My Biocube29 is two years old. Time for a build thread
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Lol.
That's a great tank!
We will of course need or pictures.
Hmm. My 55 is almost 3. Oh the pressure !
That's a great tank!
We will of course need or pictures.
Hmm. My 55 is almost 3. Oh the pressure !
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Bunnee911
Valuable Member
No.
Being a FOWLR, I had never checked anything that the API dipstick didn't test for. So, there has been a lot of learning involved.
My rock was lousy with nitrate and phosphate. Let's just agree that I have done lots of water changes. It took a good 16 months to purge my live rock.
When the BC was first set up, my live rock had red turf algae. Well, that is gone and I kinda miss it. It was colorful. I have a tiny bit of gha now that my lawnmower blenny is cultivating.
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Bunnee911
Valuable Member
I think. I never named them, so I dunno. The clowns are about 10 years old and never spawned but that is another story.
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Bunnee911
Valuable Member
My FOWLR was a 55 and it had gotten to the point that I can't handle 5g of saltwater in my old age and disability. So, I decided on an all in one cube. The JBJ and the Corallife were the two that I researched.
I went with the Corallife because it was a little cheaper and seems more customizable. And I did customize.
Before any rock or animals were moved, I purchased the InTank media rack and fuge. I run it with biorings in the bottom, Chemipure in the middle (suspended) and pillow fluff in the top.
The Chemipure is changed monthly and the pillow floss every couple of days.
As the lights ran too hot, I took the back flap off and replaced it with eggcrate.
Then, I zip tied a muffin fan on top. This made my top off water go crazy, so I purchased the Tunze Nano ATO. Problem solved. And, kalkwasser in the top off jug made my corraline algae go nuts. YES!
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Bunnee911
Valuable Member
Did I tell ya that I set up a ten g planted SW tank full of caulerpa and chaeto? Well, that worked for a while. Of course it went sexual on me. Looked like chocolate milk. No fish or corals died.
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Bunnee911
Valuable Member
Water change time. How did I get around having buckets of water you ask? Let me explain.
Tractor Supply has dog food bins that are food safe and have wheels. Wheels are good. A pump inside the bin is better than good. No more buckets.
I purchased the RO Buddy and an inline TDS meter. It is mounted in my wash room. Two years and the only thing needing replaced was the DI resin. Lasts about a year with the amount of water I use. This is a chore. A messy chore best accomplished outside. A large fishhook is needed to pop the top cover off the DI canister. Make sure you pack it well when you refill it.
What have I learned that might help another newboot?
Glad you asked:
Quarantine Everything.
I have had aiptasia, zoa eating nudibranchs, and bryopsis.
For the aiptasia, peppermint shrimp did the trick in the front of the tank. But they can't reach the back.
So, I drained the back and used kalk paste. That cleared the rest out. For now.
The nudibranchs were harder. I had to remove all my zoas to the quarantine tank and dip them in Bayer every 3 days. While that was going on, I ran flat worm exit a couple different times in the BC. I basically then went fallow as far as zoas in the tank. I don't remember the lifespan of the nudibranchs, but google is your friend. I waited that long and waited some more.
Nudibranch free for a year or so now.
Learn to test your parameters.
The kit doesn't matter in the beginning. Just learn to test. As you get better and your tank improves, get better test kits. You are learning to keep salt water. Keep it as close to NSW as you can.
Don't chase ph. It has more to do with your air than your tank. Google Randy Holmes-Farley. He has the most wonderful articles posted. Swell guy too. Now if someone would translate his articles into blonde we would be golden. Lol
If you think you are going slow, slow down more. Thanks Diesel.
Don't buy too many corals at first. These things grow and go to war with each other. Now they need a trim.
All acropora are sticks. Not all sticks are acropora. The line between LPS and SPS is sometimes blurry.
Just learn about the coral you want to keep. Then buy it.
The stock lights in a Biocube will grow most corals. Some not well, but for a beginner the lights are perfectly adequate for a long time. Replace the bulbs every year. I could see a difference in 8 months.
If you have the new LED they are even better.
Heaters fail. Usually at the worst time. Have spares. Use a controller. I got mine from the big river. It has a heater and my muffin fan attached. Will hold the tank to within 3 degrees. Here is the wiring diagram.
Stray voltage
Get a meter and learn how to use it. I had it and it went down a little every time I unplugged something. Dang everything was putting out stray voltage. I bought a probe for it and just forgot about it. It's debatable if this is a good thing. You will learn that everything is debatable. There is no right way. What works, works. Simple.
Saving money
There are lots of places you can save money in this hobby. Equipment isn't really one of them unless you buy used. But consumables! Yes. Look for recipies for nearly any additive. I use kalkwasser. I buy a big bag of pickling lime for kalk. Nopox? Vinegar and vodka. Nori from the grocery store. The list goes on and on. Did I tell ya about the pillow stuffing? Yea from the hobby store. Use it instead of the mesh stuff.
Things change
When I started in salt water, we had very few resources to check on. The library and magazines was it. Maybe a few other folks had heard something about it, but fellow reefers were few. My first tank in the early 80s was a 55g with a canister filter. Lighting wasn't important because we couldn't get our hands on coral. I had a copper banded butterfly, a tomato clown, and some damsels. I topped off with tap water. Heck that was all we had. My cbb lived 8 years and ate tetra bits. We had no idea they needed live food. Here. This says fish food on it.
When I broke the 55 FOWLR down, it had a 6 inch sand bed. Never touched it. Wow was that a disaster. We ended up having to open windows. The muck and h2s was awful. Why my fish and mushrooms lived thru that, I'll never know. Anyway, about the change. Ha ha I found a fellow on here that espoused deep cleaning the substrate and large water changes.
http://reef2reef.com/threads/the-of...ead-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445
That will never work. You will loose the magic from the sand and water. The good bacteria will never stand that. Yup I fought that idea for months before giving in and trying it. If he can keep a reef in a jar and do deep cleaning and 100% water changes, maybe I could vacuum a little and do 30% water changes. Guess what. The parameters got better and better the fish put on weight and the mushrooms went nutz. So, I learned.
We are learning so much so fast right now it boggles my old brain. Tank bred fish. Coral frags that haven't been in the ocean for generations. Just recently we learned how to eliminate bryopsis.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bryopsis-cure-my-battle-with-bryopsis-using-fluconazole.285096/
Tractor Supply has dog food bins that are food safe and have wheels. Wheels are good. A pump inside the bin is better than good. No more buckets.
I purchased the RO Buddy and an inline TDS meter. It is mounted in my wash room. Two years and the only thing needing replaced was the DI resin. Lasts about a year with the amount of water I use. This is a chore. A messy chore best accomplished outside. A large fishhook is needed to pop the top cover off the DI canister. Make sure you pack it well when you refill it.
What have I learned that might help another newboot?
Glad you asked:
Quarantine Everything.
I have had aiptasia, zoa eating nudibranchs, and bryopsis.
For the aiptasia, peppermint shrimp did the trick in the front of the tank. But they can't reach the back.
So, I drained the back and used kalk paste. That cleared the rest out. For now.
The nudibranchs were harder. I had to remove all my zoas to the quarantine tank and dip them in Bayer every 3 days. While that was going on, I ran flat worm exit a couple different times in the BC. I basically then went fallow as far as zoas in the tank. I don't remember the lifespan of the nudibranchs, but google is your friend. I waited that long and waited some more.
Nudibranch free for a year or so now.
Learn to test your parameters.
The kit doesn't matter in the beginning. Just learn to test. As you get better and your tank improves, get better test kits. You are learning to keep salt water. Keep it as close to NSW as you can.
Don't chase ph. It has more to do with your air than your tank. Google Randy Holmes-Farley. He has the most wonderful articles posted. Swell guy too. Now if someone would translate his articles into blonde we would be golden. Lol
If you think you are going slow, slow down more. Thanks Diesel.
Don't buy too many corals at first. These things grow and go to war with each other. Now they need a trim.
All acropora are sticks. Not all sticks are acropora. The line between LPS and SPS is sometimes blurry.
Just learn about the coral you want to keep. Then buy it.
The stock lights in a Biocube will grow most corals. Some not well, but for a beginner the lights are perfectly adequate for a long time. Replace the bulbs every year. I could see a difference in 8 months.
If you have the new LED they are even better.
Heaters fail. Usually at the worst time. Have spares. Use a controller. I got mine from the big river. It has a heater and my muffin fan attached. Will hold the tank to within 3 degrees. Here is the wiring diagram.
Stray voltage
Get a meter and learn how to use it. I had it and it went down a little every time I unplugged something. Dang everything was putting out stray voltage. I bought a probe for it and just forgot about it. It's debatable if this is a good thing. You will learn that everything is debatable. There is no right way. What works, works. Simple.
Saving money
There are lots of places you can save money in this hobby. Equipment isn't really one of them unless you buy used. But consumables! Yes. Look for recipies for nearly any additive. I use kalkwasser. I buy a big bag of pickling lime for kalk. Nopox? Vinegar and vodka. Nori from the grocery store. The list goes on and on. Did I tell ya about the pillow stuffing? Yea from the hobby store. Use it instead of the mesh stuff.
Things change
When I started in salt water, we had very few resources to check on. The library and magazines was it. Maybe a few other folks had heard something about it, but fellow reefers were few. My first tank in the early 80s was a 55g with a canister filter. Lighting wasn't important because we couldn't get our hands on coral. I had a copper banded butterfly, a tomato clown, and some damsels. I topped off with tap water. Heck that was all we had. My cbb lived 8 years and ate tetra bits. We had no idea they needed live food. Here. This says fish food on it.
When I broke the 55 FOWLR down, it had a 6 inch sand bed. Never touched it. Wow was that a disaster. We ended up having to open windows. The muck and h2s was awful. Why my fish and mushrooms lived thru that, I'll never know. Anyway, about the change. Ha ha I found a fellow on here that espoused deep cleaning the substrate and large water changes.
http://reef2reef.com/threads/the-of...ead-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445
That will never work. You will loose the magic from the sand and water. The good bacteria will never stand that. Yup I fought that idea for months before giving in and trying it. If he can keep a reef in a jar and do deep cleaning and 100% water changes, maybe I could vacuum a little and do 30% water changes. Guess what. The parameters got better and better the fish put on weight and the mushrooms went nutz. So, I learned.
We are learning so much so fast right now it boggles my old brain. Tank bred fish. Coral frags that haven't been in the ocean for generations. Just recently we learned how to eliminate bryopsis.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bryopsis-cure-my-battle-with-bryopsis-using-fluconazole.285096/
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Bunnee I really enjoy reading your tanks progression
look at that purpleness the hallmark of a cared for system, it looks older than it is
I think I see another reef tank to the side, a double reef setup- jealz
you have that line of mushrooms going back to the 80s that's amazing my oldest line is only 15 yrs~ and what a dandy even getting that long past hardware failures etc
hey for some time this system ran without LED's right??? did you grow all that coralline w LED's I sure cant and Id bribe my system to do it if I could.
look at that purpleness the hallmark of a cared for system, it looks older than it is
I think I see another reef tank to the side, a double reef setup- jealz
you have that line of mushrooms going back to the 80s that's amazing my oldest line is only 15 yrs~ and what a dandy even getting that long past hardware failures etc
hey for some time this system ran without LED's right??? did you grow all that coralline w LED's I sure cant and Id bribe my system to do it if I could.
Subsea
5000 Club Member
The blues mushrooms and green mushrooms were from the 80s too. The strain, not the original animals..
I think. I never named them, so I dunno. The clowns are about 10 years old and never spawned but that is another story.
Outstanding picture. Beautiful color contrast with mushrooms and the clown is acting coy with the camera.
Captain Quint
Plank Owner of the Orca
Where have you been hiding saltyfilmfolks? lol
Bunnee911 you have done well.
Love all the pics and your write-ups. Great thread and thanks for sharing.
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