Cycling a new Biocube 32

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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the cool part is we're trading efficiency for a flat-out guarantee of what will occur, this is different than most reefing. Typical reefing is hesitant; always wondering whats out of balance. Seeking to remedy something, preserving food. Not changing much water, avoiding imbalance

we are a little less efficient bc we change water even when it may not need it


we are feeding more than normal, but ripping it back out too, and some of that is wasted but what lands in the coral is also excessive, we are a get fit class for reefs lol. nano zumba works!!!

the end goal is to soon lessen the water change and access work, to earn the classic cruise control purple reef not needing much access.

that comes only when things are purple :)
 
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Daniel266jz

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Update- Everything is going well and I acquired a Neptune bounce mushroom. My bleached mushrooM that my wife unknowingly bought is showing some more orange coloring around its mouth and a neon green at its base. I think it is a Rhodactis and hopefully a bounce but who knows. I also bought a fire fish and a bengal cardinal! I feel my tank is finally ready for more fish. I also did my 5-gallon water change and bout a double layer filter floss to really trap all the floating debris. I also saw a very small orange shell that I have never seen before and hope it can be identified. I am at a constant 78.6-79 temperature and 1.026 salinity.

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Daniel266jz

Daniel266jz

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Update- Before the shutdowns happened I got a couple of 5 gallons buckets ready with salt do water changes and bought pellets along with some frozen hikari mysis just in case. The tank is doing very well I actually see two more polyps coming from my blasto and my bleached mushroom is making a comeback, I will post picture when I can but his foot is coloring up neon green and it looks like it has veins! All my corals are doing well and fish also. I had a mushroom detach and float around for a day but he found a new spot hahah. I’m having a major glass algea breakout and my clean up crew is on it but I’ve been having to scrape the glass more often. A good bi product is that the more glass algea I see the more green algea is covering my rocks and I’m having a correline outburst! I will take pics later on today!
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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I think I’ve linked this thread 20 times this week nicely done and many were for tanks above 50 gallons. their CPR work will be costly and painful, big tanker probs heh


great job being willing to guide the algae out vs dose it out, it gets better far far from now lol but I promise !

you don’t have mantis shrimps, aiptasia, benefits of of the clean base rock start
 
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Daniel266jz

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I think I’ve linked this thread 20 times this week nicely done and many were for tanks above 50 gallons. their CPR work will be costly and painful, big tanker probs heh


great job being willing to guide the algae out vs dose it out, it gets better far far from now lol but I promise !

you don’t have mantis shrimps, aiptasia, benefits of of the clean base rock start
Thank you! Here are the promised picture where you can see corraline taking over.

B01925FD-2F57-4743-87FC-AC22159E10E6.jpeg 69B3D2B9-3AEA-45C4-9DA2-9876EDEF4C10.jpeg 99735BF1-E2A3-4B03-A199-65DA44007E72.jpeg 960F58F8-6E0D-4D27-8C8A-9C0E7EC0EC64.jpeg C20D842F-1ECC-46FC-A397-427E219A8F2E.jpeg
 
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Daniel266jz

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Thank you! Here are the promised picture where you can see corraline taking over.

B01925FD-2F57-4743-87FC-AC22159E10E6.jpeg 69B3D2B9-3AEA-45C4-9DA2-9876EDEF4C10.jpeg 99735BF1-E2A3-4B03-A199-65DA44007E72.jpeg 960F58F8-6E0D-4D27-8C8A-9C0E7EC0EC64.jpeg C20D842F-1ECC-46FC-A397-427E219A8F2E.jpeg
Also notice the bleached mushrooms base glowing neon green in the second picture. It’s mouth still has orange around it. My red mushroom in that same picture seems to have white dots kind of like my blue one is that normal?
 
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Daniel266jz

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Update- Did my water change of 5 gallons today. I have seeded my tank with two different types of pods one is tigger pods and the other I will post a picture of. I seeded quite a bit and stored up some live brine for my new ruby red dragonette! Got it yesterday! I also seeded my refugium space and for housing I used some filter floss and created 3 pads for them to house in the refugium since I do not have algea In there. I also have been dosing phytoplankton for these pods in both the display and refuge. I will post pictures. I also think I’ve seen some spirobid worms. For the past day I’ve seen the dragonette roaming around the whole tank eating up pods he can find and he also ate some brine while I was feeding everyone else before the water change. I keep seeing more and more coralline algea pop up on my rocks and I think my glass too if I remeber correctly there was a specific pattern that coralline grows in correct?

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brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Looking great and those live pods are great additions. The coralline tends to be the hard spotty patches that won’t rub off when cleaned externally, can be green or shades of purple/pink etc. so many of the pigments look alike as they exchange generations over time...in X number of months it’ll have large patches of the unremovable coralline as the final deposition
 

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Hi Daniel

Thanks for commenting on my last post
Judging by what you read on it do you think I can add livestock if my tank is process g the 2ppm of ammonia in 24 hours.. It probably doesn't say much that the hermit crab I got yesterday is still fine but how did you get on when you added fish with the nitrites??
 
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Daniel266jz

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Hi Daniel

Thanks for commenting on my last post
Judging by what you read on it do you think I can add livestock if my tank is process g the 2ppm of ammonia in 24 hours.. It probably doesn't say much that the hermit crab I got yesterday is still fine but how did you get on when you added fish with the nitrites??
Hello @Defff21
I simply followed as brandon suggested in this thread. If you read it all, and I know its a lot, you can see the exact instructions I was given. I got my ammonia under control and first bought some starter corals and inverts. Once I did a few water changes and finished setting up my tank and equipment i got some hardy captive raised clowns. I had the clowns alone in the tank for about 2-3 weeks before i started getting my other fish, and they have all been captive bred or quarantined by my favorite LFS. Ive gone from that startpoint and brandons advice to having the tank you see in my latest updates only by logging my temp and salinity, nothing more, and i havent tested my tank for any other parameters since then. Again please give this thread a read and youll have a good starting point.
 

Defff21

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Hi Daniel
Don't think my last message sent, but judging by my own thread do you think I can add livestock now?
How did you get on when you added your fish with the nitrites?
My hermit crab is doing fine but apparently that doesn't actually mean much
 
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Daniel266jz

Daniel266jz

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Hi Daniel
Don't think my last message sent, but judging by my own thread do you think I can add livestock now?
How did you get on when you added your fish with the nitrites?
My hermit crab is doing fine but apparently that doesn't actually mean much
Sorry I was reading the entire thread again. Yes as brandon says once you can process ammonia you can buy inverts and corals to do a fallow (which is optional if you can buy captive bread and/or quarantined then you dont have to do this), i did not go through the fallow as I got impatient but buying healthy fish has helped me along with my prep that i got from brandon. Read through my thread and see what step you want to take next. My fish were totally fine and my corals wide open and eating, it did not affect my livestock at all. I see that they were all worrying about testing and dosing (chemicals). I can tell you 100% that I have only tested (3) times so far, as you can see i did it all per brandons no testing/biology side of reefing and i have fat/happy fish, many corals sprouting new polyps and heads, coralline growing on all of my rocks, and even a bleached mushroom coral making a recovery! Please read the thread and you are free to post here but if you start a build thread and include brandon so he may also help.
 

Defff21

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Okay thanks sorry I'm very new to this forum I find it hard to use haha... I have read through the thread and I'm probably asking stupid questions but per your experience what do you think my next step is.. A friend of mine has some frags for me do you reccomend getting them before my fish? Maybe with some crabs and snails... And where do I go from here as I don't know how to start a build thread etc.. Sorry I know your in work I'm just sick of waiting as you can probably imagine haha
I'm waiting for my intank media basket but I have filter floss and bio media in my first chamber in my next 1 a filter pad half a sponge and some chemi pure (yet to put it in) do you reccomend getting these pods too?
I have been reading up on reefing for months but still feel I know so little

15851555698818762554309261099808.jpg
 
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Daniel266jz

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Okay thanks sorry I'm very new to this forum I find it hard to use haha... I have read through the thread and I'm probably asking stupid questions but per your experience what do you think my next step is.. A friend of mine has some frags for me do you reccomend getting them before my fish? Maybe with some crabs and snails... And where do I go from here as I don't know how to start a build thread etc.. Sorry I know your in work I'm just sick of waiting as you can probably imagine haha
I'm waiting for my intank media basket but I have filter floss and bio media in my first chamber in my next 1 a filter pad half a sponge and some chemi pure (yet to put it in) do you reccomend getting these pods too?
I have been reading up on reefing for months but still feel I know so little

15851555698818762554309261099808.jpg
Dont worry i know exactly how frustrating it is to wait lol. I was in the same boat until brandon helped me out. I would say get some corals (beginner corals, so read up on that!). My first corals were a frogspawn, mushroom, and favia. I would also get some cerith snails(or if no ceriths available then astrea) and some hermit crabs. I did about (5) of each CUC to start since they feed on detritus and algea which you should not have so much in abundance so you dont want to have them starve if you get too many. Then you should start reading up on fallowing, which there should be a post that was sent to me by brandon which you can read, also read about fish disease and get familiar with it as i did. You have to be very vigilant of your tank so you can really learn and be able to discern things that are going on within the tank. Keep good and diligent on the water changes they help a lot. After you figure out what your plan is whether to fallow or not you can decide whether to get fish yet. If you do decide to get fish get something hardy like a clownfish and let your tank mature for some weeks while practicing your maintenance and just be vigilant and as your tank matures you can see if it can handle the bioload for more fish, but most importantly watch for disease and quaratine or get quaratined fish so you do not introduce disease once you start stocking it up. Theres many things to watch as it matures but i do not want to overload you. Im sure brandon will chip in and i will help you also. Just follow what ive done is basically my advice :) This is exactly how i got started. You can also see if you can start a build thread where brandon and myself can see your updates so we may help and guide. I am fairly new also so sometimes i might not have an answer so we can see what our other reefers have to say, remember Im just arriving to the coralline stage in my first tank
 
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Daniel266jz

Daniel266jz

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Okay thanks sorry I'm very new to this forum I find it hard to use haha... I have read through the thread and I'm probably asking stupid questions but per your experience what do you think my next step is.. A friend of mine has some frags for me do you reccomend getting them before my fish? Maybe with some crabs and snails... And where do I go from here as I don't know how to start a build thread etc.. Sorry I know your in work I'm just sick of waiting as you can probably imagine haha
I'm waiting for my intank media basket but I have filter floss and bio media in my first chamber in my next 1 a filter pad half a sponge and some chemi pure (yet to put it in) do you reccomend getting these pods too?
I have been reading up on reefing for months but still feel I know so little

15851555698818762554309261099808.jpg
What pods are you asking about? Also, to answer your filtration question. I DO NOT USE ANY CHEMICAL FILTRATION! All i use is a filter floss! Save the chemicals for later as im sure youve read from brandon here in this thread. I am letting my tank balance itself out and go through the required stages. If you introduce chemcial media that could start you off on the wrong foot and you can research that more if youd like. The bio media is fine its like having live rock! Id clean that sponge religiously or just use filter floss you can exchange every couple of days its easier.
 

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Hello all! My name is Daniel from Florida and I’m starting to get into the reef hobby. I have been cycling my tank for two weeks now and logging it into an app. I have recently been gifted a live rock with some good amount of coralline on it. I also got some water from and established tank. My ammonia gets eaten very quickly but my nitrites are super high. Will this rock help speed up the process and help coralline spread? I used dry sand and dried rock, and I’m doing a fishless cycle. Oh and no lights during this whole cycle.

Thank you.

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Welcome to the hobby,I also have 32 gallon biocube, had my ups and downs until I found out what works for me. The only advice I can give you is PATIENCE IS KEY.... And enjoy your fish tank looking forward to seeing your tank grow
 

Defff21

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What pods are you asking about? Also, to answer your filtration question. I DO NOT USE ANY CHEMICAL FILTRATION! All i use is a filter floss! Save the chemicals for later as im sure youve read from brandon here in this thread. I am letting my tank balance itself out and go through the required stages. If you introduce chemcial media that could start you off on the wrong foot and you can research that more if youd like. The bio media is fine its like having live rock! Id clean that sponge religiously or just use filter floss you can exchange every couple of days its easier.

Hi Daniel
So I done. A 50% water change again today and I know nitrites don't matter but there 1+ and my nitrates are 50+ my test kit only reads to 50 its my second waterchange this week but nitrates still the same and havnt dosed ammonia in days?
I have tried to get in contact with Brandon for advice but no avail
Are my nitrates too high to add my frags
I have 4 hermit crabs and 3 turbo snails in my tank at the minute.
Only bio media and filter floss.
 

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