Hello Reef 15 Gallon Cube Build Thread

[DiamondDog1030]

Hi all,

I am getting started on my Hello Reef 15-gallon tank as an intro into the hobby. Just got the tank and stand set up (no water yet) and built an aquascape. Not sure about stocking plans right now and just following the videos until it cycles. I was thinking of just following the two clownfish and the clean-up crew. Got 20 gallons of RODI water sitting next to the tank right now and hoping to make some progress this week.

For equipment, the kit came with:

• Eheim Jager 50W heater
• Sicce Micra Plus Return Pump
• Sicce Voyager Nano
• A filter sock (already have 2 more, so 3 total)
• Refractometer
• Temperature Strip for side of tank
• Scraper (Handheld one)
• AI Blade light
• Carib Sea Rock (8pcs)
• 10lbs of Carib Sea Fiji Pink Sand
• 16 Gallons worth of Aqua Forest Reef Salt
• Bag of Bio Media
• Bag of Activated Carbon
• 2 Large sponges for back chamber

I also bought:

• The extra filter socks I mentioned
• A Kasa smart power strip
• Handheld HM TDS Meter
• Magnetic Scraper with temperature readout (from Amazon)
• 2 5 Gallon Buckets from Home Depot (with 1 lid)
• 1 2 Gallon Bucket from HD

I am terrible at giving consistent updates, but I hope any readers can bear with me here.

 

[Fish Fan]

Looks like an awesome start! Good luck with your build and keep us updated!

 

[DiamondDog1030]

As a quick update, I just added the saltwater into the tank. Need to adjust the salt after the water heats up, but then we can add bottle bacteria.

Side note, mad respect for those who can lift their whole aquascape into their tank. I could barely keep mine together, even with epoxy.

 

[DiamondDog1030]

Hello,

Been a few days since I made an update. Thought it would be seamless, but small issues came up. The rock that was the top of my arch in the aquascape fell off. Guess the arch was a little too stressful for the epoxy, and some of the epoxy broke apart in the water.

Got some advice from Hello Reef support and did a gallon and a half water change. Seemed to get rid of the epoxy smell and all that. Salinity is hovering at 31-32 ppm, so I am trying to just refill evaporation with saltwater.

Was planning to start cycling the tank once the salinity checks out. My bottle bac expires tomorrow... so hopefully this is ok. Hello Reef has decided to do ghost feeding for the cycling and gave BRS pellets for that.

Also, I got an Inkbird controller for Prime Day, and I was wondering if there was a better place or better way to get the probes into the chamber under the filter sock? Just kinda pushed the filter sock bracket down on the probes.

 

[Red_Beard]

Nice setup! I would try and see if you could mount the probes in the other chamber, just upstream of the heater. I dont think there is a better way to get it to work in the sock chamber.

 

[tbrown]

Beautiful so far! I love my HelloReef GloFish tank.

I changed a few of the decorations (didn't use the fake plants) and added a few of my own.

 

[tbrown]

I promise the fish isn't dead. He's eating algae on the front glass.

 

[DiamondDog1030]

Nice setup! I would try and see if you could mount the probes in the other chamber, just upstream of the heater. I dont think there is a better way to get it to work in the sock chamber.

Thanks for the advice! Just wanted to get some clarification on that. Did you mean putting the probes on the left side of the chamber where the heater is?

 

[Red_Beard]

Nice setup! I would try and see if you could mount the probes in the other chamber, just upstream of the heater. I dont think there is a better way to get it to work in the sock chamber.

Thanks for the advice! Just wanted to get some clarification on that. Did you mean putting the probes on the left side of the chamber where the heater is?

Yep, right here, if that works.

 

[DiamondDog1030]

I promise the fish isn't dead. He's eating algae on the front glass.

The tank looks great, I saw that they offered a freshwater kit too, and was fence sitting between that and mine. Glad he's just grazing, blends in there pretty well.

 

[DiamondDog1030]

Yep, right here, if that works.

Definitely could work, I was worried that the inkbird would read warmer than the rest of the water in the display, but the tank seems small enough that it kind of maintains its temp around pretty well. I'll give it a go. Thanks

 

[Red_Beard]

Definitely could work, I was worried that the inkbird would read warmer than the rest of the water in the display, but the tank seems small enough that it kind of maintains its temp around pretty well. I'll give it a go. Thanks

No worries :) there will be enough flow that it shouldnt read any differently than the display temp. You just want to make sure it isnt downstream of the heater, then it would read higher than it should.

 

[tbrown]

Personally I'd put it next to and slightly in front of the return nozzle.

 

[tbrown]

Or, yeah, the sock chamber.

 

[DiamondDog1030]

I'll be trying both locations to see which one is working better. The only downside of the probes under the sock is fighting to get the sock out.

 

[tbrown]

Take the plate and notch the side with a hacksaw just enough for the wire to fit? It'll potentially allow a small short circuit but not enough to be any problem.

 

[DiamondDog1030]

That is an option, I might buy a hacksaw to give it a try (maybe).

For now, the tank is cycling with Dr.Tim's included with the kit. 1 day before the best by date is a little scary, but I am hoping it's still good. The worst case is that I need to supplement more bacteria in a week. Will test nitrate or nitrite in a day or two, just to see if it is working.

Will keep the thread posted.

 

[DiamondDog1030]

Update to the thread here.

Still cycling, nitrite spike seems to have started, but ammonia isn't too high to call a spike either. It might just be the ghost feeding process. I am just going to assume the process of cycling is happening.

I was looking at where the food settles and noticed it all settles under my archway. I was told that for my tank, putting a power head on either the right or left towards the front is best. Any advice on how to not have nearly as many dead spots for a 15-gallon cube?

Red is where I was told to put the power heads, blue is the return pump, and green is the return chamber (is that what it is called?).

 

[tbrown]

Green goes to the back (overflow) and blue comes back (return)?

I'd personally move one of the powerheads more towards the middle front and then lower one or the other so it gets more circulation through the whole tank but still hits each other for some randomness.

 

[DiamondDog1030]

Yeah, green is the overflow, and blue is the return pump to display.

I only have one powerhead, a Sicce voyager nano. I was told it should go on the right in the photo, so it guides the flow in a circular motion. The problem was that food would just sort of land under the arch structure and just sit there. Felt that was kinda bad. Putting the powerhead on the left in the picture sends the leftover food to sort of gather around the rock in the back left corner.