29g Biocube

[Copingwithpods]

Currently running 78,looking to upgrade my fan to keep it stable during summer. The fancy fan I recently bought ended up being garbage

 

[Katrina71]

Reefing on a budget. I 100% get it. Your tank is gorgeous. You're obviously doing it right!

 

[zoasaholic]

What's in each chamber?

First chamber heater,second live rocks & small filter pad & third return pump maxijet 1200 & tunze 3152 ato & Ranco temperature prob

 

[Copingwithpods]

I've had issues in the past with that set up. One, the live rock becomes an undisturbable ditritus sink, second the heater before the probe causes the heater to shut off prematurely as it's registering the newly heated water and not the actual tanks temperature. That's why I run my heater in chamber 3 and the probe in chamber one. Probé always upstream of heater. That way the prob is measuring the water coming straight from the display and the heater is warming up the water that's about to join the display. But hey if you're having success with it good on ya just my experience with that set up.

 

[Phil D.]

Hey Pods!! I had a 28g Nano Cube before my upgrade to a Red Sea E-260. I had the InTank LLC basket also and ran a foam block on top with Chemipure net and then the Bio-balls. I would cut to fit Poly-Bio filter pads and put them on top of the foam block. The way the flow was I would be able to use it one way and the turn it 180 to use the other side. It would catch a lot of organics and help my Nitrate Nitrite parameters.

 

[Copingwithpods]

Hey Phil good to hear you had success with it.

 

[Copingwithpods]

I just now noticed this unintended effect from the blue interior of the stand and the led strip.

All the white equipment on the top shelf give it a deep water effect, I might be the only that cares but it's a nice effect lol

 

[Copingwithpods]

Tank update

The Monti frag I've yet to mount, maybe tomorrow

Finally found my condi I purchased months ago. He went mia in the rocks in the 14 and I have no clue how he survived that long with no food or light. It's way more bleached than the picture shows. I've isolated him on a rock and we will see what happens.

My clown hosting anything and everything. He loves motorboating zoas.

My gobby recovering well after being attacked in the 14 by the gama, now in the 29 everyone is playing nice. Funny how bigger tanks do that. I've noticed all my critters exhibiting much more natural behaviors.

The absolute unit of a crab I just got doing his thing with 2 groupies (bumble snails)

 

[Copingwithpods]

Also strange happenings....

Diatoms, 2 days and they are gone! Don't know if I should pop the bubbly or be concerned. Also wondering if my crazy plan with the sand sifting star and Tongan snail is working or if it was something else.

GHA now with more rocks exposed I can see where some was growing in the 14 and I never noticed, been watching it for 2 weeks now and it isn't growing but not going away. Think I need to step up my CUC game. Also some culurpa? I think isn't spreading either something I attribute to my kick butt refugium keeping nitrates and phosphates super low.

White zombie zoas are par hungry little things, only zoas that were upset until I mounted them right under the Hotspot of the light. Same with my purple Yuma mushroom can't find a place where this dude is happy.

Found 3 sponges I've never seen before, yellow, pink and white!

Copepod explosion, didn't expect this and I don't know why it's happening but the fish love it

 

[Copingwithpods]

Went to pick up 2 more hermits and one more snail and we'll....

Insanely colored mushroom I can't get my phone to show its true colors.

Cool little guy

Mounted the Monti next to a chalice trying to make the tank look more "reef like"

Twin colored favite?

Also mounted another chalice under the red candy canes and right next to him....

My first sps! Great polyp extension and looking great (so far)

 

[Copingwithpods]

Parameters look good this tank is so much more stable than the 14

 

[Copingwithpods]

Good news is these are 2 weeks apart, the budget refugium light is working out great. I also just ordered the mightyjet DC pump so we will see if it fits and how well it works out.

The bad news, I lost a damsel in a waterchange accident. Other bad news, it seams the tank is still fluctuating from the move and going through a few algae stages.

 

[TVV]

Today I tried to tackle rear chamber flow problems. I have the intank media baskets and although they are great I found one major issue with them. When using a fine filter floss they clog easily and restrict flow dumping all the water straight over to the refugium.

The 10 or so holes just dont work correctly with the filter floss sitting right on them. And I'm not even putting alot of flow through it (using the mj900).

So after alot of thought here's what I came up with.

It increased the surface area almost 3 fold and it now allows the floss to sit up off the bottom allowing flow from 3 sides. I hope this resolves my flow problems for good. What do you guys think?

I run a biocube 32 basically the same tank you have here. I also have set up with in=tank fuse and in tank media basket with chemipure, phosgard, some live rock and filter floss. The filter floss I use comes in a large bag, looks like stringy cotton and is way less dense than yours looks. just reach in the bag, grab a chunk and put it in the top of the basket. All works great and I like the stronger flow from the return pump. When I did use the cut to size filters, they seemed too dense and too much trouble for the function.

 

[TVV]

Maybe bring temperature down to 78°.

I was always told to maintain 78 to 80. Never heard of anyone pushing over 80 deg.

 

[TVV]

Your tank looks great and all looks healthy. Good job.

 

[TVV]

I've had issues in the past with that set up. One, the live rock becomes an undisturbable ditritus sink, second the heater before the probe causes the heater to shut off prematurely as it's registering the newly heated water and not the actual tanks temperature. That's why I run my heater in chamber 3 and the probe in chamber one. Probé always upstream of heater. That way the prob is measuring the water coming straight from the display and the heater is warming up the water that's about to join the display. But hey if you're having success with it good on ya just my experience with that set up.

Sounds reasonable but overthought, with such a small volume, it probably doesn't matter at all.

 

[Copingwithpods]

I was always told to maintain 78 to 80. Never heard of anyone pushing over 80 deg.

In my 14s early months As hot as it gets here in the summer I ran 80-82, once I got a temp controller I ran 80. Now that I upgraded my fans I'm running 78 but if the fans aren't going to be able to keep up I'll bump it back up to 81. No point in having crazy swings if the fans can't keep up better off being stable at 81. The great barrier reefs annual temperatures range from 72 - 84 so not that big of a deal. Just sucks being that close to the upper edge. With that said I'm confident these new fans will have no problem.

Sounds reasonable but overthought, with such a small volume, it probably doesn't matter at all.

It might not matter that much but where it does get ya is in heater cycles. Having the heater kick on and off as few times as possible greatly increases its longevity.

Your tank looks great and all looks healthy. Good job.

Thank you! Still learning alot. I got some new filter floss coming in that I'm going to try out. I'm almost 100 percent certain my current floss won't flow correctly with the new pump so we will see how that goes.

I know I'll be sacrificing polishing ability for higher flow but it is what it is.

On another note, because I'm still a rookie (or possibly just plain tired or dumb or all of the above ) I pulled my uv sterilizer out for cleaning without shutting it off and smoked the bulb in 2 seconds flat. Awesome!

 

[Katrina71]

Hey Katrina what type of floss are you using?

I use generic floss from the lfs. Blue and white.

 

[Treenk]

Parameters look good this tank is so much more stable than the 14

What app is that

 

[Copingwithpods]

What app is that

Aquatic log