New to these forums - I've been keeping reef tanks since 2003 and didn't spend much time in forums over the last 5 years or so. Found that Reef Central has minimal engagement for smaller tanks and found this forum on recommendation from someone in local club (GIRS).
Seems like I never take too much of a break since starting saltwater in 2003 - there were +/- 8 months in 2008 then this recent break from June 2018 until now when I sold my 120 due to a move to W. Des Moines. Really wasn't planning on starting again but I found a sweet deal on this tank and my wife and daughter really love clowns so here I am.
Stumbled access someone selling their 29 gallon Oceanic Biocube on FB market and couldn't pass it up! Came with tank, stand, hood, heater, pump, In Tank filter, 30 pounds live rock, 10 pounds sand, test kits, 2 new replacement Coralife power compact bulbs (10k and 420 actinic), food, etc.
It wasn't perfect as the glass has noticeable scratches on all three sides and the hood was missing the cooling fans. I ordered a new AC to DC power supply and new fans to get it up and running.
I purchased the tank 12/23 and cleaned it up Christmas Day as it was 60 degrees outside. Cleaned up well with a vinegar and water solution. Rinsed the existing sand until it was clean and sprayed the rock with a garden hose. Previous owner stated the tank had been cycled (drained day I picked it up) but the rock didn't have any growth or critters so I'm comfortable it was clean and pest free.
Thursday 12/26 I set it up with fresh Instant Ocean (160g bucket for $32 @ Petco), 20 pounds Carib Sea Arag-Alive sand (never purchased live sand before) existing sand, small amount of rock that came with it and the rest of the rock from my stockpile.
My plans are 4 - 6 fish (clowns, Dotty Back, goby - undecided on specific colors) and small clean up crew. Corals will be softies and possibly LPS - looking forward to finding zoas and frogspawn (hopefully some of my old stock) but probably not SPS (probably). Not going to run a skimmer and want to keep it simple with a 5 gallon water change each week with new filter floss - we'll see how long that lasts!
Fast forward a few weeks and I noticed a significant amount of salt creep between the bottom of the tank and the stand along with water on the lower left side. As the tank was new I didn't know if it was leaking or if the stories I found online discussing excessive salt creep with this hood were accurate. I also failed to leak test before setting up (newbie mistake) but it was broken down the day I picked it up (owner had it on hardwood floors with no staining) so I didn't think much of it.
I found another tank locally and decided to swap. Replacement is a Coralife 29g HQI (double ended metal halide) giving me the opportunity to use one of my Chinese black box LEDs I had leftover from my 120g RR.
Tank is exactly 30 days old today (10 days post tank swap), has 5 frags, 2 clowns, and is at the end of the cycle.
Here are some videos of the problems with the old tank and swap to the new (took 1 hour 45 minutes total time). After swapping I leak tested the original tank for 3 days and it didn't leak so the saltcreep from the Oceanic 29 Biocube is real.
-Eric
Biocube PC and HQI
Breaking down old tank
Aquascaping
Refilling
New setup
Seems like I never take too much of a break since starting saltwater in 2003 - there were +/- 8 months in 2008 then this recent break from June 2018 until now when I sold my 120 due to a move to W. Des Moines. Really wasn't planning on starting again but I found a sweet deal on this tank and my wife and daughter really love clowns so here I am.
Stumbled access someone selling their 29 gallon Oceanic Biocube on FB market and couldn't pass it up! Came with tank, stand, hood, heater, pump, In Tank filter, 30 pounds live rock, 10 pounds sand, test kits, 2 new replacement Coralife power compact bulbs (10k and 420 actinic), food, etc.
It wasn't perfect as the glass has noticeable scratches on all three sides and the hood was missing the cooling fans. I ordered a new AC to DC power supply and new fans to get it up and running.
I purchased the tank 12/23 and cleaned it up Christmas Day as it was 60 degrees outside. Cleaned up well with a vinegar and water solution. Rinsed the existing sand until it was clean and sprayed the rock with a garden hose. Previous owner stated the tank had been cycled (drained day I picked it up) but the rock didn't have any growth or critters so I'm comfortable it was clean and pest free.
Thursday 12/26 I set it up with fresh Instant Ocean (160g bucket for $32 @ Petco), 20 pounds Carib Sea Arag-Alive sand (never purchased live sand before) existing sand, small amount of rock that came with it and the rest of the rock from my stockpile.
My plans are 4 - 6 fish (clowns, Dotty Back, goby - undecided on specific colors) and small clean up crew. Corals will be softies and possibly LPS - looking forward to finding zoas and frogspawn (hopefully some of my old stock) but probably not SPS (probably). Not going to run a skimmer and want to keep it simple with a 5 gallon water change each week with new filter floss - we'll see how long that lasts!
Fast forward a few weeks and I noticed a significant amount of salt creep between the bottom of the tank and the stand along with water on the lower left side. As the tank was new I didn't know if it was leaking or if the stories I found online discussing excessive salt creep with this hood were accurate. I also failed to leak test before setting up (newbie mistake) but it was broken down the day I picked it up (owner had it on hardwood floors with no staining) so I didn't think much of it.
I found another tank locally and decided to swap. Replacement is a Coralife 29g HQI (double ended metal halide) giving me the opportunity to use one of my Chinese black box LEDs I had leftover from my 120g RR.
Tank is exactly 30 days old today (10 days post tank swap), has 5 frags, 2 clowns, and is at the end of the cycle.
Here are some videos of the problems with the old tank and swap to the new (took 1 hour 45 minutes total time). After swapping I leak tested the original tank for 3 days and it didn't leak so the saltcreep from the Oceanic 29 Biocube is real.
-Eric
Biocube PC and HQI
Breaking down old tank
Aquascaping
Refilling
New setup
