Centurion's 16g Biocube | First Saltwater Tank!

[Centurion]

Intro

Hey everyone, I've done freshwater tanks for the past few years but this is my first foray into saltwater. My fiancée's father has a 120g that piqued my interest and the ongoing pandemic convinced me to pull the trigger on a new project. After considering my options, I went with the Biocube 16g for a few reasons: 1) I like the dimensions and I want to use the additional vertical space compared to other nano tanks; 2) I plan to use the stock LEDs and it seems the consensus on the forums is the presence of the hood minimizes evap so I don't need an ATO system, both of which helped me keep the cost of the tank down, and 3) it was slightly bigger than other nano options and I felt that would expand my livestock options. Just got everything set up and took a quick picture, planning to start cycling very soon.

 

Specs

Tank: Biocube 16 gallon

Salt Mix: Fritz Reef Pro Mix

Sand: Caribsea Aragamax Select

Lighting: Stock LED hood

Powerhead: Jebao OW-10 Wave Maker

• When I first put this into the tank it was definitely running louder than expected. I took it out, disassembled it, and just put it back together to see if that would help align things. Worth it, put it back it and it's been super quiet. Now I just have to get the right angle/power combo so it's not pushing the sand out of the corners!

Heater: BRS 100w heater (chamber 1)

Biological Filtration: ~1/2 liter Seachem Matrix (chamber 3)

Chemical Filtration: Chemipure Blue (chamber 2)

Mechanical Filtration: Poly Filter (chamber 2)

Tank Modifications: removed false bottom in chamber 1; expanded chamber 1 overflow cutout

• I struggled with removing the false bottom, my recommendation would be to hook something like big curved scaping tweezers in the gap by the back-right corner; you can pop it out with some upward force, then pull it out with the tweezers. I first tried pulling the rails out, which not only did not release the false bottom but also scattered bits of plastic in the bottom of chamber 1, which I then had to pick out of the sand once I started filling the tank. Do not recommend.
• I also struggled to expand the overflow cutout without demolishing the whole thing. I ended up using wirecutters to make a vertical cut along the side, then a second horizontal cut toward the bottom to cleanly cut the piece off. While this worked better than I expected (after a few attempts), make sure your circulation isn't running when you do this, as I had the plastic go into the second chamber. Luckily it just landed on my filter floss so it was easy to remove.

 

 

Livestock

• 2x Ocellaris Clowns (added 05/30/20)
• 1x Yellow Watchman Goby (added 9/19/20)
• 1x Pistol Shrimp (added 9/19/20)
• 1x Emerald Crab (added 3/04/21)
• Assorted snails (trochus, nassarius, bumblebee)

Future Plans

• 1x Firefish

 

Coral

• Hammer (added 06/13/20)
• Zoas (added 07/03/20)
• Red-Blue Acan (added 07/07/20)
• Blue Ricordea (added 08/20)
• Leng Sy Montipora Cap (added 09/16/20)
• Nirvana Zoas (added 09/16/20)
• Mandarin Orange Cloves (added 09/16/20)

Future Plans

• Expand the zoa garden
• Fill out the underside of the right-hand overhang with low-light corals; suggestions?

 

Photos

January 2021

September 2020

 

 

August 2020

 

 

July 2020

 

 

May 2020

 

[Jackal227]

It looks like you are off to a good start.  I like your aquascape,  it'll give you plenty of room for corals. 

 

In your list,  the Ricordea, Zoas, and Toadstool would all be good corals to start with.  There's no set time to introduce corals, it's more about stability.  Typically once the tank is cycled and your livestock is introduced its OK to add some.  Start with one or two and build from there. 

[Centurion]

57 minutes ago, Jackal227 said:

It looks like you are off to a good start.  I like your aquascape,  it'll give you plenty of room for corals. 

 

In your list,  the Ricordea, Zoas, and Toadstool would all be good corals to start with.  There's no set time to introduce corals, it's more about stability.  Typically once the tank is cycled and your livestock is introduced its OK to add some.  Start with one or two and build from there. 

Appreciate it, your tank was a huge inspiration when working on the scape!

[Clown79]

Love the aquascape!

 

Great corals to consider

 

Toadstool leather, ricordea mushrooms, blasto, acan lords, fungus plate(short tentacle), montipora digitata

[Centurion]

Tank cycling looked good after about a week with the Dr. Tim's One and Only, so I added a second bottle to be safe and welcomed the first residents to the tank. Picked them up yesterday; both are eating well today and have started to explore more of the tank. Currently feeding them pellets but also have the mysis shrimp as an option once there's a wider variety of tank inhabitants. Looking to pick up a few CUC members and cleaner shrimp in a week or two once more detritus and algae has built up.

[Centurion]

Month 2 Update

 

The attack of the diatoms is underway; the attached picture is from yesterday and they've already encroached significantly beyond what's shown. Added a small hammer that seems to be doing well, thinking about slowly introducing more coral sometime next month.

 

Introduced a cleaner shrimp a few weeks ago, and had a great time watching him crawl around the tank; sadly it passed away within a few days. Noticed it crawling along the sand bed and listing to one side, so I pulled it out and put it in some fresh saltwater while doing a 40% water change. Got it back in the tank for temperature stability but it was too far gone at that point. My ammonia levels are still around .5 ppm even after a water change; currently my best guess is that my bacteria isn't as well-established as I originally thought. Seems like the best course of action would be to wait another 6-8 weeks and get my ammonia down before introducing any more inverts. Would that include any snails? Starting to get a bit of algae growth alongside the diatoms and thought it could be time to get a couple trochus in there. Definitely don't want to repeat my earlier mistake so I'll hold off for now if need be.

 

[Centurion]

Livestock + Coral Update

 

Stopped by the LFS a few weeks ago and picked up some trochus snails and blue leg hermit crabs as a beginner CUC. I was also able to score some brittle stars, snails (Cerith, I think), and a few small starfish (no idea as to species) from my fiancée's father's tank to expand the CUC a bit. The diatoms have already started to fade as the algae really took off. I have some Vibrant that I could start dosing but also wanted to make sure my CUC would have enough to each so I haven't started yet, figured I'd give things some time to settle.

 

I headed to the LFS last week to pick up another coral; I had already decided on a zoa, as I'm leaning toward making that lower rock on the right into a zoa garden. Picked up a great looking piece with some nice orange around the edges, no ID though. While I was there I saw these really eye-catching red and blue acans that I couldn't get out of my head, so after checking PAR requirements and care I picked one up a few days ago. Still deciding on the final location as the frag is currently getting a higher PAR than needed, but it looks fantastic. I've been doing a bit of spot feeding with reef roids but I think it's too early to report any noticeable progress. 

 

A few newcomer questions:

1. I had a few hitchhikers come in on the acan frag; I'm thinking these are feather dusters? Just want to confirm they're nothing I should remove!
2. Starting to think about my next fish addition; my long-term stocking plan is a goby/pistol shrimp pairing and either a six line wrasse or a firefish. Is there a specific order in which I should introduce those fish to the tank? If not, any recommendations on how long I should wait before adding something or am I good to go now that the cycle is complete?

 

 

[Centurion]

August Update

 

Things seem to be all going well; no new livestock or corals since the last update, going on a trip at the beginning of September so I'm waiting to stock more until I get back. Zoas are growing very quickly, and the hammer has sprouted two new heads! Think the Acan lords were a bit too high up initially as I saw a bit of bleaching but now that they're lower they seem to be slowly growing another polyp(?).

 

Follow up question around what seem to be some moving tiny strings on my hardscape. They came in initially on the Acan lords but I'm now seeing them independently on the rocks, primarily in one big bundle that writhes around. Any idea if these are good or bad? I've heard medusa worms but that didn't look quite right so any confirmation would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[Centurion]

September Update

 

Major coral addition this month! I'd been looking at some pieces from cultivatedreef.com for a while and finally took the plunge. Added another zoa to officially mark the start of a zoa garden on the bottom right; impulse purchased some cloves to provide more movement in the front of the tank; and picked up some long-awaited monti cap and my first SPS for the top of the hardscape. I've heard the Biocube light is strong enough toward the top of the tank to support SPS, so I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes! 

 

Additions (from top to bottom):

• Leng Sy Montipora Cap
• Hubba Bubba acro
• Mandarin Orange cloves
• Nirvana zoas

 

Previously added coral has been growing really well. The hammer has sprouted even more new heads, the zoas have over a dozen polyps at this point, and even the acan is starting to show some solid new growth.

 

 

Questions

 

Starting to see some hair algae pop up on my sand; I've known my cleanup crew was a little slim but since I'm pellet feeding the clowns and they don't miss much I thought I could swing it. Clearly that's not the case, so I'm planning to pick up some nassarius snails this week, and any other CUC members that can help keep my sand looking clean! I'm also dosing Vibrant once a week, but I'd rather put in the time to find a long-term balance solution than rely on a routine additive. Recommendations on how to keep the algae manageable, or is it just the ugly period of a new tank? I'm about four months in now.

 

I'm also still trying to figure out exactly what organism is slowly starting to take over the right side of my hardscape. I've heard Medusa worms or tube worms, but given their rapid expansion I'm still looking for some peace of mind regarding their presence in my tank. I've noticed that each cluster seems to originate from a central point that accumulates grey matter (dust/debris) around it. Including a gif so people can see their movement; any advice would be appreciated!

[Centurion]

January 2021 Update

 

It's been a while! A lot has happened both personally and with the tank since September! We ended up moving in late November (the day before Thanksgiving, I don't recommend it); it was a local move, so given the short distance I decided to take the tank with me. While I'm glad I did, I have no interest in ever trying to move a tank again :)

 

The Move

I tried to put the big rock pieces into the 5 gallon buckets I usually use for water changes. This worked okay; the larger structure broke while I was putting in the bucket, which ended up being fine as it wouldn't have fit into the bucket in one piece anyways. I pulled a few frag plugs off that weren't attached so they wouldn't get squished, filled the bucket with water so the rock was covered, and sealed it up. Then I grabbed the fish and put them into small containers for the ride over. Finally, I drained as much water as I could, saving all of it so I could refill at the new place with older water. Once I had the water out, I could move the tank. I left the inverts/snails in the sand bed, didn't seem to bother them at all. Once I could move the tank, I loaded the tank and the drawers/stand into the car and took them over to the new place.

 

NOTE: One thing I didn't do that ended up being an issue later on was level the floor on multiple axis. The tank is against a wall that was originally an exterior wall before an expansion, so while I leveled it across, I didn't level it across the depth. This resulted in the water level being uneven across the surface of the tank and caused circulation issues that brought the water level in the third chamber very low. After I set everything back up I actually had to re-drain the tank, level it, and then fill it a second time. Let my mistake be a lesson: level everything. Twice.

 

Coral

The acro was doing okay for a few weeks but unfortunately ended up bleaching out and I had to remove it. I'm not sure if the issue ended up being the minimal lighting available on the stock Biocube 16 or repeated falls from the top rock shelf; I didn't glue the frag plug so the hermits knocked it off quite a few times. I'd like to try acro again but if my lighting is the problem then it might not be worth it. Any advice here is appreciated!

 

In better news, the clove polyps have really taken off. They have grown onto the rock work and are aggressively moving up to the top shelf. I really like having that movement in the middle of the tank, and the green in the center of each polyp is really eye-catching under the right light. The acans have also done really well, seeing a ton of new heads growing and they're moving across the rock work as well. I've been target-feeding them with mysis every other day or so, and that seems to have really spurred their growth. Finally starting to see some good coloration on the Leng Sy, too. It's taken a really long time and the surface is still more brown than green, but the purple rim is starting to color up, which is nice.

 

Livestock

Finally added some more livestock to the tank! I picked up a Yellow Watchman Goby and pistol shrimp (I believe it's a tiger) at the end of September. I didn't use any special method to introduce them to each other, so it seems that I got lucky as they found each other the first night and I woke up to them having already created a burrow! When I moved the tank, I put them in the same container, and they took a few hours to adjust after the move but quickly found their old spot and set everything back up. These guys are so entertaining to watch; they'll go all over the tank, and the pistol in particular has a ton of personality. I've been target-feeding them both mysis every other day and haven't heard any complaints so far :)

 

The clowns are doing well, not much to update there. They'll nip at each other every now and then but nothing that seems concerning; still waiting for the year mark on the tank to introduce any sort of anenome as I understand they need more established water parameters.

 

Finally, cleanup crew: I did end up getting a handful of nessarius snails, along with a few additional trochus. Clearly from the photos, I still have some more algae that needs cleaning. The next time I stop at the LFS I intend to grab a few more of each and see if that helps cut down on algae production. Also thinking of adjusting my lighting schedule and seeing what impact that has.

 

Questions

Now that I've had the YWG+shrimp settle in, I'm thinking about adding one more fish to the tank. Based on advice from my LFS, it sounds like a six line wrasse isn't compatible with the other inhabitants, and any other ground-dweller (e.g. Blenny, goby) is also out of the question. I'm leaning firefish at this point as my wife likes them and I think having an active fish will be a nice complement to the shy goby and relatively static clowns. Open to any other suggestions though so feel free to weigh in!

 

Final question for Biocube owners (specifically thinking @Jackal227 as I know you've owned a Biocube 16 for a few years): I'm noticing a pretty distinctive uptick in the hood fan noise. It's always been a bit louder than I'd like, but this is definitely worse. I pulled the hood off this morning and cleaned out the blades, which helped to a point, but I'd like to upgrade the fan if possible. From some casual research, it looks like I'll need a 50mmx50mmx10mm fan with a 2-pin power adapter and at least 16 CFM. If possible, I'd really like to get the noise level down while maintaining or even improving CFM. I've looked on Newegg and Amazon for computer case fans but haven't found anything that's the right size while also meeting the other specs. Any recommendations on vendors or specific models that I could investigate? Much appreciated!

[Jackal227]

I haven't changed the fan but this looks like it might be a direct replacement.  One you open it up you should be able to compare the existing one. 

 

The acans look great.  I really like the color of them. 

 

For the front glass use your algae scraper to left and right instead of up and down.  It's harder with the curved glass but the side to side motion usually works.