Banjo's Biocube 29

[Banjo]

Hi everyone,

 

The aquarium was started in the middle of January 2010.

 

FTS 7-24-2011 (Ignore all the brown from a delayed shipment! )

 

 

FTS 6-14-2011

 

 

Mods:

AI Sol Super Blue LED Fixture

AI Sol Controller

Vortech MP10 running 100% on Reef Crest

Apex Jr. Controller

BRS 1.1mL/minute Doser x2 (Alk/Ca)

Reef Octopus BH1000 Protein Skimmer

MaxiJet 1200 Return

Loc-Line Y bracket and two flattened return nozzles

Media Basket running Filter Floss, BRS ROX .8 Carbon, BRS GFO

150w Finnex Heater

JBJ ATO with MaxiJet 900

 

Dosing:

BRS Two Part (Ca/Alk/Mg)

Vodka

 

Fish:

Pair of Percula Clowns

Female Lyretail Anthias

 

Inverts (Non-Coral):

Purple Crocea Clam

Green/Purple Maxi Mini Anemone

Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

Nassarius/Cerith/Nerite Snails

FL Fighting Conch

Blue Leg Hermits

[Banjo]

I moved my first post down here so I can reserve my first post for the new FTS.

 

 

Kinda bad pictures that I took with a Canon point and shoot camera. I'll have to steal my buddy's Canon Rebel XT for some good shots sometime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a picture of my GBTA. It decided to shrivel up during the above photos. So I took some more today when it expanded.

 

Sorry for the horrible quality of these, but that's all I can get at the moment:

 

[Banjo]

Here's a picture I just took of my Crocea Clam as well.

 

[wesley42079]

Banjo, that is a great looking BC29.

 

I especially like the rimless look.

[Banjo]

Thanks man! Appreciate the comment

[cheryl jordan]

Beautiful tank, I especially like the birds nest, euphyllias and the bubble coral.

 

 

Cheryl

[Banjo]

Beautiful tank, I especially like the birds nest, euphyllias and the bubble coral.

 

 

Cheryl

 

Thank you!

 

Yeah, those are my favorites as well. I love my LPS and would love an overall LPS dominated tank, but I'm not sure about sweepers.

[Weetabix7]

Very nice tank!

That Green Bubble is my favorite.

How long have you had the Midas Blenny and what has your experience been with them?

I've been very interested in possibly getting one, but supposedly they can sometimes get aggressive in smaller tanks.

[Banjo]

Very nice tank!

That Green Bubble is my favorite.

How long have you had the Midas Blenny and what has your experience been with them?

I've been very interested in possibly getting one, but supposedly they can sometimes get aggressive in smaller tanks.

 

Thank you for the comment!

 

I love my Midas. I haven't had any problems with him at all with the clowns. Once in a while, he will chase the male clown, but it lasts a split second and seems harmless enough. I've never seen any nipping. Just a warning chase.

 

Other than that, they are an absolute blast of a fish. Tons of personality and entertaining behavior. He perches on random things (powerheads, corals, whatever) and stars at me as I walk by. He randomly dive bombs into the sand. Picks up and moves shells and larger pieces of sand/rock near his claimed hole in one of the live rocks. Extremely active in the water column.

 

Overall, I don't think you could go wrong. They're a lot of fun.

[Banjo]

Bummmmmmmp!

[sloo50]

Bummmmmmmp!

Beautiful tank! I have been looking for info on removing the "rim" , can you share how you accomplished this?

 

Thank!

 

 

Wes

[got2envy]

Love it!!

 

Midas Blennies are the best

[Banjo]

Thanks everyone

[Banjo]

Beautiful tank! I have been looking for info on removing the "rim" , can you share how you accomplished this?

 

Thank!

 

 

Wes

 

There's a couple threads around here that I used for more detailed information. I can't find them offhand though. Just google search Rimless Bocube 29. Everyone said it would be difficult to do, but I really didn't find it too bad.

 

Here are the steps that I did:

 

1. Take a razor blade and run it under the rim on both sides of the glass all the way around the tank. This cuts the silicone and makes it ten times easier to remove.

 

2. I took a hand saw and cut the rim into 3 separate parts. Just make 2 cuts right before the corners on each side. Also make a cut on each side to pull the rim away from the base. Make sure you're careful doing this as the plastic is decently thin and you don't want to drive your saw into the glass. Once you get closer to cutting all the way through the plastic, you can take a butter knife and pry the plastic away from the glass to finish the cut. That's what I did.

 

3. Rock each individual side back and forth. Don't be afraid to use a lot of force. You'll have to pry the plastic off the remaining silicone. Eventually it should come loose. Do this to each piece, but be careful when you pry away from the corners as I've heard this is the most fragile part.

 

4. Take a razor blade and scrape the silicone residue off both sides of the glass. This is the most time consuming part.

 

A lot of silicone and plastic shavings will go into the water. I had my brother hold a net under the pieces that I was sawing and scraping in order to prevent most of it going in. Otherwise, you can turn off your pumps and the pieces will float, so you can just use a net and collect all of the pieces every 10 minutes. After you're done you can run filter floss to pick up anything that you had missed.

[evokid511]

awesome write up i think im gonna try this with mine, looks soooooo nice!

[Banjo]

awesome write up i think im gonna try this with mine, looks soooooo nice!

 

Thanks bud.

 

Gonna go ahead and copy the rimless diagram from our other thread and put it in here as well.

 

 

The red lines are where I cut the rim.

[InLimbo87]

Love the rimless look. I'm tempted to do the same with my future BC29. How long have you had the midas blenny? I would be a bit concerned that it would jump without a cover on the tank.

[Banjo]

I've had the Midas Blenny since the tank finished cycling. I've been open top for over 3 months and have not had any issues with him. Sometimes I've seen him swim at the very top of the aquarium, but I've never seen a jump or even an attempted jump.

[Banjo]

June 1st 2010 update:

 

Was bored today so I snapped some quick photos.

 

FTS

 

 

Loved this picture because it shows the growth of my Duncans. This was only a two head colony a month or two ago and now there's 7 more "baby" heads growing out from the sides. Truly awesome!

 

 

Pictures of my Euphyllias:

 

 

[Fletch010]

Yeah banjo the silicone is by far the worst part GEEEZZZZ it was a pain. But the look is far better than with the rim that is for sure. Great looking tank keep it up.

[Banjo]

I was thinking about adding a torch to my LPS collection. I think it would be pretty neat to have all three Euphyllias next to each other on the right side of the tank.

 

Any particular color that you guys think would look good? I have so much green in my aquarium already, I'm not sure if green would be the best bet. But then again, my Frogspawn and Hammer are both green. I've seen some really pretty orange torches they may look neat as well. I'm also a much bigger fan of the "long tentacle" type torches, but unfortunately rarely see them for sale.

[InLimbo87]

Nice new pics! Those duncans are really growing

[andersnanoreef]

nice bubble coral u got there

[Banjo]

Thanks guys.

 

Yeah, it's crazy (and exciting) how fast they grow.

[drummersreef]

One of the best biocubes I've seen. Love the orange plate and neon green bubble coral. The tank looks so clean and I like the blue hue the nep gives off. How do you like the Nova Extreme Pro? Im thinking about getting one. Is the evaporation really bad?