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BioCube 14 College Reef- New shrimp!


mtgmichaelg

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mtgmichaelg

Hi Nanoreef, this thread will be the history of my reef tank in my dorm. I purchased this biocube from a local reefer who sold me the entire setup. 

 

Equipment: 

-Biocube 14

-Custom Media Rack

-Kessil A150W Sky Blue  AI Prime HD

-Maxijet 900

-Korelia Nano 240

-Chemipure Blue

 

Current front tank shot: 

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mtgmichaelg

Hey guys, I am a few months in, but I am going to upload some pictures of how my tank has progressed up until now. I am currently storing my tank at my house and plan on moving it in when school starts up. 

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mtgmichaelg


So this is what the tank looked like when I first got it.

Current inhabitants: Black Ocellaris, Xenia, Random Palys, Rose Bubble Tip Anemone, small colony of God of War Palys, and lots of aptasia. 

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mtgmichaelg

Never was really happy with the original scape (pile of random rocks) so I bought a few pieces of dry rock from my LFS. During this time period I also purchased several large colonies of frogspawn for my tank from a local reefer. I planned on using the frogspawn to trade with other reefers as well as to add movement to my tank. IMG_0964.thumb.JPG.a7c555ca0b6e29b41cfecbdb1c97eb42.JPGIMG_6527.thumb.JPG.fd623b68547a7552c5f7041957028edf.JPG 

 

 

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mtgmichaelg

After about a month of my tank being scaped like what it is pictured above, I knew I still wasn't happen with the way it looked. Looking for inspiration, I went under the featured reefs section of nano-reef and found Mr. Microscope's 25 gallon Cube Tank (April 2016). I knew I wanted to create a smaller version of the pillar in his tank. I also knew that I wanted to make a solid structure that would would fit into a 5 gallon bucket so I could move it into my dorm in the fall. So I went and bought some PVC and with a little help, skewered my rock.

 

 

 

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mtgmichaelg

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It has been a little while, but this is what the tank looks like right now. I went to Orlando on memorial day weekend and picked up a bunch of corals for WWC. Got some great deals, bought 9 corals for $45. I picked up some zoas, acans, a chalice, a favia, and a hydnophora frag. Everything is looking good and healthy. I'll post some close up photos if you guys are interested.

 

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  • Thanks 1
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Hey! Tank looks awesome 🙂 I really like your ‘tower’. It gives you a good rock space and lots of flow around for swimming space 🙂 good job 

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mtgmichaelg
4 hours ago, afcajax73 said:

Hey! Tank looks awesome 🙂 I really like your ‘tower’. It gives you a good rock space and lots of flow around for swimming space 🙂 good job 

Thanks! I designed it so that it fits into a 5 gallon bucket so that everything is easy to move. 

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banasophia
12 minutes ago, mtgmichaelg said:

Thanks! I designed it so that it fits into a 5 gallon bucket so that everything is easy to move. 

That was a really good idea to plan for the move!!! Love it so far, and I think it’s really cool to have a reef tank while you’re in the dorm! 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
mtgmichaelg

It has been a while since the last update, but here is the reef. Sorry everything isn't completely open, I did a water change 20 minutes before. As for the maintenance, I am still running it as simple as possible with weekly water changes. With this regiment, I have seen some great growth in my micromussa colonies, the favites, and the picasso rhodactus mushroom. 

 

In the future I am looking at dosing kalkwasser through my auto top off. If any one has insight on the easiest way to dose kalkwasser please comment below. I just picked up a 2 gallon cereal container to use as my reservoir and some kalkwasser from amazon. 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Hi nano-reef, this is just a photo dump of my tank after a mini rescape. I am still have a hard time growing corals on vertical surface, but with that being said everything is growing well. I am also considering buying an AI prime instead of the kessil A150 Sky blue that I have now because I have noticed that several of my acans have browned out from the white lighting.

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The prime is a great light. With the customizability on the led you can def find a good mix to brighten things up a bit. You can find one pretty cheap in the hardware classifieds here.

Cool scape btw, vertical colums can be a challenge.

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32 minutes ago, Joevember said:

The prime is a great light. With the customizability on the led you can def find a good mix to brighten things up a bit. You can find one pretty cheap in the hardware classifieds here.

Cool scape btw, vertical colums can be a challenge.

I feel like the perfect light is the hydra 26 because of the two pucks. They would do a good job lighting both sides of the column. 

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8 hours ago, mtgmichaelg said:

I feel like the perfect light is the hydra 26 because of the two pucks. They would do a good job lighting both sides of the column. 

I think that a hydra would be a little overkill for a depth of 15" (at least I think that's the depth of a biocube 14). Also the pucks aren't spaced out as much as you think to get rid of the shading. But if you have money to burn, then go with what you want.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi nano reef, I had to re do my scape because I had too much rock high up in my tank. I have also re arranged a few of my corals in order to promote better growth forms. For example I found that some of my lords had a difficult time growing on a vertical surface causing the lower polyps not to receive adequate lighting. I also found that candy canes are very versatile in terms of lighting and can be placed higher up. Since my last update I have also started dosing kalkwasser through my auto top off and have started to see significant results in terms of growth. Particularly my red cap which had always looked pale and had not grown much since I had added it to the tank has turned around. If you look at the photos you can see all of the new growth that it has had in the past 3 weeks. 

 

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44 minutes ago, Firefish15 said:

Looking good! Are you planning on moving your tank every break? Good luck with college!

Thanks! We have an aquarium club and I just plan to move everything into the room where we have our other tanks. Someone is always here to take care of them over the breaks. 

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2 hours ago, mtgmichaelg said:

Thanks! We have an aquarium club and I just plan to move everything into the room where we have our other tanks. Someone is always here to take care of them over the breaks. 

Wow, that sounds like a good resource to have! (At least as long as whoever stays knows what they're doing.) I will probably have to do something else. I'm an animal care TA for the biology department, so I'll probably be able to leave it with the head TA. Mine will only get maintained MWF though. I will probably not add coral until after winter break.

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20 hours ago, Firefish15 said:

Wow, that sounds like a good resource to have! (At least as long as whoever stays knows what they're doing.) I will probably have to do something else. I'm an animal care TA for the biology department, so I'll probably be able to leave it with the head TA. Mine will only get maintained MWF though. I will probably not add coral until after winter break.

Yea that is how it was over here during the summer. Just make sure that the person taking care of the tank knows what they have to do and you'll be fine. Also just keep it simple, no need to over complicate things. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

New Light and new fish!

I have upgraded to the AI prime HD from the kessil a150 sky blue. I really wanted to be able to control the spectrum on the tank and the older kessil model did not allow me to. Now everything is blue! I also got a second clownfish to partner up with the one I already had. After a little bit of aggression, they got over their quarrels and are best buds now. 

 

Also, does anyone else have zoas that just grow and others that haven't grown at all? The fruit loops and radioactive dragon eyes that I have have been growing a lot while the PP eaters haven't grown at all. Any tips for getting stubborn zoas to grow. 

 

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