12x12 diy cube

[Psilopsych]

So here it is.

I built this tank from some free shelves I got from a couple on Craigslist. It’s 12x12 inches. I have a 250gph return and a 110 gph in the display for flow. An aqueon 10w heater, coralview 3” smart fan and inkbird to run them. Smart auto top off with a 5g rodi storage container. Filtration is tanken care of by foam, filter floss, chaetomorpha and an ns80 reef octopus skimmer. Great lil unit!  There is around 9lbs live rock and a 2” sand bed.  The tank is lit by a nanobox mini. Big upgrade from the Chinese box light. 

Livestock includes a oscilaris clown, pajama cardinal, Randall’s goby, margarita snails, astrea snails, electric blue hermit, red hermit, and left handed hermits. 

Corals. Chicken pox discoma and a red and blue dot disco. Green branching hammer. Blue branching hammer. Green octospawn. Eagle eye, gobstopper, and Rasta Zoas. Montipora setosa. Sunset montipora. Green palys and utter chaos paly. Birds nest. Some sad ass trumpets and acan that burned up with a crappy Chinese box light. And a green and purple Favia. 

I have had a lot of success’ and failures with this tank. I have lost fish,inverts ands corals. I have also brought corals back from the dead. I fought and beat bubble algae and bryopsis. All in all this tank has been a rollercoaster but I feel like I am finally getting on the right path.  I do weekly 3-5g water changes. Clean the glass daily and test weekly to bi weekly. 

 

Hope yall like like what you see and happy reefing. 

[Psilopsych]

Had some good growth lately and my parameters seem good enough for Acropora. Added a piece and fragged a tip of it for a friend. First time I’ve tried acros in this system so here goes nothing. 

[WV Reefer]

On 6/23/2019 at 6:00 PM, Psilopsych said:

So here it is.

I built this tank from some free shelves I got from a couple on Craigslist. It’s 12x12 inches. I have a 250gph return and a 110 gph in the display for flow. An aqueon 10w heater, coralview 3” smart fan and inkbird to run them. Smart auto top off with a 5g rodi storage container. Filtration is tanken care of by foam, filter floss, chaetomorpha and an ns80 reef octopus skimmer. Great lil unit!  There is around 9lbs live rock and a 2” sand bed.  The tank is lit by a nanobox mini. Big upgrade from the Chinese box light. 

Livestock includes a oscilaris clown, pajama cardinal, Randall’s goby, margarita snails, astrea snails, electric blue hermit, red hermit, and left handed hermits. 

Corals. Chicken pox discoma and a red and blue dot disco. Green branching hammer. Blue branching hammer. Green octospawn. Eagle eye, gobstopper, and Rasta Zoas. Montipora setosa. Sunset montipora. Green palys and utter chaos paly. Birds nest. Some sad ass trumpets and acan that burned up with a crappy Chinese box light. And a green and purple Favia. 

I have had a lot of success’ and failures with this tank. I have lost fish,inverts ands corals. I have also brought corals back from the dead. I fought and beat bubble algae and bryopsis. All in all this tank has been a rollercoaster but I feel like I am finally getting on the right path.  I do weekly 3-5g water changes. Clean the glass daily and test weekly to bi weekly. 

 

Hope yall like like what you see and happy reefing. 

 

Looks good so far. 😊

[Psilopsych]

2 hours ago, WV Reefer said:

 

Looks good so far. 😊

Thanks wv. It has been a real journey so far. 

[Psilopsych]

So I’ve added a couple Acropora since my last update. One tabling and a Calitort. They are doing well so far. I have also added a colony of Pocillopora and a new acan . I’m  testing water regularly and I may have to switch salts or start two part dosing (currently using io at 1.025). The alk seems to be dropping from 7.5 to 6 in a weeks time. Calcium is slowly dropping as well.  Picked up a new tds and replaced Rodi components. Having a blast with every thing good and bad. Lost my two favorite hermits since last update but I guess that’s part of the game. Still have my og red hermit from when I started the tank.  The randalli goby jumped out which was a real bummer. And I added a panda goby the size of a water drop. I haven’t seen him for two weeks now. I really thought he would have been bigger when I ordered it.   

[Wonderboy]

Looking really good! Sorry bout the randalli. Good work tracking the system consumptions. That panda! Hoping you spot it soon  :]

[Psilopsych]

And things continue.  Panda goby MIA since introducing it. Think clown ate it. No new fish but I added a couple acans  and a cyphastrea. Moved a couple frags. Things continue to go well. Levels have been pretty stable although I am still thinking about switching to Red Sea salts. Not sure when but as corals continue to do better and I see a defined level change I believe that it may worth it. Still having a blast. Looking for another Acropora frag to close the back left corner. Maybe a raspberry lemonade or something like that. Well that’s my update for now. Thanks for looking. Input and questions are always welcome. 

[Psilopsych]

Update 12/15/19. Things keep trucking along. I added a jebao dosing pump to the system and have been dosing Seachem fusion 2part because I was dropping 2dkh a day. The acro suffered some bleaching but seem alright. Had to trim some zoas and moved some birds nest. Fragged the setosa and spread it out. 

 

[Psilopsych]

So I’ve been keeping it up. Weekly water changes. Dosing is on point and have added three new corals. Digitata, a mushroom and an acan colony. Very happy with the progress. I have had a couple hiccups. I have added a hydro pico 180 pump that really has been a burden because I have to glue the impeller every two weeks and bubble algae has been an issue. I need a real good source of flow.  Any suggestions? The acros are not doing as well as I had hoped but are still alive. They’re bleaching around the base and have not returned to their color. I tried bumping my lights to 80% over a month but saw no change and the Monti seemed to suffer. Now down to 77%. Thinking about pulling the large zoa colony and replacing it with a new rock to grow my more valuable palys and zoas.  Loving the tank all in all. 

[Picogoby]

Could you squeeze a jebao SW-2 in? Or maybe one of the aquamai wave heads? I have 2 SW-2’s in my 40x40cm cube and they are very small and give excellent dispersed flow. I had one originally but got a bit of a  dead spot due to the rock work and a second one was added creating a really strong Gyre in the tank. People say the jebaos are no good, but personally I have had a power head and a return pump from them that have been going over 4years with only a quick clean every 3-4 months.