Bedside Biocube tank log

[BelieveInBlue]

Figured I'd keep track of my adventures here.

Biocube 32; stock lights; Hyggar 200W titanium heater w/ controller. 2x Hydor Koralia 425gph power heads. 20 dollar LED + timer in back chamber for refugium. Dry rock w/ Real Reef Rock in back chamber + live sand.

Currently set up and cycling. Dosing Microbacter7.

Stocking plan:

2 nessarius, 2 cerith, maybe 1 fighting conch?

2 astrea, 2 turbo, 3 trochus, 2 turban snails

1 blood red fire shrimp, 1 skunk cleaner shrimp, 1 true peppermint shrimp

1 left handed hermit, 1 electric blue hermit, 1 scarlet hermit

1 mandarin goby - captive bred

2 ocellaris clowns

1 banggai cardinalfish

1 pink streak wrasse (6-line if i can't get pink streak; add last)

lots of Zoas/palys

1 Hammer coral

1 Frogspawn

Candy Canes, Acan lords, duncan

maybe favia, galaxea, trachyphyllia

 

[P-Dub]

NICE!!! Let the plan take shape!

 

[BelieveInBlue]

No updates. Just waiting for tank to cycle. Been dosing microbacter7 since the start. Got impatient and dosed Dr Tim's One and Only yesterday. Now I'm just like:

 

[TheRealAFISHionado]

This is great... I’ve been tank dry for a couple of years but now I'm contemplating to set up an unused Biocube 29 that I have in storage. Are you going keep the stock power compacts for long?

 

[BelieveInBlue]

This is great... I’ve been tank dry for a couple of years but now I'm contemplating to set up an unused Biocube 29 that I have in storage. Are you going keep the stock power compacts for long?

Yea I'm not planning on swapping out the light ever. That said, I'm also only planning on keeping zoas/palys and LPS, and from what I've read the light will be more than adequate for that.


Also, tank still isn't cycled today, so here's how I feel planning out a tank vs actually setting it up:

 

[TheRealAFISHionado]

You will grow corals indeed but colors will fade with time because the output is low par.

If I was you i'll use them to cycle the tank and get system stability. After that look to upgrade to full spectrum LED’s or run both power compact with 10K bulbs and add supplement blue LED’s for color.

 

[BelieveInBlue]

You will grow corals indeed but colors will fade with time because the output is low par.

If I was you i'll use them to cycle the tank and get system stability. After that look to upgrade to full spectrum LED’s or run both power compact with 10K bulbs and add supplement blue LED’s for color.

Is the colour fading just a visual thing or does it actually impact the health of the corals?

 

[Turnage]

Almost like my BioCube32 setup. I would hold off on adding any moderately priced or expensive Coral until you've reached the 8th month age of your tank.

 

[TheRealAFISHionado]

Almost like my BioCube32 setup. I would hold off on adding any moderately priced or expensive
Coral until you've reached the 8th month age of your tank.

Yeah you got a really nice tank. I was just telling the OP to consider upgrading the power compacts to LED sometime in the future. Eight months to a year is a nice reference.

Is the colour fading just a visual thing or does it actually impact the health of the corals?

Color fading is just visual but trust me you want your corals colors to pop. Some corals really need higher par to thrive, try to stay away from them until you upgrade your lights. Do your research before you buy anything.

 

[BelieveInBlue]

Almost like my BioCube32 setup. I would hold off on adding any moderately priced or expensive Coral until you've reached the 8th month age of your tank.

What's considered expensive? Most of the corals I've been looking at are in the 30-40 dollar range, and the most expensive thing I'll be adding is going to be a gold tipped branching hammer, which'll be about $100.

Color fading is just visual but trust me you want your corals colors to pop. Some corals really need higher par to thrive, try to stay away from them until you upgrade your lights

I'm not going to be adding any corals that are difficult or require high light. If/when the light on this tank starts to go out I'll probably just upgrade. Just from looking around at prices it seems like upgrading this thing isn't worth it and I'm better off just upgrading to a large/better set up. But that's for a while down the road.

 

[TheRealAFISHionado]

What's considered expensive? Most of the corals I've been looking at are in the 30-40 dollar range, and the most expensive thing I'll be adding is going to be a gold tipped branching hammer, which'll be about $100.


I'm not going to be adding any corals that are difficult or require high light. If/when the light on this tank starts to go out I'll probably just upgrade. Just from looking around at prices it seems like upgrading this thing isn't worth it and I'm better off just upgrading to a large/better set up. But that's for a while down the road.

I disagreed... there’s inexpensive options to upgrade your lights without burning a pack of bills.

I like your plan of using the Biocube as quarantine or hospital tank after you upgrade to a bigger system. That was my plan, I never got to use the BioCube and now sits in storage.

 

[BelieveInBlue]

Tank still not cycled, but ammonia going down and nitrites/nitrates creeping up slightly, so here's your daily waiting for tank to cycle meme.

 

[GraveKone]

Figured I'd keep track of my adventures here.

Biocube 32; stock lights; Hyggar 200W titanium heater w/ controller. 2x Hydor Koralia 425gph power heads. 20 dollar LED + timer in back chamber for refugium. Dry rock w/ Real Reef Rock in back chamber + live sand.

Currently set up and cycling. Dosing Microbacter7.

Stocking plan:

2 nessarius, 2 cerith, maybe 1 fighting conch?

2 astrea, 2 turbo, 3 trochus, 2 turban snails

1 blood red fire shrimp, 1 skunk cleaner shrimp, 1 true peppermint shrimp

1 left handed hermit, 1 electric blue hermit, 1 scarlet hermit

1 mandarin goby - captive bred

2 ocellaris clowns

1 banggai cardinalfish

1 pink streak wrasse (6-line if i can't get pink streak; add last)

lots of Zoas/palys

1 Hammer coral

1 Frogspawn

Candy Canes, Acan lords, duncan

maybe favia, galaxea, trachyphyllia

I wouldn’t do a six line because they need at least a 55g and a mandarin would mow through a pod population so I would recommend dosing them if your want to keep one

 

[BelieveInBlue]

Tank still not cycled (boo) but at least it's getting close! Some time in the near future...

 

[BelieveInBlue]

ammonia pretty much all gone, just a tiny bit of nitrites left...

Me to the bacteria in my tank:

 

[BelieveInBlue]

Tank still not cycled. Had to go to the LFS yesterday to get a lightbulb for one of my other tanks.

Looking through their marine animals got me like:

 

[zukihara]

I hear you. I am in the brand new tank stage waiting for cycle myself. It is maddening.

 

[BelieveInBlue]

I hear you. I am in the brand new tank stage waiting for cycle myself. It is maddening.

You ever have the argument with yourself of "it's only 0.25ppm nitrites the animals should be able to handle that for a few days no problem as long as there's no ammonia right"? It's becoming a daily thing with me and I'm slightly worried not gonna lie.

 

[dvgyfresh]

You ever have the argument with yourself of "it's only 0.25ppm nitrites the animals should be able to handle that for a few days no problem as long as there's no ammonia right"? It's becoming a daily thing with me and I'm slightly worried not gonna lie.

Nitrite isn’t toxic in marine unless you have like a ton lol , I kept my tank with a little high nitrites for a long time and no ill effects

 

[BelieveInBlue]

Nitrite isn’t toxic in marine unless you have like a ton lol , I kept my tank with a little high nitrites for a long time and no ill effects

Wait is this true....? Because afaik for freshwater it's pretty nasty and can kill fish decently quickly.