My BioCube 32 Build

[Reef8008]

Some photos from today as we are finally going on almost a month of having the GHA under control and feeling good about the state of the tank. Our only current issue is that the devils hand has been looking droopy for about 2 weeks and hasn’t shed a coat in 2 months which has us concerned but hopefully it comes back.

The approach that has seemed to be working well for us on the GHA battlefront has been using some grout scrubbing brushes I picked up from Amazon to get off the big stuff. We also added some chaeto and pods into the second chamber and shut down the protein skimmer in late May. In June we picked up the ultimate eco pack from AlgaeBarn and have been using the OceanMagik and PNS daily in the mornings while doing our regular feeding in the evenings. The chaeto and AlgaeBarn routine has helped to the point where even my wife is commenting on how nice the tank looks after the months of GHA over runs.

I have a new biocube 32 and am wanting to add refugium - also in chamber 2. What lighting, if any, did you use for your fuge? And are you still using the stock media tray or did you end up going with the inTank media trays? Tips?

 

[cconnolly]

I have a new biocube 32 and am wanting to add refugium - also in chamber 2. What lighting, if any, did you use for your fuge? And are you still using the stock media tray or did you end up going with the inTank media trays? Tips?

I used this light and just stuck it directly on the glass using some double sided adhesive strips I had. I have it schedule to turn on at 10PM and off at 6AM which has been working well for me so far.

I just dropped a ball of chaeto I got at the bottom of second chamber and still use the stock setup. Occasionally little bits of chaeto will be in the tank but it doesn’t bother me enough to buy the InTank setup. I’ve been keeping on top of trimming it but I imagine if you didn’t it would get all tangled in the stock basket and be a pain.

 

[Reef8008]

Thank you! Great info.
I just ordered the light and a small ball of clean chaeto from algaebarn. I want to get it started now even though I still have maybe a couple weeks of cycling - about a week into algae showing up. And not sure if warranted or not, but I have attention on CO2 buildup - I have the lid on my tank and imagine the chaeto would help not only with nutrient control but also CO2 and oxygen.
Thank you again for the info!

 

[Kenneth Wingerter]

In June we picked up the ultimate eco pack from AlgaeBarn and have been using the OceanMagik and PNS daily in the mornings while doing our regular feeding in the evenings. The chaeto and AlgaeBarn routine has helped to the point where even my wife is commenting on how nice the tank looks after the months of GHA over runs.

Nice! Still using the Ultimate Ecopack? Did the GHA ever return?

 

[cconnolly]

Nice! Still using the Ultimate Ecopack? Did the GHA ever return?

I don’t order the full ultimate eco pack now. Just switched to ocean magic and the pns. Been working wonderfully for me and I still see pods from when I used the eco pack. Saves me like $25 and seems to be accomplishing the same goal so far

Still no signs of GHA so been feeling great about the progress

 

[CavalierReef]

Greetings from up the road at Crozet and thanks for sharing your story. I love that your kids (and dog) are interested in the tank. I've been running a 32 Biocube for about 16 months now and love the little tank. I've been keeping saltwater aquariums on and off since 1974 from a 180 gallon and several in between down to this being my smallest. It's a neat little tank and easier to maintain than most IMHO. I don't know who "your local fish store" is but I drive to Tiki Corals from here. If I lived in Richmond I'd be broke. Good luck and keep us posted with the progress. Here's a partial shot of mine at the 9 month mark.

 

[cconnolly]

Greetings from up the road at Crozet and thanks for sharing your story. I love that your kids (and dog) are interested in the tank. I've been running a 32 Biocube for about 16 months now and love the little tank. I've been keeping saltwater aquariums on and off since 1974 from a 180 gallon and several in between down to this being my smallest. It's a neat little tank and easier to maintain than most IMHO. I don't know who "your local fish store" is but I drive to Tiki Corals from here. If I lived in Richmond I'd be broke. Good luck and keep us posted with the progress. Here's a partial shot of mine at the 9 month mark.

Your tank looks awesome. I hope to get ours stable and thriving at some point.

We live around the corner from FishWorld and go there or buy things online. We have heard all the good things about Tiki and do intend to go there at some point.

 

[cconnolly]

We went on vacation for 2.5 weeks and had a friend who was topping off, dosing and feeding while we were gone.

Good news is still no sign of GHA!

Bad news is we have some patches of red algae that is quickly spreading. Trying to do some over sized water changes and hope we can get it under control. Also a decent sized bubble algae has appeared so I need to work on removing that as well.

 

[cconnolly]

Needed to post an update.

Got the red algae/cyano outbreak taken care of with some heavy water changes after a couple weeks it was completely gone and has not returned thankfully.

We did have a fish death where our diamond goby died off. After a month or so of no diamond goby we decided to get another one as we had gotten so used to the clean sand look it gave the tank. Unfortunately the replacement did not fare well. I think our female clown was chasing the new diamond goby and it jumped into the rear compartment where the return pump was. Luckily I found the fish in there, caught it and put it back in the display. Unfortunately the next morning I couldn't find the fish in the display tank so I went looking in the rear sections again. This time the goby was less fortunate and had jumped in the middle section and landed on the filter floss so I found its dead body. We have since ordered the InTank Fish Saver guard before we attempt to add another goby to keep the sand bed clean. Never thought jumping would be an issue in a covered tank like a BioCube

 

[cconnolly]

We have added a couple more small corals and are still seeing strong growth from all our existing corals except our devils hand leather. That one seems to be surviving instead of thriving like the rest of them. Ill try to post some updated pictures here shortly

 

[cconnolly]

 

[cconnolly]

 

[cconnolly]

Finally was able to get a new small Diamond goby to keep the sandbed clean after the last one jumped into the rear chamber.

First day was looking rough with it as it basically didn’t move and was barely breathing. Turned out the lights and the next morning it was cruising around like it owned the place. Hasn’t done much rearranging yet but has been cleaning the sandbed right up now that it’s settled after a couple days.

 

[cconnolly]

I borrowed a PAR meter to help dial in the lighting in our other tank but figured while I had it to see what the BioCube was actually putting out.

Dead center on the sandbed was at 95. The section where our fuzzy green mushrooms grow out of control is at 120. The top of our rearmost rock work where our red disco mushrooms grow very happily is at 100. The left side where our Duncan’s and candy canes grow is at 110. The two back corners where we have a favia and a birds nest which don’t grow but don’t look unhealthy are at 70.

And of course some fresh pictures of how things are looking in it lately

 

[cconnolly]

My corals were starting to look a little unhappy and tjr only thing I could find wrong was that my nitrates were at zero.

I’ve vastly increased my feedings and the corals are staring to look much better. Our candy cane split into a new head today and our devils hand shed a layer yesterday. So while nitrates are still at zero things are looking up.