My 30g cube build log

BuaidhNoBas · Apr 7, 2016

Couldn't wait to see what it would look like with the lights on, so I went ahead and hung the Kessil.

BuaidhNoBas · Apr 8, 2016

A bit of pleasant news; did some water quality testing tonight and found I now have zero ammonia. Nitrite and nitrate are through the roof. Rock will hopefully go into the tank this weekend, with some live sand. Now I'm wondering if I should bother with the bottle of Bio-Spira I bought - says on the bottle it's nitrifying bacteria, which I think I already have given the low ammonia. Thoughts?

jmann124 · Apr 8, 2016

The ammonia and such will likely change once the rock is added.

BuaidhNoBas · Apr 8, 2016

jmann124 said:
The ammonia and such will likely change once the rock is added.

I should have specified; I was testing the water in my rock, which has been curing in tubs for a few weeks now.

jmann124 · Apr 8, 2016

Right on. The bio-spira shouldn't hurt. Could actually help give a little more beneficial bacteria.

novajohn01 · Apr 8, 2016

Looking good

BuaidhNoBas · Apr 9, 2016

She's in final position, all leveled up, and getting filled up with salt water! Rocks and sand will go in as soon as I can make 30 gallons is salt water.

BuaidhNoBas · Apr 10, 2016

Long day, but: sand and rock is in the tank! Man, Ocean Direct live sand is cloudy. Hopefully it clears up soon. I feel like I put way too much rock in there, will have to see once the (literal) dust settles. Still have a 5 gallon bucket chock full out in the garage as well.

BuaidhNoBas · Apr 12, 2016

Getting crowded in there, but nearly everything is in and fired up!

ScottMyers123 · Apr 13, 2016

Looking good! Glad to see you got is started.

BuaidhNoBas · Apr 14, 2016

Did a little rockscaping

BuaidhNoBas · May 5, 2016

I know I haven't updated in a while - been crazy busy at work. Tank is coming along, been relatively stable so far. Current inhabitants: Randall's Goby with tiger shrimp, pair of Sustainable Aquatics Blacker Ice clowns, skunk cleaner shrimp, and a couple of Astro snails. Purple firefish will be ready to come out of QT in a couple of days. Got some algae growth but it's been pretty minimal - chaeto is growing well in fuge which is likely offsetting. The couple of zoa frags and one acan frag that are in there seem to be happy enough, will likely go looking for some more coral this weekend.

bknapp · May 8, 2016

Nice! I've always wanted to pair up a pistol and goby.

BuaidhNoBas · May 9, 2016

bknapp said:
Nice! I've always wanted to pair up a pistol and goby.

They are awesome to watch together. I didn't see the shrimp for the first few weeks and I thought he was dead. Eventually he hooked up with the Goby. Seems like they have some complicated network dug under the rocks, they periodically peak out of three different burrows, all under one rock. The goby is a scaredy cat, just now getting to where he will venture out more than a couple inches for food and doesn't dart back into his hole when I go up to the tank. He's beautiful when he raises his fin though.

BuaidhNoBas · May 10, 2016

bknapp said:
Nice! I've always wanted to pair up a pistol and goby.

Funny we should be discussing this - Radiolab's most recent podcast is about pistol shrimps, World War 2, and medical innovation (seriously). It's a phenomenal story - listen here.

BuaidhNoBas · Jun 25, 2016

It's getting crowded on the back of the canopy.....
Added LSM and IceCap controller for Gyre today.

star fawkes · Jul 25, 2016

Anything new going on with your tank lately? Interested to see a current picture.

BuaidhNoBas · Jul 25, 2016

Finally got it fully stocked (with fish anyway). Corals are in, some are growing, others look happy but have yet to take off. Will try to get a pic sometime soon - I can't seem to figure out how to get a decent pic with my phone, and my wife has the only non-phone camera in the house. Will have to convince her to help!

star fawkes · Jul 25, 2016

I use filters when I take pictures with my phone: http://www.buckfever-taxidermy.com/GelFilters.php

Also how are you liking your Gyre? I have a 130 on my Biocube and I have it set on 10% forward and 50% backward and it's a ridiculous amount of flow. I see yours is mounted vertical on the back, how do you like it in that position? Have you tried in other places?

BuaidhNoBas · Jul 25, 2016

star fawkes said:
I use filters when I take pictures with my phone: http://www.buckfever-taxidermy.com/GelFilters.php

Also how are you liking your Gyre? I have a 130 on my Biocube and I have it set on 10% forward and 50% backward and it's a ridiculous amount of flow. I see yours is mounted vertical on the back, how do you like it in that position? Have you tried in other places?

Thanks for the link, I will check those out.

I like the gyre, I think if I had it mounted horizontally I wouldn't be able to run it past minimum without it throwing sand all over. The way it is, I run it at 40% and pulse up to 50% and get good, laminar flow all over the tank without disrupting the sand too much. I haven't experimented with moving it, don't think I could run it any other way without blowing the whole dang tank about. Glad i didn't get the 150!