Biocube 32 Rebuild

[Miamialum620]

What's up everyone!
I've been lurking around the forums for a few years now and held off on starting a build thread because I felt like I didn't have much to contribute since I'm new to the hobby. I now realize that should've been the biggest reason to start one sooner as it would've saved me a ton of headaches and money.

Brief history of the tank
It's been "set up" for a couple of years but it's been through a few moves and I tried to take so many shortcuts when it comes to maintenance and equipment. I was thinking I'm a smart guy I'll figure out whatever hurdles I face while still giving the tank 50% effort. After a green hair algae outbreak, coral, and fish loss I decided to start the tank over. I know this is frowned upon but I just needed the reset.

Below are a few images of the tank before starting over.

About 10 days ago I used some extra dry rock I had and bought some Marco mortar to completely redo my aquascape. The mortar was pretty straight forward but there was a little learning curve in getting the mixed consistency right. Here are my first attempts using only superglue and insta-set. I had the dimensions of the tank lined out on the cloth I was using as well as the measuring tape to determine overall height of the structure.



After bumping my scape and knocking everything apart I restarted and came up with something I like a lot better. My goal was to create plenty of ledges for me to glue down frags and swim throughs for the livestock. I used the @Bulk Reef Supply NSA video to help with using the glue, insta-set, and mortar combo. I even attempted to add sand on top of the mortar to hide the joints but figured over time this will be covered by coralline or corals. I also gave the rocks 3 day to cure before even attempting to move.

Since this post is getting pretty long I'll post my next steps shortly.

Thanks for viewing!!!!

 

[KingTideCorals]

Epic BioCube! Love seeing one, was one of my first systems and I truly enjoyed having it the no hood on it is a very nice touch!

Look forward to seeing more updates and photos on this thread!

 

[F i s h y]

Great start. Love the scape. Keep the updates coming.

 

[Miamialum620]

Morning everyone,

Last week for whatever reason I woke up at 4 am and figured since the family is asleep this is the perfect time to break down my tank and start the rebuild.

My first step was to remove the rocks and corals in my tank. Luckily all but 1 of my corals were on the frag plug only so they were easy to remove. That last one (incredible hulk lepto) took some work to get off.

Next I began draining the water down to make it easier to remove my livestock which consists of 2 clowns, yellow watchman, blue tuxedos, snails, and crabs.

Once everything was out including the sand (had to use a shop vac for the last bits of sand and water) I gave the inside of the tank a good scrub and scrape down.

A couple of days prior I had purchased sea water from my LFS and 2 20 lbs. bags of Fiji pink live sand. Instead of putting the rock in first and then the sand I decided to go sand first. With 40 lbs. of sand the sand bed is about 3.5-4” deep which isn't as high as I was expecting.


Surprisingly the breakdown and refill only took about 2-2.5 hours. While waiting for the tank to clear I took advantage of the opportunity to clean all of my equipment from pumps, lighting, and stand.

 

[Miamialum620]

Before returning my corals to my tank I decided to give all of them a dip and good brushing so that I don't reintroduce the GHA.


Once everything was cleaned I decided to use a 10 gallon tank I had as a holding tank since I wasn't sure if the Biocube was ready for corals yet. The small tank has an Aqua Knight light on it and maybe in the future I can use it as a quarantine system or frag tank.

The biocube itself is looking good, took about 3 days after the previous post's pictures to full clear up. The aquascape came out better than I was expecting and has the desired swim throughs and plenty of ledges to attach the coral.

 

[Miamialum620]

Update on the tank. I’ve been selling off some of the coral because I went a little crazy and overcrowded this small tank. Going through a bit of a lull with the tank and not sure how to bring back that enthusiasm I had a few months ago.

 

[Oldsman]

Your aquascape work looks fantastic, tons of spaces for corals and livestock to play !
Maybe ya just need a new fish to revive your interest in your tank

 

[Miamialum620]

The tank has been doing pretty good but I've recently had issues with a couple of hammers that are dying and I can't figure out what is going on. Other than that weird hammer behavior the tank appears to be doing well. I've got way too many corals and I'm trying to sell some if anyone is interested.

I'm noticing the Coraline really starting to pick up which is a good sign. Planning on what the next hardware upgrade will be between the Kamoer X1 dosing pump or some type of ATO. The biocube stand is fairly small so I have to account for that.

If anyone also has tips on taking aquarium photos that would be greatly appreciated. I took these using my iPhone and coral glasses but for whatever reason when I retry everything looks super yellow.

 

[Oldsman]

Your tank looks so much better under the prime light. It seems to highlight the intense colors of the coral better than the blah tone using stock led.
Those zoas on the frag rack are blowing my phone up in color - whats the name . Yellow centers w orange skirts