Jackal's Biocube 16 LED - 3 Years In and Counting!

[banasophia]

1 hour ago, Christopher Marks said:

Glad to see you kept going and turned it around @Jackal227! Thanks for sharing the update and congrats on making it through the first year, cheers to the second year 🙂.

I second that sentiment! Your build and your perseverance have been a huge inspiration to me as a fellow Biocube 16 owner, @Jackal227. Congrats on reaching the first year milestone!!!

[Jackal227]

9 hours ago, jesseatam said:

I had a similar experience with my tank, had a crash and then slowly over time things recovered and are now better then ever. Just give it time, it seems that after the first year is when things really begin to stabilize and take off.

I agree, after watching the tank evolve over the year there is definitely a difference.  I enjoy the fact that everything behind the glass is 'alive' and constantly changing. 

 

8 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

Glad to see you kept going and turned it around @Jackal227! Thanks for sharing the update and congrats on making it through the first year, cheers to the second year 🙂.

Thank you for the support.  I look forward to continue posting my struggles and hopefully some successes too. 

 

This really is a great community.  I read other forums daily as well, but I chose this one to document my journey.  I can say that the cohesive posts and the friendly people on this one will always keep me coming back. 

[Jackal227]

6 hours ago, banasophia said:

I second that sentiment! Your build and your perseverance have been a huge inspiration to me as a fellow Biocube 16 owner, @Jackal227. Congrats on reaching the first year milestone!!!

Thank you for the support.  You have one of the nicest Biocube's that I've seen.  One day I'll have to try to emulate your success with keeping a mandarin.

[vlangel]

Kudos to you for persevering past the crash and getting back on track.  I love the rockwork.  I look forward to checking on the coral growth from time to time.

[Jackal227]

1 hour ago, vlangel said:

Kudos to you for persevering past the crash and getting back on track.  I love the rockwork.  I look forward to checking on the coral growth from time to time.

Thank you.  I've enjoyed watching your tanks grow as well. 

[vlangel]

Just now, Jackal227 said:

Thank you.  I've enjoyed watching your tanks grow as well. 

O thank you!

[banasophia]

On 10/5/2018 at 6:32 AM, Jackal227 said:

Thank you for the support.  You have one of the nicest Biocube's that I've seen.  One day I'll have to try to emulate your success with keeping a mandarin.

Ah thanks so much @Jackal227, what a nice compliment. ☺️ I’ve faced some challenges of my own in the past few weeks; I lost my favorite torch coral (the big green one from the top) and I’m trying to stay positive and keep the tank stable. 

 

I love my mandarin so much, but having the mandarin, suns, and an NPS gorgonian in the tank require heavy feeding that make my tank pretty high maintenance and I sometimes worry I’m on the verge of a crash. I got a Biota mandarin thinking it would be good if he would eat things other than pods, but all the extra feeding equals lots of extra nutrients. I’m hoping I can actually start adding copepods more frequently from my cultures so I can cut down on the other foods. We’ll see how it goes. 

 

Keep us posted with your updates. Your tank has been a model for so many of us. 💙🐠💙🐠💙

[Jackal227]

5 hours ago, banasophia said:

I’ve faced some challenges of my own in the past few weeks; I lost my favorite torch coral (the big green one from the top) and I’m trying to stay positive and keep the tank stable. 

I'm sorry to hear about your torch.  While they are the nicest looking Euphyllia, I've seen a lot of people have issues with them.  They seem to be harder to keep than Frogspawn and Hammers. 

 

Are the rest of the corals doing ok? 

[banasophia]

6 hours ago, Jackal227 said:

I'm sorry to hear about your torch.  While they are the nicest looking Euphyllia, I've seen a lot of people have issues with them.  They seem to be harder to keep than Frogspawn and Hammers. 

 

Are the rest of the corals doing ok? 

Yes, luckily my other corals have recovered from the incident, which was likely due to a dying starfish. I already had a red dalmation star that had been doing well for several weeks and then I got a red fromia tile star which in retrospect I think I just didn’t acclimate carefully enough... it died, and I think that’s what nuked the torch. 

 

At the time, I thought it could have been doing poorly because my phosphates run high in the Biocube, so I moved it to my other tank, it died, and it shriveled up my torches in that tank too, but luckily those two torches recovered and seem to be doing well and both appear to be growing new heads.

 

So, I don’t know for sure, but I think it was the dying starfish that took out the torch... within two days of the starfish starting to die, the torch started dropping tentacles. 😞 I had to scramble to remove all the torch tentacle bits so they wouldn’t harm the other corals and by the time I found it, several of my rock flower nems were already trying to eat the tentacles and I couldn’t get them out of their mouths, so it was a stressful couple days waiting to see how everything would fare in both my tanks.  Fortunately all my RFAs were fine, as was everything else in the long run. But my Biocube looks so different and empty to me without the torch at the top. 😞 

[Jackal227]

I just looked up the red dalmation star, I haven't seen one before but they're beautiful.  I've always liked the Linckia stars.

[banasophia]

6 hours ago, Jackal227 said:

I just looked up the red dalmation star, I haven't seen one before but they're beautiful.  I've always liked the Linckia stars.

Yes, it’s very pretty. I was not planning on getting a linckia star because I had read that the don’t survive long in home aquaria, but the owner of one of our LFSs keeps quite a few of this variety in his tanks and explained that these are a particularly hardy type of linckia.

 

I just got a really good new scraper for my Nuvo 10 and used it for the first time during my water change tonight... I am a little worried it may scrape off the algae and bacterial film a little too well, leaving little behind for the star, so I may clean my back glass a little less thoroughly in the future. 

[Lula_Mae]

4 hours ago, banasophia said:

Yes, it’s very pretty. I was not planning on getting a linckia star because I had read that the don’t survive long in home aquaria, but the owner of one of our LFSs keeps quite a few of this variety in his tanks and explained that these are a particularly hardy type of linckia.

 

I just got a really good new scraper for my Nuvo 10 and used it for the first time during my water change tonight... I am a little worried it may scrape off the algae and bacterial film a little too well, leaving little behind for the star, so I may clean my back glass a little less thoroughly in the future. 

I believe @Weetabix7used to leave a wall unscraped for the critters. 

[jesseatam]

16 hours ago, banasophia said:

Yes, it’s very pretty. I was not planning on getting a linckia star because I had read that the don’t survive long in home aquaria, but the owner of one of our LFSs keeps quite a few of this variety in his tanks and explained that these are a particularly hardy type of linckia.

 

I just got a really good new scraper for my Nuvo 10 and used it for the first time during my water change tonight... I am a little worried it may scrape off the algae and bacterial film a little too well, leaving little behind for the star, so I may clean my back glass a little less thoroughly in the future. 

Don’t mean to derail the thread but you’re putting a starfish in your 10?

[banasophia]

39 minutes ago, jesseatam said:

Don’t mean to derail the thread but you’re putting a starfish in your 10?

Yup. I also have a mandarin in my Biocube 16. You can go there if you want... 

 

Edit:  I’ll edit to say there is quite a background to getting that red dalmation starfish. I think I mentioned it on another thread when I got it. I hadn’t intended to get it when I did, to be honest, but I got into a huge confrontation with the owner of one of our best LFSs when I was buying some RODI from him for the first time and asked if his TDS runs around zero. He had a HUGE fit about it, said it never will test near zero because he mixes his saltwater in the same container, and started raising his voice and telling me not to even talk to him because he has the best corals around and he was angry I wouldn’t just take his word for it. It was crazy and extreme! I had been to that LFS several times before and had several conversations with him... but he flew off the handle. So... after begging him to listen to what I had to say, after reassuring him about how great his corals are (they are) and that I just wanted to be able to check to make sure my containers aren’t leaching anything, he finally calmed down and said that was reasonable. I was trying to make nice and ask him about his livestock and that’s when he suggested I get the dalmation star... so, I confess I gave in and got it to appease him, but he assured me he has lots of experience with those stars and thought it would be fine in my tank. So, there’s the story... It was in my Biocube 16 at first, but my Biocube was getting a weird bacterial film as I was dosing nopox, so I transferred it to my Nuvo 10 that isn’t dosed with nopox and it has been doing well in there so far. 

[Krish87]

CONGRATULATIONS @Jackal227.

 

I echo what @banasophia said, your tank has inspired many fellow BioCube owners. In fact, your build threads was one of my first reads on Nano-Reef and most certainly, it was inspiring and got me going on planning on setting up mine. So happy to know that you have this huge milestone. And good luck for the year # 2 🙂 

 

Cheers!!!

[Wyatt45]

5 hours ago, banasophia said:

Yup. I also have a mandarin in my Biocube 16. You can go there if you want... 

 

Edit:  I’ll edit to say there is quite a background to getting that red dalmation starfish. I think I mentioned it on another thread when I got it. I hadn’t intended to get it when I did, to be honest, but I got into a huge confrontation with the owner of one of our best LFSs when I was buying some RODI from him for the first time and asked if his TDS runs around zero. He had a HUGE fit about it, said it never will test near zero because he mixes his saltwater in the same container, and started raising his voice and telling me not to even talk to him because he has the best corals around and he was angry I wouldn’t just take his word for it. It was crazy and extreme! I had been to that LFS several times before and had several conversations with him... but he flew off the handle. So... after begging him to listen to what I had to say, after reassuring him about how great his corals are (they are) and that I just wanted to be able to check to make sure my containers aren’t leaching anything, he finally calmed down and said that was reasonable. I was trying to make nice and ask him about his livestock and that’s when he suggested I get the dalmation star... so, I confess I gave in and got it to appease him, but he assured me he has lots of experience with those stars and thought it would be fine in my tank. So, there’s the story... It was in my Biocube 16 at first, but my Biocube was getting a weird bacterial film as I was dosing nopox, so I transferred it to my Nuvo 10 that isn’t dosed with nopox and it has been doing well in there so far. 

She is amazing with her tanks. Honestly she is constantly on them regarding quality of water, nutrients, etc. if I had gills I’d be in one. 

[banasophia]

22 minutes ago, Wyatt45 said:

She is amazing with her tanks. Honestly she is constantly on them regarding quality of water, nutrients, etc. if I had gills I’d be in one. 

Thanks, @Wyatt45, I appreciate the support.

 

@jesseatam, I’m lucky to work from a home office so I’m able to monitor very closely, plus I’m pretty much obsessed with my tanks and would do anything to take care of my fish and corals. That being said, it is important to research the livestock we add to our tanks, weigh all the information available and what we know about our own tanks and husbandry when deciding how to stock our tanks...I do appreciate where you’re coming from. 

[Jackal227]

9 hours ago, Krish87 said:

CONGRATULATIONS @Jackal227.

 

I echo what @banasophia said, your tank has inspired many fellow BioCube owners. In fact, your build threads was one of my first reads on Nano-Reef and most certainly, it was inspiring and got me going on planning on setting up mine. So happy to know that you have this huge milestone. And good luck for the year # 2 🙂 

 

Cheers!!!

 I'm happy to hear that. 

 

I originally started this thread because, I was unable to find much information about this particular tank at the time.   There were lots of threads about the biocube 32 and the biocube 14 but very few on the 16 gallon.  Even though I'm no expert I figured others could learn from my experiences and I'm happy to have it documented. 

 

It's quite exciting to see so many of these tanks popping up now.  Your tank looks amazing and I'm glad that you're sharing it as well. 

[Jackal227]

Maintenance Day Update:

 

While cleaning the tank today I noticed a tiny Nassarius snail.  It's really small like a quarter of an inch across.  Early on in my tank my Nassarius Snails would lay eggs on the back wall quite often.  I haven't seen any eggs for a while though.  I wonder if maybe one of them survived.  It's pretty amazing if that's the case.  Here's a picture of the little guy (you can see the vermetid snail next to it for size comparison): 

 

After moving my GSP rock a few inches to the left it has started opening up again:

 

The Ricordea garden is doing well.  However, I wonder if the size difference of the outside mushrooms will smother the middle one over time:

 

The Acans received their first dose of reef roids today and are starting to plump up nicely.  The green Acans really glow under the moonlight as well: 

 

And lastly this Montipora has very quickly become my favorite coral to view under the moonlights:

 

I just received my Hanna checker for Alkalinity.  It's much quicker to check now and I believe it's more accurate.  I will continue to monitor usage and determine if I want to add a automatic dosing pump for added stability.  I'd have to figure out how to secure the dosing lines with the biocube hood. 

[Krish87]

54 minutes ago, Jackal227 said:

Maintenance Day Update:

 

While cleaning the tank today I noticed a tiny Nassarius snail.  It's really small like a quarter of an inch across.  Early on in my tank my Nassarius Snails would lay eggs on the back wall quite often.  I haven't seen any eggs for a while though.  I wonder if maybe one of them survived.  It's pretty amazing if that's the case.  Here's a picture of the little guy (you can see the vermetid snail next to it for size comparison): 

 

After moving my GSP rock a few inches to the left it has started opening up again:

 

The Ricordea garden is doing well.  However, I wonder if the size difference of the outside mushrooms will smother the middle one over time:

 

The Acans received their first dose of reef roids today and are starting to plump up nicely.  The green Acans really glow under the moonlight as well: 

 

And lastly this Montipora has very quickly become my favorite coral to view under the moonlights:

 

I just received my Hanna checker for Alkalinity.  It's much quicker to check now and I believe it's more accurate.  I will continue to monitor usage and determine if I want to add a automatic dosing pump for added stability.  I'd have to figure out how to secure the dosing lines with the biocube hood. 

Man . . . the Nassarius snail - if its true that it survived - indeed amazing are the ways of nature! 🙂 

[banasophia]

3 hours ago, Jackal227 said:

Maintenance Day Update:

 

While cleaning the tank today I noticed a tiny Nassarius snail.  It's really small like a quarter of an inch across.  Early on in my tank my Nassarius Snails would lay eggs on the back wall quite often.  I haven't seen any eggs for a while though.  I wonder if maybe one of them survived.  It's pretty amazing if that's the case.  Here's a picture of the little guy (you can see the vermetid snail next to it for size comparison): 

 

After moving my GSP rock a few inches to the left it has started opening up again:

 

The Ricordea garden is doing well.  However, I wonder if the size difference of the outside mushrooms will smother the middle one over time:

 

The Acans received their first dose of reef roids today and are starting to plump up nicely.  The green Acans really glow under the moonlight as well: 

 

And lastly this Montipora has very quickly become my favorite coral to view under the moonlights:

 

I just received my Hanna checker for Alkalinity.  It's much quicker to check now and I believe it's more accurate.  I will continue to monitor usage and determine if I want to add a automatic dosing pump for added stability.  I'd have to figure out how to secure the dosing lines with the biocube hood. 

Aaaahhh looking good! It will be interesting to see how the recordea floridas fill in... And I sure do love that montipora!!!

 

Funny your GSP started opening back up today,  and crazy that just moving it over a couple inches could make such a difference. My GSP finally opened up today on my back wall after getting it on Saturday... I’ve been looking forward to checking it out under the blues this evening to see how it looks, and it looks so different! I think it’s going to be too busy though... may need to trade it out for a purple variety that will provide more of a neutral backdrop for the rest of the corals... it’s very pretty though. 

 

 

[Cpl_Wiggles]

On 10/9/2018 at 5:02 PM, Jackal227 said:

Maintenance Day Update:

 

While cleaning the tank today I noticed a tiny Nassarius snail.  It's really small like a quarter of an inch across.  Early on in my tank my Nassarius Snails would lay eggs on the back wall quite often.  I haven't seen any eggs for a while though.  I wonder if maybe one of them survived.  It's pretty amazing if that's the case.  Here's a picture of the little guy (you can see the vermetid snail next to it for size comparison): 

 

After moving my GSP rock a few inches to the left it has started opening up again:

 

The Ricordea garden is doing well.  However, I wonder if the size difference of the outside mushrooms will smother the middle one over time:

 

The Acans received their first dose of reef roids today and are starting to plump up nicely.  The green Acans really glow under the moonlight as well: 

 

And lastly this Montipora has very quickly become my favorite coral to view under the moonlights:

 

I just received my Hanna checker for Alkalinity.  It's much quicker to check now and I believe it's more accurate.  I will continue to monitor usage and determine if I want to add a automatic dosing pump for added stability.  I'd have to figure out how to secure the dosing lines with the biocube hood. 

Congrats! Happy to see how your tank has progressed in the past year. I'm proud to say I was the first to post in your thread and watch it grow! I'm still lurking about. I'll get my tank up and running here in Central California hopefully soon and probably be here going through our previous discussions to get things shipshape again!

[Jackal227]

4 hours ago, Cpl_Wiggles said:

Congrats! Happy to see how your tank has progressed in the past year. I'm proud to say I was the first to post in your thread and watch it grow! I'm still lurking about. I'll get my tank up and running here in Central California hopefully soon and probably be here going through our previous discussions to get things shipshape again!

Thank you.  It's good to see that you're still around, and I look forward to seeing your tank once it's back up. 

[banasophia]

10 hours ago, Cpl_Wiggles said:

Congrats! Happy to see how your tank has progressed in the past year. I'm proud to say I was the first to post in your thread and watch it grow! I'm still lurking about. I'll get my tank up and running here in Central California hopefully soon and probably be here going through our previous discussions to get things shipshape again!

 

5 hours ago, Jackal227 said:

Thank you.  It's good to see that you're still around, and I look forward to seeing your tank once it's back up. 

 

Yes, great to see you again, @Cpl_Wiggles!!! Both of you were a big inspiration as I was planning and starting up my Biocube! 

[Jackal227]

Tank Update:

 

So my Chaeto slowly faded away while the GHA was running wild in the tank.  I believe it was due to the GHA sucking up all the nutrients.

 

Today I replaced the Chaeto with a new ball of it to see if it takes off again.  I've also added some red dragon macro algae with it to see if one grows any better than the other. 

 

Two new projects are in the works .  Today I ordered a dosing pump and an air line holder in an effort to create a stable dosing schedule before I continue adding corals.  I will have to modify the tube holder to work with the hood on the biocube.  Once I get it up and working I'll post up some details on the mods.

 

The other new project to go alongside the tank is that I've started a pod culture today.  After doing some research I've chosen to try to culture "Apocyclops Panamensis".  I'm attempting to do this in the simplest setup that I could find to see if it's sustainable.  I chose this species because it appears that they don't require a heater and don't need live phytoplankton thus adding to the 'simple setup' requirement. 

 

The setup:

-5 gallon bucket

-Air pump

-rigid and soft airline with a restriction valve

-spirulina powder

 

The plan is to use the bucket as the cultivation container.  The air line is in the water creating about 1 bubble per second (turned very low).  I'll feed spirulina powder every 4 days.  Once the culture grows I'll harvest around 1 gallon and filter the pods through a 53 micron sieve to add to the biocube.

 

Day 1:

 

The tank itself is still doing well.  The corals are all extending well and I'm keeping a close watch for new growths.  I did find my Montipora had fallen off the rock one morning and was laying face down ontop of the Duncan coral.  Luckily I found it soon enough that I don't think much damage was done.  The Duncan shows a little recession on one of the heads but it looks like it'll recover fine.