Biocube 29 build

Katrina71 · Sep 7, 2019

That's an impressive tank!

jk_s124 · Sep 7, 2019

tupes said:
This is very impressive. keep it up. I like how big tanks look grown out but I LOVE how small tanks look when they are at their peeks.

Thanks! I’ll admit it’s turned out better than it probably should have. I never had much of a plan. My wife and I just threw the rock in there without any aquascaping plan or knowledge. My buddy said to build small in front and build up to the back. And have lots of caves and overhangs. I think we have been lucky with more than a few things. It’s starting to get challenging though with the coral growth. The hammer especially. I’m amazed at how it’s bloomed, but it’s starting to affect everything’s on the left half of the tank. I’m planning on fragging it soon but there aren’t many local refers or even much of a local fish store to donate it to. It’s a good problem though. So I shouldn’t complain.

jk_s124 · Sep 7, 2019

Katrina71 said:
That's an impressive tank!

Thank you!

jk_s124 · Sep 13, 2019

jk_s124 said:
Thanks guys! I still feel like a beginner trying my hardest to not fail. It seems like every time I feel good about how things are running, a week or two later something happens to set my anxiety off.

Yup......I had a feeling after I posted this that something was lurking around the corner. Two nights ago I noticed what I think is STN on 3 colonies. At the base of my purple acro, base of my orange monti, and at the base of my hawkins echinata. After looking down at those corals, I noticed that I couldn’t see the STN on my purple acro or monti. It looks like the affected parts are shaded from the top. I think the white at the base of my Hawkins is caused by the close proximity of the base of another acro colony. So I moved that colony to another spot and I’ve been just watching and hoping nothing gets much worse. I have checked all parameters and things are good. Did a water change last night.

Ph 7.8
Alk 8.6
Ca 405
Mg 1400
Temp 78
Nitrate 5
Po4 .02
Salinity 1.026

jk_s124 · Oct 1, 2019

So quick update on my STN issue. My monti seems to be fine. I believe it was more of a shading issue. I moved my teal acro that was getting very close to my hawkins echinata. The Hawkins seems to have recovered since. Unfortunately the STN took hold of my purple acropora. Last night I gave in and fraged some healthy branches and glued them to a new rock, hoping that will be the end of it.

kylebeano · Oct 1, 2019

Great looking biocube, feel proud of it!
Acros can be too difficult sometimes... maybe the hammer is sweeping some of the closer colonies causing injuries to STN/RTN?
Im going to try and copy your algae scrubber, bright idea!

jk_s124 · Oct 1, 2019

kylebeano said:
Great looking biocube, feel proud of it!
Acros can be too difficult sometimes... maybe the hammer is sweeping some of the closer colonies causing injuries to STN/RTN?
Im going to try and copy your algae scrubber, bright idea!

It’s very possible the hammer is affecting some of the other colonies. That hammer is kind of bitter sweet for me. I love it’s placement, and how well it’s thrived, but it’s clearly too big. I have been toying with the idea of selling it and replacing it with a smaller hammer colonly I have in the back. Or replacing it with more sps and or some zoanthids.

Thanks for the compliments though! I can’t take credit for the algae scrubber. I bought it from a guy who sells them on eBay. Not sure if he still does. If you do decide to try and make it, message me with any questions. I’d be glad to help.

BayouReefer · Oct 1, 2019

Thanks for sharing tank looks great! Yea I think you definitely have the addiction lol

jk_s124 · Oct 10, 2019

Tank turns two years old this month! Lots of ups and downs. Overall I feel it’s been a success. I did sell my branching hammer colony. I replaced it with a smaller branching hammer colony that I already had. It’s nice to see some of the corals that had been blocked from view. So here are some pictures from when it was first started and from now.

jk_s124 · Oct 14, 2019

Pics of some corals. Green acropora

tortuosa, teal acro ( possibly blueberry shortcake?), and orange montipora capricornis.

zoasaholic · Oct 15, 2019

I also owned 29 biocube with a few sps/lps

jk_s124 · Oct 21, 2019

Worked on a new water changing station. I picked up two 35 gallon blue barrels that contained zinc chloride from a pharmaceutical factory. The guy I bought them from says he flushed them out twice. I flushed them out 3 times my self. I’m going to test for zinc before I actually use them. So I cut the tops off and I’m going to plumb one as a salt water mix station with a spigot, and the other as a ro water holder. My ro filter is in a different room, so I built a hand cart to move the barrel from room to room. Still have some work to do, but it will be nice to not mix up 5 gallons at a time.

jk_s124 · Nov 1, 2019

No real progress with the water change station. I did test water that was held in the blue container and ph measured more acidic. No tds measured though. I’m going to clean them out a few more times and re test this weekend.

Bad news is I have my female clownfish in quarantine. Frayed fins and possible sickness. Noted odd sleeping behavior and then aggression from the male clownfish. I did a freshwater dip and I’m dosing a herbicidal antibiotic and watching close. If she seems to get worse I’ll start with furan2 and kanaplex and watch for signs of parasites.

It’s strange though. Haven’t added or changed anything in a long time. Parameters are checking out. All other fish look healthy. The aggression has me puzzled too. The female and male percula have been together for over a year now and have never shown any aggression towards each other. I’m hoping that the female will get healthy in quarantine and then I can reintroduce her in an acclimation box.

jk_s124 · Nov 1, 2019

A couple pics of my female percula.

jk_s124 · Nov 1, 2019

And a couple new pics of the display.

jk_s124 · Dec 8, 2019

Update on the perculas. We sadly had to re home the smaller percula. We came to believe that it might have been a small female all along. They had become very close in size and this is when the aggression seemed to start. I did end up soaking frozen food with metro and focus for three weeks just in case there was an internal parasite as well. Once the smaller percula was removed the larger female seemed to get better quickly. So we will be on the hunt for a small male percula soon. Everything else is going great. I have been piecing together supplies and gear for a 40 breeder for about a year now. I don’t plan on having it up and running for about another year, but I might start a build thread for my progress on that soon.

jk_s124 · Dec 8, 2019

Recent pics. The person that took our percula gave me a frag if purple and pink palys and a small frag of a green and orange chalice.

jk_s124 · Jan 2, 2020

First update if the new year. I have amped up the flow with an icecap 1k gyre. It took most of December to get it positioned and dialed in just right. I took one side off and placed it in the back right corner with the flow aimed at the glass. Only way I could find to get the flow low enough so I want blasting any corals. I bought the gyre mainly for my eventual 40 breeder, but wanted to put it to use as ion as possible.