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Ken's Coralife 29 Build!


Idaho ken

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Good Day to you all! I'm about 95 percent sure that my wife has bought me the Coralife 29 Tank for Christmas. I've been watching a crap ton of Youtube vids on set up and running, been looking at build threads and tips here, and have come up with a list of things I'm going to start with, and a few questions along the way.

 

I am going to go with a skimmer, and am wondering who here using the Coralife Biocube skimmer? It's relatively inexpensive and "branded" for the cube, so, why not use it? I am also considering the Inovative Ghost Mid size skimmer....but 200 bucks....ouch lol!

 

 

 

I am going to discard all the bio balls, and empty out the chambers, and go with two large sponges for my "mechanical" filtration, along with a poly filter pad on top of them. (See YouTube vid:

)

 

Other equip:

 

Aquatop G150 Submersible Heater

Jebao WP10 Wave maker

HDE LCD Digital Thermometer

Coralife UV Sterilizer (for when needed)

Natures Ocean Black Sand.....or bare bottom tank.....man I can't decide.

 

 

I have a 10 gal now, and have been using Instant Ocean Reef Crystals with success, so I will continue to use that salt.

 

Also, I plan on moving contents from the 10 into the new 29. I've got about 15 lbs of live rock, one clown fish, one feather duster, one green emerald crab, a 7 head zoa frag, one mushroom....heck, see my profile pic....that is going into the new tank.

 

I am planning on using all the water, then around 14 gals of new mix.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

 

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Swap the wp-10 out for the new rw-4. Better undertow from it and wider flow pattern. I have 2 and they're great.

 

Also your stuffed if she's just bought you socks lol.

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Ahhh, good find, I'll swap that out for sure! Yea, she's definitly spoiling me....although she's opened up a pandora box on having to buy more stuff lol!

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Can't believe how powerful the little things are, I have a 3x2x2 and the first one I got to see if I wanted the rw-8 with the 4 supplementing, shifted fine particles of sand on the far side of the tank (it's mounted low pointing slightly up and at the front glass) so I just got another rw-4 so as not to be over kill.

I've not bothered syncing them with the wireless, got the low one on setting w2 (increasing/decreasing wave) on a slow pulse. The second one that came 2 days ago is up high pointing the other way over my scape set to else on a quicker frequency pulse and I'm getting lovely random flow between the 2 pumps coming in and out of sync by themselves.



Oh yeah, watch out. When you first turn it on it's on max power w1 so you have to turn it down quick in a small tank to avoid it pushing water out the far side lol. After you've set it up it remembers it's settings if power is lost.

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I run the Biocube skimmer on my BC14 and it's decent. Guess it goes in line with what others say. You get what you pay for (it skims, you may get better skimate with a pricier unit); and you probably don't need to skim too hard on a small tank like ours.

But I believe in the school of thought that even a little skimming is better than no skimming. :)

...and yea; how would you feel if you found out that your wife had wrapped a similar size box containing something like a shop vac instead of a BC29. How could you be mad?

Hope Santa brings you want you want.

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I went with the "reef thuz" method that you're planning to use for a while. Like you I watched the video and thought it was a good idea...then I bought an intake basket. Do yourself a favor and just order one. Yeah you can make something a lot cheaper that's kinda similar but they work great. I run floss purigen and CPE in it and the tank looks great. Running it the old way as you're planning worked and I thought it was fine but when I first started running the basket I had to change my floss sometimes twice a day for the first few days or my basket would overflow....in other words the foam blocks with floss on top isn't nearly as efficient at cleaning your water as the basket.

And when he says in the video that he uses poly filter pad, well there's an actual product called poly filter pad but I don't think it's what he means. It works fantastic but is pretty expensive to run all the time as your floss. Also the sponges have to be taken out and cleaned often with his method. In short the media basket is better and easier imo.

I actually went with his suggestion to use a bag of matrix media also (wasn't thinking about it being the same as live Rock) so now I'm trying to devise the best way to remove that. I'm thinking about opening the bag and removing a handful every couple weeks and testing to see that I don't get a NH3 spike. I guess I'm rambling a bit but wanted to say that I've tried the method you're considering and I honestly feel there is a much better way to set up the rear of these tanks. As for a skimmer I run the aquatic life 115 with airline mod--works decent and brings some nasties out. Wish the skimate wasn't so wet as it will mess with SG over time but I just dial it back in when I do water changes. I would pass on the BioCube skimmer even though some people have great luck with it, simply because I don't want to keep buying and changing air stones. That's reason enough for me--may not bother you and many people say the thing works great.

I run a 100watt heater but everyone will tell you correctly that these tanks run hot. Mine will be full LED by next week though so hopefully I can trim a degree or maybe even 2. I use a wp-10 and love it. Can't compare to the rw or mp from ecotech as I haven't used them. But the wp10 is awesome for this tank imo. You won't be sorry with that choice.

Be sure to keep the floor of your rear chambers clean--especially chamber 1 as it gets dirtiest in my tank. I use a turkey baster and churn it up and let it flow into the floss every few days. Let that go for a long time on one of these and I can see some issues with nutrients cropping up.

Enjoy your new tank. Lots of people here with experience running them. I've just given my 2 cents regarding some things you had planned.

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TJ,

 

Thanks for your insight, much appreciated! I may go the route of the inTank media baskets, have to save a few dollars for them lol! I was extreemly happy to find the tank under the tree! Even did a leak/pump test on it....in the garage even lol!

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Trying to figure out a way to post pics taken with my iphone....this one is so small you can't even see it lol, but, it's a pic of me doing my leak and equipment test in the garage yesterday.

post-86438-0-37176500-1419627927_thumb.jpg

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Yeah I still haven't figured out a quick way to post pics here. That's the only reason I haven't started a build thread of my own. It's not the same listening to me blab about it without pics ?

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Cousin Eddie 420

I can't say from actual experience, but I'm in the "research phase" of a Biocube 29 build myself, and from what I've read inTank Media Baskets are the way to go. Planning on the media + fuge combo running Chemipure & Purigen & Cheto with sigle LED. Looks like the Aqualife 115 is a decent skimmer and really one of only a few options if your forced to use chamber 1 for skimming. I'm also planning a UV Steralizer....worthy investment.......just not sure if you can cram a 75 watt heater and the Corallife Steralizer into chamber 3? Contact time is pretty minimal, but with only 29 gallons to "zap" it should be effective should you get ick.

 

For what it's worth, I emailed Stevie from inTank a few questions and he was quick to respond and very informative.....you cant go wrong.

 

Peace

 

CE420

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I would fore-go the sterilizer as it won't zap parasites to the point were they can't be a problem. QT is the the only way to go for effective parasite and disease prevention in the the display tank.

Sterilizers are a waste of time unless you are trying to eradicate free floating algae...which shouldn't be a problem in a reef tank...unless you are doing really something wrong.

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So I've got the tank up and running! I'll get a pic as soon as I shrink it to acceptable size. I should get the rest of my order tomorrow, which is some chemi-pure, my skimmer and pads. I'd be interested in what the inTank guys said?

 

I also got my Jebao RW4 and controller, wow, what a cool little wave maker, heck the controller is pretty cool, I'm sure I'll like it once I figure out how to use it LOL!

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Good Morning everyone, and welcome to day 7 of my Cube's life! So today, I've got some green algea growth started! Going to do a water test at 2pm (kid will have a friend over to keep her occupied lol). I'll post my #s when I get them. I do have a question for anyone with a cube and ATO......I have no sump, so, what is everyone using with a sump less cube? Something economical and kind of "hidden"?

 

Thanks again!

 

Ken

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You can scrape the paint off the back of those tanks and set up a mini fuge with a light shining thru the back. Otherwise most people rely solely on waterchanges, for nutrient export.

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Nor_Cal_Cuber

Cut down on the heater size. 75 watt is plenty enough. The biocube runs hot anyway with stock lights.Hope you get what you want for christmas ;)

IME, bigger is better with a heater. Less work for the appliance makes it work realibly for longer.

 

The Coralife version of bc29 have unpainted rear glass. More media rack ready model. They also have better cooling then the Oceanic version. I wouldn't worry about heat as much. I keep mine between 79-82 with out effort. According to a long RC thread, corals thrive closer to 82 then 78. As far as the ato, I have never tried one on a tank without a sump. Following along.

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But remember if your heaters temprature regulator packs up you'll cook your stock with too bigger heater in the tank if it fails on like they have a habbit of doing.

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I run the Tunze Nano Osmolator ATO. It has been amazing. Water evap has always driven me crazy as the levels get so out of whack on these nanos.

I run the sensor in the return pump chamber and for the top off water I use a tupperware cereal container. It holds about a little over a gallon and is slim enough to fit nicely on the bottom shelf while leaving room for other equipment/storage.

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Nor_Cal_Cuber

I run the Tunze Nano Osmolator ATO. It has been amazing. Water evap has always driven me crazy as the levels get so out of whack on these nanos.

I run the sensor in the return pump chamber and for the top off water I use a tupperware cereal container. It holds about a little over a gallon and is slim enough to fit nicely on the bottom shelf while leaving room for other equipment/storage.

 

A $100 ATO for a $299 tank, this hobby is just funny some times. I know, coral and fish value, but serious out of whack cost for a simple device.

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A $100 ATO for a $299 tank, this hobby is just funny some times. I know, coral and fish value, but serious out of whack cost for a simple device.

 

The tank often not the most expensive part, just one of the necessary non-cheap parts to play in this hobby.

For perspective, my lights cost just as much as my tank.

 

Hindsight being 20/20; the 100 bucks for the ATO has been well worth it and Ill never run another tank without an ATO. You can DIY for less, but the Tunez has been very precise which I felt is very important in nano reefs.

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Nor_Cal_Cuber

I have been in this hobby a long time. I have made my own top off for my 72g Bow Front, gravity feed, with Kalkwasser in it.

 

Just irritates me, that Tunze charges so much for a simple switch, pump, and float. But hey, they make good stuff and this is a hobby so we pay$ very much...

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