Water Dog Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 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 controlBluefish Mini LED controllerMy Oceanic splashguard DIY - http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/324456-diy-bc29-or-any-aio-splash-guard-replacement/ Flow -2 VorTech MP10 wQD'sReefLink wireless controllerVortech Battery Backup Chamber 1 -Seachem Matrix BioMedia in a filter bagRS-1 temperature probeAquaticLife 115 Protein Skimmer w/ airline modChamber 2 -InTank Media Basket w/ floss, Purigen and Chemipure EliteIntank Fuge w/ chaeto and a bag of Seachem Matrix BioMedia underneathJBJ NanoGlo fuge lightChamber 3 -Aquamaxx Fr-s nano media reactor currently running BRS 0.8 Rox carbon until the need arises to use my Aquamaxx high capacity GFOTunze 3155 ATO optical eye and backup floatCobalt Neotherm 100 heater contolled by a ReefSafe Solutions RS-1 temperature controllerCobalt MJ1200 return pump fed into the dual LocLine mod Cabinet Organization -AboveLED striplight2 Power strips with individual breakersControllers for MP10's, Tunze 3155 ATO, RS-1 temp controllerReefLinkBelow -LED striplight5.5 gallon AGA aquarium for ATO reservoir with DIY hinged lidBattery backup Link to comment
Water Dog Posted March 30, 2016 Author Share Posted March 30, 2016 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 areSalinity: 35ppt Red Sea RefractometerpH: 8 Red SeaAlkalinity: 7.5dKH HannaAmmonia: 0ppm Red SeaNitrite: 0ppm Red SeaNitrate: 5ppm Red SeaPhosphate: 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. Link to comment
ml86743 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Nice start! Love the equipment you have in there. Looking forward to some corals. Link to comment
Water Dog Posted March 30, 2016 Author Share Posted March 30, 2016 Thanks! I'll continue to monitor and update this thread as I slowly add more goodies. Link to comment
ml86743 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Thanks! I'll continue to monitor and update this thread as I slowly add more goodies. Cant wait Link to comment
Water Dog Posted April 5, 2016 Author Share Posted April 5, 2016 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... Link to comment
Water Dog Posted April 11, 2016 Author Share Posted April 11, 2016 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 - 1.026N03 - 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! Link to comment
SantaMonicaHelp Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Welcome back! Nice set up. SF Link to comment
Water Dog Posted April 21, 2016 Author Share Posted April 21, 2016 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. Link to comment
Water Dog Posted April 28, 2016 Author Share Posted April 28, 2016 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) Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 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. Link to comment
Water Dog Posted May 12, 2016 Author Share Posted May 12, 2016 Thanks! Just put my order in this afternoon. Thanks again for the heads up. I'll post some shots when they get settled. Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 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! Link to comment
Water Dog Posted May 12, 2016 Author Share Posted May 12, 2016 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! Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56 Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 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 Link to comment
Water Dog Posted May 12, 2016 Author Share Posted May 12, 2016 Really!?! I'm just nervous of them going rogue and picking off snails and stealing food from coral... Link to comment
Water Dog Posted May 18, 2016 Author Share Posted May 18, 2016 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. Link to comment
Water Dog Posted May 21, 2016 Author Share Posted May 21, 2016 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. ? Link to comment
Water Dog Posted May 22, 2016 Author Share Posted May 22, 2016 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 Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted May 22, 2016 Share Posted May 22, 2016 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 Link to comment
Pjanssen Posted May 22, 2016 Share Posted May 22, 2016 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. Link to comment
Water Dog Posted May 23, 2016 Author Share Posted May 23, 2016 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... Link to comment
Water Dog Posted May 23, 2016 Author Share Posted May 23, 2016 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/ Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 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. Link to comment
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