New to Saltwater - 29G Biocube

m00rej0hn · Feb 21, 2015

Hey guys, I am an aquarium enthusiast (have had freshwater for 15 years) and have finally taken the plunge into saltwater! I did tons of research and came up with my current build and livestock outline. I have not yet started the tank (waiting on rock to arrive) or the cycling process, but all Biocube modifications have been completed and I would love to know what you guys think! Thanks for looking.

Hereâ€™s a list of my Biocube 29 Modifications:

Coralife Size 29 Aquarium Stand
Coralife 29 Gallon Biocube
- Removed Bioballs and Stock Filter
Eheim-Jager 100W Heater in Chamber 1
inTank Coralife Media Basket
- Using Filter Floss, Purigen and Chemi-pure
Tunze 9001 Protein Skimmer in Chamber 2
Digital Thermometer Sensor placed below Tunze in Chamber 2
Replacing stock pump with MJ1200 once received in Chamber 3
Water line sensor for Tunze ATO placed in Chamber 3
2x Hydor Koralia 425 Circulation Pumps in the Main Display
- One front-left, Second back-right
- Added Hydor Smart Wave Controller
iSpring RCC7 5-stage RO Water Filtration System
RapidLED Dimmable Retrofit Kit for Coralife Biocube 29G (Coming Soon)

Stock List:
50 LBS Golden Marindo Premium Live rock
- Ordered from Liverocknreef.com
3â€ Sand Bed (30 LBS) CaribSea Arag-alive Fiji Pink Sand

(1) Scarlett Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
(1) Banded Coral Shrimp
(1) Red Sea Starfish
(15) Assorted Snails, Turbo, Hermits
(1) Yellowtail Blue Damselfish
(2) Ocellaris Clownfish
(1) Six-line Wrasse
(1) Flame Angel (under consideration)

Various Corals:
Torch Coral, Hammer Coral, Frogspawn, Pom Pom Xenia, Green Starburst Polyps, Fire and Ice Polyp, Bubble Coral, Duncan Coral, Lavender Mushroom, Ring of Fire Polyp, Tube Coral, Elegance Coral (All under consideration based on space, availability and cost)

Mike J. · Feb 21, 2015

Welcome to Reef2Reef! You obviously did your homework on setting up the tank - good job. 50 pounds of rock, depending on density, might be a bit much? IMO a Flame Angel needs a bigger tank and a mature tank for sure. I'd also wait on getting a starfish until your tank is at least one year mature. Six-line wrasses are known to be overly aggressive? A Coral Banded Shrimp might not get along with the Cleaner Shrimp. Coral Banded Shrimp also eat a lot of the good stuff you want to have mature in your tank. At least wait for your tank to mature first. Just some thoughts for you to consider.

kschweer · Feb 21, 2015

Welcome to R2R!! Looks like this is well thought out which is great to see. I agree with the tank being a bit small for the flame. Best of luck moving forward with the build!

m00rej0hn · Feb 21, 2015

Mike J. said:
Welcome to Reef2Reef! You obviously did your homework on setting up the tank - good job. 50 pounds of rock, depending on density, might be a bit much? IMO a Flame Angel needs a bigger tank and a mature tank for sure. I'd also wait on getting a starfish until your tank is at least one year mature. Six-line wrasses are known to be overly aggressive? A Coral Banded Shrimp might not get along with the Cleaner Shrimp. Coral Banded Shrimp also eat a lot of the good stuff you want to have mature in your tank. At least wait for your tank to mature first. Just some thoughts for you to consider.

I am considering the Flame Angel as the last fish to add because lots of people have successfully kept them in biocubes given that they are provided adequate swimming space and a variety in diet. I plan to aquascape with arches, allowing ample swim space (not the common mountain style) and will bond the rocks together before adding any animals.
The six-line wrasse actually has very good feedback for smaller reef tanks as long as you add smaller fish first and give it ample rock crevices to dart around. I plan to wait around 6 months before adding the red sea star and you are the second person to mention that coral banded shrimp are aggressive (although all the forums on them appear to be very positive).
I appreciate the feedback and will take it into consideration - I haven't started yet and still have time to decide.

Longnose Hawkfish · Feb 21, 2015

50 lbs of rock might be a lot in 29 gallon biocube. A flame angel needs a bigger tank also. But it seems like you are off to a great start!

glb · Feb 21, 2015

Impressive!

mike007 · Feb 21, 2015

Lets see some pics.

m00rej0hn · Feb 21, 2015

Don't worry! I will post pictures as soon as I receive my live rock and get things up and running. My live rock is a pacific import and is stuck in California, so hopefully I'll be receiving it this next week.

Thanks for the input guys, its always nice to have another opinion, even just to consider.

RobberyinCSharp1824 · Feb 26, 2015

I noticed nobody has said anything about a flame angel in a tank with coral - I've always read that they're typically not reef compatible - am I mistaken in this? Flame angels are so gorgeous and I've always wanted one but everyone has warned me against it because I have coral!

RobberyinCSharp1824 · Feb 26, 2015

m00rej0hn said:
Don't worry! I will post pictures as soon as I receive my live rock and get things up and running. My live rock is a pacific import and is stuck in California, so hopefully I'll be receiving it this next week.

Thanks for the input guys, its always nice to have another opinion, even just to consider.

Excited to see your pictures! Hopefully it won't be back ordered too soon!

RobberyinCSharp1824 · Feb 26, 2015

RobberyinCSharp1824 said:
Excited to see your pictures! Hopefully it won't be back ordered too soon!

Too long that is (sorry, it's late on the east coast)

saltyphish · Feb 26, 2015

I have my biocube set up very similar to you. The one concern I see with your stock is the 6-line. They tend to need to be the last fish introduced in the tank. They usually don't do well with new additions. I have one in my tank with 2 clownfish, green clown goby, and a midas blenny with no problems but he was also the last addition. Good luck!

CB1231 · Feb 26, 2015

Excited to follow this! Its eerily similar to the set up im starting! Stand arrives today and filling it this weekend! Good luck to you!!!

m00rej0hn · Feb 26, 2015

I have the 6-line on my list as the last fish to be added (the flame was just something i was considering, however most seem to agree that a 29G is simply too small. As for the flame being reef safe, successful flame keepers say that as long as the flame is provided a variety in diet, they typically will not go after your corals. They nip from boredom or starvation as they are opportunistic feeders.

I have decided to go with a peppermint shrimp instead of the coral-banded at the advice of some fellow reefers.

I have also began upgrading my lighting system to a RapidLED retrofit light kit using the following LEDs:
(10) Royal Blue, (2) Cool White, (2) Neutral White, (1) Warm White, (3) Cool Blue, (1) Cyan, (4) Violet UV, (1) Deep Red
They will be ran using (3) different strings and a Storm X Dimmable Controller.

Still waiting on the rock ... patience is a very hard virtue to obtain.

m00rej0hn · Mar 19, 2015

Upgraded both stock fans with (2) SilenX IXP-34-16 60mm case fan (16 dBA, 18 cfm)
- the stock fans are normally 37 dBA, 19 cfm (extremely loud and annoying)

m00rej0hn · Mar 19, 2015

Added Hydor rotating water deflector
Added PVC Pipe Jawfish Condo (1" pipe in a square with entrance surrounded by live rock, drilled, buried under sand)
Getting (1) Blue Spot Jawfish

m00rej0hn · Apr 9, 2015

Long story - short, I ordered 50 Lbs of the Golden Marindo and waited about 5-6 weeks (I called several times during the period). The owner Bill finally called me to let me know they had no idea when they would be receiving GMP (they were having permit problems with all the new import/export laws the US is passing). He said it could be weeks, months, or next year before they can get it. He offered me a different type of indo rock they received called Jakarta. I got 25 Lbs of it (all they could offer me) and it was fantastic, had amazing shapes, great porosity, good colors, etc. I was going to get their Florida Cherry Primo Deco to top off the final 15 Lbs, but decided against it. Instead I ordered 15 Lbs of the "Real Reef Rock" and its really cool stuff. Its man-made and not grown in the ocean, but it has great shapes, great porosity and its got a nice purple/red color (Its not real coralline, its painted with a reef-safe something). The mixture of the two rocks looks fantastic and the Jakarta is obviously better because its an indo rock from the ocean, but, I would not be unsatisfied had I only gotten the Real Reef Rock. It really is good rock. You can always call Bill the owner and he will tell you which rock shipment they have at the time looks good. So at 40 Lbs of extremely porous rock, I am very happy with how my rockscape turned out, I will post some pictures soon.

m00rej0hn · Apr 9, 2015

http://imgur.com/a/TMATx

Here is the album of my tank at 2 weeks of cycling. Tested parameters over the weekend, 0.2 Ammonium, 0.15 Nitrite, 0.4 Nitrate, 7.8 pH (not sure how i'm going to raise it)

There is still a lot of decay from the dead coralline algae, but its slowly disappearing. I have 3 sponges that are still alive (surprisingly) and I just started getting my diatom bloom over the last few days.

I also obtained some Halymenia (Dragon's Breath or Flame) Algae yesterday from a friend that i'm going to leave in the main display as a decorative algae for filtration and possible additional food source if anything wants it.

Going to be waiting a few more weeks before I get excited, then I'll be adding a clean-up crew from Blue Zoo Aquatics. I love the idea of this package: Ultimate Algae & Detritus Clean-Up Crew - Various for the 25 Gallon. Its one of the most diverse packages for the best price that i've found over 20 different online retailers. Anyone have any experience with Blue Zoo? Would love to hear feedback.

Thanks for looking guys! More to see in the future. Happy Reefing.

m00rej0hn · Apr 17, 2015

Got the 25 Gallon Ultimate Algae and Detritus Package from BlueZooAquatics yesterday, along with my skunk cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp, brown/white hawaiian feather duster, pink/white dwarf feather duster and pink/tank/red Pom Pom Crab (no anemones, but waiting to see if they grow - BlueZoo offered to send me another if they don't show up in a few weeks - great customer service).

25G package included 6 varieties of snails, 3 varieties of hermits, 1 Tonga Fighting Conch, 1 Emerald Crab, 1 Pacific Lettuce Sea Slug

Everything acclimated very well and instantly went to work on the tank. Pink Feather Duster has been seen outside of his tube a few times, but has hidden for the most part. Hawaiian feather has been outside and open nearly 90% of the time and is beautiful!

Would highly recommend BlueZoo for great customer service, fast shipping, and everything alive (3 snails, 1 hermit possibly didn't make it, but everything else is perfect) My skunk cleaner molted within 4 hours of being in the tank.