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New to Saltwater - 29G Biocube


m00rej0hn

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Hey guys, I am an aquarium enthusiast (have had freshwater for 15 years) and have finally taken the plunge into saltwater! I did tons of research and came up with my current build and livestock outline. I have not yet started the tank (waiting on rock to arrive) or the cycling process, but all Biocube modifications have been completed and I would love to know what you guys think! Thanks for looking.


Here’s a list of my Biocube 29 Modifications:


Coralife Size 29 Aquarium Stand

Coralife 29 Gallon Biocube

- Removed Bioballs and Stock Filter

Eheim-Jager 100W Heater in Chamber 1

inTank Coralife Media Basket

- Using Filter Floss, Purigen and Chemi-pure

Tunze 9001 Protein Skimmer in Chamber 2

Digital Thermometer Sensor placed below Tunze in Chamber 2

Replacing stock pump with MJ1200 once received in Chamber 3

- Added Hydor rotating water deflector

Water line sensor for Tunze ATO placed in Chamber 3

2x Hydor Koralia 425 Circulation Pumps in the Main Display

- One front-left, Second back-right

- Added Hydor Smart Wave Controller

iSpring RCC7 5-stage RO Water Filtration System

Upgraded both stock fans with (2) SilenX IXP-34-16 60mm case fan (16 dBA, 18 cfm)

- the stock fans are normally 37 dBA, 19 cfm (extremely loud and annoying)

(RapidLED) Dimmable LED Retrofit Kit for Coralife Biocube 29 with Storm X Controller

- (10) Royal Blue, (3) Cool Blue, (4) Violet UV, (2) Cool White, (2) Neutral White, (1) Warm White, (1) Deep Red, (1) Cyan

- Ran using 3 strings: (10) RB @ 1000 mA

(4) UV + (1) Red @ 700 mA

(5) White + (3) Cool Blue + (1) Cyan @ 1000 mA


Added PVC Pipe Jawfish Condo (1" pipe in a square with entrance surrounded by live rock, drilled, buried under sand)



Stock List:

50 LBS Golden Marindo Premium Live rock

- Ordered from Liverocknreef.com

3” Sand Bed (30 LBS) CaribSea Arag-alive Fiji Pink Sand


(10) Assorted Snails, Turbo, Hermits

(1) Scarlett Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

(1) Peppermint Shrimp

(1) Yellowtail Blue Damselfish

(2) Ocellaris Clownfish

(1) Blue Spot Jawfish

(1) Six-line Wrasse

(1) Red Sea Starfish (6-12 months)


Various Corals:

Torch Coral, Hammer Coral, Frogspawn, Pulsing Xenia, Green Starburst Polyps, Fire and Ice Polyp, Bubble Coral, Duncan Coral, Leather Mushroom, Ring of Fire Polyp, Tube Coral, Elegance Coral (All under consideration based on space, availability and cost)

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Welcome!! I am new to this addiction as well and also have a Coralife BioCube 29! So far I'm loving it. I can't wait to see what you do with yours. I have no advice to give yet since I'm new, but wanted to say hi.

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Thanks for the encouragement guys! I will definitely post some pictures once I receive my live rock and get things up and running. Just a waiting game right now, my live rock is a pacific import and is having some issues in California, but its supposed to be pretty awesome! Hopefully this next week.

 

"I'm about to get my 29 cycling this week...also my first saltwater adventure. Let me know how you like the skimmer I'm stuck between the tunze and aquatic 115"

- based on the research that I've done, the Tunze is just a slightly higher quality skimmer, but the aquatic 115 does the job just as well, and if the 115 is placed in chamber 1, you have the option to keep Chaeto in a fuge basket in chamber 2. I opted to not go with chaeto because many people said it was just an extra nutrient trap and I didnt want the hassle of cutting it back since most of my filtration will come from my 50 Lbs of live rock.

 

If you like the idea of having a refugium, i would recommend getting the aquatic 115 and having the best of both worlds!

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Cencalfishguy56

The tunzze is a beast of a skimmer I just hated having it in tank so I ditched it but if I had a chamber to hide it in I would have kept it lol

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  • 1 month later...

http://imgur.com/a/TMATx

 

Here is the album of my tank at 2 weeks of cycling. Tested parameters over the weekend, 0.2 Ammonium, 0.15 Nitrite, 0.4 Nitrate, 7.8 pH (not sure how i'm going to raise it)

 

There is still a lot of decay from the dead coralline algae, but its slowly disappearing. I have 3 sponges that are still alive (surprisingly) and I just started getting my diatom bloom over the last few days.

 

I also obtained some Halymenia (Dragon's Breath or Flame) Algae yesterday from a friend that i'm going to leave in the main display as a decorative algae for filtration and possible additional food source if anything wants it.

 

Going to be waiting a few more weeks before I get excited, then I'll be adding a clean-up crew from Blue Zoo Aquatics. I love the idea of this package: http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?did=2&pid=1621&cid=313for the 25 Gallon. Its one of the most diverse packages for the best price that i've found over 20 different online retailers. Anyone have any experience with Blue Zoo? Would love to hear feedback.

 

Thanks for looking guys! More to see in the future. Happy Reefing.


Long story - short, I ordered 50 Lbs of the Golden Marindo and waited about 5-6 weeks (I called several times during the period). The owner Bill finally called me to let me know they had no idea when they would be receiving GMP (they were having permit problems with all the new import/export laws the US is passing). He said it could be weeks, months, or next year before they can get it. He offered me a different type of indo rock they received called Jakarta. I got 25 Lbs of it (all they could offer me) and it was fantastic, had amazing shapes, great porosity, good colors, etc. I was going to get their Florida Cherry Primo Deco to top off the final 15 Lbs, but decided against it. Instead I ordered 15 Lbs of the "Real Reef Rock" and its really cool stuff. Its man-made and not grown in the ocean, but it has great shapes, great porosity and its got a nice purple/red color (Its not real coralline, its painted with a reef-safe something). The mixture of the two rocks looks fantastic and the Jakarta is obviously better because its an indo rock from the ocean, but, I would not be unsatisfied had I only gotten the Real Reef Rock. It really is good rock. You can always call Bill the owner and he will tell you which rock shipment they have at the time looks good. So at 40 Lbs of extremely porous rock, I am very happy with how my rockscape turned out.

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Hey there Moore!

 

I too am a cube-a-holic! I've got the 29 Coralife, have had it up and running since Dec 27, love it! Really jealous with your lighting, that's what I'd love to do when the $$$ ever come my way lol! Great pictures too!

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Thanks Ken :D I spent about $300.00 on the lighting (RapidLED Kit with Dimmable drivers and Storm X Controller) and it will easily be one of the best investments I could make on the tank. I checked your profile but didn't see any pictures. It would be cool to see how your tank grows too :)

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Got the 25 Gallon Ultimate Algae and Detritus Package from BlueZooAquatics yesterday, along with my skunk cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp, brown/white hawaiian feather duster, pink/white dwarf feather duster and pink/tank/red Pom Pom Crab (no anemones, but waiting to see if they grow - BlueZoo offered to send me another if they don't show up in a few weeks - great customer service).

 

25G package included 6 varieties of snails, 3 varieties of hermits, 1 Tonga Fighting Conch, 1 Emerald Crab, 1 Pacific Lettuce Sea Slug

 

Everything acclimated very well and instantly went to work on the tank. Pink Feather Duster has been seen outside of his tube a few times, but has hidden for the most part. Hawaiian feather has been outside and open nearly 90% of the time and is beautiful!

 

Would highly recommend BlueZoo for great customer service, fast shipping, and everything alive (3 snails, 1 hermit possibly didn't make it, but everything else is perfect) My skunk cleaner molted within 4 hours of being in the tank.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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