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Alex's Biocube 29


xAyanex

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Hello! My name is Alex, and I have set up a Coralife Biocube 29. This is my first saltwater aquarium, so it took tons of research to get this far and I see way more in my future. :D

 

Tank was wet 4/27/16. Cycled in 21 days. Death of tank: 3/2/19, Cause of death: heather malfunctioned, tank heated to 94 degrees.

 

Filters

Chemical filter-Chemipure Elite, Purigen, & Phosguard in inTank media basket.

Mechanical filter-Filter floss & Sponge

Biological filter-23 lbs. live rock

Substrate-20 lbs CaribSea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink sand.

(Ditched the bioballs).

 

Equipment

Stock lighting:

  • 36 Watt 10,000K Daylight
  • 36 Watt True Actinic 03 Blue
  • 0.75 Watt Lunar Blue LED Bar

Upgraded lighting to Nanobox Retro Large Plus M

Cobalt Aquatics 100 Watt Neo-Therm Heater***THIS IS WHAT COOKED THE TANK

Replaced stock pump with a Rio 6 HyperFlow

2 Hydor Koralia Nano 425s

 

Fish

2 Clownfish-one regular (named Bob) and one black and white ocellaris (named Dot) (b&w was replaced 3X) (RIP)

Midas Blenny named Earl (RIP)

Royal Gramma

Randall's Goby named Randy (RIP)

Pistol Shrimp named Pete (RIP)

 

Invertebrates - RIP ALL

3 2 Nassarius Snails

Several Cerith Snails

2 Astrea Snails

Rose Bubble Tip Anemone (RBTA)

Rock Flower Anemone

Many Asterina starfish

Red Feather Dusters

 

Corals - RIP ALL

Toadstool Coral

Radioactive Dragon Eye Zoanthid Coral

Hammer Coral

Torch Coral

Orange Yuma Mushroom Coral

Grape Candy Cane Coral

Candy Apple Red Zoanthid Coral

Plate Coral

Duncan Coral

Green Polyp Toadstool Coral

Green Star Polyps (GSP)

Red Acan Coral

Orange Acan Coral

Unknown SPS Coral

Meteor Shower Cyphastrea

 

Current FTS: 04/26/2017

 

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Current Nighttime FTS: 04/20/2017

 

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  • Like 10
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Finally, the sand settled and the water cleared:


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So I took some close-ups, because I don't know what this stuff is on my rocks and it doesn't look like any of the horror-story hitchhikers I've heard of just yet:



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And at last, I redid my aquascape:



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  • Like 4
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Update! And some planning.

 

When the cycle calls for it, I will add CUC. I am using the API Saltwater Master Test Kit (just for cycling-when I test Mg/Phos/Ca/etc in the future, I will use Salifert).

 

My salinity is a steady 35 ppt/specific gravity of 1.025.

My temperature is steady at 77 degrees F-I've thought about raising that. My heater is set to 78 degrees F. It is in 2 degree increments, so I could set it to 80 and see if I get to a steady 79 degrees?

My pH is always either 7.8 or 8.0.

Ammonia 0-it was high, peaked, and came down to zero a couple days ago.

Nitrites 5.0+-I say plus because they're really so high they're off the chart.

Nitrates seem to vary from day to day, like, too much to possibly be accurate. I followed the directions (shaking bottle vigorously 30 seconds while inverting tube, then shaking tube vigorously 1 min.) I read they may be inaccurate due to the presence of high nitrites. I figure I won't worry too much about it until the nitrites approach zero, and then if my tests are still acting up buy a different manufacturer test to judge how many water changes/how much water must be changed for the water to be at a safe nitrate level.

 

2 Clownfish... that's all for fish. Maybe another fish in the distant future, but for now just the clownfish. They are the first thing I hope to add to my tank after cycle is completed/CUC added and it is safe to add them.

 

I don't know much about corals. Most research I've done seems to say I can keep LPS and soft corals, and preferably NO anemones under the stock lighting. I won't upgrade the lighting for at least a year. I looked into torch, frogspawn, zoas, and leathers. Many people have had success with all four of these and I like the way they look but don't know anything about care/etc. so that's still all up in the air. I have months to decide though, so it's okay. Reading, reading, reading. :)

 

Eventually, more months down the road, I'd love to have a BTA, as a have seen people have success with those with this setup as well. But I'm not getting my hopes up.

 

Recommendations appreciated!

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Update! Still Cycling.

 

Levels:

Temp 77

Salinity 34 ppt, specific gravity 1.024

pH 8.0

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0.25

Nitrate 80

 

Today I found a starfish! I have been informed it is an Asterina Starfish, which may be bad because it may eat corals and its population may increase quickly. I have a lot of reading to do on that, but I couldn't find it when I got home so I guess the starfish is safe for now.

 

Also, my pod population suddenly exploded! That was pretty cool.

It was hard to get pictures of the starfish because it was so small but I did my best. And the pods are of course tiny but I took a picture of them too. (And please excuse all the particles in the water-I changed the filter floss after taking pictures, but it was a little overdue.)

 

Starfish:

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And the Pods:

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Good going !!

 

Once cycled .. Then a good amount of water change and u are good to go ....

Thank you! :) I am so excited! The end of my cycle is nearing! The tank has been set up and cycling for 2 weeks now.

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Update!

 

Levels:

 

Temp: 77

Salinity: 35, specific gravity of 1.025

pH: 8.0

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 40

 

Well, my cycle finally finished. I continued testing to make sure nitrite stayed at 0 (ammonia has been 0 for several days, and stayed 0). Nitrate was 80. I did my first water change-50% because that was the biggest I felt comfortable doing to try and get nitrates down to my goal of <5 before I can add fish or anything living.

 

After my first water change, nitrates are down to 40. I did another water change this morning, but it was frustrating because I would add salt and then my specific gravity was too high. Then I would add too much water and it would drop too much. Eventually I got both buckets to 1.025 specific gravity and got the water change done before work :) I will start some more water mixing tonight and do another water change tomorrow.

 

I'll test nitrates when I get home. I saw the starfish a couple other days, but haven't seen him recently. I still have a fairly large pod population.

 

I plan on getting 2 clownfish for my first fish-one regular ocellaris and one black and white ocellaris. I'm excited! I don't plan to get them for another week and a half-that gives me plenty of time to get the nitrates down for sure. Also, I ordered Mag/Calcium/Alk/Phos Salifert test kits and want to have time to get those and get some tests run before the fish, just to see where things are.

  • Like 1
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Update!

 

Levels:

 

Temp: 79 (turned the thermometer up from 78 to 80 degrees, now will watch for 79 stability)

Salinity: 34/1.024 specific gravity

pH: 8.0

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 10

 

I did my second water change and got nitrates down to 20, and 3rd to get them down to 10. Just 2 or 3 more water changes and I should be good to go!

 

I found my starfish again today:

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Also, I found another little tiny thing. I need help identifying it. He has nine little legs that kinda sway in the current. It was VERY hard to get pictures of:

Edit: I found a second one. After doing some research, I think they are Hydroid Jellyfish-or hydroids in their "medusa" stage. Many people have reported seeing them show up in a newer tank one week and disappear the next, never to be seen again. But there are some things I read that worry me: some people said their populations could grow to nuisance numbers, and that they release toxins that can be harmful to fish and corals. I'll continue researching to see what I should do.

Edit #2: I vacuumed him out when I did my water change today. I figure better safe than sorry, and I didn't read anything overwhelmingly positive about having them.

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  • Like 2
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fishfreak0114

Looking good! That hydroids neat, but it was probably a good idea to get rid of it. I love asterinas! Just today I found one that actually has 5 legs :). I love your scape! I'll be following along

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Update!

 

Water Chemistry of DT:

Temp 79

Salinity 1.024/34

pH 8.2

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 0

Magnesium 1410

Alkalinity 9.9 dKH

Calcium 490

Phosphate 0.25 (yikes)

I plan to add ChemiPure and Purigen tonight which will hopefully get my phosphates down.

 

I also went ahead and set up a 10 gallon Quarantine Tank. Water Chemistry of QT:

Temp 78

Salinity1.025/35

pH 8.2

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 0

 

I also made my first couple purchases yesterday! I bought 3 Nassarius Snails and put them in my DT, and 2 ocellaris clownfish which I put in my QT.

 

Here are a couple pictures of one of my nassarius snails:

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And here are some pictures of my new clownfish!!!! One is a regular orange ocellaris named Bob and one is a black and white ocellaris named Dot. I named them after characters in a series called Reboot (aka one of the best shows ever). I'm assuming the black and white one is the female because she is large and exhibits semi-aggressive behavior toward Bob.

Bob and Dot together in a bag one the way home from the LFS:

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Bob and Dot together in their new temporary home (the QT tank):

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Some pictures of Bob in the QT:

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Some pictures of Dot in the QT:

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  • Like 3
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fishfreak0114

Congrats on your first fish! Isn't it adorable how they swim? :wub: How long do you plan on QTing them? Also, I doubt purigen and chemipure will help with the phosphates. I recommend extra water changes, maybe phosguard, and trying to find out what the source of the problem is. Your phosphate level isn't too bad though, it should be an easy fix :)

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Congrats on your first fish! Isn't it adorable how they swim? :wub: How long do you plan on QTing them? Also, I doubt purigen and chemipure will help with the phosphates. I recommend extra water changes, maybe phosguard, and trying to find out what the source of the problem is. Your phosphate level isn't too bad though, it should be an easy fix :)

Yes, they are so freaking cute!! When I walk up to the tank, they both come out of their little PVC homes to stare at me :) I plan on quarantining for 4 weeks, and assuming they appear healthy and eat regularly, I will relocate them. If they get sick with ich or anything I need to treat, I'll treat them, but after I treat them I'll wait another 4 weeks after treatment is completely done until I relocate them.

 

That tank is due for a water change this weekend. I don't know what the source could be, there's nothing really in my tank. I'll research that though! Thank you for the advice!! :D

 

Edit: I should also say since it was my first time testing Phos/Mag/Calcium/Alk I'm kind of taking the results with a grain of salt until I've tested them a few more times.

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fishfreak0114

Clowns really do have great personalities, mine seem to be very attached to the back wall of the tank and go there when I approach the tank and my female bites me but I love em. Four weeks sounds like a good QT time, I have a Bangaii in for 3 weeks only because I'm impatient. I'm awful at QTing, my flame angel I only waited a week and said ""screw it" :lol: thankfully that didn't lead to problems. Was any of your rock dry rock? Ive heard that they can release phosphates (I never had that problem though). You're using Salifert test kits? I love how clear their instructions are.

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jamescstein

Congrats on your first fish! Isn't it adorable how they swim? :wub: How long do you plan on QTing them? Also, I doubt purigen and chemipure will help with the phosphates. I recommend extra water changes, maybe phosguard, and trying to find out what the source of the problem is. Your phosphate level isn't too bad though, it should be an easy fix :)

 

Most likely culprits are the rocks or sand if its not your source water.

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Clowns really do have great personalities, mine seem to be very attached to the back wall of the tank and go there when I approach the tank and my female bites me but I love em. Four weeks sounds like a good QT time, I have a Bangaii in for 3 weeks only because I'm impatient. I'm awful at QTing, my flame angel I only waited a week and said ""screw it" :lol: thankfully that didn't lead to problems. Was any of your rock dry rock? Ive heard that they can release phosphates (I never had that problem though). You're using Salifert test kits? I love how clear their instructions are.

No dry rock- 30ish lbs of live rock from LFS and 20 lbs arag-alive caribsea Fiji pink sand.

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fishfreak0114

I doubt that's the issue then, I used the same sand and mine hasn't leached phosphates (that I know of). Maybe it's still just a bit spiked from the cycle?

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I doubt that's the issue then, I used the same sand and mine hasn't leached phosphates (that I know of). Maybe it's still just a bit spiked from the cycle?

Maybe. I'll test it again soon and see.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update! Haven't updated in a while.

 

Water chemistry looks good. Phosphate is fine now.

 

Bob and Dot are still in quarantine but have been looking good. Their four weeks are almost up!! :lol:

 

A few things to mention today!

1. My tank has finally begun to experience its diatom bloom! So I went ahead and bought 3 cerith snails to eat it up.

2. I bought my first two coral yesterday! One is a toadstool and the other is a zoanthid I think. I read they are very hardy, and they are just beautiful in my tank!

3. I saw bubble algae for the first time in the LFS's tank, and it hitchhiked on one of my zoas!! I spotted it and got rid of it immediately without popping the bubble. Hopefully I don't see any more showing up!

4. There are TONS of little critters crawling around everywhere in the tank now. In addition to pods, there are these larger bugs that almost look like shrimp, and others that look like small rolly-polly bugs. There are all these white dots appearing primarily on the back black wall that appear to be tiny spirals. They may be spirorbis? I don't really know. I will try to get critter pictures a little later.

 

Pictures:

 

Newest FTS: 6/21/2016

 

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The Toadstool:

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Zoanthids?:

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Cerith Snails:

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They could be reef amphipods? Idk, but it definitely sounds cool! I love watching BCs grow as it was my first saltwater tank and I absolutely loved it! Definitely following :D

 

Mine live in the back chamber of my tank, but here's a pic of what you might have :P

 

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They could be reef amphipods? Idk, but it definitely sounds cool! I love watching BCs grow as it was my first saltwater tank and I absolutely loved it! Definitely following :D

 

Mine live in the back chamber of my tank, but here's a pic of what you might have :P

 

image_zpsl11dvrwf.jpg

 

Yes! They do look quite like that!

 

:D

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Yep, those are reed amphipods, good scavengers but they might munch on coral, it's very rare that this happens but just keep an eye on them

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SantaMonicaHelp

The toadstool complements the rock and the rest of your tank nicely. Are you still able to find your starfish? :D

 

-JN

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