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

[Jackal227]

What I believed to be a Chiton hitchhiker turns out to be more than one.  Here's two next to each other:

 

 

The corals continue to grow steadily.  The colors on this Favia are really starting to show.  The variation from green to yellow to red is growing on me:

 

I really like the unique coloration of this Favia, however the constant sweepers make me respect it's space.  Currently it's the only aggressive coral that I've seen:

 

The War Coral continues to expand:

 

The Monti Cap had grown enough that I could frag a few pieces off and glue them down around it.  My hope is that they will grow together in a nice spiral pattern.

 

Otherwise the tank has been holding steady.  I've been playing whack-a-mole with a few aiptasia and pulling out a bit of hair algae, but overall things have been going good.

[Krish87]

2 hours ago, Jackal227 said:

What I believed to be a Chiton hitchhiker turns out to be more than one.  Here's two next to each other:

 

 

The corals continue to grow steadily.  The colors on this Favia are really starting to show.  The variation from green to yellow to red is growing on me:

 

I really like the unique coloration of this Favia, however the constant sweepers make me respect it's space.  Currently it's the only aggressive coral that I've seen:

 

The War Coral continues to expand:

 

The Monti Cap had grown enough that I could frag a few pieces off and glue them down around it.  My hope is that they will grow together in a nice spiral pattern.

 

Otherwise the tank has been holding steady.  I've been playing whack-a-mole with a few aiptasia and pulling out a bit of hair algae, but overall things have been going good.

The Monti is my favorite! Although of a singular color pattern, it is absolutely majestic. The Favia colors are also very beautiful. Looking forward to see the Montis grow!!!

[Jackal227]

8 hours ago, Krish87 said:

The Monti is my favorite! Although of a singular color pattern, it is absolutely majestic. The Favia colors are also very beautiful. Looking forward to see the Montis grow!!!

My camera doesn't capture it well but that Monti has a purple rim that looks really nice with the bright green.  The tiny polyps have a bit of color as well.  Here's a picture from the reef builders website that shows how it looks in person although much larger:

[billygoat]

Seems bizarre that I have never commented on this thread before, but what a wonderful aquarium you have going here! I am very impressed by everything you've got going on. That huge Cespitularia colony right smack in the middle of everything is stunning!

[Jackal227]

4 hours ago, billygoat said:

Seems bizarre that I have never commented on this thread before, but what a wonderful aquarium you have going here! I am very impressed by everything you've got going on. That huge Cespitularia colony right smack in the middle of everything is stunning!

Thank you!  The Cespitularia just won't stop growing which is why I had to move it to the sandbed.  It fills the whole bottom third of the tank.  I'm going to have to frag it again soon but I guess that's a good problem to have.

[Kup612]

I love this forum so I thought I would ask here for help , I’ve been traveling a lot this summer and my tank has developed two items that I need help with . #1 green algae attack ( how do I get rid of ) #2 some weird creature that I can’t identify . Hopefully you guys can assist and advise thanks . 

[Jackal227]

1 hour ago, Kup612 said:

I love this forum so I thought I would ask here for help , I’ve been traveling a lot this summer and my tank has developed two items that I need help with . #1 green algae attack ( how do I get rid of ) #2 some weird creature that I can’t identify . Hopefully you guys can assist and advise thanks . 

It's hard to tell from the 1st picture but it looks like it may be some green turf algae.  Is it localized to that one spot?  If it is I would remove the rock from the tank and try to manually scrape it off.

 

The second one looks like a bristle worm.  They are common and will eat detritus.  Just don't touch them with bare hands.

[Jackal227]

On 6/1/2019 at 1:46 PM, Jackal227 said:

I've been playing around with the Aquamai KPS programming a little bit.  I'm currently running a schedule based on the LPS 50 liter preset.  It runs mostly between 15 and 30 percent power.  I've upped the values to 20 and 40 percent.  I've kept the same overall layout of the program with an increased power.  It seems to be working well so far.

 

I've continued to ramp up the KPS program.  I'm  now running it from 25%-50% on the same program.  It seems to be working well.  I get a good amount of flow but the corals are still happy.

 

As for the struggles, my DKH had fallen to a new low of 5.7 🤤.  I've been slowly raising it and it's almost fully recovered without any casualties.

 

My little rock flower anemone continues to walk all over the tank.  Even though it never stays in a spot for very long it continues to color up.  It even has rings on the tentacles that glow under the blue lights.  Here's how it looked when I got it:

 

And now:

 

My favorite Montipora is still doing well:

 

Overall things are going well.  I'll get some more updates out soon.

[Jackal227]

Copepod Culture Update:

 

 If anyone remembers, I tried to culture copepods a few months back in a 5 gallon bucket with no light and only feeding spirulina powder.  I would harvest weekly thorough a sieve and I would get pods out of it but nothing substantial.  It wasn't viable so I took it down and replaced it with a different plan.  The new setup has been running successfully for a while now so I thought that I would share what has changed and has been working for me.

 

So to start off I changed the main thing that I didn't like about the bucket which is that I couldn't see the pods until I harvested them.  It made it impossible to tell how the culture was doing.

 

For the new cultures I'm using two 3 gallon Beverage Dispensers.  I chose these because they give me enough space for two large cultures.  They have spigots at the bottom to make harvesting easy (no more siphoning into a sieve).  Probably most important to me is that they are clear so I can see the culture density anytime that I want.

 

So since I have two vessels I chose to culture two different species of pods incase one did better than the other.  In the left vessel I'm culturing Tisbe Biminiensis.  In the right vessel I'm culturing Apocyclops Panamensis.  Both are smaller sized pods that are known to be easier to culture.

 

Now to prepare the containers I removed the ice holders in the center that came with them.  In the lids I drilled two holes.  One large hole in the center that I attached 1/4" murloc bulkheads to and a smaller hole to the side for a vent.  In the bulkhead I pushed in a piece of rigid airline that drops to about 3/4's of the depth of the container.  In the top is flexible airline going to a Dual Outlet Air Pump.  Inside the containers I added a couple small pieces of cycled dry rock simply to keep ammonia down.  Once turned on I've got a steady stream of bubbles going to each container.  I have these setup in a utility room that stays consistent in temperature so I'm not running heaters.

 

Now probably the biggest change from my previous attempts is this I've chosen to feed live Phytoplankton instead of the spirulina powder.  So to culture my own phyto next to the pods I simply used the two 16 ounce plastic jars that the pods arrived in from algae barn.  I drilled one small hole into the top of each lid a little bigger than the size of the rigid airline tubing.  This allows me to easily slide the tube in and out for harvesting as well as giving room for air to vent out without me adding a second hole.  The rigid airlines then connect to flexible airline and a splitter leading to the second output on the air pump.  I found that a smaller air pump wasn't enough to power all four vessels but this controllable eheim works well and lets me keep different flow rates between the pods and the phyto.  I've found that the phyto grows much better with vigorous bubbles.

 

The last change from the previous culture is adding a light.  This is necessary to grow the live phyto.  I'm using This Grow Light from Amazon because its cost effective, it has three different lights, and it has a built in timer.  Because it has three separate lights I can put one on each side of my phyto jars so that they are lit all around.  The third light I put ontop of the pods.  With the built in timer I set it for 12 hours on and 12 hours off each day.  I used algaebarn's live phytofeast as my initial starter culture.  It says that it's a mix of four different phyto strains.  I'm sure that only one has won out and is growing but I don't know which strain it is that I'm actually culturing.  Whichever one it is, it works.

 

So now we have the setup down here's my process.  

 

Weekly: 

I harvest 16 ounces from each pod culture.  I just use the spigot to fill a glass up.  With the glass I can see the density of the pods and then I just add the whole 16 ounces to my display tank.  I have found this to be much easier and quicker than using a sieve.  With the live rock in the vessel I'm not concerned about ammonia.

 

I replace the 16 ounces of water with the same new saltwater (1.026 salinity) that I use for my display tank.  This is another reason that I'm not concerned with adding the water to the tank I keep everything the same salinity and salt mix.

 

For the Phyto I also harvest weekly.  In a week the phyto turns a dark green color.  I empty both jars into my storage container which is kept in the refrigerator.  I rinse out the empty jars to clean them and then refill with saltwater (1.026 again).  I add 1 ounce (30 ml) of live phyto back into the water.  It gives the water a slight green tint.  I also add .1 ml (very small amount) of each Part A and Part B fertilizer to the jars.  For fertilizer I'm using Fritz F2 algae food.

 

So harvesting is pretty easy.  The only other maintenance that I do is feed the pods with 1 ounce of live phyto every 3 days.  Other than that it's self sustaining and I find that this method is working well for me.  The density on the Apocyclops started increasing after about two weeks.  The Tisbe pods took closer to a month to show higher densities.  They stay pretty consistent after harvesting now that they've built up.  When I harvest the densities in my glass look close to what came from algaebarn from the original order.

[Jackal227]

I found this guy front and center today:

 

The Cespitularia continues to grow rampantly.  I had to move it to the corner because it's so large that it is blocking too many corals.  I've got to decide if I should get rid of it or not.  

 

Overall the tank is doing well.  I just realized that the tank is about 2 years old now.  I've got some new additions coming in to celebrate.

[Ocean_dreamer89]

Love the pod update! I’m doing some research on that now for a future project. I really like your setup. Most of the ones I’m finding online to reference are outdoor cultures and much too big. 

 

Can’t wait to see your new additions! 😃

[Jackal227]

11 hours ago, Ocean_dreamer89 said:

Love the pod update! I’m doing some research on that now for a future project. I really like your setup. Most of the ones I’m finding online to reference are outdoor cultures and much too big. 

 

Can’t wait to see your new additions! 😃

As with most things in this hobby you'll find many different ways to culture these. 

 

The most important things to me were keeping it as simple as possible while still having redundancy and being cost effective.  These are the reasons why I chose not to use a sieve and to have two separate vessels with different cultures in them.  It's been working out well for me but there are other ways that are successful as well.  

 

Also until you see them in person it's tough to tell how tiny these two species are.  They are literally little pin dots and tough to see.  I find that zooming in with my phone camera gives a pretty good view of them and makes it easy to tell the difference between a pod and detritus.

[banasophia]

Hey Jackal! So glad to see your pod culture update; it looks like you’ve developed a great method, and your approach to culturing the live phyto is very inspiring too! I may need to try it.

 

This is very timely and encouraging info because I’m about to do a reset on my pod culture. You might remember I had a dual beverage container setup and kept chaeto in those ice holders... they did really well for a few months until they developed what looked like briopsis so I broke them down. 

 

So many people have been reporting success with open top cultures in plastic bins that I recently decided to try that and set it up in my utility room about a month ago. Unfortunately that method didn’t work out as well for me. With the open top you really have to do more to compensate for evaporation and keep it topped up, and it made it higher maintenance for me... I didn’t put in the additional effort needed, so it has really fizzled out. I think another contributing factor is that the bin I used was semi-opaque so I wasn’t able to easily see the pods and water coloration to monitor and care for them. I think I still have a small population in there and I’m hoping to use them as my starter and convert back to my original method. 

 

Sounds like your phyto cultures are producing a lot!! Are you using all that phyto in the tank? Would love to hear more!

[Jackal227]

1 hour ago, banasophia said:

Hey Jackal! So glad to see your pod culture update; it looks like you’ve developed a great method, and your approach to culturing the live phyto is very inspiring too! I may need to try it.

 

This is very timely and encouraging info because I’m about to do a reset on my pod culture. You might remember I had a dual beverage container setup and kept chaeto in those ice holders... they did really well for a few months until they developed what looked like briopsis so I broke them down. 

 

So many people have been reporting success with open top cultures in plastic bins that I recently decided to try that and set it up in my utility room about a month ago. Unfortunately that method didn’t work out as well for me. With the open top you really have to do more to compensate for evaporation and keep it topped up, and it made it higher maintenance for me... I didn’t put in the additional effort needed, so it has really fizzled out. I think another contributing factor is that the bin I used was semi-opaque so I wasn’t able to easily see the pods and water coloration to monitor and care for them. I think I still have a small population in there and I’m hoping to use them as my starter and convert back to my original method. 

 

Sounds like your phyto cultures are producing a lot!! Are you using all that phyto in the tank? Would love to hear more!

The dispensers that I'm using came with the ice holders as well but I removed them. 

 

As for the phyto, the jars that I'm using are quite small (only 16 oz).  By the end of the week half of the water has evaporated from the vigorous bubbling so I'm only harvesting around 16 ounces a week of phyto between both jars.  It's more than I need so I have been feeding the tank with it everytime that I feed the pods.  It'll last for a few months in the fridge so I have some extra but nothing like what I would have if I used 2 liter bottles like a lot of people do.

[banasophia]

10 minutes ago, Jackal227 said:

The dispensers that I'm using came with the ice holders as well but I removed them. 

 

As for the phyto, the jars that I'm using are quite small (only 16 oz).  By the end of the week half of the water has evaporated from the vigorous bubbling so I'm only harvesting around 16 ounces a week of phyto between both jars.  It's more than I need so I have been feeding the tank with it everytime that I feed the pods.  It'll last for a few months in the fridge so I have some extra but nothing like what I would have if I used 2 liter bottles like a lot of people do.

Yeah, maybe I’ll try without the chaeto this time! I was using a bag of matrix media and added beneficial bacteria (rather than live rock) in the open bin... may try it in the dispenser setup and see how that works since I don’t have any live rock on hand. 

 

Good point about the phyto... 16 oz seems like a much more usable amount for a nano. Maybe I should try that too! You always lead the way with great descriptions of the things you do. 🤗

[Jackal227]

2 Years Update:

 

Wow, I can't believe that it's been 2 years already.  The past year seems like it has flown by but a lot has changed with the tank.

 

Let's look back at where we've come from in the last year:

 

1 year ago (recovering from tank crash):

 

9 Months Ago:

 

6 Months Ago:

 

3 Months Ago:

 

The tank has really changed a lot in the last year.  Something that really stood out is that I believe that the tank has "matured" compared to the first year.  There are now various sponges throughout the low light areas of the tank.  The microfauna has diversified with sightings of things like bristleworms and chitons.  It still amazes me how much life there is when I stare at the tank.  The tank seems to overall be happier which makes it more enjoyable for me.  I'm very happy with the current state of the tank. 

 

Here's the current FTS of the tank:

 

Rare top down view:

 

Under the blues (the tank is really starting to glow):

 

Rare pictures of the left and right viewing angles:

 

Those that follow may notice a couple of new additions.  To celebrate the two year mark I picked up a couple corals:

 

A damaged purple and green Platygyra coral that was marked down but over time I believe that it may turn into a beautiful coral:

 

Another Bali Green Slimer frag:

 

A second hammer coral with dark stalks and bright tips to compliment the colors on my other one:

 

Two beautiful mixed Zoa colonies:

 

I also added to my clean up crew with some new snails/hermits and two Berghia Nudibranch's to control my Aiptasia.  

 

And finally the most exciting addition is something that I've been planning out for over the past year:

The green mandarin has always been at the top of my list of wants.  He came in a little skinnier than I would like but appears to be doing well.  For those that read my recent post on culturing pods, this was the motivation for creating the sustainable cultures.  He's very personable and comes out even when I'm close to the tank.  He is also eating constantly so I'm optimistic that he'll be able to fatten up over time.

 

Plans for the next year:

I'm not planning anything large for this tank.  It's finally at a spot where I'm really enjoying the tank.  I'll be focusing on continuing basic husbandry and see how things progress.  The corals are growing in and will require some pruning from time to time.  I continue to look at larger tanks however I don't expect to do anything in the near future (unless the Black Friday deals persuade me 🤔)

 

Let's see how everything else has grown:

 

Inverts:

 

Softies:

 

LPS:

 

 

SPS:

 

Thank you to everyone that follows this thread.  I enjoy sharing my experiences and hope you can learn from my successes and failures.  I've never stopped learning in this hobby and I find it quite interesting.

[banasophia]

3 hours ago, Jackal227 said:

2 Years Update:

 

Wow, I can't believe that it's been 2 years already.  The past year seems like it has flown by but a lot has changed with the tank.

 

Let's look back at where we've come from in the last year:

 

1 year ago (recovering from tank crash):

 

9 Months Ago:

 

6 Months Ago:

 

3 Months Ago:

 

The tank has really changed a lot in the last year.  Something that really stood out is that I believe that the tank has "matured" compared to the first year.  There are now various sponges throughout the low light areas of the tank.  The microfauna has diversified with sightings of things like bristleworms and chitons.  It still amazes me how much life there is when I stare at the tank.  The tank seems to overall be happier which makes it more enjoyable for me.  I'm very happy with the current state of the tank. 

 

Here's the current FTS of the tank:

 

Rare top down view:

 

Under the blues (the tank is really starting to glow):

 

Rare pictures of the left and right viewing angles:

 

Those that follow may notice a couple of new additions.  To celebrate the two year mark I picked up a couple corals:

 

A damaged purple and green Platygyra coral that was marked down but over time I believe that it may turn into a beautiful coral:

 

Another Bali Green Slimer frag:

 

A second hammer coral with dark stalks and bright tips to compliment the colors on my other one:

 

Two beautiful mixed Zoa colonies:

 

I also added to my clean up crew with some new snails/hermits and two Berghia Nudibranch's to control my Aiptasia.  

 

And finally the most exciting addition is something that I've been planning out for over the past year:

The green mandarin has always been at the top of my list of wants.  He came in a little skinnier than I would like but appears to be doing well.  For those that read my recent post on culturing pods, this was the motivation for creating the sustainable cultures.  He's very personable and comes out even when I'm close to the tank.  He is also eating constantly so I'm optimistic that he'll be able to fatten up over time.

 

Plans for the next year:

I'm not planning anything large for this tank.  It's finally at a spot where I'm really enjoying the tank.  I'll be focusing on continuing basic husbandry and see how things progress.  The corals are growing in and will require some pruning from time to time.  I continue to look at larger tanks however I don't expect to do anything in the near future (unless the Black Friday deals persuade me 🤔)

 

Let's see how everything else has grown:

 

Inverts:

 

Softies:

 

LPS:

 

 

SPS:

 

Thank you to everyone that follows this thread.  I enjoy sharing my experiences and hope you can learn from my successes and failures.  I've never stopped learning in this hobby and I find it quite interesting.

Wow! Happy two year tankiversary, Jackal!! The tank looks fantastic! Your tank holds such a special place in my heart since I learned so much of this hobby and how to run my biocube from your thread; I will always be grateful to you for leading the way with this tank and documenting it so well. 

 

Your tank has made an amazing comeback since the crash, and it’s really looking stunning, both under the white lights and the beauty lights. I especially love your monti cap and that blue and green encrusting monti (I forget what it’s called). And nice new additions, especially the mandarin!! 😍😍😍 Sounds like he’s doing really well so far. 

[Jackal227]

1 hour ago, banasophia said:

 

 

Your tank has made an amazing comeback since the crash, and it’s really looking stunning, both under the white lights and the beauty lights. I especially love your monti cap and that blue and green encrusting monti (I forget what it’s called). And nice new additions, especially the mandarin!! 😍😍😍 Sounds like he’s doing really well so far. 

Thank you!

 

The Montipora is one of my favorites as well.  It wasn't labeled when I got it but I believe it's a Montipora Stellata.  It's also had a hitchhiker living inside of it since I received it.  I haven't been able to identify it but some kind of large tube worm I believe.

 

I'm loving the mandarin.  I could watch him glide through the tank all day.

[Wonderboy]

Congrats! The tank is looking FANTASTIC! Very fun update and very nice additions!

[plesioth27]

Absolutely fantastic to look at. They all look so impressive. 

[Jackal227]

6 hours ago, Wonderboy said:

Congrats! The tank is looking FANTASTIC! Very fun update and very nice additions!

 

4 hours ago, plesioth27 said:

Absolutely fantastic to look at. They all look so impressive. 

Thank you both!  It's been a long journey but the tank is starting to turn into what I envisioned when I started out.

[Krish87]

@Jackal227 - what a wonderful update! 🙂 This is awesome progress especially after that tank crash you experienced. 

 

I totally agree with @banasophia - your build thread was an inspiration to many of us! Go Team Biocube 😎

 

There is so much to learn from your experience also.

 

I have a request - you should post more FTS pictures. The couple of them that you have shared is lovely. It is awesome! 😊

 

I am really looking forward to more updates and more pictures. And the most recent re-arrangement of the corals in which you have the center of the sand-bed free looks the best!

 

Great new additions. healthy corals. Happy tank! What more one needs!!!

[Jackal227]

9 hours ago, Krish87 said:

@Jackal227 - what a wonderful update! 🙂 This is awesome progress especially after that tank crash you experienced. 

 

I totally agree with @banasophia - your build thread was an inspiration to many of us! Go Team Biocube 😎

 

There is so much to learn from your experience also.

 

I have a request - you should post more FTS pictures. The couple of them that you have shared is lovely. It is awesome! 😊

 

I am really looking forward to more updates and more pictures. And the most recent re-arrangement of the corals in which you have the center of the sand-bed free looks the best!

 

Great new additions. healthy corals. Happy tank! What more one needs!!!

Thank you!

 

I agree with having the front open makes the tank look better.  The Cespitularia blocks the view of too many corals for my liking but it adds great movement.  

 

I'll try to post and update the pics more often.

[Christopher Marks]

I love seeing your two year update @Jackal227, it's awesome to see the progression since the crash last year, everything is really thriving!

 

The Cespitularia in the front is really beautiful, have you had any trouble with it spreading elsewhere in the tank?

[Jackal227]

1 hour ago, Christopher Marks said:

I love seeing your two year update @Jackal227, it's awesome to see the progression since the crash last year, everything is really thriving!

 

The Cespitularia in the front is really beautiful, have you had any trouble with it spreading elsewhere in the tank?

Thank you!  It's pretty amazing to look back and see how the tank has changed over time.

 

The Cespitularia is currently isolated to the sandbed (treating it like GSP) so it hasn't spread anywhere else in the tank.  It tends to grow like a tree where it has a main trunk and then branches grow off of it.  When I originally had it on my main rocks it started to spread quickly and I had a hard time scraping parts of it off to remove it.  I have a love/hate relationship with it because I love looking at it but it takes up a lot of space in the tank.