80G cube - 32x24x24 - Build Thread

[reef tank 2.0]

tested my water parameters today. have amazing news!!
when I had my last tank, I could never get my nitrates below 40-50, EVER!! no matter what I did,
The tank did really well, and I learned to live with it. I didn't expect anything different this time around, with this different tank.

my nitrites finally hit 0, or pretty darn close. decided to test nitrates with my Hanna checker....they came in at 7.3!!!!! what the heck!!! HOWWWWWWW? only I would question that. I will retest in a few days before I do another 40 gallon water change, but for now. that makes me happy

 

[reef tank 2.0]

may 8th - the first ugly phase disappeared.
May 24th - getting green algae on the rocks

 

[reef tank 2.0]

Added this guy today:

 

[reef tank 2.0]

Roughly since June 10th, I got a huge breakout of cyano. Will be doing a water change on June 16th to help clean it off the sand.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Roughly since June 10th, I got a huge breakout of cyano. Will be doing a water change on June 16th to help clean it off the sand.

Best of luck to getting it cleaned up!

 

[reef tank 2.0]

still fighting cyano. since June 10th. it's thinner than what it was but it's still there. I vacuum the sand every 4-5 days or so.

here are my parameters, very consistent

ALK - 6.9
CAL - 445
PHOS - 0
MAG - 1200
PH - 8.2
SAL - 1.025
TRATE - 2.3

 

[reef tank 2.0]

2 full months of fighting this ugly phase.........

well, all corals are still alive. the ACANS seemed to have shrunk a tad, but no skeleton is visual. I'm keeping an eye on those. All my other corals seems happy still. They haven't gotten any bigger from what I can tell.

On 8/13/2024, most of all the stringy red stuff (cyano) has disappeared. The sand/glass/rocks still have what might be diatoms coating them. Not a lot, but nothing like it has been. I do notice that when i use a turkey baster to blow the rocks off, it doesn't take much effort to clear the rocks. All this algae is very loose. I do blow it off, net out as much as i can throughout the display tank.

Last night i noticed a patch of red stringy algae at the base of my brain/acan corals. thinking it was cyano, well, i think i was wrong. that was a red algae of some sort. it had to be pulled off with a decent amount of force, and it wasn't slimy. SO I may have had a storm of different algae/bacteria blooms going on. (diatoms/cyano/red algae). none of this was overwhelming, just ugly to look at.

as of right now, everything seems to be pretty minimal. i'll continue to monitor everything and hopefully it doesn't come back for a little bit. Last time it was on it's way out, it decided to come back in full force. So I may not be out of the woods yet.

 

[reef tank 2.0]

been almost a week since the absence of the stringy red stuff has disappeared!! wahoooooo! other than time, i think the increase of water flow did a lot. I took it from about 20% up to about 50% power. certainly see an improvement in the low flow/dead spots. i do have a layer of something on the sand, looks like diatoms. we'll see what it turns into.

i have started adding more rock to the DT to help with additional hiding spots. it's being used by the tankmates, so thats a plus.

again, whether it's flow/time, i noticed my acans are fluffy again and my trumpet is sprouting. so far no corals have been lost. fingers crossed.

 

[reef tank 2.0]

we are up to 3 weeks now and I haven't had an algae outbreak. I have a slight tint of diatoms on the sand, but not much at all. this makes me happy!!

made a change to the stock tank sump. I had all my rock piled up in the center of the stock tank. I cleared out all the rock and loaded it into another milk crate. that way I can lift it out and strain it when doing a water change. makes it a lot easier for clean up. I still have a good amount of rock randomly in the stock tank. I don't have room for a 3rd crate. so either need to remove the loose rock, or leave it alone. The bulk of the rock is in the new crate though. hopefully that will avoid any potential nutrient spikes I could possibly run into

 

[reef tank 2.0]

roughly 7 months in since adding fish to my display tank, I am now starting to see hints of purple Coralline algae on my over flow. :star-struck:

gotta wait for the time I can safely add rock flower nems or bubble tip.....been waiting for the year mark. (obviously water parameters will dictate that)

 

[reef tank 2.0]

haven't lost any coral up to this point, so I have decided to add three more coral frags to my tank.

Rasta Zoas
frag of Goniopora
frag of Alveopora

bought these frags from corals.com on black friday
we shall see how it goes.

 

[reef tank 2.0]

to add to my last post, here are some photos of the new corals and a full tank shot.
it's been 8 months since I added my first fish. (photos with blues way down)

 

[kevgib67]

to add to my last post, here are some photos of the new corals and a full tank shot.
it's been 8 months since I added my first fish. (photos with blues way down)

Coming along and looking great! The corals are gorgeous.

 

[ElementReefer]

Fellow Cincy person here. Your water mixing station is pimp!

 

[reef tank 2.0]

Ha, thanks. It's not automatic with hard plumbing or automatic top off, but it's easy enough to turn the pump on and off for transferring water to the sump. It works for me

 

[ElementReefer]

Behind the room divider lol

 

[littlefoxx]

Do you have a full tank shot of it stocked??

 

[reef tank 2.0]

tank update 12.21.2024

 

[littlefoxx]

tank update 12.21.2024

I really like that size of cube! Super cool

 

[ElementReefer]

ReefBreeders? That’s a nice light. What PAR are you getting?

Did you have a particular goal in keeping your aquascape so low?