25G SPS Home Office Cube

[ouling]

Hello Everyone.

 

I thought I could start a post of my 25G 18X18X18 cube aquarium that I have purchased impulsively. I think I have a few pics to document how it went from a glass box to something with a few corals in it.

 

Idea:

I think reef tanks are like bonsai trees, you're trying to put something very large on a small canvas while making it as realistic and beautiful as possible. The strength of the root, the taper of the trunk, the flow of the branches, and the presentation of the plant all matters to the smallest detail.

I also wanted everything in one box to make things simple. This can reduce the risk of crazy stuff happening and look better in my opinion. I do not want water on my wool carpet, nor do I want wires coming out everywhere. I thought the only essentials to keep corals are: pump, lamp, heater and maybe a skimmer.

 

So, the stand is bought from Ikea. I can customize the height, match the color, and throw it away and get a new one without trouble.

 

Lighting:

The light was initially a Razor Nano 60W LED but I quickly moved away from that and got a Radion XR15W with the RMS mount.

 

Filter:

The filter was a Tunze Comline 3163. It was able to hide my heater and a place to put carbon and GFO. However, my colony of dendro required me to get a skimmer, and I was way underfeeding and my corals were very pale. I took out the 3163 and the GFO and increased feeding.

 

ATO:

I also have a Tunze Osmolator nano on the thing as I sometime travel for work.

 

Pump:

MP10ES

 

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[SandBed]

What made you decide to go with the Radion over the Maxspect?

[ouling]

Maxspect simply was not bright enough for me. I had it on a 14 gallon tank which was plenty, but starts to become a bit weak in a larger tank. I also wanted a bit more UV in the LED fixture.

 

Plus the Radions have a bit more controls to play with and IMO looks better mounted.

A few corals.

 

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[Go Tigers!]

Your going to like that radion

[SandBed]

Thanks, looking into different lighting options right now and like to hear why people do or don't go with a given LED setup.

[ouling]

Strawberry Shortcake, ORA

 

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Maxspect is perfectly fine. It's also cheaper. But I like the Radions controls, power, color, UV, and the RMS mounting system.

[erictorres0311]

How do you like the light ? Did you consider the 360?

[atrox]

That red dragon is beautiful. How fast is it growing for you? We need a fts!

[ouling]

That red dragon is beautiful. How fast is it growing for you? We need a fts!

Thanks! The red drag is growing quicker than most of my other stuff. It started rather purple but now is getting to almost a pink color as I move up in lighting.

 

The radion is running in acclimation mode and I'll try to get a graph soon.

 

Here is an update of a top down shot from a few days ago. I am adding another MP10 so I get flow from both sides. YAY!

 

Here is a top down shot at 9.5K.

[ouling]

@6.5K, which is actually my favorite lighting color.

 

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[ouling]

You can tell that my red planet and purple plasma is pastel like in color due to my stupid low nutrients. My phosphate is 0.00 from both Hanna and another test.

 

I have stopped all phosphate sponge, carbon, and now feed like a psycho. I think the skimmer is so powerful for this small tank that it take some time for phosphate to build up.

 

I will be going with a zeo system tomorrow as I have ordered just about every supplement there is.

[ETucc]

Bottemless beauty

 

I'm lovin' the 6.5K, too. Everything is so majestic...

 

What livestock do you have in there other than the corals?

[Mr. Microscope]

Nice sized colonies there! How long have you had them?

[jbb]

Very nice

[ouling]

I'm a bad reef keeper as I do not have the patience to see things through slowly. My tank went from a glass box to this in 2 months.

 

The rock itself cost over $400 bucks and there is less than 30 pounds of it. But in my opinion it was worth it. The shape is exactly what the feng shui master prescribed. One usually finds a pile of rocks sitting in the middle of a cube nano tank and I want to get away from that kind of concept. I like the split ledge with a path in the middle type look.

 

The rock was very porous and light and is covered by coraline algae. I was also told that it is supposed to be some kind of Caribbean rock that was hand picked on a lunar eclipse by virgins born on Christmas.

 

The corals are selected to fit the rockwork. I tried my best to not leave any empty spaces. I bought all these colonies from local shops, online, and local people who were nice enough to let me in their houses and subsequently make them an offer that they can't refuse on something they never intended to sell.

 

I just can't stand watching a little frag grow. It's just too slow for me.

[Mr. Microscope]

Yikes! Sounds a little scary to me. I hope everything fairs well for you and you can keep up with water parameters. How long have you been in the reefing hobby?

[ouling]

I'm been in this thing for 8 years. Took a 4 year break to have children and accommodate my crazy job so this is my first tank since. The parameters are quite good but I have been battling low nutrients as I do a combination of skimming and NOPOX. I will be dosing 4 different zeo products that's suppose to enhance color starting tomorrow and update this thing. My corals have been very pale. Red dragon went from a light purple to a pinkish red. Red planet went from red to pink. Green slimer turned yellow, and the weird deep water acro went from green to blue and purple.

 

The big table on the front right used to be deep purple and teal with green polyps. Now it's just beige looking.

 

I think my tank is just too small to keep pretty fish. I feel bad trapping them in such a small space, plus I don't have a cover for those likely jumpers. With that said, I keep a blue chromis and two green chromis that seems happy.

[ouling]

Added a 2nd MP10ES. I aligned them across each other but not directly face to face. Now I get some swirl action and updrafts. I really appreciate the randomness that two Vortech produces.

 

Instead of vacuuming out the bottom of the tank, now I just turn both on 100% and all the fish poop flows up!

 

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[ouling]

I have some pretty pale corals as I have a low nutrient system. The big table at the front right is just Volvo beige and it was purple, teal, and green polyps.

 

Lets see what these things can do as I keep hearing crazy stories on how corals coloration improves and the polyp becomes the size of water lilies. I just need 1 drip a day, at this rate the bottle will last 100 days. Some are two drops a day so 200 days. These things expire in 2 years so big bottles definitely don't work for nanos.

 

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[ouling]

I am dosing 4X the recommended amount. This has to turn out well.

[Leatherneck3755]

Wow. Great looking tank. Thank you for taking the time for the pics.

[ouling]

Just got the Pohl's Xtra Special, Red Sea Reef Energy A & B. I plan to dose double the amount of these products and they will be used daily, combined. Lets see if my corals start growing out the water and polyps extends 5''.

[Arce]

Wow those are some nice SPS colonies, great color.

[Nic]

I doubt you're going to be able to achieve any type of appreciable nutrient value in your tank if you go ZEOvit. In fact, the whole point of the ZEOvit system is to bring your tank to an ultra low nutrient state and that is what the zeolith stones and reactor do by hindering the nitrifying process.

 

"The purpose of the system is to create a low nutrient environment. Not only are we trying to reduce the measurable levels of Nitrate (NO₃) and Phosphate (PO₄), we are also lowering the levels of mineral concentrations like Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg) and Carbonate Hardness, (KH) while keeping the addition of trace elements to a minimum." zeovitusa.com

 

Not trying to kill your desire to do it, just letting you know it sounds like you're already there and with a lot less of a learning curve. If its your first time doing zeo I'd hit up Alex B. or NanoTopia for advice on dosing when you get started. Its easy to screw it up. You'll also want to make sure your tank's parameters are at NSW and nothing higher (or lower). Whats considered acceptable by many, for a reef tank, does not fly with zeo and can completely crash your system or melt your acros.

 

Just a friendly heads up. You may know all of this and I'm preaching to the choir, no idea.

 

Awesome tank, nonetheless. I'm especially jealous of that Strawberry Shortcake colony. I've got a 4 inch strawberry shortcake colony coming in today and I can't wait to get home to see it.

[Dryland]

Awesome tank, those sun corals add some excellent contrast to the SPS. What is that purple colony top right? I use the KZ nano pack on my 8g mixed reef (mostly softies) and have noticed that things respond particularly well to the coral coral vitalizer and the pohl's extra.