I obviously wouldn't see the quick growth that some of you have with the "1.21 gigawatts" of lighting (can anyone name the movie that phrase came from?) I have seen on some tank threads, but everything looks healthy so far. My Son picked out his fish to add to the tank and we dropped it in Wednesday night. He got a Yellow Watchman Goby. It's already found a home in a cave-like area under a rock that sits right on the substrate towards the front of the tank. It's kinda funny, because that's the spot I wanted it to choose. Definitely a really cool little dude. I'll post some more pics this weekend. Link to comment
Nosey Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Your going to have to post pic's of the Yellow Watchman Goby Link to comment
mkregs Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 Your going to have to post pic's of the Yellow Watchman Goby Per your request... Here is the new guy stepping out on his porch: Here are some frags I've picked up: Sometimes hitchhikers look pretty cool: Close up of skull rock: Another frag: I also added some macroalgae to my media rack and have the double 10 watt lights dropped in. I am still thinking about installing a piece of acrylic that would split chamber 1 diagonally. That way I could use half of that chamber for my macroalgae, would be able to keep much more macro as there is more space there, and I would be able to use the extra chamber in the media rack for something else. Of coarse I would drill a bunch of small holes in the acrylic piece to allow water to flow through. Right now, I'm just thinking it over. I may try to do something with the idea this weekend as I think it would be a pretty clean setup for a fuge. It shouldn't restrict the flow from chamber 1 to chamber 2 because the water from the upper and lower intake slots wouldn't have to go through the fuge area to get to the overflow into chamber 2. I'm not sure it will work yet, but want to try it. Link to comment
subielover Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Sounds like an interesting idea, putting a piece of acrylic in chamber 1 that is. Let me know how you make out with that, if you pull the trigger on it. Link to comment
Nosey Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Thanks for the message, and i love that fish, his eyes are very cool. Did he find a hole right away? Link to comment
mkregs Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 Thanks for the message, and i love that fish, his eyes are very cool. Did he find a hole right away? Yeah, when I was done acclimating him, he went to that area of the tank right away. He took a look at the place and immediately moved in. It's cool cause that rock is in the front left of the tank, so I'm able to see him a lot. Link to comment
Nosey Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 I've seen a post, about someone making a PVC home under the sand, with a barnical as the entrance. I think he had a jawfish, but i wonder if it would work with a Goby! Are you going 2 get a pistol shrimp for him? Link to comment
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