Never did a build thread, here are my two tanks!

[Razorp]

So I realized I never did a build thread on either of my two tanks so here it goes.

FIRST TANK- 16G BIOCUBE LED

Here she is about 6 months ago being set up!

I did a fish less cycle with dr Tim’s and ammonia that took about 2 weeks.

EQUIPMENT-
Heater in chamber 1.
Chamber 2. (top to bottom) filter floss, carbon, chemical pure elite, ceramic media.
Chamber 3. UV light, thermometer probe.

return pump has rotating random flow head.

hygger dc wave maker.

Current stock- 2 bubble tip anemones , 2 torches (one indo gold) , one riccordia, one branching hammer, one favia, one lobo.
2 clowns, 1 royal gramma, 1 yellow watchman , 1 pistol shrimp, 1 emerald crab, probably 25 cuc “hermit and snail mix” (I tried a 6 line and my pistol shrimp spat his remains out of the cave one day)
I won’t be adding anymore livestock as I know I’m pushing it already. (Just an excuse to talk my wife into another tank)

Tank is right at 6 months old right now and so far so good. Just got my own rodi unit and can tell a huge difference in coral health. I was buying water from the local water store.

currently testing ph, nitrates, ammonia, salinity and temp.

only thing I dose is searchem stability, and coralpro aminos

I did just purchase Mag, phosphate, and calc test kits. Waiting on those to arrive.

im using coral pro salt.

last test results
Ph- 8.4
Nitrates - 5ish
Ammonia - 0
Salinity- 1.025
Temp- 78.5
Weekly 5 gallon water changes. Was doing 2.5 gallons, but nitrates were creeping up.

Tank Two is a 5 gallon office tank that I converted from a cheap Walmart special kit.

Here it is about a 2 weeks in.
I used live sand, water from my already cycled tank, 1 piece of dry rock, the rest of the rock is Texas Holey Rock from our land in south Texas.
I built an overflow box for the cheap filter that came with it.
In the filter is filter floss, crushed coral, and carbon.

I used a full spectrum Amazon cheap light that is doing quite well, cut the lid so that it would fit.

that picture is from about 3 weeks ago. I got a bad Dino outbreak and almost lost everything. Finally got that beat and here is the tank as it currently sits (excuse the big ugly uv)

Current testing is the same as the larger tank.
.5 gallon water change weekly.
everything seems to be going well for now.

stock list
6 head torch, hammer that bailed off, feather duster, fire fish,clown goby, cuc crew.

I did glue the torch to the rock so it’s closer to the light, it went through a 4 day black out so it’s looking pale. I kind of want to get a kessil for the tank soon.

anyways, that’s a short version of my two builds without every single little trial and error that I have had.
I am pretty new to the hobby so please let me know any recommendations you might have, and/or questions!

I also keep freshwater (including a 180 gallon African cichlid tank)

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

Great start!! Keep up the great work. Also, love the feather duster!!

 

[ShepherdReefer]

Looks great, super-nice, and love the sizes.

 

[Razorp]

Great start!! Keep up the great work. Also, love the feather duster!!

Thank you! Got nervous about the duster when he disappeared for over a week. But he is staying out consistently now!

 

[Razorp]

Looks great, super-nice, and love the sizes.

Thank you! The wife had me limited to 20 gallons since she had my 180 built for me last Christmas. I do like the fact that I have to watch them very closely. My 180 fresh I can get kind of lazy on, so they keep me on a good routine for everything.

 

[Razorp]

Update on the tanks.

I lost my new clown (literally). My guess is something ate him.

I tested about 2 days after and no ammonia or nitrate spike. Which I thought to be strange.

ph 8.3
Nitrate .5
Salinity a steady 1.025
Temp 78.5
My kalk and mag tests just showed up and haven’t got to use them. Hopefully I can find time tonight after jiu jitsu.

I did a small 2 gallon water change just in case, plus I don’t like to go over a week without doing at least a small one. Even when my parameters that I have been testing are good.

photo taken 11/11/20 at 8am

My tiny 5 gallon

I finally got around to glueing my torch and got it closer to the light. It is quickly getting its green color back, and not stretching to the light anymore! Will continue to monitor it, but it seems happy for now.

this tank is a booger to keep cool, it’s stays right at 79-80 degrees. The light gets really hot but if I open the food flap I can generally drop it at least a degree.

ph 8.4
Nitrates .10
Salinity 1.025 (daily rodi top off done religiously)
Ammonia 0

I have quite a large population of pods in my 5 gallon and I enjoy watching the fire fish pick them off non stop.

 

[lavoisier]

Nice looking tanks. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to seeing the tanks progress.

 

[Razorp]

I had a Christmas/birthday present show up a little early today.... check out my new light!!

i set it on acclimation mode, but man do the corals look so much better than they did under the stock lighting.

 

[Razorp]

Just an update on the two tanks.

still battling dinos in my little 4 gallon nano. I think I’m on the winning side finally but I’m not holding my breath. I’m trying to run more blues and less whites. No water change for almost two weeks now. Running Dino x and no carbon or uv, and temp is raised. Hopefully after this week I can end Dino x and do a large water change and go back to uv and carbon.

the biocube at home is doing very well. Smooth sailing at the moment, corals seem to be adjusting to the AI prime very well. The only down side is my evil clownfish. He picks on all of my corals, he has killed every mate I try to give him, and has now killed my royal gramma. So he will be heading to a fish store sometime soon to be traded for some new baby clowns. I think they will be the only fish I add from here on out. The watchman goby, and his pistol shrimp, and the cleaner shrimp, and emerald crab will be the only other members moving forward.

 

[Razorp]

Update on the 4 gallon office tank that will soon be torn down so that I can replace it with a 36 bow front.

I have battled dinos for almost 4 months now...

After a week with lights on high intensity I think I can finally say they are defeated!

First let me just say I tried every single trick in the book. First I attacked with a 4 day black out. That seemed to work then a week later they were back with a vengeance.
Next I tried a black out with a way oversized UV filter. Same thing, it worked for a few days then dinos were back and worse.

I then tried attacking with good bacteria and raising nitrates and temp. That seemed to make things worse oddly enough.

I only had two corals in here so I went for the extreme route and ordered Dino x. The first 30 day round was unsuccessful. So I did my water change and went about 2 weeks doing nothing other that lowering my light intensity.
I then attacked it with a second round of Dino x for another 30 days.
I have bow got it licked! Did a water change yesterday, along with removing my little power head and detail cleaning it, and my internal uv!
I do have some green hair algae, but I’ll leave it for a bit. I have a suspicion that it might have helped by outcompeting the dinos for nutrients. I also don’t mind the natural look it gives for the time being.

 

[Razorp]

Update on the biocube 16 game room tank. Have been battling gha and some briopsis for about a month. Finally knocked it out with fluco and micro bacter clean! Did two rounds with fluco. First round went 10 days then did a water change. After that I added a second treatment and started dosing micro bacter clean. Haven’t done a water change since that treatment (13 days so far). Will do a water change this week and start running my chemipure elite again.