Jump to content
Top Shelf Aquatics

Banasophia’s Biocube 32 - Return of the DragonReef 🐉


banasophia

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, banasophia said:

Yes, I’ll be happy if the coral grows for me so we can figure it out! 
 

Your tank is awesome! I love cylindrical tanks... will have to read through your journal!!

 

Getting just the right magnet strength is what Duane at @NanoRox is working on right now, as a matter of fact... of course we want it so the corals are firmly attached, but so the whole scape won’t move when trying to detach them. I think the prototype he sent me is pretty close. 

Yeah, mine had enough pull-force it actually ended-up splitting one of my rocks in two.
The Atoll may be coming back in the future actually, my wife has some plans for a tank she'd like, we'll see if the funds appear lol.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
10 minutes ago, xM3THODx said:

Great to read and catch up on the Dragon Reef. I'm looking forward to seeing the progression. 

Thanks so much for checking in... really appreciate all your help getting this tank going! 🤗

  • Like 2
Link to comment
7 minutes ago, Jerad81 said:

Everything looks great! Your making me impatient to get my tank up and running lol

Thanks so much! It’s so exciting starting a new tank. Definitely good to take time planning it out though. How’s it coming along? 

Link to comment
15 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Thanks so much! It’s so exciting starting a new tank. Definitely good to take time planning it out though. How’s it coming along? 

Yeah, I'm definitely taking this pretty slow. I figure I'm investing way too much in it to try to rush it. I've had to force myself to stop looking at other people's tanks very often though. It was starting to make me impatient lol.

So far everything is going well. I'm still waiting on the stand but should have it in a week or two. Other than that, all I need now is a light and sand and I'll be able to add water and start cycling. My fingers crossed I can get that started by early Feb.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
11 minutes ago, Jerad81 said:

Yeah, I'm definitely taking this pretty slow. I figure I'm investing way too much in it to try to rush it. I've had to force myself to stop looking at other people's tanks very often though. It was starting to make me impatient lol.

So far everything is going well. I'm still waiting on the stand but should have it in a week or two. Other than that, all I need now is a light and sand and I'll be able to add water and start cycling. My fingers crossed I can get that started by early Feb.

The good thing is that you can start the cycle even if you don’t have the light yet, since you don’t need lights for cycling, so the tank can be doing it’s thing while you figure that part out, if need be. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
3 minutes ago, banasophia said:

The good thing is that you can start the cycle even if you don’t have the light yet, since you don’t need lights for cycling, so the tank can be doing it’s thing while you figure that part out, if need be. 

That is good to know. I always thought the bacteria needed the light to establish itself and start growing. I'm really looking forward to getting this tank up and running, even if I don't have anything to look at but a few rocks lol.

  • Like 1
Link to comment

I thought the video from Dr. Tim Hovanec posted on here was a nice summary for fast and effective cycling. For best results use a substrate. 

Measure ammonia after adding substrate. add less than 4 PPM of ammonia

Keep the temp. up around 84

keep the SG low 18-20 ppt (1.015)

Keep the lights off

Do WC when nitrite is 5

Testing is approximate either there is ammonia or nitrite or there is none - meaning don't get to hung up on chasing numbers

 

No GFO   No Denitrification No organic carbon dosing (vodka) during cycle

live rock, deli shrimp, ammonia, fish food (even flakes) all work but vary in how long. 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
5 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I thought the video from Dr. Tim Hovanec posted on here was a nice summary for fast and effective cycling. For best results use a substrate. 

Measure ammonia after adding substrate. add less than 4 PPM of ammonia

Keep the temp. up around 84

keep the SG low 18-20 ppt (1.015)

Keep the lights off

Do WC when nitrite is 5

Testing is approximate either there is ammonia or nitrite or there is none - meaning don't get to hung up on chasing numbers

 

No GFO   No Denitrification No organic carbon dosing (vodka) during cycle

live rock, deli shrimp, ammonia, fish food (even flakes) all work but vary in how long. 

 

Wow, that is great to know, thank you! I will have to look that video up and watch it a few times when I'm ready to get started. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Oh noooo!! My poor fish has a strand of dog fur stuck in its mouth. Some people struggle with hair algae, but I struggle with dog hair. Our two goldens are part of the reason I prefer tanks with canopies... these fur balls shed their “golden tendrils of love” all over the place. And it looks like a strand got in the tank and got stuck in my bangaii’s mouth during feeding. 😳☹️ I’ve tried to catch the fish to remove the strand, but no luck so far. Please send good fish vibes my way. 🙏🐠
 

24D6811E-93F0-40DB-9C54-B92A1B96DAB4.thumb.jpeg.4f84d46f55daed47238fd409459a06c0.jpeg

 

  • Like 3
  • Sad 1
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
3 hours ago, Poodges said:

That’s too funny.  I often have to pick dog hair out of my tank too.  Thought I was the only one.  😁

OMG yes, it’s definitely an issue haha. Thankfully my fish was finally able to get the strand out of its mouth during the night. 😅

  • Like 3
Link to comment
NaturallyKait

Happens to me with my hair or the cat’s hair! I shed like wild so no matter how much I tie my hair back it never fails and the cat is just as bad 🤦🏻‍♀️

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Just getting caught up on this tank, love it! 

 

🙋‍♀️ Also just had to confess dog hair is a constant issue in my tank too. Thankfully never had any stuck to a fish though, good luck!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
On 1/15/2020 at 12:05 PM, NaturallyKait said:

Happens to me with my hair or the cat’s hair! I shed like wild so no matter how much I tie my hair back it never fails and the cat is just as bad 🤦🏻‍♀️

Yeah it’s funny you don’t hear about hair in fish tanks more... thankfully my cat has short hair so even when he sheds it doesn’t seem like an issue with it getting into the tank. 

 

 

2 hours ago, lizzyann said:

Just getting caught up on this tank, love it! 

 

🙋‍♀️ Also just had to confess dog hair is a constant issue in my tank too. Thankfully never had any stuck to a fish though, good luck!

Haha not surprised to hear about the dog hair issue for you since it looks like you also have a golden. 💛
 

And thanks, it’s fun to do something a little different with the decorations and an SPS tank in a Biocube with stock lights. I am considering giving in and adding some non-SPS though. My Fiji yellow leather has gotten huge in my 16 since switching to the Tropic Marin reef pro a few weeks ago, so I’m trying to figure out what to do about that and one option is to move it to this tank, and keep it @xM3THODx style with my SPS. His tank was one of my biggest inspirations to do SPS, so it would be fitting. 🙂 
 

I’m also thinking of doing some blue sympodium. I love that coral: it’s pretty, fairly slow growing, and grows close to the rock, and I need something to cover up the spot on my rock where my new emerald went nuts when I got him this week and picked a patch of the coralline-looking coating off my Liferock. He’s a good little emerald but he was a little cleaning machine when I got him... must’ve been very hungry!!

AD48575C-BA9D-41FA-9368-FB7FF63CA826.thumb.jpeg.5f1c9967273517015e3a55c92fc1e32c.jpeg

  • Like 4
Link to comment

Well I hope I don’t live to regret this, but I just added a scoop of sand from my 16 to the 32, potentially introducing all kinds of stuff including definitely bristleworms and cyano. The water in the 32 smells bad... I wanna help it along in developing into a good balanced ecosystem.

 

I think someone had suggested this when I first started the journal... didn’t do it at the time due to a major takeover of bristleworms in the 16 at the time that I didn’t want to spread, but the bristleworms seem to have settled down a bit and it seems like a good time to give it a shot now.  🤞🤞🤞

  • Like 4
Link to comment

Yeah, you're going to regret bringing that sand over, but I'm sure you'll overcome any obstacles it might cause.  

 

I adore your previous tanks and it's always made me wonder "what if" I got a biocube instead of the Nuvo 20 or Nuvo 10.   I've always thought I wouldn't care much for the curved glass distorting the view,  but the hood that covers the lights makes this one sexy tank. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
34 minutes ago, TatorTaco said:

Yeah, you're going to regret bringing that sand over, but I'm sure you'll overcome any obstacles it might cause.  

 

I adore your previous tanks and it's always made me wonder "what if" I got a biocube instead of the Nuvo 20 or Nuvo 10.   I've always thought I wouldn't care much for the curved glass distorting the view,  but the hood that covers the lights makes this one sexy tank. 

Haha I know! I might be kicking myself... but the good thing is that cyano is treatable as opposed to dino, which is the main thing I want to avoid (and haven’t had any issues with in the 16). And I figure the bristleworms won’t really get too crazy in this tank since I don’t feed it heavily like the 16. All my LFSs have pretty significant dino, so I do really worry about introducing it into my system, especially when it’s new and still developing its balance. 
 

And thanks so much! I really love the Biocubes myself.  I was glad I tried the Nuvo 10 for a while but I’m ultimately glad to have this 32 now instead... I find the Biocube lighting more conducive to tank photography than the AI Prime, at least using my iPad as I do, and I kinda like the distortion effect from the rounded corners, but that’s really just personal preference. 🙂 I do also really like a more enclosed system that avoids evaporation, though that does mean I’ll probably need a chiller as things start heating up in the spring/summer. 

Link to comment

If it makes you feel better you already have dinos, just like everyone else, on your rocks, in your sand, and in your corals.
Gotta' admit though, new tank - foul smelling water, made me immediately think of dino's. But if you have nitrates over 5 and phosphates over .05 you should be fine one-way or another, it's not unheard of to get an outbreak while cylcing, but it also isn't terribly common either.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
21 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

If it makes you feel better you already have dinos, just like everyone else, on your rocks, in your sand, and in your corals.
Gotta' admit though, new tank - foul smelling water, made me immediately think of dino's. But if you have nitrates over 5 and phosphates over .05 you should be fine one-way or another, it's not unheard of to get an outbreak while cylcing, but it also isn't terribly common either.

Yeah my Reef Cleaners delivery hit a storm and took 5 days instead of the usual 2-3, so about half of my crew was DOA and never went into the tank, but it’s possible there could be some that didn’t make it after being added, so I think that could potentially be the reason for the smell... it is kind of a dead snail smell... don’t know for sure. My nitrates and phosphates are low in this tank so far, 2-5 nitrates and barely detectable phosphates... I plan to keep them pretty low in this system... we’ll see how it goes... it’s heavily stocked with fish that get pellets and frozen daily, and I’ll likely be adding the reef energy products in the future as well, so I think I’ll likely see an increase in nitrates and phosphates from the fish and coral feedings. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
8 hours ago, Sancho said:

You got this!!!

Thanks, we’ll see... I’m so tempted to go get a bunch of non-SPS corals though... I really want some knopia and cloves because I love the way they look, but I’m trying to resist because I really want to keep ideal conditions/parameters for SPS and I think I might end up making too many compromises if I add in a lot of other types of corals. John at Your Reef has some gorgeous cloves right now that I don’t have yet... maybe I’ll just squeeze them into the 16 somewhere. 
 

4 hours ago, Jackal227 said:

Looks great!

Thank you! 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
  • banasophia changed the title to Banasophia’s Biocube 32 - Return of the DragonReef 🐉

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...