BioCube 29 Redux!

[Idaho ken]

Greetings!

 

Last year at this time, I started my Biocube 29. After 6 months of use, I had an ATO incident that drained 5 gallons of water all around, and under my tank. It was the night (3am actually) before a 2 week work trip. I had to tear the tank down, rip up carpet, dry the room out, etc.....and then head to work. I was lucky enough to find a home for all my critters. When I got back home, I cleaned and stored the rock for a second try.

 

That time is now! A year later I am ready to start her back up! Here are a couple of pre-fill pics, and the rock scape I'm toying with!

 

I'll be getting my RODI water, and some egg crate today, super excited to get going!

 

 

[Water Dog]

I'm curious... Did you nuke or prep the old dryrock at all? After a 5 year break from the hobby, I'm setting up a BC29 too using my old live rock, now dry. Wondering if I should prep it at all. I'll be following your build closely as I embark on mine.

[J Fox]

Best of luck to you on your second go round ! I am also starting up a BioCube 29 after going bonkers and buying everything I needed (and some stuff I didn't a year ago. I did upgrade the hood with a NanoBox retrofit kit back then, as well as "starting" my dry Fiji rock from BRS in salt water. After a year I guess the rock have cooked enough Looks like three of us getting the new year started with BioCubes!

Should be fun. Jeff

[Idaho ken]

I used a bleach solution on my rock, and used vinegar in the tank. Also used good ole "sun" during the summer months. Rinsed and soaked the rock in rodi water 3 times, sun, then a rinse and sun to dry, then stored it. When I took it out of storage, I rinsed it off, no smell of bleach.

 

Here it is all set up. Using live sand, and got about 3 lbs of live rock from my LFS!

[Water Dog]

Yeah, I think I'm gonna do the bleach bath, then the 15 minute acid bath to my dry rock to fizzle away the outer layer. I just don't want to leach phosphates back into my new build.

[Idaho ken]

So day 3. Yesterday I adjusted my salinity, it's now at 1.025. I also added a bottle of Bio-Spira. My LFS told it it would help in the bacteria building process....that, with the 3 lbs of live rock I purchased (which die off would act as the ammonia source), will kick in the cycle process and in 2 weeks I should be able to add in a CUC.....we'll see. I've tested my parameters today to use as a base line:

 

Ammonia - 0

Nitrites - 0

Nitrates - 0

PH - 8.0

Temp 79.2

 

I figure I'll ghost feed my tank once a day to also aid in the process. Fun times!!!

 

Now, CUC wise, who uses the likes of Liveaquaria, etc., to get their crew, or, do you have a good LFS that has enough of what you need?

 

Thanks for reading!

[fishfreak0114]

Glad to see your tank is back up and running

[Idaho ken]

Well here we are at day 14....THE UGLIES!!!! Time for a lil CUC action!

[Idaho ken]

Added a few critters to the tank:

 

3 - Blue tip Hermits

6 - Snails (forgot the name lol)

1 - Strawberry Crab

1 - Hi Fin Goby with a paired Pistol Shrimp!

 

Now, I tested my parameters before I added and the only issue was a drop in salinity...was at 1.025, dropped to 1.024, so I brought it up slowly.

 

I tested again today, and my Nitrites went up to .25ish, as well as Nitrates to 10-20. Ammonia was at 0. So I added a half cap of Prime, as well as I'm starting to use Chemi Blue and Purigen.

 

Here area few pics:

 

 

 

 

[Water Dog]

Very cool. Love watching the progression. Keep 'em coming!

[Idaho ken]

Day 2 after adding my critters. Snails are doing a bang up job of cleaning the uglies....it's cool to watch the daily progress. I have turned off the lights for a couple of days to slow down the stuff just a tad, and, to make sure my Gobi and Shrimp get comfy....haven't seen neither one since adding them.

 

So, while I sit and not watch lol, I'm contemplating the following livestock:

 

1 - Cherub Angle or Midnight (Haven't kept an Angle in years)

1 - Royal G or a Black Cap Basslett

1 - Banggai Cardinal

2 - Clowns, not sure what type.

 

Now comes the harder part.....if I go with clowns, I'll probably have to shorten the list by at least one fish, and, they've all got to be reef safe, and get along with my gobi and future shrimp/inverts because I do plan on adding a few more, as well as softies, shrooms, zoas, that kind of thing, down the line.

 

Thoughts, and, in what order?

 

I've looked at each fish on Blue Zoo Aquatics, and I think they'll all get along, but, experience trumps what's on paper at times lol!

 

I will post a few pics of some changes to the guts in my cabinet though....re-arranged a few items. Didn't like the water and electrical on the same shelf lol!

 

 

[Water Dog]

Nice! I see you went with the 5.5 gallon ATO in the cabinet as we discussed. Fits perfectly in the cabinet and keeps everything nice and tidy, doesn't it?

[Idaho ken]

Heck yea, that was a great idea and it works to a tee!

[Idaho ken]

Greetings everyone!

 

Well, I haven't posted any updates for a couple weeks, thought I'd give a mini, almost 5 week anniversary update lol. It will be up and running for 5 whole weeks come Sunday. I'll post a few pics, some water params, etc......I did purchase a Rainsford's Goby last Sunday, and it's doing great. I need to add a few more snails, and am using patience to add a few more critters down the road. Pics and more coming Sunday!

 

Ken

[Idaho ken]

Ok, time for a 5 week update. Today marks the 5th week of my Biocube being "operational". Pics attached.

 

Inverts:

 

3 Blue leg Hermits (Small)

6 Snails (can't remember type)

1 Skunk Shrimp

1 Strawberry Crab

1 Pom Pom Crab

1 Pistol Shrimp

 

FIsh:

 

1 Hi-Fin Goby (Paired with the Pistol_

1 Rainsford's Goby

 

 

I've done 2 10% water changes to date...plan on doing them weekly. The Rainsford's Goby is a week into the tank, and the Pom Pom Crab and Skunk Shrimp were added yesterday.

 

Haven't seen the Strawberry crab in a little more than a weekish....and the last time I saw it was at night, with a flashlight....for a milisecond until it hid itself lol.

 

Filter set up is running now, along with the skimmer and UV (plan on running it for another week). UV will be intermittent.

 

Bright green algae - After reading on 3 different forums, the consensus is a green version of coraline algae? It's hard, doesn't scrape off.

 

Here are some pics:

 

 

 

[fishfreak0114]

Nice fish . Not sure on the algae, I have green coraline but it is way darker than that.

[Idaho ken]

Sad day :-( Found my Hi-Fin Goby dead, head first buried in some rock work. He was eating great last night, but, I'm wondering if my Rainsford's goby or, cleaner shrimp, scared it or bullied it out of it's burro with it's snapping shrimp? Both are now "loitering" around the place where he lived. Just tested my water and it's in good shape.

 

He was in the tank for 2 weeks, and was coming out and being sociable, eating good.....blah lol!

 

 

[Idaho ken]

Greetings all, time for an update.

 

Just passed week 9. Livestock has changed somewhat:

 

Inverts:

3 Blue leg Hermits (Small) (No Change)

6 Snails (can't remember type) (Added 3 more turbo snails)

1 Skunk Shrimp (Died after 2 days in tank)

1 Strawberry Crab (Have only seen twice, not sure if it's still alive or not)

1 Pom Pom Crab (Doing good)

1 Pistol Shrimp (Have not seen, but do see changes in sand)

NEW - Fire Shrimp

NEW - Green Emerald Crab

Fish:

1 Hi-Fin Goby (Paired with the Pistol) (Passed)

1 Rainsford's Goby (Doing great)

NEW - Black Clown Goby, Doing ok

This tank ran previously for about 7 months before I had to tear everything down. Today, I pulled the light cover, and noticed the original bulbs were toast....well, they were at the end of their life, brown marking at the base of each bulb. So, I replaced them with new, and wow, I can't believe the difference! I have decided that these will last 6 monthish....then I will go with the Nanobox LED upgrade! This is also probably why I was not getting any purple coraline algae growth, just greens.....I added a small piece of live rock from my LFS to hopefully seed my tank and get it growing.

All equipment is running well. My next upgrade will be a nano led to support Cheato in the mid chamber. Probably going to pull the trigger on this in a couple weeks. Pics attached:

Pic 1 - FTS

Pic 2 - Goby Safety Meeting

Pic 3 - New piece of rock

[Newstead]

Looks good. Will enjoy updates!

[Idaho ken]

Quick update:

 

So today I re-arranged my rock work mainly to find my missing Fire Shrimp and Strawberry Crab....in which I found neither. I can only assume that both have died and became food for my remaining hermits (2), emerald crab and pom pom crab. Did a 2 gallon water change as well, and will test my water in a few hours once things become "stable".

 

Pic:

 

 

[Idaho ken]

Two new lil cleaner shrimp, acclimation time!

 

 

[Idaho ken]

Minor but sad update:

 

So tomorrow marks week 11. One thing everyone preaches when starting up a salt water system, especially if you want to go "reef" is.....PATIENCE! Yea.....I didn't practice what I and everyone else preaches. I added fish a bit to soon, and, lost every one I put in. The last two fish I had were a black clown Gobie (Goby) and a Rainsford's Gobie. After I re-arranged my rock work, cleaned all my filters and added new purigen and chemi blue, both hid in the rock work and, are gone.....I can only assume my cleaning actions stressed them to the point of death, and, like any good cleaning crew would do, cleaned up the remains (man, a good CSI crew would have fun with this one).

 

So now, I have a hand full of snails, a couple hermits, my Emerald Crab, Pom Pom Crab (I think, I havn't seen it for a week) and the two new Cleaner Shrimp that are a week old in the system....Shrimp 1 and Shrimp 2, which were given those names by my daughter referencing Thing 1 and Thing 2 lol.

 

So, going forward, I am doing nothing to the tank but my weekly water changes and cleaning until I move, which will be April 15. Then, will do nothing for another 30 days after the move. This should give the tank and me, time to ponder livestock and ensure the tank is ready. I may go for a few blue leg hermits, but, nothing more.

 

I may have to ask for the team here to remind me to have PATIENCE lol!

[fishfreak0114]

Have patience! Sorry about your losses . You never know though, they could just be hiding out. I've had fish that I hadn't seen in the longest time and I was sure they were dead but then they come out. Also, check your rear chambers, my GCG lives back there. They may have gone back there and can't get back out.

[Idaho ken]

I did check my rear chambers, as well as all around the outside of the tank....no fish! I'll just be patient...lol, I have to this time around!

[fishfreak0114]

In the middle rear chamber their is a small ledge that it could hide under. Mine GCG and my porcelain hide there if i try to catch them and they are totally out of sight.