graftobny142 Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Edit: Current Full Tank Shots I recently picked up a used Oceanic Biocube 29 off Craigslist. It is my first tank and something I've been wanting to do for a decade. Current Equipment:Biocube 29StandRefractometerKoralia Nano?100w heaterFirst order of business is finding live rock and sand. Luckily I have a source of RO/DI saltwater near me. Should I choose live rock from an online source, irl store or 'used' off craigslist? Is Caribsea the goto for sand these days? I am near Denver, Colorado if anyone has a good source of live rock!Once I get the rock, sand and water I will begin a cycle for ~1 month. I'll be testing ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in conjunction with a chemistry presentation I am working on. Here it is pre-cleaning, I managed to get most of the deposits off with vinegar. It begins...Filled with saltwater from the LFS, going to make a circuit around the town tomorrow checking out other stores for Live Rock. 2 Quote Link to comment
Jorge091293 Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 That is a verry good price my husband bought his for 7.99 a pound Quote Link to comment
Ranjib Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Congrats :-) Get all living stuff from a reputed store. Else, you'll end up fighting one or other type of nuisance pest. Only a local reefer will be able to help on this front. LR looks good. Tank looks like new :-). Do you know what you'll be stocking? Livesand from LFS will be a good thing. Also some type of bacterial additive. Check water params regularly. Wait till diano or green algae pops up. What about lighting ? Filtration ? best of luck, I am excited to follow another biocube29's build 1 Quote Link to comment
graftobny142 Posted March 2, 2017 Author Share Posted March 2, 2017 To stock I plan on the typical clown, maybe a firefish or six line wrasse. I want to have a nice variety of corals including zoa, frog/hammer, ricordia, etc. For lighting I plan on putting together an LED panel in the next couple months, until then just stick with the stock lighting. F On the filtration end I am making a media basket out of acrylic. As to what will go in it that is still in the air. I have a container of carbon that came with the tank so I can at least use that until its empty. Filter floss+carbon+??? Quote Link to comment
graftobny142 Posted March 3, 2017 Author Share Posted March 3, 2017 Got a 100w heater running to try and get the tank to around 78-80. Also went to a LFS to check rock out. I didn't get any Live Rock but I did get 14lbs of Life Rock/Dry. If I wanted to have ~25 lbs, should I do 5lbs of Cured Live Rock and the rest dry? I couldn't find any % for this around the forum. Quote Link to comment
xAyanex Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 I have a Biocube 29 - build thread is in my signature. I use two Koralia nano 425s and like the flow of the tank. I used Caribsea sand I believe. That's a fine price for the rock. I think any amount of live rock will cure the dry rock eventually. Edit: I used 20 lbs CaribSea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink sand Quote Link to comment
Ranjib Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 I don't know of any such percentage. I had used dry rock mostly, later added live rock. My observation was: dry rock has less risk of having pests, but will take more time to cycle compared to live rock. Quote Link to comment
graftobny142 Posted March 3, 2017 Author Share Posted March 3, 2017 51 minutes ago, xAyanex said: I have a Biocube 29 - build thread is in my signature. I use two Koralia nano 425s and like the flow of the tank. I used Caribsea sand I believe. That's a fine price for the rock. I think any amount of live rock will cure the dry rock eventually. Edit: I used 20 lbs CaribSea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink sand I got a 20Lb bag of the CaribSea Arag-Alive Reef Sand! They didn't have any Fiji Pink unfortunately. Just now, Ranjib said: I don't know of any such percentage. I had used Dey rock mostly, later I had added live rock. My observation was: dry rock has less risk of having pests, but will take more time to cycle compared to live rock. In that case I think I will just grab one chunk of Live from the cured tank and do the rest dry. This CaribSea Life Rock looks really good in person 2 Quote Link to comment
graftobny142 Posted March 4, 2017 Author Share Posted March 4, 2017 Waiting for the sand to settle so I can post a picture 2 Quote Link to comment
graftobny142 Posted March 5, 2017 Author Share Posted March 5, 2017 Will it be a big deal if I don't get the rest of the rock and ammonia dose in until 48 hours after putting the first rocks in? With obligatory cat on top. My refractometer also arrived today, showed salinity at ~35-36. Pretty close to the Hydrometer surprisingly. 1 Quote Link to comment
xAyanex Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 Yes, that should be fine. Good salinity too. I have found it very convenient to leave enough space around my rock (between the rock and the glass) to fit my small mag float. Clean glass is important to be able to see inside the tank! Keep this in mind while you create your aquascape. 1 Quote Link to comment
graftobny142 Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 On 3/4/2017 at 6:47 PM, xAyanex said: Yes, that should be fine. Good salinity too. I have found it very convenient to leave enough space around my rock (between the rock and the glass) to fit my small mag float. Clean glass is important to be able to see inside the tank! Keep this in mind while you create your aquascape. Thanks for the tip! I'll be getting a couple more pieces of rock tomorrow. And my test kits arrive Tuesday when I will start the cycle with a dose of ammonia. The Inkbird Itc-308 arrived today, unfortunately right as the heater that came with the tank died. Is there a goto model or will any eheim/fluval/etc. in the 100+ watt range be fine? Quote Link to comment
graftobny142 Posted March 9, 2017 Author Share Posted March 9, 2017 Changed the aquascape a little, does this leave enough room behind the rock or should I move it up a bit for the future fish? Quote Link to comment
Ranjib Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 Looks lot better. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/nano-mag-magnet-glass-cleaner-two-little-fishies.html is my preferred cleaning tool. Stronger magnet and slimmer form factor. Can you move your glass cleaner through the tight spots in the right side? That should be good enough check. I can see some hydroids :-) Quote Link to comment
graftobny142 Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 Aqueon 100 Pro arrived today and is now hooked up to the controller. Is it better to adjust the controller+heater so that the heater stays on constantly, or is turned on/off multiple times a day? Quote Link to comment
graftobny142 Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 Will I get coralline growth without introducing Live Rock to the system? Look what arrived ! Decided to upgrade the Koralia 1 because it was too big. 1 Quote Link to comment
xAyanex Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Coralline will only grow if coralline has been introduced to the system somehow. Like, even just coralline scrapings from another tank should allow coralline to grow. Quote Link to comment
graftobny142 Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 1 hour ago, xAyanex said: Coralline will only grow if coralline has been introduced to the system somehow. Like, even just coralline scrapings from another tank should allow coralline to grow. I was worried that was the case. I was going to use a piece of live rock but I saw too many posts about negative hitchikers. I don't want to have to deal with random algaes/other bad things. I'll ask the LFS for a scraping, maybe get a small LR piece and scrub it before introducing to the tank. Edit: Put the first dose of Ammonia today. I had trouble finding the right amount to get between 4-5ppm. Even with slight adjustments the level would go from under 4 to 6+. Could be due to the large jump on the API Ammonia chart from 4.0 to 8.0 1 Quote Link to comment
xAyanex Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 26 minutes ago, themummra said: I was worried that was the case. I was going to use a piece of live rock but I saw too many posts about negative hitchikers. I don't want to have to deal with random algaes/other bad things. I'll ask the LFS for a scraping, maybe get a small LR piece and scrub it before introducing to the tank. Edit: Put the first dose of Ammonia today. I had trouble finding the right amount to get between 4-5ppm. Even with slight adjustments the level would go from under 4 to 6+. Could be due to the large jump on the API Ammonia chart from 4.0 to 8.0 I used all live rock, and this is my first tank. I did not get any unwatched hitch-hikers (I was very worried about it as well), but I may have just really lucked out. When I get a new tank, I will use dry rock and cure it myself, although I think the cycle will take a lot longer that way. Quote Link to comment
graftobny142 Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 Rearranged the aquascape Quote Link to comment
graftobny142 Posted March 14, 2017 Author Share Posted March 14, 2017 4 days into the cycle, this seems out of the ordinary. I'm also a little colorblind so its difficult to tell between levels on the chart Quote Link to comment
xAyanex Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 Ammonia is somewhere around 4.0-8.0 ppm, Nitrite is probably >5.0 ppm, Nitrate looks to be about 20 ppm, judging from how the colors appear in the picture. You are using only dry rock, no live rock? And dosing ammonia? Quote Link to comment
graftobny142 Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 32 minutes ago, xAyanex said: Ammonia is somewhere around 4.0-8.0 ppm, Nitrite is probably >5.0 ppm, Nitrate looks to be about 20 ppm, judging from how the colors appear in the picture. You are using only dry rock, no live rock? And dosing ammonia? Only Dry Rock and Life Rock , dosed once with a 10% ammonia solution with no surfactants/additives Quote Link to comment
graftobny142 Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 Looks like Ammonia is visibly dropping, nitrites still 5+, nitrate dropped a little Quote Link to comment
Idaho ken Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 Looks like the cycle is under way, keep doing what your doing! Love to follow fellow biocube owners! I started out with 15 lbs of base rock and about 10 lbs of live rock, was lucky that no hitchhikers made it in! Quote Link to comment
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