29 Gal Bio Cube (moved & downgraded from a 125Gal)

[Hannan1313]

Well let me start by saying I am new to posting, but I thought I would give it a shot on what is happening with my 29gal Bio Cube. Long story short, I had to move recently and not willing to give up my reef completely I had to downsize to the cube from my 125Gal mixed reef tank. I purchased the tank used and with all the stock parts and pieces! I went with black sand instead of the typical white, and here are some pictures of some other updates I have made... The first picture shows the tank being leak tested after I made the purchase, the next shows the tank and new canopy in its new home, and the third shows the new LED fixture as well as my controller display and secondary temp readout.

Realizing I wanted to keep my mixed reef I replaced the stock Hood and Lighting with a Retrofit Canopy and made the jump to LED Lighting! I moved my controller from my 125 to the cube so that has made things nice as far as the transition was concerned. I also am able to utilize dimmable capabilities with my LED lighting something I did not have the option of with my previous HQI lighting.

Current Setup:
29Gal Oceanic Bio Cube
Aquacontroller Apex (with PH and Temp probes)
Dimmable SolarBlast LED fixture from Apollo Reef LED
Bio Cube Protein Skimmer (about to replace this with AquaticLife Mini Skimmer)
Bio Cube UV Sterilizer

Livestock :squigglemouth:... Well I may be a little overstocked, to be honest I'm not sure yet. I have had the tank up and running for just under a month now, and being that I was moving I did have to return some fish and even some pieces of coral back to my LFS due to the size reduction.

Current Fish:
Royal Gamma
2-Talbot's Damsel fish
2-Green Chromis
Starry Algae Blenny
Watermelon Wrasse
False Percula Clown (there is a kinda a funny story on how he made it into the tank...)
Maroon Clown

Inverts:
Linckia Starfish Blue
Linckia Starfish Orange
Tridacna Clam
Fire Shrimp
Golden Coral Banded Shrimp
2-Peppermint Shrimp
Coco Worm
Misc Crabs and Snails...

Corals:
Mixed Mushrooms and Richordea
Monti - Red, Purple, and Green w/purple edge
Acans - Purple & Green, Orange and Orange Paint
Misc Zoas - Blue, Green, Purple w/white centers
Favia
Frog Spawn
Candy Cane Coral
Bubble Coral
Leather
GSP
Trachyphyllia Brain
Green Slimer Acro
Other Acros (I'm not sure on exact IDs...)

So that is an overall rundown of the setup as of date... I have been keeping up on all water tests to make sure things are going smoothly. Being new to the Cube world has been a little challenging, I was having a little bit of a PH issue the first week but I think for the most part I have worked that out. I am planning on converting the back chamber into a refugium here in the next couple of weeks to help with the PH drop during the night time. I also am adding an ATO system this week to help with the constant need due to evaporation. Any comments or advice is appreciated. I enjoy reading what everyone has to say on this site, I have learned a lot by reading others posts and etc...

Thanks for reading, but keep watch I will be adding more pics and updates on the tank as time goes. I can say already that I have seen a tremendously positive reaction from my corals with the new LED lighting.

 

[revhtree]

You have a beautiful tank! I seriously love that black sand!

 

[bige]

Looks good. The black stand is really nice.

 

[revsgirl]

Wow!! Looks amazing!!

 

[Hannan1313]

Thank you for your comments on the tank! I will continue to build on this as I make more upgrades! I am really looking forward to the ATO system that will be an amazing help.

 

[BarbH]

Beautiful looking tank :smile: Are you going to share the story about the false percula clown?

 

[Hannan1313]

Beautiful looking tank :smile: Are you going to share the story about the false percula clown?

I most definitely can share that story! In my previous tank I had dual overflows built into the back of the tank and at one point I actually had 3 false percula clowns in the tank. It turned out there were several jumpers in the tank and I would find them sometimes in the overflows of the tank. I managed to fish them out several times before I finally created "blocks" to prevent any more jumping activity into the overflows. I put those blocks on the the overflows roughly 6 months ago or so (give or take)... Anyhow somewhere along the way I had had one clown go missing and one I had lost due to a jump prior to my fix(unfortunatly he did not make it into the overflow :sad. For the longest time I only had one. When I was breaking down my big tank I started with bagging and boxing up everything that was going to have to be returned to the LFS first. Being that I knew I wanted to keep the Maroon clown and I was only going to a 29 gallon tank I returned the last percula clown along with the other items to the LFS. When I went back to continue breakdown of my large tank, I was breaking down the sump and I pulled the main drains to the overflows on the tank. Low and behold I look down to the sump and there is my "lost" percula clown now in the sump because he was flushed out! Apparently he had been residing in the overflow and surviving just fine in his little part of the tank! Needless to say I decided due to circumstance and the experience he had already been thru that I could not return him to the store. So he is now doing great in the cube, and after about two weeks he choose to host in my bubble coral in the front of my tank and as of yet there have been no issues between him and the Maroon. So that is the funny story on the false percula!

 

[BarbH]

LOL, the darnest things that fish will do :bigsmile: Happy that he survived and definitly would keep him myself after all that. Hopefully the peace continues between him and the Maroon.

 

[fsu1dolfan]

Sorry about the downsize but congrats on the tank. The sand looks good and the canopy is really cool. I have a sunpod over mine and always considered a canopy.

 

[J Rog]

Nice, i have a biocube as well. I need to sart a thread on here about it. But something you might want to look into is the inTank media rack built for the biocube. It 3 layer rack. On mine I use on the first layer filter floss, 2nd rack I use to have purigine, and 3rd bottom rack I use chemipure. Its really cool! : )

 

[skinz78]

Great looking tank! That Derasa clam will quickly outgrow it though.

 

[Hannan1313]

The clam was in my 125gal and I just haven't been able to get rid of it. I imagine it will happen at some point, but I would like to keep it as long as possible.

 

[buddythelion]

What black sand is that, and is magnetic? My black sand as some magnetic parts inside of it

 

[strange33w]

I really like the bio cubes, and your looks real nice. Ilike the different approach on the sand it adds a very dynamic element to yourtank.

 

[Hannan1313]

Nice, i have a biocube as well. I need to sart a thread on here about it. But something you might want to look into is the inTank media rack built for the biocube. It 3 layer rack. On mine I use on the first layer filter floss, 2nd rack I use to have purigine, and 3rd bottom rack I use chemipure. Its really cool! : )

Where do I find this inTank media rack? I am always interested in better filtering options, especially with this cube and the current level of stocked inhabitants!

 

[Hannan1313]

What black sand is that, and is magnetic? My black sand as some magnetic parts inside of it

I haven't seen any magnetic pieces so far... I washed my sand quite a bit during the setup process and the only thing that was a bit strange to me during setup was that the sand seemed to really hold onto air bubbles and would float on the top of the water almost like a film. After a few weeks it seemed to calm down and I no longer am having that issue.

 

[buddythelion]

Where do I find this inTank media rack? I am always interested in better filtering options, especially with this cube and the current level of stocked inhabitants!

+10000000 on inTank media baskets. Just google inTank as you're set to go. One of the best things I ever bought for my tank.