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

[Jackal227]

3 hours ago, MSunkin23 said:

Hey Jackal,

 

Tank looking solid. Some Zoanthids may be cool up there on the ledge. Might be difficult to see but it is angled towards the front of the tank. Might be a cool platform for a zoa colony.

 

 

I never tried Zoas up there but they would probably do well.  When I had the blue sympodium up there it did well but was just a slow grower.  Currently I'm letting the Monti Cap grow out to see how it'll look.  It's already almost doubled in size so I'm thinking that it'll cover the ledge fairly quick. 

[Jackal227]

I haven't seen my emerald crab since adding it to the tank so no pictures of it yet.  However, here is my new frag a GARF Bonsai Acro:

It has some great color and I think it'll fill in the top nicely. 

 

I've been seeing some growth out of a lot of the corals recently.  The pink Ricordea has grown a second mouth: 

 

The Duncan has sprouted lots of baby heads on all sides: 

 

The Digitata is growing like a weed.  It reminds me of when I had my birdsnest: 

 

The Leng Sy cap has almost doubled in size.  It doesn't show up well in pictures but it has a vibrant purple ring around the edge that really looks almost florescent: 

 

The Acans are shooting out baby heads: 

 

The Zoas are all growing nicely.  I haven't shown this guy in a while but it was one of my first frags in the tank, survived the tank crash, and now has almost covered the rock: 

[banasophia]

Wow Jackal, your corals are growing really well. That acro! 😍 

 

Also, I sure wish I could keep duncans... they seem to be very sensitive to hydroids, so I haven’t been successful with them in my tank. Great pic of yours!!

[Wyatt45]

On 1/23/2019 at 7:01 AM, banasophia said:

Wow Jackal, your corals are growing really well. That acro! 😍 

 

Also, I sure wish I could keep duncans... they seem to be very sensitive to hydroids, so I haven’t been successful with them in my tank. Great pic of yours!!

My Duncan is super temperamental as well. No growth. 

[Jackal227]

Adding to the new coral growths it appears that my Cespitularia has grown a new branch on the left side: 

 

Also, it's always entertaining to see the Urchin giving a new snail a guided tour around the tank.

 

I've noticed that my alk has been running lower the last couple weeks so I upped my dosing from 1 ml per day to 2 ml per day (half in the am and half in the pm). 

[banasophia]

1 hour ago, Jackal227 said:

Adding to the new coral growths it appears that my Cespitularia has grown a new branch on the left side: 

 

Also, it's always entertaining to see the Urchin giving a new snail a guided tour around the tank.

 

I've noticed that my alk has been running lower the last couple weeks so I upped my dosing from 1 ml per day to 2 ml per day (half in the am and half in the pm). 

That cespitularia is so pretty

[Jackal227]

2 hours ago, banasophia said:

That cespitularia is so pretty

I'm glad that I got it, it's really growing on me.  I like the way that it fills in the left side of the tank.  It has great movement, and you can really see from the side how it transitions from a violet base to the white tips.  

[Kup612]

Jackel , This was a fantastic read and has given me confidence as I just set up my biocube 16 . 3 days in and all looking good and clean . Unfortunately I have to go out of town so not going to add anything although all the numbers look great to add . I have much to learn as most of the things you talk about I find myself have to research . I will be checking in all the time to check on everyone’s progress . Special thanks for supplying me with a great wish list of livestock and corals .

[Jackal227]

1 hour ago, Kup612 said:

Jackel , This was a fantastic read and has given me confidence as I just set up my biocube 16 . 3 days in and all looking good and clean . Unfortunately I have to go out of town so not going to add anything although all the numbers look great to add . I have much to learn as most of the things you talk about I find myself have to research . I will be checking in all the time to check on everyone’s progress . Special thanks for supplying me with a great wish list of livestock and corals .

The rock work looks nice.  Do you have a powerhead?  

 

If you have any questions feel free to ask.  I'm still learning new things in reefing everyday, but I think that you'll find a great community here. 

[Kup612]

I don’t currently have a powerhead , do you recommend I get one prior to adding ? If so any recommendations for the tank ?

[Jackal227]

5 hours ago, Kup612 said:

I don’t currently have a powerhead , do you recommend I get one prior to adding ? If so any recommendations for the tank ?

I would add one if you plan on keeping corals.   It probably wouldn't affect fish without one as long as there is good surface agitation. 

 

I've been happy with my Hydor 425 for this tank.  If you want one that's controllable I've seen a lot of people use the aquamai kps.

[Jackal227]

Tank Update:

 

So looking closely at the GHA that I've been struggling with, I believe that it may actually be Bryopsis instead of GHA.  In the close-up view it appears fern-like:

 I've been researching a fluconazole treatment for it.  If I go that route I'll document the process. 

 

Also,  here's a reefing fail for me.  It's not uncommon for me to knock off frags whenever I stick my hands into the tank.  The problem here is that I managed to somehow glue this Zoa frag ontop of one of my Blastomussa heads 🤤:

Luckily, the 2nd head appears to be fine so it's not a total loss.  You can also see the RFA snuggled up against the Blastomussa as well.  It's been moving all over the tank the last 2 weeks and just can't seem to find a happy spot.  Here it is a few days ago snuggled up with an Acan:

It doesn't seem to be stinging the corals so I'm not too worried about it yet.

 

Okay onto the good.  The rest of the tank is still doing well.  The corals are showing signs of good growth.  One of my hammer branches has split so now it has 4 full heads: 

I've also noticed that as it grows the tips are taking on more of that flattened hammer shape.  It's really looking great. 

 

The textures on the tentacles of the Duncan looked really neat so I tried to get a close-up of them: 

 

The Urchin is cruising around looking nice as usual: 

[banasophia]

Haha that’s funny about your RFA, blasto, and zoas... they still look like a happy trio though so far. Let us know what happens with the briopsis. Hammer, duncan, and urchin look great!

[Kup612]

On 2/3/2019 at 8:27 PM, Kup612 said:

Jackel , This was a fantastic read and has given me confidence as I just set up my biocube 16 . 3 days in and all looking good and clean . Unfortunately I have to go out of town so not going to add anything although all the numbers look great to add . I have much to learn as most of the things you talk about I find myself have to research . I will be checking in all the time to check on everyone’s progress . Special thanks for supplying me with a great wish list of livestock and corals .

So quick update for you I went out of town last Monday, I purchased a few snails 🐌 to keep up with some cleaning while I was gone .  The water upon my return in crystal clear however I do have what I will call brown algae on the sand . I started treatment yesterday with Alpha and Seed and will see if it goes away , I’m excited to add some clowns and coral this weekend.  I enjoyed your latest update on your tank . 

[Jackal227]

19 hours ago, Kup612 said:

So quick update for you I went out of town last Monday, I purchased a few snails 🐌 to keep up with some cleaning while I was gone .  The water upon my return in crystal clear however I do have what I will call brown algae on the sand . I started treatment yesterday with Alpha and Seed and will see if it goes away , I’m excited to add some clowns and coral this weekend.  I enjoyed your latest update on your tank . 

The brown on the sand looks like Diatoms.  They are normal and will go away in a couple weeks usually. 

[Jackal227]

So I made the decision to use fluconazole (using Reef Flux brand) to try to rid the tank of Bryopsis before it becomes a serious problem.  I've ordered it and it should arrive in a couple days.  To prepare today I did a water change and removed as much manually as I could. 

 

The current plan: 

•  Dose 320 mg Fluconazole for 14-21 days depending on observations. 
• Remove carbon during treatment
• Remove purigen during treatment
• Replace filter floss as needed
• 5 gallon water change after treatment
• Add back in carbon and purigen

I'll document the journey to see what happens.  The corals are doing well right now and hopefully they will continue through the treatment. 

[MSunkin23]

Hey Jackal,

That stuff worked great for me. I did use a higher dose (cant remember correctly). I did end up loosing one coral once I re-introduced the chemi-pure elite back into the tank AFTER treatment. But cant be sure this was correlated to the fluconazole.

 

One piece of advice is to pre-solubilie the reef flux. It is a very poorly soluble powder in water. I had to use a fork and warm water to get it to dissolve correctly. 

[Jackal227]

2 hours ago, MSunkin23 said:

Hey Jackal,

That stuff worked great for me. I did use a higher dose (cant remember correctly). I did end up loosing one coral once I re-introduced the chemi-pure elite back into the tank AFTER treatment. But cant be sure this was correlated to the fluconazole.

 

One piece of advice is to pre-solubilie the reef flux. It is a very poorly soluble powder in water. I had to use a fork and warm water to get it to dissolve correctly. 

How long did you run the treatment for? 

[mpekoske]

Sorry to ask since it has been a while but I read you used a LED strip for your Fuge light... was thinking of doing the same and just wanted to ask if you are still running it and how you thought it worked

[Jackal227]

30 minutes ago, mpekoske said:

Sorry to ask since it has been a while but I read you used a LED strip for your Fuge light... was thinking of doing the same and just wanted to ask if you are still running it and how you thought it worked

Yes I'm still using it.  The macro is still growing and I haven't noticed any issues with the light itself. 

[MSunkin23]

Hey Jackal,

 

The Fluconazole should kill the bryopsis fairly quickly. I noticed improvement in 1 week. You will see it turn brown and rigid. However, I kept my treatment longer to kill GHA as well. so depends on if you want to kill some other algae. If its just Bryopsis, you can probably eradicate in 1-2 weeks.

 

 

[Kup612]

So finally added two clowns yesterday (1-Bullet hole 1- Nemo lol) . Clean up crew is up to 4 snails, 2 crabs. All going well so far . I purchased a Protien Skimmer , question is can I remove the regular filter and just replace it with the skimmer ? Or should I put the skimmer in the left side chamber with the pump ? It seems more natural of a fit to remove the regular filter on the right side and install skimmer, any suggestions would be appreciated. 

[Jackal227]

On 2/14/2019 at 4:01 PM, Kup612 said:

So finally added two clowns yesterday (1-Bullet hole 1- Nemo lol) . Clean up crew is up to 4 snails, 2 crabs. All going well so far . I purchased a Protien Skimmer , question is can I remove the regular filter and just replace it with the skimmer ? Or should I put the skimmer in the left side chamber with the pump ? It seems more natural of a fit to remove the regular filter on the right side and install skimmer, any suggestions would be appreciated. 

I would remove the stock filter pad and add the skimmer to the first chamber.  You could add carbon and filter floss to the media rack in the middle chamber to replace what the stock filter was doing. 

[Jackal227]

My experience with Fluconazole week 1:

 

So it's been 7 days into the treatment.   Overall the tank is doing well and I'll list my observations so far.

 

I started with dosing 320mg to the return chamber.  I removed the carbon and purigen.  I've continued to replace the filter floss about twice a week. 

 

Initial pre-dose control pictures showing the two main problem areas:

The first picture I believe is mostly Bryopsis and the second I believe is either green turf algae or green hair algae. 

 

Day 2:

Starting to already see some white tips on the Bryopsis as it starts dieing.

 

Day 4:

There is definitely a noticeable decrease in Bryopsis.  I can now start to see bare spots on the rocks that were previously covered. 

These two pictures are the first signs of possible trouble that I've noticed.  The Duncan is staying closed up.  At this point I don't know if it's due to the Fluconazole or from the clowns beating up on it the day before.  More concerning to me though is that the Montipora has developed a white tip.  It looks different than the normal white growth tips and reminds me of STN.

 

Day 5:

Look who made an appearance.  This little emerald crab has been in the tank for 3 weeks and this is the first time that I've seen it with the lights on. 

 

Day 7:

So now we're 1 week into the treatment and it's doing great.  The Bryopsis has mostly faded already.  I expect it to fully disappear over the next week.  So far I haven't noticed any changes to the turf algae / GHA but they aren't spreading either. 

The Duncan is back to being open and happy again.

The white tip on the Montipora is not spreading but it has also disappeared 🤤.  Something has apparently fragged my coral...I don't know where it went but the rest of the coral is looking happy. 

To add to my observations, as my Duncan has opened back up I noticed that my GSP stayed closed for a day (it's back open now).  Interestingly seeing it closed I notice that it's not only growing ontop of itself but also across the sand.  I can certainly see why people don't put it on their main rocks. 

 

Day 7 FTS:

Overall I'm very happy with the results so far.  There is a definite decrease in the algae and the corals are all still healthy and growing.  I will continue to document the next two weeks of treatment to see what happens. 

[khoila]

i know this is an old post, but can the stock light good for a BTA???