Biocube 16 LED - MSunkin23 (round 2)

[MSunkin23]

Hi All,

 

After breaking down my first great run with the Biocube 16 LED due to a move, I am back up and running. Used EMarco cement this time to scape, and have a cool clown called “pumpkin” getting the biological filtration going. 
 

Going to take the cycle real slow before I add corals this time. I want to see if by doing that I can bypass the ‘new tank symptoms’

 

Here are some photos of today 11/6/2020. Tanks started cycle at end of September, 2020.

 

 

[banasophia]

Great pics, your clown is very cool and I love the ripples on the water’s surface especially in the third shot. Looking forward to following along.

[MSunkin23]

Thing are looking good and stable. There is a red fire shrimp somewhere in there, an additional clown, and a turbo snail. 
 

I feel bad for the snail as there is nothing for him to eat. I’m predicting death for him, we will see.

 

 

[banasophia]

Do you have 3 clowns, or just the two in the pic? They are really gorgeous. 

[MSunkin23]

Hey Banasophia,

 

Two total. I split some siblings with the first addition, felt bad, and went back to the LFS to reunite them. 
 

I’m running low light for a bit to build up good biology pre-coral. Everything still running all zeroes (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate).

 

M

[banasophia]

1 minute ago, MSunkin23 said:

Hey Banasophia,

 

Two total. I split some siblings with the first addition, felt bad, and went back to the LFS to reunite them. 
 

I’m running low light for a bit to build up good biology pre-coral. Everything still running all zeroes (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate).

 

M

Ah nice! Awesome you were still able to get one from the same clutch. They are really beautiful. 

[MSunkin23]

Tank is pretty stable, upped the lighting a bit and added this plate coral. I hope the plate coral thrives, it’s pretty cool. To my surprise it does move around quite a bit (about 1.5 inches in a day). I hope that’s not because it’s hunting for more light, as it will be disappointed quickly.

 

 

I also grabbed a toadstool leather because I had so much success with it last time. Will trim the frag plug once I find it’s final destination. 

 

More updates to come 

[banasophia]

2 hours ago, MSunkin23 said:

Tank is pretty stable, upped the lighting a bit and added this plate coral. I hope the plate coral thrives, it’s pretty cool. To my surprise it does move around quite a bit (about 1.5 inches in a day). I hope that’s not because it’s hunting for more light, as it will be disappointed quickly.

 

 

I also grabbed a toadstool leather because I had so much success with it last time. Will trim the frag plug once I find it’s final destination. 

 

More updates to come 

Nice! I love your new long tentacle plate coral!! I used to have one... started out in my Biocube and did fine in there as I recall. Ended up getting stung and severely injured by another coral when I moved it to my other tank. 

[MSunkin23]

Really digging my plate coral. iPhone photos just edited with the iPhone XR.

 

I had to turn off my supplemental powerhead because I noticed the plate coral diddnt like it. It’s fine for now, but will dial back the settings and turn it on again eventually.

 

 

 

[MSunkin23]

Hitting approx 4 months. Feeling the urge for more corals. But patience is paying dividends.

 

Thinking of adding:

Blastomussa

Hammer Coral

Florida Ricordea (If I had 20 of these it wouldn’t be enough)

 

any other coral suggestions? Really need some red and yellow color

 

 

[Jackal227]

Favias and Chalices offer some really nice red and yellow colors. 

[banasophia]

Looks great! Montipora grows pretty well under stock lights and doesn’t have sweepers to worry about. Also, acans and rock flower nems are nice. 

[MSunkin23]

Alright, Tank is feeling stable. I caved and snagged some nice corals at the LFS.

 

picked up:

Blasto

Torch

GSP (for back wall)

lepto

 

im worried a little about the jackolantern lepto. It had some damage but seems to be holding its color and I have it up high. Very cool coral!

 

things seem stable, time to ‘not touch it’ for a bit and let things work into their habitat.

 

 

[banasophia]

Really loving your tank! 
 

I put a jack o lantern lepto in a shaded area in mine in the very beginning... thought it had totally died and removed it from the rock, but a little tiny bit must’ve been left behind because it just very slowly grows on the back side of my scape... hope yours does well! 
 

[Christopher Marks]

Great to see you reefing again @MSunkin23!

 

I moved your aquarium journal over to our Nano Reef Journals forum, where it should get more views 🙂 

[MSunkin23]

39 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

Great to see you reefing again @MSunkin23!

 

I moved your aquarium journal over to our Nano Reef Journals forum, where it should get more views 🙂 

Thanks Chris, all is good. The new tank is moving a long despite some growing pains! Should have some updates pics soon. Thanks for moving it to the right place.

 

 

 

 

[MSunkin23]

4/21 update - I forgot to log here my tank issue using a used pillow for filtration (likely had some residual soap or something toxic in it). I lost a lot of my livestock from this. I lost a clown, shrimp, hammer coral, and all my inverts. I mitigated by doing a water change and putting in some new purigen and chemi-pure elite. This seemed to help and tank is back on track. Seeing growth in all corals that survived and added a new clown to the tank

 

[MSunkin23]

Tank is doing fantastic. Great growth from all corals. I’ve done this a couple of times and once a tank is around 6-8 months the stability of the system drastically improves. That being said, I’m slowly transitioning inhabitants to an new IM20 system over next couple of months.

 

 

[MSunkin23]

Slowly moving things over to the IM Nuvo 20. This tank was good to me. Wish I had a picture of this tank a month ago. It was neglected and overgrown with cyano. Once i removed the fish and stopped feeding, and added some flow, things really look nice. Gonna start moving corals over in late September.

[banasophia]

Your corals are so beautiful… especially love that plate!