jk_s124

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Messages
1,488
Reaction score
5,821
Location
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I’m October of 2017 my wife and I bought a coralife biocube 29 from a coworker who has been in the hobby for over 10 years. He actually bought the set up for himself while he was trying to convince me to buy it for my kids. My son is allergic to cats and dogs, but loves animals. So my co worker ran it for a year and it came to a point where he didn't want to bother with it. The s**t or get off the pot moment came. So we finally bought it and have been addicted ever since. I am very lucky that I was able to purchase a setup that was running successfully for over a year by someone who knew what they were doing. He was, and is, a great source of knowledge....and frags!

Coralife biocube 29
20 pounds or so of live rock.
Custom built canopy
100 watt aqueon pro chamber 1
Media bag with Rox carbon and GFO at the bottom of chamber 3
Small marineland return pump (around 70-80 gph)
2 hydor koralia 450s
Icecap 1k gyre
An aquahub diy ATO (3 years running perfectly)
2 kessil a160we’s
Apex classic added
1 liter seachem matrix in 2nd chamber

Percula clownfish
Black and white ocellaris
Chromis
Firefish
Tailspot blenny
Royal gramma
4 blue leg hermit crabs
3 asters snails
Fire shrimp
An army of small brittle stars


Joe the coral
Birds nest
A teal colored acropora
Green tortuosa acropora
Pink lemonade acropora
Hawkins echinata acropora
Purple montipora capricornis
Orange montipora capricornis
Green montipora undata? (not sure what specific family)
Tyree sunset montipora
Orange montipora setosa
Water melon chalice
Green and orange chalice
Purple trumpet caulastrea curvata
Purple tipped hammer euphyllia ancora
Blastomussa merletti
Green palythoas
Pink palythoas
Green zoanthids
Rasta zoanthids
Yellow polyps (parazoanthus gracillis I think)
Rhodactis mushroom

I do a 5 gallon weekly water change and tank maintenance. Everything has been running well. Thanks for looking!

IMG_0425.JPG


IMG_0432.JPG
 
Last edited:

Foxy-88

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 24, 2017
Messages
345
Reaction score
236
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Last October my wife and I bought a coralife biocube 29 from a coworker who has been in the hobby for over 10 years. He had actually bought the set up himself while he was showing them to me. He has a 40 breeder and took on the cube as a side project while trying convince me that I should take it. He ran it for a year and came to a point where he didn't want to bother with it. We finally bought it and have been addicted ever since. I am very lucky that I was able to purchase a setup that was running successfully for over a year by someone who knew what he was doing. The sage advice was also welcome.
So the set up I had when I started was
Coralife biocube 29
20 pounds or so of live rock. Not 100 percent sure on the exact weight.
Custom built canopy with moon light led strip and door on front for feeding and accessing the display tank. It also has vents on top.
Kessil a80
Stock skimmer chamber 1
100 watt aqueon pro chamber 1
Media basket with activated carbon and gfo and filter floss chamber 2
Small marineland return pump (around 70-80 gph)
2 hydor koralia 450s on the back wall pointed forward

I then bought
An aquahub diy ato
Bayite temp controller (waterproofed probe with shrink sleeve)
Upgraded quickly to a kessil a160we
Eventually I bought a kessil controller

Started with a 1 year old perc clown fish and banded coral shrimp. (Who was removed for killing a juvenile clownfish a while later).

For corals, I was given a colony of green palys, ricordea mushroom, kenya tree, green star polyps, branching hammer coral, a pink chalice, yellow button polyps, and a very small green toadstool frag.

For a CUC we had 4 hermit crabs, 3 nassarius snails, and a bunch of tiny brittle stars.

We now have 2 clown fish (1 perc and 1 ocellaris), a blue green chromis, and a firefish. We also have a red cleaner shrimp who never comes out of hiding.

For corals we now have purple acros, green tort, purple blastomusso, lavender trumpet, rasta zoas, and green montipora.

I do 5 gallon weekly water changes and tank maintenance. Everything has been running well. All the corals seem to be doing well. The only problem right now is that the chromis won't leave my clownfish alone and the smaller ocellaris charges him constantly and seems to be getting stressed from it. I'll post pictures from the beginning until recent and I will update soon! Thanks for looking!

IMG_0425.JPG


IMG_0432.JPG
Tank looks great! When I had my jbj 24 I had a red coral banded shrimp it killed three black and white clowns. All at separate times of course. When I finally noticed it was killing them I was beyond furious. It also picked on my firefish. I was happy to get rid of it [emoji23] [emoji23]
 
OP
OP
jk_s124

jk_s124

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Messages
1,488
Reaction score
5,821
Location
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks! My wife caught the shrimp with a juvenile clown we had for less then a day in its mouth. I think it traumatized her a bit. We removed him right away. It was quite the spectacle I'm sure. My father in law was there too helpingto catch the shrimp. He was over to help with some electrical work and had a head lamp on, and then my wife who was practically in tears, and myself trying not to get angry at all the arms in my tank trying to chase that shrimp. I'm amazed we didn't damage anything!
 

Foxy-88

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 24, 2017
Messages
345
Reaction score
236
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks! My wife caught the shrimp with a juvenile clown we had for less then a day in its mouth. I think it traumatized her a bit. We removed him right away. It was quite the spectacle I'm sure. My father in law was there too helpingto catch the shrimp. He was over to help with some electrical work and had a head lamp on, and then my wife who was practically in tears, and myself trying not to get angry at all the arms in my tank trying to chase that shrimp. I'm amazed we didn't damage anything!
The minute I noticed my shrimp did that I ripped it out of the tank with my hand so fast haha. Never again
 
OP
OP
jk_s124

jk_s124

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Messages
1,488
Reaction score
5,821
Location
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Just started using kalkwasser in my ato reservoir 1 week ago. I found that I have very little evaporation, even with the vents on my hood. So I decided to start with a high dose right off the bat. I'm using 4 teaspoons total in my 2 gallon reservoir. Checked parameters through the week and seems to be doing the trick. Was using an older water jug with a spigot since I started back in October. Came with the setup. So this weekend as I was cleaning the house before company was coming, I noticed some water on our rug. I located the problem and found a crack on the bottom of my reservoir. Leacked about 1 gallon of kalwasser mixed water on to the rug, about 1 hour before my parents and my sister and her family were coming over for Easter festivities. So as my sister and her family arrived at my house I have my rug propped up on chairs and box fans drying out the mess. Needless to say my family doesn't quite understand the draw to my new hobby.
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
jk_s124

jk_s124

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Messages
1,488
Reaction score
5,821
Location
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
IMG_0497.JPG
IMG_0493.JPG
I replaced my ATO reservoir with a 3 gallon container. I mixed 6 teaspoons of kalkwasser to the 3 gallons of water. Seemed to be working in the beginning, but my alk ended up spiking and I paid the price with some bleaching of my purple Acro. All the other corals seemed to be un effected. So I have changed my kalkwasser ratio to 3 teaspoons to 3 gallons of water. Seems to be keeping my parameters level. I try to keep my dkh at about 8.5. I was able to salvage some healthy frags of my bleaching purple acro and I plugged them into some new spots.
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
jk_s124

jk_s124

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Messages
1,488
Reaction score
5,821
Location
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
IMG_0465.JPG
I also recently identified some colonial hydroids. I have too many to manually remove so I found a thread here that shows how to dose your tank with fenbendazole. I am going to be treating my tank this weekend hopefully so I will update with how that goes.
 

MushFarmer

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Messages
27
Reaction score
12
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Last October my wife and I bought a coralife biocube 29 from a coworker who has been in the hobby for over 10 years. He had actually bought the set up himself while he was showing them to me. He has a 40 breeder and took on the cube as a side project while trying convince me that I should take it. He ran it for a year and came to a point where he didn't want to bother with it. We finally bought it and have been addicted ever since. I am very lucky that I was able to purchase a setup that was running successfully for over a year by someone who knew what he was doing. The sage advice was also welcome.
So the set up I had when I started was
Coralife biocube 29
20 pounds or so of live rock. Not 100 percent sure on the exact weight.
Custom built canopy with moon light led strip and door on front for feeding and accessing the display tank. It also has vents on top.
Kessil a80
Stock skimmer chamber 1
100 watt aqueon pro chamber 1
Media basket with activated carbon and gfo and filter floss chamber 2
Small marineland return pump (around 70-80 gph)
2 hydor koralia 450s on the back wall pointed forward

I then bought
An aquahub diy ato
Bayite temp controller (waterproofed probe with shrink sleeve)
Upgraded quickly to a kessil a160we
Eventually I bought a kessil controller

Started with a 1 year old perc clown fish and banded coral shrimp. (Who was removed for killing a juvenile clownfish a while later).

For corals, I was given a colony of green palys, ricordea mushroom, kenya tree, green star polyps, branching hammer coral, a pink chalice, yellow button polyps, and a very small green toadstool frag.

For a CUC we had 4 hermit crabs, 3 nassarius snails, and a bunch of tiny brittle stars.

We now have 2 clown fish (1 perc and 1 ocellaris), a blue green chromis, and a firefish. We also have a red cleaner shrimp who never comes out of hiding.

For corals we now have purple acros, green tort, purple blastomusso, lavender trumpet, rasta zoas, and green montipora.

I do 5 gallon weekly water changes and tank maintenance. Everything has been running well. All the corals seem to be doing well. The only problem right now is that the chromis won't leave my clownfish alone and the smaller ocellaris charges him constantly and seems to be getting stressed from it. I'll post pictures from the beginning until recent and I will update soon! Thanks for looking!

IMG_0425.JPG


IMG_0432.JPG
If your trying to get rid of the green hair algae, get some organic food-grade hydrogen peroxide and a plastic syringe. Just make sure you only use 1mL max per gallon of tank water in your system. squirt it out slow and watch it melt away
 
OP
OP
jk_s124

jk_s124

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Messages
1,488
Reaction score
5,821
Location
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
IMG_0536.JPG
IMG_0539.JPG
IMG_0548.JPG
IMG_0549.JPG
Here are some recent pictures. Lost our green tort. Not exactly sure what happened with it. It was a bit shaded. I also lost our toadstool. It died from the fenbendazole treatment. Everything else has been going great though. I am looking into fluconazole treatment for gha and some remaining hydroids.

IMG_0550.JPG
 
OP
OP
jk_s124

jk_s124

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Messages
1,488
Reaction score
5,821
Location
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
All done with the reef flux/fluconazole treatment and I think it went well. I started with 4 capsules, then two capsules for my next three weekly water changes. It took care of all my gha. I have a bit of cyano on my back wall blooming from the die off, but nothing I'm too concerned about. I think I'm going to try and treat with fenbendazole again once more and see if I can rid the tank of colonial hydroids.

More importantly though....new corals! Another try at a green tort, orange montipora setosa, sunburst montipora, orange montipora, and purple montipora, hawkins acropora echinata, and a green zoa. A few pics below.
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
jk_s124

jk_s124

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Messages
1,488
Reaction score
5,821
Location
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Sad news today. Our ocellaris clown jumped into the back chamber and landed on the filter floss last night. He did not make it. I found a DIY fish guard on this forum https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/biocube-29-fish-guard.253058/ and built one myself. Wish I would have done this sooner. I found a 3 foot piece of gutter guard for $1.50 and cut it to size with a scissors.

I did rearrange some of my new corals on a brighter note.
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
jk_s124

jk_s124

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Messages
1,488
Reaction score
5,821
Location
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
We just received our new captive bred 3 bar percula clown fish from MiniWaters. Great small company from Duluth Minnesota. Fantastic customer service, shipping, and care for the animals they sell. Highly recommend for anybody in the upper Midwest. Also changed the configuration of my second chamber. I decided to nix the media basket for an algae turf scrubber. I was going to build a DIY one but found one designed specifically for the biocube 29.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-algae-scrubber-for-biocube-29.480703/
 
Last edited:

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 67 37.6%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 33.1%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 14.0%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 27 15.2%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
Back
Top