tgrover35 Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 After many hours of research and questions I have finally begun my new mini reef tank! I decided to use a Biocube 32 and I plan to fill the tank with relatively hardy soft and lps corals. My setup is as follows: Tank: Biocube 32 Lighting: Stock LED’s Flow: Stock AIO pump/ Hydor Koralia 565 Filtration: Carbon, filter floss, live rock, live sand, chemipure?, chaeto? And stock filter (no bio balls) Heating: Eheim Jager 100W Water: Purified Distilled water with instant ocean salt Stand: DIY stand Parameters: Refractometer/ API Test Kit Stocking plans: 4-6 fish, invertebrates (including 3 hitchhiker hermits and a turbo snail that came on my cured LFS rock), hardy corals to start I started my cycle on Saturday February 10 with 15 lbs of cured live rock, 20 lbs live sand (caribsea arag-alive) and water mixed by yours truly. I have already encountered a few minor snags involving one poorly chosen live rock that was already inhabited by at least one aiptasia and what I found out was green hair algae. I have since returned the rock and replaced with new and hopefully pest free rock. My first tests have indicated 0.125 ammonia (probably close to 0), 8.0 pH, 0 nitrite/nitrate and 1.025 SG. Temperature is 77 and the snail and crabs appear to be doing fine. I have also found what seems to be an asterina starfish on one rock which I’ll monitor closely unless someone thinks I should just try to rip him off. Welcome to my newest adventure! 2 Quote Link to comment
Flexin Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Welcome!!! Based on the picture someone is already a fan The starfish should be fine, there are a few that are not but most are. Quote Link to comment
WV Reefer Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Look forward to seeing what you do! Quote Link to comment
tgrover35 Posted February 13, 2018 Author Share Posted February 13, 2018 22 minutes ago, Flexin said: Welcome!!! Based on the picture someone is already a fan The starfish should be fine, there are a few that are not but most are. Thanks! He is enthralled with the tank and so it is aptly named "Buck's Reef" after him 13 minutes ago, WV Reefer said: Look forward to seeing what you do! Thank you! You've already influenced my tank positively so I hope to keep heading in the right direction 1 Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Welcome to reefing. It is a great hobby. There is a lot to learn but that is part of the fun. The members here love to help so if you have questions just ask. Quote Link to comment
tgrover35 Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 I forgot to post specifics but here is my DIY Biocube 32 stand. Way better quality and sturdiness than the one they sell with the tank 1 Quote Link to comment
tgrover35 Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 Some of my unintentional tank inhabitants that hitched a ride on my rock from the LFS. The turbo is named Gary, dwarf blue legged hermits are Herman (short spiral) and Henrietta (tall spiral), and I also have about 20+ feather dusters. So far Gary takes the cake for activity - he’s trying to defy all those slow snail stereotypes 2 Quote Link to comment
Flexin Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 Looking good! Yes their stock stand is horrible.. Quote Link to comment
tgrover35 Posted February 16, 2018 Author Share Posted February 16, 2018 13 hours ago, Flexin said: Looking good! Yes their stock stand is horrible.. Thank you! I have been wondering...I have a Hydor Koralia 565 along with the stock pump. It sort of seems like there is a bit of a whirlpool effect despite my effort to point the Koralia in a different direction. This seems like a bad thing to me. Is the Koralia 565 too much?? Quote Link to comment
Flexin Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 An ajustable power head is nice. I think I mounted mine on the back wall going towards the front. If you get a whirlpool at the top it needs to be deeper in the tank. Flow is definitely a personal preference so go with your gut. Before you get another pump, if you decide to, consider a dc pump that is adjustable when you can upgrade. It does not have to be an MP10 there are others out there cheaper. Quote Link to comment
tgrover35 Posted February 27, 2018 Author Share Posted February 27, 2018 So after a short hiatus for a week long cruise, I came back to find both good and bad news. The good is that my tank is cycled, and the bad is that I most definitely have a case of Bryopsis on my hands that must have come in on the live rock. I picked up a few more hermits and a couple astrea snails and I think probably my next step is reef flux/ emerald crab(s)? The hermits oddly appear to actually be eating some of the Bryopsis so that is certainly a good thing, but I’m not sure they can suppress it by themselves. I also decided to pick up a frag of GSP just to see how it goes! I’m a little bit upset but up for the challenge Quote Link to comment
tgrover35 Posted March 3, 2018 Author Share Posted March 3, 2018 Some new additions both to battle the algae and to satisfy my need to try some cheap/hardy corals... Quote Link to comment
Flexin Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 Very cool. Are you in the habit of dipping coarals? If not its a good one to start. Quote Link to comment
tgrover35 Posted March 7, 2018 Author Share Posted March 7, 2018 On 3/3/2018 at 7:33 AM, Flexin said: Very cool. Are you in the habit of dipping coarals? If not its a good one to start. Yes I have dipped everything that has gone in so far. Check out my latest addition!! 1 Quote Link to comment
tgrover35 Posted March 7, 2018 Author Share Posted March 7, 2018 I added purple people eater zoas a few days ago and came home today with a new Octobubble coral! Or so I was told at the LFS. It looks like a Galaxea to me lol Quote Link to comment
Flexin Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 The second one looks like a Frogspawn, love those Quote Link to comment
tgrover35 Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 4 hours ago, Flexin said: The second one looks like a Frogspawn, love those That would make sense. I ended up inadvertently killing what I think was an abalone when I dipped that one btw Quote Link to comment
Flexin Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 You can visually inspect before the dip if there is something you want to keep, but, I would have done the same Quote Link to comment
tgrover35 Posted March 14, 2018 Author Share Posted March 14, 2018 More coral additions to update! I added a little frag of cauliflower colt, a Hollywood stunner (which I promptly snapped in half while trying to glue), and a little frogspawn. I also determined that my first tentacled coral is an octospawn. Finally, I have a disturbing question: last night I was staring at my tank and noticed that the smaller female emerald crab was missing legs on her left side. Earlier in the day I saw her and the bigger male under a rock together for quite a while. Could the male have been attacking (eating???) her legs? Is she possibly just molting and will grow them back? I have no pics to show as she disappeared shortly after. She was picking away at algae looking fine when her legs were noted to be missing Quote Link to comment
tgrover35 Posted March 19, 2018 Author Share Posted March 19, 2018 This weekend brought the newest additions to my tank: a few new frags of softies, a few new snails and best of all, my first fish! He is an awesome little Randall’s Goby who has a Red Banded Pistol Shrimp as his partner in crime. The shrimp quickly disappeared upon entry and has not been seen since. He has however apparently become best friends with the goby as the cave that was existing under one of my rocks has now considerably deepened and opened into a small network of tunnels. I have been feeding them frozen brine shrimp and I might try some pellets soon too. Some pics below of the dynamic duo, along with my new mushrooms, finger leather, and Duncan! 1 Quote Link to comment
Moby47ok Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Man, that Goby is cool! I'll have to keep my eye out for one of those! Like the Duncan too. Quote Link to comment
tgrover35 Posted March 24, 2018 Author Share Posted March 24, 2018 1 hour ago, Moby47ok said: Man, that Goby is cool! I'll have to keep my eye out for one of those! Like the Duncan too. He is a fun little fish. Unfortunately for some reason unknown to me he didn’t make it. Everything else in the tank is doing so well so I’m very sad and puzzled. The only thing I can guess is that he may have been sick or possibly victimized by one of my emerald crabs. I would definitely recommend them paired with a pistol though! Here’s the latest addition to the tank to brighten the mood a bit, a new rock flower anemone! Quote Link to comment
Moby47ok Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Yeah, sorry for the Goby loss, that's to bad. I think that pistol shrimp would have had something to say about it. Probably had something wrong. I want a rock flower. I've been looking on Austin auqua farms web site, they have some nice ones, oh and a clam some day. I have the same tank as you but have just a little longer to go. I used dry rock and live sand also tossed some biospira in. It didn't seem to want to move, threw in a cube of frozen food and we were off to the races. My nitates hit 10 today so I think a water change is in my near future. Patients is a tough thing in this hobby! With all the corals I want I'm going to need a bigger tank! ? Quote Link to comment
tgrover35 Posted March 26, 2018 Author Share Posted March 26, 2018 Haha I hear you there! I’m finding it’s difficult to keep myself from buying coral far too quickly. It’s definetly an exercise in patience Quote Link to comment
tgrover35 Posted April 9, 2018 Author Share Posted April 9, 2018 An update after far too long! I have made some fun new additions that are doing very well so far! My new fish, a quirky little royal gramma, has been awesome. He’s got a very fun personality and is always active. He adds such a great color to the tank. Pics of the gramma along with a Pom Pom crab, mushrooms, clove polyps, and leather! Quote Link to comment
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