BioCube 29 Redux!

Bunnee911 · Jan 5, 2016

A hang on back led light. Stays on until tank lights come on.

IdahoNano · Jan 5, 2016

Rjramos said:
Thanks![emoji4] Also using purigen, chemipure elite, and got the refugium with a brick of chaeto, full of critters. Here is the back;

What kind of light do you use for this?

Rjramos · Jan 5, 2016

IdahoNano said:
What kind of light do you use for this?

I am using the JBJ nano-glo. 4 3watt LED's. Initially I stuck it to the back glass with provided magnet, but the algae closest to the light would get yellow/ white and die. So I stuck the light with Velcro to the wall behind the tank, about 4 inches off, and shielded off the sides to prevent light scatter from behind the tank. I run this 24/7.

IdahoNano · Jan 6, 2016

Good idea, sounds like something I'll try as well.

KorD · Jan 6, 2016

Good luck with your ventures in saltwater.. I just picked up a few different types of birdsnest corals from a few different local reefers around my area. Here is a shot of the tank. it is now going on 3 weeks. Most of everything came from the tear down of my other system. I just added a basic water change and new substrate.. other then that, all is old and no major cycle yet I can't combat..LOL
never mind the patch marks on the wall.. The old tank was hiding where I ripped out a shelving unit..LOL, all I really need to do is house the wiring, paint the wall, and a small section of the rear of the tank. This was a "gotta get the bigger tank down and worry about the rest later" move.

IdahoNano · Jan 11, 2016

Thought I'd post a 15 day update. The uglies have begun! Yesterday I tested my water with the following results:

Sal - 1.025
Amm - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 10

So I added a few critters to the system.

6 - Snails (Can't remember the names)
3 - Blue tip Hermits
1 - Strawberry Crab

Also got my hands on a Hi-Fin Goby/Pistol Shrimp Combo!

I tested my waters today and was a little surprised at the change in a day:

Amm - Still 0
Nitrites - between 0 and .25?
Nitrates - 10-20
Salinity dropped to 1.024....btw I am using the Milwaukee MR100 Refractometer

I added a half cap of prime, along with now adding Chemi Blue and Purigen to my Intank media basket.

I'll get my salinity up slowly to 1.025-26 over the next few days.

All in all, I'm happy so far! Here are a few pics of the critters:

revhtree · Jan 11, 2016

Looking good though!

KorD · Jan 11, 2016

nice additions..

IdahoNano · Jan 12, 2016

Thanks, this hobby is fun and addicting lol! I'm finding myself watching all the time.....even these little critters are cool to watch. It's great to see the snails to their thing with the ugliness going on. I have turned off the lights for a day or so to allow for some slowdown of the ugglies, while the snails crabs get a hold of stuff, and, to give my Gobi and Shrimp get better acclimated....haven't seen neighter come out of hiding since adding them on Sunday.

So, while I wait and not watch, in the dark lol, I am contemplating the following future fish/inverts:

Fish:

Cherub or Midnight Angle
Royal G. or Black Cap Basslett
6 Line or Banggai Card.
2 Clowns (not sure of type)

Now, if I go with 2 clowns, I'll have to remove one of the others at the least, don't want to over-stock the cube.

Inverts:

Fire Shrimp
Cleaner Shrimp
Brittle Star
Sexy Dancing Shrimp (2)
2 pom pom crabs

Not necessary all, but, those are the lists I want to pick from. They have all got to be reef safe and get along lol!

Thoughts of future issues?

On a more technical note, I decided to re-arrange my cabinet crap...put the top-off water on the bottom of the cabinet.....pics aren't the best, but, here ya go:

Bunnee911 · Jan 13, 2016

Won't the top off water evaporate? What will that do to the stand long run? I want to put mine inside. I am using a 5g jug.

IdahoNano · Jan 13, 2016

Well, good questions for sure. I was wanting to use a 5 g jug, but had to go with a larger pump to push water 4', and I'd have to cut a large hole in the top of the jug to get that pump in.....so I went with the tank.....I'll have to monitor the evap and stand. So far so good though.

KorD · Jan 13, 2016

IdahoNano said:
Fish:

Cherub or Midnight Angle
Royal G. or Black Cap Basslett
6 Line or Banggai Card.
2 Clowns (not sure of type)

Now, if I go with 2 clowns, I'll have to remove one of the others at the least, don't want to over-stock the cube.

Inverts:

Fire Shrimp
Cleaner Shrimp
Brittle Star
Sexy Dancing Shrimp (2)
2 pom pom crabs

Forget the cleaner shrimp and go with a handful of sexy (thor) shrimp.. they are awesome to watch!
The 6 line wrasse in my tank is a bully.. I do not know what to do when I get my pair of clowns in the next round.. I have a pajama cardinal and also a bleu/green chromis.
In my last tank I had a pigmy bicolor angle.. he was awesome and fun to watch.. he chased the wrasse around and vise versa. Royal grammas are awesome and very timid fish. If you get one, I would add it first.
Since you are only roughly 8 hours away... come on over and I will give you my wrasse..LOL

Also stay away from urchins... My urchin is a destructive *****! he keeps knocking over my birds of periodic corals and flipping a couple of rocks.. I'll give you it for free also!

KorD · Jan 13, 2016

IdahoNano said:
Well, good questions for sure. I was wanting to use a 5 g jug, but had to go with a larger pump to push water 4', and I'd have to cut a large hole in the top of the jug to get that pump in.....so I went with the tank.....I'll have to monitor the evap and stand. So far so good though.

I have my sump in my cabinet, and I also built a DIY acrylic container with and aqua lifter for put water in my sump when it gets low. I go through about 3 gal of water in 4 days... I blame that on making my cabinet too air tight and having to run the fan to keep the inside of the cabinet of getting soaked in evaporation.

IdahoNano · Jan 14, 2016

If I had a sump setup, I'd use the same kind of think as you do, but, I'm using the cubes back end. I'll continue to monitor the set up, and may change things around in the future.

As far as fish go, yea, I learned the hard way about those urchins....they are bulldozers in a tank lol.

IdahoNano · Mar 1, 2016

Greetings all, time for an update.

Just passed week 9. Livestock has changed somewhat:

Inverts:
3 Blue leg Hermits (Small) (No Change)
6 Snails (can't remember type) (Added 3 more turbo snails)
~~1 Skunk Shrimp~~ (Died after 2 days in tank)
1 Strawberry Crab (Have only seen twice, not sure if it's still alive or not)
1 Pom Pom Crab (Doing good)
1 Pistol Shrimp (Have not seen, but do see changes in sand)
NEW - Fire Shrimp
NEW - Green Emerald Crab

Fish:
~~1 Hi-Fin Goby (Paired with the Pistol)~~ (Passed)
1 Rainsford's Goby (Doing great)
NEW - Black Clown Goby, Doing ok

This tank ran previously for about 7 months before I had to tear everything down. Today, I pulled the light cover, and noticed the original bulbs were toast....well, they were at the end of their life, brown marking at the base of each bulb. So, I replaced them with new, and wow, I can't believe the difference! I have decided that these will last 6 monthish....then I will go with the Nanobox LED upgrade! This is also probably why I was not getting any purple coraline algae growth, just greens.....I added a small piece of live rock from my LFS to hopefully seed my tank and get it growing.

All equipment is running well. My next upgrade will be a nano led to support Cheato in the mid chamber. Probably going to pull the trigger on this in a couple weeks. Pics attached:

Pic 1 - Goby Safety Meeting - crappy pic

Pic 2 - FTS

Pic 3 - New piece of rock

pdt7361 · Mar 2, 2016

I'd definitely recommend Sexy Shrimp if you like to watch all of your little critters. I bought a purple/green mini maxi anemone and 3 sexy shrimp together. Initially they stayed on their mini maxi but eventually became brave enough to wonder freely throughout the tank. I have them, 2 peppermint shrimp, a cleaner shrimp, and 2 porcelain crabs - all have been living fine together in my BC29.