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RollaJase's 30G Custom Cube - Tank Torn Down


RollaJase

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Hi all, my name is Jason and I hail from Australia, South Australia to be exact. I have been a long time lurker on these forums and after months of research I finally decided to get a tank off the ground. This tank has been up and running for about 2-3 months and has had its ups and downs but more importantly has taught me a lot about the hobby.

Firstly some specs.

TANK:

Custom Made 500mmX500mmX450mm (20x20x18) 110L (30G) Display Tank

Custom Sump

rBwvd4.jpg

EQUIPMENT:

Custom Made Tank Stand

Ecotech Marine Vortech MP10ES

Aqua One Moray 1300 Return Pump

Tunze 9004 Protein Skimmer

Fluval 200w & 150w Heater

Tunze Osmolator Nano

2x FistaFiltration Nano Reactors

Marine Color MCD-3-M Dosing Pump

APC BK650-AS (650VA) UPS

LIGHTING:

AI Sol Blue with Gen 2 Controller

LIVESTOCK:

FISH:

1 Orange & White Oscellaris Clown

2 Longspine (Threadfin) Cardinalfish

1 Bicolour Blenny

1 Blue Mandarin

Inverts:

15 or so Turbo Snails

3 Hermit Crabs

Softies:

Various Blue, Purple, Orange & Red Actinodiscus sp. Mushrooms, including some spotted varieties

Green & Neon Green Rhodactis sp. Mushrooms

Purple/Blue and Green Ricordea sp. Mushrooms

Assorted Zoanthus sp. & Palythoa sp arranged in a garden

Pink Body, Green Polyp Leather Coral

Pink Pulsating Xenia

LPS:

Fluro Green Tentacled, Powder Blue Bodied Fungia Plate

Fluro Orange Fungia Plate

Purple & Green Chalice


Here is how the tank looks so far, keep in mind that I had a hair algae outbreak between Christmas and New Years while I was away that I am still trying to get on top of.
p1050081n.jpgp1050082u.jpgp1050083ej.jpg

The Lighting:
p1050085b.jpg
I originally started with the lower wattage PAR38 bulb (the one on the right) before purchasing my new 3W one .The newer 3W unit is much better but the colour was a little too blue for me so I decided to retrofit the original bulb (which had a whiter glow) to balance out the colour a bit and it worked quite well. I know the mounting looks a bit crappy and it has bent under the weight (it was fine with 1 bulb). I am waiting on a few fixtures to come in and I will be replacing that black post with a nickel plated copper one for nicer presentation.

The Journey:
I started my research around March-April 2012, sourcing lots of inspiration and information from these forums. Come late April I was starting a parts list and and by the time July rolled around I was getting my tank made and my uncle made my stand to repay me for some IT work I had done for him (he is a carpenter by trade). At the end of September my tank was delivered and my uncle painted the back black for me. By mid October I had the water in and after some issues with the return pump (initial one was massive overkill) I added a few pieces of live rock to get everything cycling. Cycling took a little under a month and by the end of the first week in November the cleanup crew went in. 2 weeks later my first fish went in, Pink Skunk Clownfish and shortly after that I added a Firefish. My Clown Gobie went in mid December (after having to place a special order for him, long wait) and so did my Anemone. Boxing day my Pink Skunk decided to go carpet surfing while I was out and shortly after that I got some glass lids made for the tank. In between Christmas and New Years I went away for 5 days and when I got back I had a big mess to clean up. It seems my fish couldn't physically eat the pellet food (pellets were too big) and after auto feeding twice a day for 5 days with very little getting eaten (combine that with a protein skimmer that wasn't working properly) I had a huge outbreak of hair algae. Come mid January 2013 and I am still trying to get on top of the algae (getting better each week) and I purchased my clown pair to give the tank a little bit more life. The clowns have been in for about 10 days now and have settled nicely. After trying to get some algae to host them with no luck they are getting more interested in the anemone which is nice.

I experimented with a few corals along the way. I lost a small colony of zoas due to the bad lighting under my weak PAR38 bulb and lost a Pulsating Xenia due to a selfish hermit crab snipping it off the shell it was growing on before stealing the shell. My mushroom corals thrive though and have even fragged a few of them.

Thanks for taking the time to read through this. Please feel free to criticise and make suggestions, I know I have a long way to go but am happy with how things are sitting right now. I will try to get some nice clear pictures of the livestock ASAP, haven't had time to play with my camera to get the right settings and its hard to hold the camera steady for the clowns without a tripod.

FTS 23rd January 2013:
p1050119c.jpg

FTS 8th April 2013:
p1050236c.jpg

FTS 4th August 2013:
lbw8.jpg

FTS 2nd October 2013:
f7cz.jpg

FTS 23rd December 2013:
my5n.jpg

FTS 9th February 2014:
hutz.jpg

FTS 11th May 2014:
vu6v.jpg

FTS 23rd June 2014:
qi99.jpg

 

FTS 12th October 2014:

03sJ2M.jpg

 

FTS 12th August 2015:

4ouwgW.jpg

 

FTS 23rd September 2015:

zhWzRt.jpg

 

FTS 9th January 2016:

rBwvd4.jpg

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The custom tank looks great! How much are clownfish over in Aus? lol

Thanks IIX, yep the guy did pretty well but he did take his sweet time, close to 6 weeks. I paid $75AUD for my tank bred pair, a wild caught pair straight from the reef cost anywhere from $120-$150AUD depending on size though.

 

Very nice! Digging the sump/refuge setup. I like to follow similar tanks.

Thanks for the kind words Traggs, I wil ldefinitly check yours out :).

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Lololol soo pricey.

Yep, very pricey. Sometimes I wish I lived in the US haha.

 

I am going to a friends place today, he is breaking down his tank as he is moving to the UK and is giving me first pick of the corals so I might have a few new pics up tonight :D.

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Deleted User 4

Yep, very pricey. Sometimes I wish I lived in the US haha.

 

I am going to a friends place today, he is breaking down his tank as he is moving to the UK and is giving me first pick of the corals so I might have a few new pics up tonight :D.

 

Ohhh nice!! But I have to let you know. I noticed you have algae problems in the tank. Did this happened recently?

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Ohhh nice!! But I have to let you know. I noticed you have algae problems in the tank. Did this happened recently?

Yeh I know I have algae problems and mentioned in in detail in the initial post. It happened between christmas and new years when I went away and it is 10 times better now then it was back then, it is getting better every week. The main issue has been that my turbo snails are lazy and dont move, I have one clean rock and the rest are covered in algae. The stromb has done a great job at the sand so far and I plan on getting a few more Trochus snails to help out. I am hoping that getting some chaeto in the sump will help out also. I am planning on getting in there this afternoon and removing some of the largest clumps manually. I have already cut down the lighting hours and reduced the feed and it is slowly dieing off.

 

Any tips would greatly be appreciated though haha.

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Well I went and saw my friend and managed to get some really nice corals quite cheap. I also cleaned up my tank a little in preparation for a water change this weekend and got about 90% of the algae off the sand and a fair bit off the rocks.

 

In total I came home with another 5 mushrooms, 2 nice Acans and a catalaphyllia coral.

 

Here is how the tank looked after a semi clean:
p1050108m.jpg

 

And the new corals:

p1050109k.jpg

p1050113g.jpg

p1050116u.jpg

 

And my Anemone that I missed last time, a bit shrunked becuase I disturbed him:

p1050123v.jpg

 

And a FTS:

p1050119c.jpg

 

The acans will be moved to the bottom right of the tank eventually but they dont seem to mind the slightly higher intensity lighting where they are.

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Deleted User 4

Nice elegance coral!! Btw, I see some aiptasias in there hahah. Better get rid of it if you're going to want more corals in the tank.

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Nice elegance coral!! Btw, I see some aiptasias in there hahah. Better get rid of it if you're going to want more corals in the tank.

Aiptasias, where? I have dealt with one but I couldn't see any on those corals befoer I added them, they are good hiders though.

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Deleted User 4

Aiptasias, where? I have dealt with one but I couldn't see any on those corals befoer I added them, they are good hiders though.

 

On the rocks I think....not sure. Mind if you take some closer pictures?

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I don't see what IIX is seeing, but I've seen him spot some amazing crap in tank threads before.

 

The ellegance does look nice, I've heard they can be a pain to keep going long term though.

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On the rocks I think....not sure. Mind if you take some closer pictures?

If you let me know which rock I will try to take some closer pics. I know the rock the green mushies are on has a few small feather dusters that I thought were aiptasia until i realised they were coming out of tube instead of just growing there.

 

I don't see what IIX is seeing, but I've seen him spot some amazing crap in tank threads before.

 

The ellegance does look nice, I've heard they can be a pain to keep going long term though.

In that case I will do everythign to get the man some clearer pictures haha. Yes the ellegance coral is a nice specimen. My friend had kept him for over 6 months without any issues so lets hope I have the same luck.

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Deleted User 4

If you let me know which rock I will try to take some closer pics. I know the rock the green mushies are on has a few small feather dusters that I thought were aiptasia until i realised they were coming out of tube instead of just growing there.

 

In that case I will do everythign to get the man some clearer pictures haha. Yes the ellegance coral is a nice specimen. My friend had kept him for over 6 months without any issues so lets hope I have the same luck.

 

Hmmm I need pictures of all the rocks for close inspections. Through the e-ternet!! :)

 

I don't see what IIX is seeing, but I've seen him spot some amazing crap in tank threads before.

 

The ellegance does look nice, I've heard they can be a pain to keep going long term though.

 

Hahh Thanks :)

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Deleted User 4

Nope those are not aiptasias. Those are hydroids. Very common in the hobby. No worries, those won't do much.

 

But you do have alot of brown slime algae......it's really rough to kill those.....

I use to have alot of them in my old tank and I had to give the rocks away to rid of it.

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Nope those are not aiptasias. Those are hydroids. Very common in the hobby. No worries, those won't do much.

 

But you do have alot of brown slime algae......it's really rough to kill those.....

I use to have alot of them in my old tank and I had to give the rocks away to rid of it.

Thank you, you had me worried for a bit haha. Yes lots of brown slime algae, the result of my algae outbreak. The hermit crabs seem to like it though. It is dissapearing slowly and I am hoping the chaeto will eat all their nutrients. Reducing the light cycle has helped a lot though and now that I have a reliable skimmer it is looking much better.

 

Thanks a lot for your input IIX! :D

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Well on friday I went and picked up my macroalgae (after ordering it thursday night :D). I also took some water in to my LFS to get an accurate phosphate test, I knew it would be high but the reading shocked me, 1.25 was my average reading (over 3 tests) using a Henna tester. I have added the macroalgae to the centre chamber of my sump after removing the piece of LR and the sand that was originally there. I have also cut down the light cycle again by another few hours giving me a 6 hour cycle on the display tank and a 18 hour cycle on my sump.

Here is a pic of the algae (excuse the crappy phone picture):

20130125174912.jpg

 

I originally planned to get chaeto but my LFS informed me that it is quite hard to come accross where I am and that they could order some for me but they would not be able to provide an accurate ETA on delivery. I ended up getting some caulerpa (not sure on specific variety) instead as it was readily available. I did want to make sure I got a macroalgae that would not go asexual and after chatting with the owner of my LFS he said he would get me some from his own sump/fuge. He told me that the complete system has been running for close to 4 years (3 years with sump) and he has never had the caulerpa go asexual on him, even when running a reverse light cycle on his sump (like I am doing). After looking into it a little more it seems that there are only a few specific species that are extremly invasive so I am hoping I got one of the calmer species. I will be keeping a close eye on this over the next few weeks and will be getting another phosphate test done in a fortnight. If the levels are the same or have risen I will be trying RowaPhos as my friend had excellent results using this when he had a large algae outbreak caused by a faulty timer on his lights. I may even consider trying vodka dosing but for me that is a last resort.

 

The algae is slowly receeding though so I am hoping the addition of the macroalgae helps speed this up a little more. I am trying to do twice weekly 10% water changes as well but sometimes Ijust can't get around to fitting a second one in.

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xerophyte_nyc

If you can get the rocks out of the tank, and spray with some diluted 3% peroxide that will kill slime algae so fast you won't believe it. You can then blast the bits off the rock and siphon them out during a water change.

 

Phosphate media and macro algae in the sump are good strategies but are even better if you can start from a good place with minimal nuisance algae to begin with.

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If you can get the rocks out of the tank, and spray with some diluted 3% peroxide that will kill slime algae so fast you won't believe it. You can then blast the bits off the rock and siphon them out during a water change.

 

Phosphate media and macro algae in the sump are good strategies but are even better if you can start from a good place with minimal nuisance algae to begin with.

Thanks for the tip xerophyte, I might try that this weekend. The worst affected rocks are the two up the top where the light is the most intense, they are pretty easy to remove for cleaning.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well it has been nearly 2 weeks since I added the macro algae to my sump so I took another water sample in to my LFS for a full battery of tests. The phosphate dropped from 1.25 to .80 which is a welcome decrease however my nitrate levels spiked a little bit, nothing dangerous but something to keep an eye on after my water change tomorrow. I have also added a bag of RowaPhos and a bag of Carbon to my sump to help combat the phosphates and polish up the water a little bit. I have also decided to try out vodka dosing after my next water change and am looking into it at the moment.

 

In other news I have been having a steady increase in pods in my sump since adding the macro algae which is great. I have always wanted a Blue/Green Mandarin since I started looking into this hobby and am hoping to create a self sufficient pod population to accommodate one eventually. I also received the bits and pieces I was waiting for to properly mount both of my lights, something I will probably start over the weekend. I haven't gotten around to trying the peroxide trick on the slime covered rocks, I'll look out for some when I go to my local hardware store this weekend.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I got my water tested again on the way to work after a scare with my test on Friday afternoon. My test Friday was reading an Alk level of 20 and no calcium. I was almost certain that there was nothing wrong with my tank and after thinking about the situation I came to the conclusion that it must have been the jar I had used to transport the water to my LFS, this definitely was the issue. Mum had been preparing some jars for pickling cucumbers and I had grabbed one of the jars fresh from a vinegar boil. This had thrown everything off and I even added a bit of vinegar to s separate bottle of tank water so I could confirm this at the LFS this morning.

 

Scare 1 down, 1 to go. I get to the LFS this morning and my salinity was at 0.135. I have been using a Deep Six hydrometer for a few months now and never though it strange that I had to add more salt then Red Sea recommended to get my desired level (0.126). It appears that the Deep Six hydrometer is a full 0.01 out of whack and I have been getting incorrect reading this whole time. Not to mention my Alk and Calcium has been high as well. Strangely enough the only live stock I have had die were my 2 Trochus snails and the only coral that has been a bit off was my zoa colony (water flow is also an issue with this one). Next pay I am ordering a refractometer online, they are $25 online or $50 in store, its a no brainer really. I am rectifying the salinity issue by taking out a liter of tank water and replacing it with a liter of fresh water straight into my sump daily. Now that I know the hydrometer is out this shouldn't happen again and the purchase of the refractometer (long overdue) is for added piece of mind.

 

On the phosphate front things have not changed since the adding of the RowaPhos a week ago and my nitrates are back on their way down to 0 after a through sump clean. My LFS advised me to add a little more RowaPhos to the bag and I am going to remove it from the return chamber of my sump and add it behind my Tunze powerhead to give it some more water flow. I have no substrate in my refugium currently and am using it specifically for my caulerpa. The caulerpa has grown substantially since I added it to my system and its almost time for a prune. I am considering removing half of the caulerpa and adding a DSB to the refugium so I can house a few snails and a couple of hermits to help with the detritis and keep my nitrates in check.

 

Even though the phosphates have stayed the same over the last few weeks there has been a major reduction of algae throughout the tank. I can easily blow it off the rocks with a turkey baster and it comes off by hand very easily. Previously it was very difficult to remove so this is a good sign (to me anyway) It has also receded substantially and now that the ugly slimy top layer has mostly been removed the snails and hermits are going to town on the algae beneath. I am yet to start vodka dosing but am planning on trying it for a week as of Saturday after I do my water change and the salinity gets back to normal levels.

 

I have also started making my new mount for my lights. I am 90% finished making the mount itself and its almost ready for a coat of paint. I would have had it all mounted this weekend but one of the light fixtures I brought to hang off it broke so I have to order another pair from China. Once they come in I can get it hung and everything will look much neater. I am still debating the correct height to mount my 2 PAR38 bulbs as one has 90degree optics and the other has roughly 110degree optics. Currently they are sitting about 9-10" from the water, I am wanting to drop them to about 7-8" from the water. 8" seems to be the norm but things get a little indecisive when you start tanking 90degree optics on a 18" deep tank, most of the figures I can find have been of 40"-60"optics over a similar sized tank. I will probably end up mounting the lights 6" from the water with my current 30cm extensions and I'll order a pair of 25cm extensions so I can bring them back to 8" from water if I need to, or I can mix and match considering one of my bulbs is significantly more powerful then the other.

 

Once I get everything sorted out salinity/phosphate/light wise I plan on placing an order for some nice new coral frags but I can't see this happening until the middle of next month.

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Well since Monday I have successfully reduced the salinity from 0.135 to 0.126 by removing 1-2litres of tank water twice daily and replacing it with fresh water. I gave the tank a nice clean over the weekend, it is looking much better then it did at the start of January. The Phosphates are still high (around the 0.70-0.80 range) but I would estimate algae reduction of around 50-60% since I have started tackling the issue. The water is definitely clearer thanks to the carbon I added to the sump and I believe the RowaPhos is playing its part nicely. Since my water change on Saturday I have been trying vodka dosing just to see how the tank handles it. I dosed 1ml of vodka Saturday and Sunday morning and my skimmer has already taken out 1 and 1/2 cups of skim, that's usually as much as it gets in a week. I think I will keep this up over the next week while visually monitoring the system and testing nitrates daily (I don't have a phosphate tester yet). I'll take in a sample to my LFS early next week and get them to do a full range of tests for me again.

 

Here is an overall tank picture so you can see the algae difference from this time last month (see the FTS in my first post):

p1050157z.jpg

 

I also snapped a few extra shots while I was at it.

Happy mushrooms:

p1050160i.jpg

 

My Green Clown Gobie was out and about so I snapped a few shots of him:

p1050166l.jpg

p1050171bd.jpg

 

Here is my clown that has made the anemone home:

p1050168b.jpg

Both the anemone and the clown seem much happier since finding each other. The anemone is usually larger than it is in the picture, it was opening up after feeding when I took that shot. The other clown attempted to try and enter the anemone and was fought off by this little clown. The larger clown has showed no interest since then but I am hoping that the clowns will still become a pair (I brought together but they weren't a mated pair). They are both very playful when the smaller one leaves the anemone and there are signs of domination from the larger clowns so I will have to wait and see how things go.

 

I am still waiting for my replacement light fixture to come in from China. It should arrive this week some time (I hope) and if it does I will be mounting my lights properly Wednesday. If not it will be next week sometime. I decided to mount the bulbs 6" from the water and have brought extra adapters so I also have the option to mount them 8" or 10" from the water also. I am planning on making my own skimmer box for the tank drain which will raise the tank water roughly 1" so it will be nice to have flexibility when it comes to bulb heights. If I am not happy with how the colours are after the mounting I plan on ordering one of these to try out:

http://www.naqua.com.au/products/coral-flare-full-spectrum-par38-reef-lamp

 

Well that's all I have for now, I'll keep you guys posted on how things are looking on the algae front. I am planning a coral order (wanting to try a few acro frags) so i'll post up my shopping/wish list when it's done.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The remaining bits and pieces I needed for my lighting came in so I set out to finish my mount for my 2 PAR38 Bulbs. Here are a few pics of the process.

http://img854.imageshack.us/i/p1050142i.jpg/'>p1050142i.jpg

http://img850.imageshack.us/i/p1050144mp.jpg/'>p1050144mp.jpg

http://img259.imageshack.us/i/p1050147n.jpg/'>p1050147n.jpg

http://img822.imageshack.us/i/p1050152a.jpg/'>p1050152a.jpg

http://img404.imageshack.us/i/p1050151.jpg/'>p1050151.jpg

http://img690.imageshack.us/i/p1050153d.jpg/'>p1050153d.jpg

http://img805.imageshack.us/i/p1050154m.jpg/'>p1050154m.jpg

http://img713.imageshack.us/i/p1050156m.jpg/'>p1050156m.jpg

http://img255.imageshack.us/i/p1050176d.jpg/'>p1050176d.jpg

http://img585.imageshack.us/i/p1050177n.jpg/'>p1050177n.jpg

http://img407.imageshack.us/i/p1050178t.jpg/'>p1050178t.jpg

 

And mounted:

http://img805.imageshack.us/i/p1050179w.jpg/'>p1050179w.jpg

http://img19.imageshack.us/i/p1050180k.jpg/'>p1050180k.jpg

http://img252.imageshack.us/i/p1050181c.jpg/'>p1050181c.jpg

 

At that current level the 90degree optics bulbs are about 6" from the water on my 18" deep cube, to raise the bulb levels all I need to do is swap out those adapter cables with some shorter ones. I am using 30cm (15") ones now and have some 25cm and 20cm ones coming in the post so I can experiment with different heights. The rear bulb definitely needs to come up a few more inches. I would like to try a full spectrum bulb as well to see how much of a difference it will make.

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