Going Sloooow... Water Dog's Oceanic BC29 Build

[Water Dog]

Well Guys,

After an 8 year hiatus from the hobby, I decided to jump off the deep end and get back in. I wanted to go small and manageable, get quality gear (as to not have to buy stuff twice) and above all else, I wanted to take my sweet *** time putting it all together. I picked up a used Oceanic BioCube 29 and stand off of Craig's List for a great deal and off I went.

My apologies beforehand for the crappy cellphone pictures.

Equipment List -

Lighting -
Nanobox Large LED Retro - 4 channel LED control, moonlights and fan control
Bluefish Mini LED controller
My Oceanic splashguard DIY - http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/324456-diy-bc29-or-any-aio-splash-guard-replacement/

 

 

Flow -
2 VorTech MP10 wQD's
ReefLink wireless controller
Vortech Battery Backup

 

 

Chamber 1 -
Seachem Matrix BioMedia in a filter bag
RS-1 temperature probe
AquaticLife 115 Protein Skimmer w/ airline mod

Chamber 2 -
InTank Media Basket w/ floss, Purigen and Chemipure Elite
Intank Fuge w/ chaeto and a bag of Seachem Matrix BioMedia underneath
JBJ NanoGlo fuge light

Chamber 3 -
Aquamaxx Fr-s nano media reactor currently running BRS 0.8 Rox carbon until the need arises to use my Aquamaxx high capacity GFO
Tunze 3155 ATO optical eye and backup float
Cobalt Neotherm 100 heater contolled by a ReefSafe Solutions RS-1 temperature controller
Cobalt MJ1200 return pump fed into the dual LocLine mod

 

 

Cabinet Organization -

Above
LED striplight
2 Power strips with individual breakers
Controllers for MP10's, Tunze 3155 ATO, RS-1 temp controller
ReefLink

Below -
LED striplight
5.5 gallon AGA aquarium for ATO reservoir with DIY hinged lid
Battery backup

 

[Water Dog]

This time around to avoid unwanted hitch hikers and pests, I wanted to use all dry rock and dry sand, so I ordered 20# of CaribSea special grade dry aragonite sand, 30# of Reef Cleaners dry rock and a 200 gallon box of Reef crystals salt. In mid January, I got replacement prefilters, DI resin and a new Dow FilmTec 100 gpd membrane for my old RO/DI unit. Gave it a test to see if it still worked after all these years and success... 0 TDS water!

Splashdown happened on January 26th 2015 with a large piece of raw shrimp and a small bottle of BioSpira to kick off the cycle. After about a week, I was advised to take out the piece of shrimp by an experienced reefer as it would take forever to breakdown because of the size of the piece of shrimp.

Here it is in the foreground on the right.

 

 

It took about the 20 days to complete the initial cycle and zero out my ammonia and nitrite. To confirm the completion of the cycle, I picked up a bottle pure ammonia and dosed the tank to 2 ppm to see how long it would take to zero out the ammonia and nitrite. It took another 6 days to get my system to zero out ammonia and nitrite over a 24 hour period. Cycle complete!

After a 4 week quarantine on March 8th, I added a pair of True Percula clownfish at 1.5" and 1.75" in length and a small 2" purple firefish. For the first week in the quarantine tank there was nonstop nipping and fighting between the clowns. I thought for sure the smaller one was toast. They have since bonded and play nice.

 

 

 

Here is a FTS of my tank and where it currently stands.
My parameters are

Salinity: 35ppt Red Sea Refractometer
pH: 8 Red Sea
Alkalinity: 7.5dKH Hanna
Ammonia: 0ppm Red Sea
Nitrite: 0ppm Red Sea
Nitrate: 5ppm Red Sea
Phosphate: 0.03 ppm Hanna

 

 

General maintenance thus far has been a 5 gallon water change on a weekly basis since completion of the cycle. I'm looking to add one more fish, either a Yellow Assesor or a small Royal Gramma, not sure yet.

As far as corals go, I'm not sure if I am going to do a mixed reef (softies, LPS and SPS) or full blown SPS. In preparation for that decision, I just scored a 1 year old lab grade Neptune Apex Controller for a pretty killer price from a member on this forum (thanks flobees!). Should be delivered early next week. If I go full SPS, I want to get the Neptune DOS dosing system with reliable and precise stepper motors.

Either way, I will be running the tank with just fish for the time being to be sure that I could could keep my parameters in check and stable before adding corals.

 

 

[ml86743]

Nice start! Love the equipment you have in there. Looking forward to some corals.

[Water Dog]

Thanks! I'll continue to monitor and update this thread as I slowly add more goodies.

[ml86743]

Thanks! I'll continue to monitor and update this thread as I slowly add more goodies.

Cant wait

[Water Dog]

So, my used Apex and WXM came in today. I'm not gonna lie. I'm feeling pretty intimidated with setting this thing up and programming everything...

[Water Dog]

Been about a month and a week with just fish in the tank and regular weekly water changes... three months total since the tank has been wet. Still haven't set the Apex up as yet. However, I'm finally zeroing in on stable parameters in preparation for coral. As of today's testing:

Salinity - 1.026
N03 - 0ppm (Red Sea)
P04 - 0.02 ppm (Hanna)
Alk - 6.7 dKH (Hanna)

Alk has been hovering between 7.5 to 6.4 using Reef Crystals. N03 has been at a high of 10ppm to finally 0 ppm today and P04 has been at a high of 0.11 ppm down to 0.02 ppm today... all of this is post cycle with three fish and moderate feeding. The chaeto in the refugium has doubled in mass since I put it in.

Slowly getting there!

[SantaMonicaHelp]

Welcome back! Nice set up.

 

SF

[Water Dog]

Just wanted to give a current progress report on how everything is going. I finally got around to getting the Apex installed, not nearly as bad as I had initially thought. The Apex Fusion web interface makes it very user friendly. Now I just have to do firmware updates and link my MP10s to the WXM. I'm beginning to get the expected "new tank syndrome" algae outbreak. Got a few Astrea and Mexican Turbo snails and they're already making a dent after just 2 days in. Once they do their job, I'll begin the coral stocking process. In order to make room for the Apex probes and eventual dosing lines in chamber 3, I sidelined the skimmer and moved the media reactor to chamber 1. With weekly 5 gallon water changes I think I'll be okay... We'll see. As things move forward and I start adding coral, I'll take pictures with a better camera and continually update this thread with better quality photos of my progress.

[Water Dog]

So I am exactly at 3 months in since the tank has been wet. Livestock consists of 2 True Percula clowns, a Purple Firedish, several Astrea and Mexican Turbo snails and a boatload of pods (Thanks KeyDiver!).

To make room for the Apex probes in chamber 3, I moved my media reactor running GFO into chamber 1 and moved the skimmer offline. In the media tray, I have floss, Purigen, ROX carbon and Chemipure Elite. I have trimmed off 2/3 of my chaeto as it was running out of space in the fuge basket. I'm also still running 2 bags of SeaChem Matrix Biomedia on the bottom of Chamber 1 and underneath the fuge basket.

I think I'm going through the new tank syndrome algae / diatom bloom. My combination of Astrea and Mexican Turbos are slowly making progress. Once I get through this ugly phase, I think it will be time to finally begin adding coral!

My parameters are as follows:

Salinity - 1.025 (Red Sea refractometer)
Temp - 77.1 (Apex)
pH - 7.75 (Apex)
NO3 - 0 (Red Sea)
Alk - 8.3 (Hanna)
PO4 - 0.02 (Hanna)

 

[reefernanoman]

So I am exactly at 3 months in since the tank has been wet. Livestock consists of 2 True Percula clowns, a Purple Firedish, several Astrea and Mexican Turbo snails and a boatload of pods (Thanks KeyDiver!).

 

To make room for the Apex probes in chamber 3, I moved my media reactor running GFO into chamber 1 and moved the skimmer offline. In the media tray, I have floss, Purigen, ROX carbon and Chemipure Elite. I have trimmed off 2/3 of my chaeto as it was running out of space in the fuge basket. I'm also still running 2 bags of SeaChem Matrix Biomedia on the bottom of Chamber 1 and underneath the fuge basket.

 

I think I'm going through the new tank syndrome algae / diatom bloom. My combination of Astrea and Mexican Turbos are slowly making progress. Once I get through this ugly phase, I think it will be time to finally begin adding coral!

 

My parameters are as follows:

 

Salinity - 1.025 (Red Sea refractometer)

Temp - 77.1 (Apex)

pH - 7.75 (Apex)

NO3 - 0 (Red Sea)

Alk - 8.3 (Hanna)

PO4 - 0.02 (Hanna)

 

Looks like you are ready for them acans! Great progress.

[Water Dog]

Thanks! Just put my order in this afternoon. Thanks again for the heads up. I'll post some shots when they get settled.

[reefernanoman]

Thanks! Just put my order in this afternoon. Thanks again for the heads up. I'll post some shots when they get settled.

Sure no worries! I'm excited to see them! That's a very good way to start adding corals with Acans. They are very hardy and beautiful. Just make sure to feed them mini mysis (I feed mine reef chili from BRS) at least twice a week, so that it can help them stay colorful and fat. They also grow faster when fed too. Also, they don't like very strong light, so be careful you don't burn them (I only run my Kessil a160we at 65% intensity on my 28g cube for example). Good luck!

[Water Dog]

So after 3 1/2 months of my BioCube up and running, I finally added my first two coral frags for this build. Picked up a Duncan and Hammer at a local LFS on the cheap. Did a Bayer dip and triple rinse and now they sit on my sand bed for the time being. I'll slowly acclimate them to my lighting and then move them to mid level in my rock work.



I also took the Mexican Turbo snails back to the LFS and traded them in for some Trochus snails. They seem to be better at munching on the remaining diatoms. Next week, I'm getting a 6 Acan Lord frag pack delivered (again, thanks for the heads up Reefernanoman)... needless to say, I'm super stoked. I guess this is when the real fun begins!

[Cencalfishguy56]

So after 3 1/2 months of my BioCube up and running, I finally added my first two coral frags for this build. Picked up a Duncan and Hammer at a local LFS on the cheap. Did a Bayer dip and triple rinse and now they sit on my sand bed for the time being. I'll slowly acclimate them to my lighting and then move them to mid level in my rock work.

 

 

I also took the Mexican Turbo snails back to the LFS and traded them in for some Trochus snails. They seem to be better at munching on the remaining diatoms. Next week, I'm getting a 6 Acan Lord frag pack delivered (again, thanks for the heads up Reefernanoman)... needless to say, I'm super stoked. I guess this is when the real fun begins!

believe it or not blue hermits absolutely destroyed my diatoms

[Water Dog]

Really!?! I'm just nervous of them going rogue and picking off snails and stealing food from coral...

[Water Dog]

Put the Aquaticlife 115 back into service as the PH was dropping too low without the aeration of the skimmer. Ordered some parts to make a DIY CO2 scrubber for the skimmer. I'll post the build when the stuff comes in. I took the reactor offline and am running ROX carbon and GFO passively in the media basket.

Now for the fun stuff. Got some frags in today! Everything came in this morning in great shape. Everything was Bayer dipped and triple rinsed before going into the tank.


This is the Acan frag pack that I ordered. I'm thinking of setting up an Acan garden on the big rock in the foreground of the tank.


Here is the Zoa frag pack. They're not quite open all the way yet. I'm gonna use these guys to fill in the empty spaces of the rock work.


As a bonus for the two frag packs, they also sent me some freebies... three different Favia Brain frags!


I'll let these guys acclimate on the sand bed and slowly move them up into the rock work over the next few weeks. Next I will work on the two rocks on the sides. Looking at more LPS for that wavy motion. Then finally, the featured top rock will be populated with some SPS. The stocking part of the tank build is very fun indeed!

Oh by the way, my rocks aren't really that florescent green. On the LED's, I have my whites turned way up and my blues, cyan and UV turned way down to take better photos of the frags with my cellphone. For some reason, it makes my rocks look highlighter yellowish green.

[Water Dog]

Unfortunately, my purple firefish bit the dust. I noticed a couple of weeks ago he was hiding more than usual. I noticed his mouth was more agape than normal. I read that firefish sometimes develop a mouth fungus and can't close their mouths. I last saw him a couple of days ago swimming around with his mouth wide open, stomach pinched in and unable to eat. Fished out his carcass yesterday... poor little dude. ?

[Newstead]

How sad ... sorry.

[Water Dog]

How sad ... sorry.

 

No worries. I'm just gonna let my clowns rule the roost for the time being.

 

Finished up placing my new frags onto the rock work. Here's the latest FTS

 

[HarryPotter]

No worries. I'm just gonna let my clowns rule the roost for the time being.

 

Finished up placing my new frags onto the rock work. Here's the latest FTS

 

That looks great!!! Nice job! Imagine when those acans grow together

[Pjanssen]

i love how your build is so planned out. I'm more of a see it gotta have it kinda girl. Makes it hard to create a flow. Looking forward to watching yours grow, especially watching the acans create the front row border.

[Water Dog]

Thanks guys!

 

i love how your build is so planned out.

Yeah, with this build, I want to be as deliberate and methodical as I can be with both my planning and maintenance routine. The top rock will be my first foray into the world of SPS so I want to be sure I do everything I can to increase my odds of success. We'll see...

[Water Dog]

As promised, here's a link to my DIY CO2 scrubber for my Aquaticlife 115 skimmer...

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/373872-diy-co2-scubber-for-biocube-29-skimmer/

[reefernanoman]

No worries. I'm just gonna let my clowns rule the roost for the time being.

 

Finished up placing my new frags onto the rock work. Here's the latest FTS

Looking great! I like the placement of everything.