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Coral Vue Hydros

Streetsong's Biocube 29 Mixed Reef


streetsong

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FTS- July,5th, 2011, 2011, 24 months old

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FTS- December 19th, 2010, 16, 1/2 months old

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FTS- October 25th, 2010, 14 months old

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FTS- June 4th, 2010, 10 months old

 

 

After seven months of my first saltwater aquarium, a Biocube 14, I received the gift of a Biocube 29 from my dad. I am just a few days into the initial setup.

 

Additional Equipment

Maxijet 900 pump

Hydroflow rotation head

Koralia 1 circulation pump

Stealth 100 watt heater

 

Rear Chamber Setup

Chamber 1- Stealth Heater (Stock filter pad removed)

Chamber 2- Chemipure Elite, filter floss, Mr. Aqua ceramic rings in bag (bio-balls removed)

Chamber 3- Maxijet 900

 

I am unsure if the ceramic rings are a good thing, or not. Will they eventually just collect gunk and increase nitrates?

 

I look forward to your helpful comments!

 

 

 

 

I am picking up live rock today! See you then!

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Traveling to 3 LFS' in the Denver area, I purchased 20 pounds of reef rock (not live) and about 5 pounds of live rock in interesting shapes with quite a bit of coraline algae on it. I am very happy with how it all came together. All of the rock is very porous with many holes and cavities for critters to inhabit.

 

Here's a full tank shot:

 

 

This is my favorite piece- a slender rock with some interesting growth:

 

 

...and a shot from the left.

 

 

...and the right.

 

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The tank has begun cycling, but I am still unsure about having a bag of ceramic rings in the second chamber? Any opinions? Will these just be a recipe for disaster later on?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just ordered Stevie T's InTank package with media basket, fuge and fish guard. Tank is cycling, ammonia is spiking. Happy days!

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I just installed the inTank media basket and refugium compartment. Also built Uwwmatt's DIY fuge light, which is a great addition! In the media basket I am going with the everpopular combo of Chemipure on the bottom, Purigen in the middle and filter floss on the top. Added chaeto in the fuge as well. Now I just need a lighting upgrade. Do I add a nanotuners PC upgrade or kick it into high gear with a Sunpod? Too many decisions!

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I just installed the inTank media basket and refugium compartment. Also built Uwwmatt's DIY fuge light, which is a great addition! In the media basket I am going with the everpopular combo of Chemipure on the bottom, Purigen in the middle and filter floss on the top. Added chaeto in the fuge as well. Now I just need a lighting upgrade. Do I add a nanotuners PC upgrade or kick it into high gear with a Sunpod? Too many decisions!

 

It depends on what you want to keep .... I am so happy with my 4.36 upgrade... if you have a chiller or the money for one I'd go up to the HQI 150. The 4.36 is awesome though.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Tank update: seven weeks along and no cycle yet. Ammonia never really spiked and nitrites and nitrates have always been at 0. Diatoms have gone away and been replaced with green algae which has decreased a bit in the last week. I added a piece of shrimp at the very beginning as well. I also observe those little white worms (you know, the good ones.) If you have any ideas on what is going on, I would appreciate your expertise!

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Tank update: seven weeks along and no cycle yet. Ammonia never really spiked and nitrites and nitrates have always been at 0. Diatoms have gone away and been replaced with green algae which has decreased a bit in the last week. I added a piece of shrimp at the very beginning as well. I also observe those little white worms (you know, the good ones.) If you have any ideas on what is going on, I would appreciate your expertise!

Any help?

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People keep telling how much the Red Sea test kit sucks but is it really that different from the API test kit? If so, I guess I should buy the API!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am now at week eight! I have added my first livestock over the past two weeks, beginning with 3 snails and 3 yellow-legged hermit crabs. Last week I added a pair of tomato clown fish and today I added a long-nosed hawk fish. Here are the pics taken just moments ago. Your comments and suggestions are always appreciated!

 

 

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streetsong

Boy have I neglected this thread. Here's the latest update since my last post several months ago. The tomato clowns were a terrible idea- What was I thinking? They were sold to LFS. Here is a current photo:

 

Fish: Bangai Cardinal, Sixline Wrasse, Longnose Hawkfish, Bluespotted Jawfish. All of these fish have been together for about 5 months.

 

Corals: Blue Polyps, Yellow Polyps, Green Polyps, Incredible Hulk Zoos, Bam Bam Zoos, Blue Hornet Zoos, Orange Goblin Zoos, Watermelon Zoos, GSP, Kenya Tree, Blue Anthelia, Elephant Ear Mushroom, Green Toadstool, Green Trumpet LPS, 2 varieties of Frogspawn, red and green Blastomusas,

Red and purple Acans (6 heads) Orange Monti Cap, Pocilipora SPS.

 

Macroalgae: Sawblade Caulerpa in display, Cheatomorpha in refugium

 

Feeding: Every morning I feed Spectrum Thera+A pellets to my Blue Spotted Jawfish, every evening I rotate freshwater mysis, Formula Foods frozen variety pack, spurilinia-enriched brine and pellets. For corals, I feed Phyto-Feast twice per week and Oyster-Feast twice per week.

 

CUC: 10 Blue-Legged Hermit Crabs, 2 Yellow-Legged Hermit Crabs, 1 Emerald Crab, about 7 snails.

 

Filtration: Chemipure, Purigen, Filter Floss in a Stevie T media rack, Cheato in a Stevie T Refugium compartment.

 

Flow: Maxijet 900 and Koralia Nano

 

Lighting: Stock lighting. After debating and researching, I just ordered Nanocustoms 5.6 LED retrofit with the standard cree strips: Blue, White, Blue, White, Blue. It should arrive in about a week and a half.

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streetsong

I currently have sand as the substrate, but would like to add some less fine aragonite. This will help my jawfish to build caves that don't collapse. Should I just add the substrate on top of my existing sand?

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cheryl jordan

I really like that combo of fishes you have for some reason it just works. The hawk fish is really nice, much prettier than I remember them being.

 

Nice looking tank :)

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streetsong

Thanks Cheryl! I was unsure how this combo of fish would work but its been great. Aesthetically, they add good color and variety. They also get along well. As they grow, I think I will have to transfer one of the fish to my other tank at some point. Probably the wrasse.

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streetsong

I just finished a minor aquascape adjustment, moving one of my frogspawns to the right side of the tank. This allowed me to add this nice piece of rock that just fit perfectly on the upper left. It creates a nice cave and a new place to put some new sps corals after my Nanotuners 5.6 LED upgrade arrives (it should be soon).

 

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streetsong

New pics from this morning. I added a few cups of gravel to compliment my fine sand bed and hopefully prevent my jawfish's burrows from collapsing. Overnight he did some major work, moving sand and creating hills that are up to 4 inches deep near the glass. As you can see in the first pic, he completely cleared out the space underneath the largest rock in the tank. I guess he likes to see his reflection in the glass. Do I leave the sand, or distribute it evenly throughout the tank? He'll probably do it again, huh? Well, at least he is keeping busy!

 

 

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streetsong

While I was doing a water change this afternoon and I spread the sand out a bit more evenly, but I'm sure it will be rearranged by morning :) .

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I need your input and opinions. What should I put on the empty rock that I just added on the upper left (look up at the last couple of posts). Once my LED lights arrive I would like to add a green slimer acro and a birds nest. Good idea? Bad idea? Any other ideas? Thanks!

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I just realized that almost all of my pics are FTS's. So here's a few shots of different parts of the tank.

 

 

 

 

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