Taz' 25 gallon rimless cube

[Bvhtaz]

Tank birth 7/11/2014

Equipment
25 gallon glass Marineland cube 18" x 18" x 18"
Eheim 75 watt heater
Koralia 1050
Eheim 2215 canister with filter floss, activated charcoal, ceramic beads, bio balls
Kessil 360w
25 pounds of live rock - 10 pounds Fiji, remainder from Homestead, Florida
20 pounds FijiPink Arag-Alive Live Reef Sand
Glass magnet

Clean up crew
Various hermit crabs
Various snails
2 mithrax crabs

1 mitrhax crab :-(

Soft Coral
Xenia
Green star polyp
Zoanthid

Fish
Royal Gramma Basslet
Benggai Cardinal

[Bvhtaz]

Tank is 60 plus days old with a few additions.

 

Current parameters:

Ph 8

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 0

Calcium 440

Dhk 10

Temperature 80 F

SG 1.025

 

Royal Gramma Basslet

Benggai Cardinal

 

Zoanthid

Green Star Polyp

 

Maintenance routine:

Daily check all live stock, temperature, salinity, add 16 oz top off RO/ DI.

Weekly 20 % water change and clean Eheim.

[reefernanoman]

FTS?

[k4ndyk1ng]

FTS?

That's what everyone wants

[Bvhtaz]

FTS added picoguy and fishmecanic :-).

Recent FTS HERE AS WELL

[Bvhtaz]

New FTS showing coralline growth

Day 75

 

Xenia

 

Zoanthid

 

Green Star Polyp

[Bvhtaz]

FTS from the side

[Bvhtaz]

New addition from Reef Escape is adorable and I call him Speedy

[Bvhtaz]

Forkyail blenny has arrived and needs a name.

 

Suggestions?

[reefernanoman]

Looking good.

[Bvhtaz]

Updated FTS AT 9 moths

Paula the paly!

[Mr. Microscope]

Fun tank! Welcome to the cube club.

[Axiomatic]

Whats that pastel orange coral in the bottom right?

[Bvhtaz]

Hi Axiomatic,

 

That is an orange flower sponge that I picked up 21 March at Pacific East Aquaculture.

 

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Mr. Microscope,

 

Is there a cube club, really?

 

Aqua scraping a cube has been a challenge. So is ensuring no dead spots.

[Bvhtaz]

My cube is 291 days young and doing well using an Eheim 2215 without a sump or refugium.

 

Maintenance data:

20% water changes every 7 days.

Temperature 80 F

SG 1.027

Ph 8.1

No zero

Alk 3.6

Ca 470

Mg 1240

 

I decided to add macro algae, Caulpera I think, to my tank for a couple of reasons. The mithrax will enjoy a snack and I wanted to see if it would be good for natural nutrient export.

 

Thoughts?

[Mr. Microscope]

Mr. Microscope,

 

Is there a cube club, really?

 

Aqua scraping a cube has been a challenge. So is ensuring no dead spots.

No, just a figure of speech.

 

Yes, it is a challenge to aquascape. You seem to have a good grasp on it. Well done.

I have a LOT of flow in my tank to help ensure less dead spots. Running bare bottom really helps with that as I no longer have to worry about pushing sand around.

 

That sponge is really nice. Love the shape on it. Reminds me of pavona.

[Bvhtaz]

My tank is a little over 300 days old and is experiencing a change in water parameters. My alk is now 2.8, calcium is 480, and Magnesium is hovering around 1200. At the same time, I am not able to keep hard coral happy. My birds nest and acro bleached suddenly. I suspect it was the dip in alk and Magnesium accompanied by the spike in Calcium.

[markalot]

My tank is a little over 300 days old and is experiencing a change in water parameters. My alk is now 2.8, calcium is 480, and Magnesium is hovering around 1200. At the same time, I am not able to keep hard coral happy. My birds nest and acro bleached suddenly. I suspect it was the dip in alk and Magnesium accompanied by the spike in Calcium.

 

That's 7.8 KH if you are reading it in meq/L.

 

http://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/AlkConversion.php

 

Those parameters are not bad, and KH dips usually don't cause much harm. The biggest problem might be from water changes and spiking KH from 7.8 up to 9 or 10 quickly.

[Bvhtaz]

Thanks markalot!

 

My tank is relatively stable. I do weekly 5 gallon water changes. Test salinity, alk, calcium, magnesium, nitrate, and ph. Sometimes I test iron, iodine, potassium. My test kits are Red Sea and I generally do them at the same time, the same day every week. My water is RO/DI from The Filter Guys and is the 5 stage ocean / reef system.

 

I noticed my alk starting to dip over a month ago and then two weeks ago there was a sudden dip in magnesium and spike in calcium. My hypothesis is that the bio load got to a place where water changes were no longer sufficient and that contributed to the SPS decline.

[uwdanno]

What are the parameters of the water you are mixing for changes?

 

What salt do you use?

[Bvhtaz]

Himuwdanno. I use Omega Sea Marine Premium that I mix per instructions with RO/DI and make sure the SG and temperature are the same as my tank.

[Bvhtaz]

Updated FTS

[Bvhtaz]

I noticed a pattern that I seem to have unintentionally followed. My tank is a soft/LPS tank. One rock is mostly mushroom and coralimorph and another is my duncan and caulustrea. The euphyllia and lobophyllia are on the sandbed with the xenia, sponge, and a few zoanthids.

[Bvhtaz]

Been dosing Thrive Magnesium 10 ml/day and Brightwell Reef Code B 2 ml/day. My calcium is high, 480, tested today.

 

Also, I decided to try doing my own filter media and got BRS Rox. I put 3/4 of a cup in a filter sock and tied a knot in it. My Eheim is running two kinds of ceramic media (came with filter), coarse floss and a fine floss, too.