I inherited a 32 Gallon SaltWater BioCube, and looking for a whole bunch of guidance.

MysticGuyver · Oct 8, 2020

He moved outta the country, I got the ability to make payments and a killer deal.

Here is where I am at now with only a small amount of money invested into some additional livestock, everything else was acquired by him.

BioCube 32 with the following mods/accessories

inTank Media Basket for Coralife LED BioCube 32
inTank Fuge Basket for Coralife LED BioCube 32
JBJ NANO GLO - LED Refugium Light (not installed yet)
2x Mover M1200 pumps (only one in the tank currently)
An LED Upgrade (https://www.stevesleds.com/Biocube-32-LED-Turbo-Upgrade-System-Plug-and-Play\_p\_332.html)
Several Pieces of Live Rock (not really aquascaped, just stacked)
4 STAGE VALUE 150GPD WATER SAVER RO/DI SYSTEM - BULK REEF SUPPLY

Livestock in the tank (I don't think I am missing anything)

2x Emerald Crabs
2x Hermit Crabs (unsure of species I can try and get good photos)
1 Anemone
1 Clownfish
5x Nassarius Snails
Nerite Snail (I think 1 possibly 2)
1 Trochus Snail
1 Fire Shrimp
1 Peppermint Shrimp

Assorted Additional Items

A bunch of Salt
1 CyberPower 1500 UPS
A bunch of Filter Floss
A Portable Refractometer
A Saltwater Testing Kit (I am assuming it's not expired, but I have heard it should be one year from the date that the reagents are opened, versus it's actual printed date, so I am not sure how long is actually left on them.
A Bulb Powered Gravel Cleaner/Siphon
a Frozen Fish Food from Rods Fish Food
Small Super Protein Pellets from Fauna Marin

Long term hopes/ideas

An aquascape beyond Stacked Rock on Sand
Some additional Fish
Some cheaper hearty corals

Rock/Aquascape Question
Since I want to do something beyond stacked rock, could I get away with pulling out all of the rock minus the rock that the Anemone has made its home and break it up and do some more intricate aquascaping? If I can get away with that, there are all sorts of adhesive products, what's a product that people have had good success with that's hopefully easy for a beginner to work with.

If removing the current rock and trying to aquascape it is a bad idea, I was thinking of going with the MarcoRock ReefSaver stuff.

1 or 2 Small Foundation Reef Saver Dry Live Rock - MarcoRocks

4x bags of 8lbs Reef Saver Nano Shelf Dry Live Rock - MarcoRocks (this is based on guidance from BRS regarding quantity)

New Fish Type/Timing Question
I was thinking of getting a fish that would help with Sandbed Aeration - I have seen all sorts of suggestions for different Fish or Fish/Shrimp pairings, and given my current tank configuration, I am not sure which is best, or the timing of when I should be considering adding these additional fish.

Coral Related Question
I know enough to know that the Corals should really be kinda last in terms of what I am trying to do, but when it comes time to go down this road, what would be the suggestions on something fairly cheap and tolerant (for a coral). What equipment should I have in place prior to hitting this stage to be successful.

Equipment Goal question
While staying to the confines of the Nano tank, where should I be looking at in terms of equipment investment, and priority/timeline of getting them.

laverda · Oct 9, 2020

Welcome to R2R.
You can remove your existing rocks and break them up to re do the rock work. Rock work can be glued with marine epoxy available from fish or hardware stores. Less expensive from the hardware store. You can use an hammer with or without a chisel to break up the rocks. You can use carbide topped masonry drills to drill it and cut prices of plastic coat hangers to go in the holes to create stable rock structures that you could not do otherwise. If you change much of the rock your going to have to cycle your tank again.
Do your rock work and let the tank recover before rushing to add fish. When you do, research how big the fish your thinking of getting will grow to. Then what kind of behaviors do they have. You don’t want anything that needs a lot of area to swim in. There are a lot of different gobies and blennys suitable for small tanks.
You should not need much equipment wise. All I would recommend is a controller like an inkbird or used Aquacontroller to control a heater and fan depending on temps there.
Take it slow and enjoy your new tank.

xxkenny90xx · Oct 9, 2020

Sounds like a nice set up, let's see some pics! As far as sand sifters be careful! Gobies are good but alot of them can make a sandstorm. Careful with those leds, if you crank them up too high your hurt your anemone and grow a bunch of algae

KingTideCorals · Oct 9, 2020

Welcome to Reef2Reef! Love the write up and welcome to the forum!

I think my tank tour video would be really beneficial for you to check out! I talk all about the equipment I run on my 25 IM Lagoon tank and also what livestock I have... hint I say go with some awesome soft corals!!

Hope you get a chance to check out the channel, and I am looking forward to updates on the tank!

laverda · Oct 9, 2020

One gobie not to get is an engineer gobie.

MysticGuyver · Oct 10, 2020

laverda said:
Welcome to R2R.
You can remove your existing rocks and break them up to re do the rock work. Rock work can be glued with marine epoxy available from fish or hardware stores. Less expensive from the hardware store. You can use an hammer with or without a chisel to break up the rocks. You can use carbide topped masonry drills to drill it and cut prices of plastic coat hangers to go in the holes to create stable rock structures that you could not do otherwise. If you change much of the rock your going to have to cycle your tank again.
Do your rock work and let the tank recover before rushing to add fish. When you do, research how big the fish your thinking of getting will grow to. Then what kind of behaviors do they have. You don’t want anything that needs a lot of area to swim in. There are a lot of different gobies and blennys suitable for small tanks.
You should not need much equipment wise. All I would recommend is a controller like an inkbird or used Aquacontroller to control a heater and fan depending on temps there.
Take it slow and enjoy your new tank.

Thanks for the reply.

So questions...

Regarding the Plastic Coat Hangers, is that instead of the Fiberglass rods that I have seen mentioned in other Negative Aquascape Videos?

So should I cycle the tank again because I am exposing new parts of the rock? In terms of letting it Cycle again, I already have some livestock in place, so would I be setting up something different for it to Cycle, or waiting out the cycle with the tank in its current state with the livestock that it has?

In terms of fish, I know that in the place that I cross posted this, I was suggested to perhaps get a smaller clown to see if they will bond. So I am figuring that after adding the second clown (after the cycle) that I would wait and see how things play out. Especially considering it looks like my anemone might be in the process of splitting itself and I dunno for sure.

I don't think I would need to worry about a fan, at least as long as the HVAC in the house keeps working.

I have looked at the inkbirds and they have them in a kit at BRS with one of their thermostats. I was also looking at the Cobalt slim profiles because I saw when BRS was reviewing them that the Cobalts were practically a flatline when it came to controlling the tanks temperature. I know that needs to be one of my next expenses as I have a LFS thermostat in the tank right now that while it's keeping the tank fairly stable from what I can tell, I would feel better having something with a higher build quality.

Thanks again!

- Allyn

MysticGuyver · Oct 10, 2020

xxkenny90xx said:
Sounds like a nice set up, let's see some pics! As far as sand sifters be careful! Gobies are good but alot of them can make a sandstorm. Careful with those leds, if you crank them up too high your hurt your anemone and grow a bunch of algae

These are dialed in at the same setting he left them at when they were at high place, and we have it on a cycle that starts at 4pm I think, and goes down at midnight. I will have to work on getting some pics shortly.

MysticGuyver · Oct 10, 2020

ReeferBlaine said:
Welcome to Reef2Reef! Love the write up and welcome to the forum!

I think my tank tour video would be really beneficial for you to check out! I talk all about the equipment I run on my 25 IM Lagoon tank and also what livestock I have... hint I say go with some awesome soft corals!!

Hope you get a chance to check out the channel, and I am looking forward to updates on the tank!

Hey there!

I started watching your video and I got about half way thru, I haven't watched the livestock portion of your video.

Side Note, I used to take broadcasting, so if you are interested in some feedback from that point of view, let me know and I can drop it all in a PM of some-sort.

laverda · Oct 10, 2020

MysticGuyver said:
Thanks for the reply.

So questions...

Regarding the Plastic Coat Hangers, is that instead of the Fiberglass rods that I have seen mentioned in other Negative Aquascape Videos?

So should I cycle the tank again because I am exposing new parts of the rock? In terms of letting it Cycle again, I already have some livestock in place, so would I be setting up something different for it to Cycle, or waiting out the cycle with the tank in its current state with the livestock that it has?

In terms of fish, I know that in the place that I cross posted this, I was suggested to perhaps get a smaller clown to see if they will bond. So I am figuring that after adding the second clown (after the cycle) that I would wait and see how things play out. Especially considering it looks like my anemone might be in the process of splitting itself and I dunno for sure.

I don't think I would need to worry about a fan, at least as long as the HVAC in the house keeps working.

I have looked at the inkbirds and they have them in a kit at BRS with one of their thermostats. I was also looking at the Cobalt slim profiles because I saw when BRS was reviewing them that the Cobalts were practically a flatline when it came to controlling the tanks temperature. I know that needs to be one of my next expenses as I have a LFS thermostat in the tank right now that while it's keeping the tank fairly stable from what I can tell, I would feel better having something with a higher build quality.

Thanks again!

- Allyn

Yes’m the plastic coat hangers serve the same purpose. The bih advantage is you probably have a few handy already and they are super cheap.
You should not need to cycle the tank all over again, unless the rock is out of the water a long time or you use new rock.
Adding a smaller clown is the best way to add another one. Make sure it is notably smaller, not just barley smaller. The ink bird is more accurate than the controller built into the heater, it will also make you heater last longer. Set the heater a degree or 2 higher than you set your inkbird to. Because of the way stand alone heaters are made and controlled the temperature they turn on and off at can vary a couple degrees either way.