32G SPS dominated Biocube.

[Sabres429]

Hey everyone,

Just got back into the reef game after many years. Everyone says go bigger when it comes to water volume but this is a perfect way to get back into it. Reefing is not a hobby, it’s an addiction. Plans for the tank is to go full higher end SPS with some choice zoas. I’ll be adding some Acropower and Reef Roids weekly. I'm 2.5 weeks into the cycle and look forward to posting my progression.

Equipment:
-32g Biocube
-InTank media basket running filter floss, chemi pure elite and BRS ROX 0.8 carbon in a bag
-Full Neptune apex with WXM module
-Neptune Trident
-Vortech MP10WES
-Jeabo DP-4 doser that will be dosing Red Sea reef foundation: Calcium, Alkalinity, & Magnesium
-Sicce Syncra 1.5 return pump
-BRS 75 GPD premium RODI
-Crystal 5g ATO container
-Tunze Osmolater
-Neptune AFS
-Ehiem 100W heater
-Milwaukee digital refractometer
-Ecotech Gen 5 XR15 blue

 

[Hydrored]

Congrats on the tank, very nice build

 

[Sabres429]

Congrats on the tank, very nice build

Thank you!

 

[UCF Alum]

Looks good man! You dropped a few bucks!
I’m curious as to why you went with a Jebao doser if you got a Trident. With the Dos, you can take advantage of the controlled dosing feature. You could just ditch dosing the Mag for now.
Regardless, good luck with the new gear.

 

[Sabres429]

Looks good man! You dropped a few bucks!
I’m curious as to why you went with a Jebao doser if you got a Trident. With the Dos, you can take advantage of the controlled dosing feature. You could just ditch dosing the Mag for now.
Regardless, good luck with the new gear.

Working a ton of OT helped out. Thank you! A DOS may be in the very near future. It was a birthday gift from the girlfriend a few weeks ago. I didn’t think I would be able to get my hands on a trident. Apparently saltwateraquarims.com had 20 one day and sold out within an hour. That’s where she got it.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

Very nice! It’s good to see another heavily modded sps BioCube!

 

[Sabres429]

Very nice! It’s good to see another heavily modded sps BioCube!

Thank you! Can’t wait to get it filled up.

 

[BlazinNano]

Cant wait to see the build. Adding to my watch list.

 

[Sabres429]

So a little update,.


So I’m on day 24 of my reef tank cycle. After 2.5 weeks I added Dr. Tim’s one and only along with the ammonium chloride. Today’s test results are

Phosphate: 0.3
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 4 PPM
Nitrate: 100 PPM

I did a 15 gallon water change on my Biocube 32. I thought for sure the nitrate & nitrites would be at 0.

Carib Sea special grade live sand with Carib sea dry life rock. I’m running BRS ROX 0.8 in a mesh bag inside the InTank media basket.

Any thoughts on how to get the nitrate and nitrite lower. More water changes or...?

 

[NeptuneRjo]

Can't wait to see how this turns out! I would say water changes are your best bet for nitrates, phosphates however can't always be solved that way as it doesn't always exist in the water column like nitrate. I'm not sure if running phosphate absorbing media so early into the cycle is a good idea but I would look into it.

 

[NeptuneRjo]

Can't wait to see how this turns out! I would say water changes are your best bet for nitrates, phosphates however can't always be solved that way as it doesn't always exist in the water column like nitrate. I'm not sure if running phosphate absorbing media so early into the cycle is a good idea but I would look into it.

I looked up the effects of using something like phosguard and it seems the general consensus is allowing the cycle to complete before trying to chemically remove phosphates.

 

[Sabres429]

I looked up the effects of using something like phosguard and it seems the general consensus is allowing the cycle to complete before trying to chemically remove phosphates.

Thank you!! I was reading the Salifert test kit wrong. I was looking from the side instead of top down. Still at 25 PPM but better than a 100!

 

[piranhaman00]

Nitrite shows positive for nitrate roughly 1=25ppm, stop water changes or dosing anything. Just wait.

 

[Sabres429]

Wohooo. Finally have some life inside the tank. All levels are looking good. Picked up 2 Picasso clowns at my LFS along with a clean up crew and a $10 frag of scrambled eggs zoa (I think they’re scrambled eggs) for a test.

 

[joseserrano]

Very tricked out cube

 

[Rjmul]

Can't wait to see how this turns out! I would say water changes are your best bet for nitrates, phosphates however can't always be solved that way as it doesn't always exist in the water column like nitrate. I'm not sure if running phosphate absorbing media so early into the cycle is a good idea but I would look into it.

Yeah I would NOT bottom those phosphates out this early with that much nitrate. I did that and got dinos. Lost everything

 

[Sabres429]

Yeah I would NOT bottom those phosphates out this early with that much nitrate. I did that and got dinos. Lost everything

Good info! I was reading the Salifert Nitrate test kit wrong. I was looking from the side of the vial instead of top down.

 

[Lazydayz]

Cube looks awesome! I agree the biocube is a perfect tank to get back in with, I love mine!

 

[Sabres429]

Picked up a used DOS that was like new. Finally came in today and I got it setup. I set it up in conjunction with the trident for automatic dosing. I’ve heard mix reviews about the automatic dosing with the trident but I only have a $10 zoa frag and two clowns in the tank so worst case scenario, I won’t loose 100’s of dollars.

 

[Jrc1153]

Nice build! How did you get your Apex to track Nitrite/Nitrate/Ammonia? Or is that just entered manually? Thank you!