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

[LazyFish]

I usualy get a big spawn around then but I get smaller ones every few months if I increase feedings and keep up with my water changes.

[Jackal227]

10 hours ago, LazyFish said:

I usualy get a big spawn around then but I get smaller ones every few months if I increase feedings and keep up with my water changes.

Are you feeding the RFAs directly?  What food do you use? 

[LazyFish]

They eat literally almost any kind of fish or coral foods. And I've probly fed them a bit of every kind of prepaired and frozen food I've got. Even plain old shrimp pellets if I decide to throw them one. (Junk food)

 

They catch by product from the fish feedings and they also eat when I broadcast feed things like marine snow reef chilli or whatever for the gorg once weekly. I've seen them do the mucus thing for particulate food.

 

I do spot feed them directly with pellet foods or small pieces of shrimp/mystics shrimp about twice a monthish. When I keep up the more direct feedings I get more spawns. I usaly do direct feedings a day or two prior to water change day. I could probly do the meaty feedings weekly and get better results. For a while I was giving them marin fauna lps pellets exclusivly for direct feedings I got some spawns then even. They sucked those up. I'm unfortunatly not allways that consistent with the spot feeding and sometimes skip it all together and they dont seem to mind too much.

 

I'm sure someone will say they need more specialized foods or coral foods are not appropriate for nems but mine seem to love it and all seem quite happy. I have idk howmany babies right now I usualy only spot feed the 3/4 inch and bigger ones. I gave about 20 breeding size adults I quit counting the under 2 inchers. Ones under about two inches seem to be juveniles and dont usualy spawn with the rest. Alot of the babies are suicidal and go in cracks or behind things or under them and sometimes get eaten by things. I loose alot of them but I usualy have a few that grow out to adults from each spawn. If I had a dedicated system and activly tried to grow them all out I would probly be over run lol. I usualy only activly 8ntervene if I see one with a nice coloration or something. On very very rare occasions I've found two headed baby nems. I have one now I'm trying to grow out. I have a theory that this is actualy how the rare two face nems start out and that the two headed twin eventually merges into one head.

 

Largest spawns are around the Solstis times and every few months randomly I get small spawns with only a few males releasing. These random spawns usually happen aproaching or right after a full moon and after a water change like that night or a day or 2 later. They usualy spit baby nems a month or two after the spawn sometimes more it seems to vary I have one nem spits little small 1/2 a grain of rice sized nems then months later spits out 1/2 inch babies on occasion.

[Jackal227]

8 hours ago, LazyFish said:

They eat literally almost any kind of fish or coral foods. And I've probly fed them a bit of every kind of prepaired and frozen food I've got. Even plain old shrimp pellets if I decide to throw them one. (Junk food)

 

They catch by product from the fish feedings and they also eat when I broadcast feed things like marine snow reef chilli or whatever for the gorg once weekly. I've seen them do the mucus thing for particulate food.

 

I do spot feed them directly with pellet foods or small pieces of shrimp/mystics shrimp about twice a monthish. When I keep up the more direct feedings I get more spawns. I usaly do direct feedings a day or two prior to water change day. I could probly do the meaty feedings weekly and get better results. For a while I was giving them marin fauna lps pellets exclusivly for direct feedings I got some spawns then even. They sucked those up. I'm unfortunatly not allways that consistent with the spot feeding and sometimes skip it all together and they dont seem to mind too much.

 

I'm sure someone will say they need more specialized foods or coral foods are not appropriate for nems but mine seem to love it and all seem quite happy. I have idk howmany babies right now I usualy only spot feed the 3/4 inch and bigger ones. I gave about 20 breeding size adults I quit counting the under 2 inchers. Ones under about two inches seem to be juveniles and dont usualy spawn with the rest. Alot of the babies are suicidal and go in cracks or behind things or under them and sometimes get eaten by things. I loose alot of them but I usualy have a few that grow out to adults from each spawn. If I had a dedicated system and activly tried to grow them all out I would probly be over run lol. I usualy only activly 8ntervene if I see one with a nice coloration or something. On very very rare occasions I've found two headed baby nems. I have one now I'm trying to grow out. I have a theory that this is actualy how the rare two face nems start out and that the two headed twin eventually merges into one head.

 

Largest spawns are around the Solstis times and every few months randomly I get small spawns with only a few males releasing. These random spawns usually happen aproaching or right after a full moon and after a water change like that night or a day or 2 later. They usualy spit baby nems a month or two after the spawn sometimes more it seems to vary I have one nem spits little small 1/2 a grain of rice sized nems then months later spits out 1/2 inch babies on occasion.

Great information!  I appreciate you sharing. 

[YuhboiiB]

cracked my tank trying to pry the side panels off to remove the false floor. doesnt come out very easily lol dont recommend trying it. 

[Jackal227]

7 hours ago, YuhboiiB said:

cracked my tank trying to pry the side panels off to remove the false floor. doesnt come out very easily lol dont recommend trying it. 

Sorry to hear about the tank. 

 

They definitely don't come out easy.  Most have had success pulling upwards on the shelf itself and leaving the sides in place. 

[Jackal227]

Overdue update: 

 

I'll start with the bad news.  Our air conditioning went out in the beginning of the month.  This led to the tank running at 90 degrees before I could get a fan on it. 

 

Unfortunately none of the fish survived.  It was sad to lose the mandarin that's been in the tank for a couple years now.  Fortunately (and surprisingly) the corals and Inverts were not affected and both survived.  So the tank is currently just inhabited by some sexy shrimp, hermits and snails.  I had to evict the Emerald Crab after watching him snap off an entire branch of the gorgonian 🤬.  He now lives in the sump of the lagoon tank. 

 

There is some good news as well.  After doing a water change yesterday I noticed at night one of the RFAs was standing up looking very odd: 

 

I watched it for a while and noticed that it was actually spawning: 

 

Very cool to see.  I didn't notice any action from the other ones yet but it's encouraging. 

 

There's not much else going on with this tank as it's been mostly on auto pilot but I'll come up with a new fish plan again to restock it. 

 

Here's the a FTS:

 

[GeeCee]

I just spent hours reading your journal what an amazing journey it has been thanks for sharing it with us. 

 

[Jackal227]

42 minutes ago, GeeCee said:

I just spent hours reading your journal what an amazing journey it has been thanks for sharing it with us. 

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it. 

[banasophia]

Yes, inspiration for so many of us!! And still looking great despite your temp spike. So sorry about the loss of your fish. 😢

[Jackal227]

9 hours ago, banasophia said:

Yes, inspiration for so many of us!! And still looking great despite your temp spike. So sorry about the loss of your fish. 😢

Thank you

[Jackal227]

I picked up a new fish for the Biocube today:

 

It's been a while since I've had a Royal Gramma and I've forgotten how striking their colors are under white lights.  One of the best looking nano fish out there IMO.

 

The Aiptasia makes an appearance in the foreground of the photo.  It's starting to take over again.  I'm going to have to get some more Berghia. 

[Cpl_Wiggles]

On 8/1/2021 at 2:59 PM, Jackal227 said:

Overdue update: 

 

I'll start with the bad news.  Our air conditioning went out in the beginning of the month.  This led to the tank running at 90 degrees before I could get a fan on it. 

 

Unfortunately none of the fish survived.  It was sad to lose the mandarin that's been in the tank for a couple years now.  Fortunately (and surprisingly) the corals and Inverts were not affected and both survived.  So the tank is currently just inhabited by some sexy shrimp, hermits and snails.  I had to evict the Emerald Crab after watching him snap off an entire branch of the gorgonian 🤬.  He now lives in the sump of the lagoon tank. 

 

There is some good news as well.  After doing a water change yesterday I noticed at night one of the RFAs was standing up looking very odd: 

 

 

I watched it for a while and noticed that it was actually spawning: 

 

 

Very cool to see.  I didn't notice any action from the other ones yet but it's encouraging. 

 

There's not much else going on with this tank as it's been mostly on auto pilot but I'll come up with a new fish plan again to restock it. 

 

Here's the a FTS:

 

 

Long overdue update reading your journal. Sorry to hear about the A/C going out of the house. A suggestion. Get 2-3 Ziploc Freezer Bags, fill them with water, and lay them flat with the seals peeled up so the thickness is about that of a magazine and place them flat in your freezer. If the power or A/C goes out, you can dim your lights, prop your hood, turn on a fan, and place a ziploc bag on the surface of your tank prior to the hottest part of your day (3PM my time). It should melt slowly enough to get you through - or replace with another and return it to the freezer.

 

Prior to buying my chiller, I have been able to keep temp below 82 for a full weekend of 105+F days outside. Just watch your salinity and maybe do a single water change. 

 

 

 

That being said - how's everything else? 

[Jackal227]

20 hours ago, Cpl_Wiggles said:

Prior to buying my chiller, I have been able to keep temp below 82 for a full weekend of 105+F days outside. Just watch your salinity and maybe do a single water change. 

 

 

 

That being said - how's everything else? 

I ended up buying a 6" clip on fan and used it to blow air across the surface of the water.  It actually worked really well and I only had to worry about evaporation.  I wish that I had one sooner.

 

Other than the fish loss, everything else survived.  The tank has been growing steadily.  I really haven't done anything to it other than water changes. 

 

Currently there are some Nudibranches cleaning up the Aiptasia that continues to spread, but the RFAs and Gorgonians don't seem bothered by them. 

[Valentinalove]

I just bought the biocube 16 for my husband and I can seem to find what I need to filter the tank , like what media and bio balls? It's so confusing , and should I upgrade it to the intank media . I have been researching and reading for days I am absolutely confused . Please help !! Also this is going to be a saltwater tank 

[banasophia]

4 hours ago, Valentinalove said:

I just bought the biocube 16 for my husband and I can seem to find what I need to filter the tank , like what media and bio balls? It's so confusing , and should I upgrade it to the intank media . I have been researching and reading for days I am absolutely confused . Please help !! Also this is going to be a saltwater tank 

Congrats on your new tank!! You don’t need the intank media rack, the stock rack works just fine. I use filter floss, Chemipure elite, Purigen, and Matrix media in mine. In the beginning though, I just used the stock filter media cartridge that came with it. 

[Jackal227]

22 hours ago, Valentinalove said:

I just bought the biocube 16 for my husband and I can seem to find what I need to filter the tank , like what media and bio balls? It's so confusing , and should I upgrade it to the intank media . I have been researching and reading for days I am absolutely confused . Please help !! Also this is going to be a saltwater tank 

The intank media basket is just a nicer version of the stock one that comes with the tank. 

 

I still use the stock one and haven't had any issues with it.  I just use filter floss with it for mechanical filtration.  There's plenty of room if you want to add carbon / bio media / etc.