tothpl
New Member
Hello all,
This is my first saltwater tank. I’ve always loved snorkeling and watching the life on a reef. I wanted a slice of reef for my own after moving to the great white north of Michigan. I finally convinced my wife so I immediately started tank shopping.
I found a biocube 32 on Facebook market place for a great deal. It was sorely neglected and the previous owner couldn’t keep up with the maintenance. The tank was ‘fully’ running with livestock. It had 2 storm clowns, a pom Pom crab, and a handful of Zoas, a bright orange ‘something’, and a toadstool leather.
It was covered in all kinds of algae and cyano.
I got it moved, and gave it a good clean. ‘Fully running’ also meant that there was so much bubble algae it had jammed up the return pump. The skimmer was the only thing running. Any wonder it was a mess!! I left the rock work as a pile to let the tank stabilize for a few weeks. In that time I had a mini cycle from the move, sloshing everything around. After I got that under control, I had a short battle with dinos. Nothing was working until I did a 3 day blackout while waiting for uv lights to come in. I think the combination of uv and the blackout finally tipped the scales in my favor.
After everything calmed down, I redid the rock scape. I really like the negative space concept, but didn’t want a full bonsai like design. I think what I landed on is a good happy medium. It consists of 4 removable chunks. The large base, the tower, the over hang, and the cave. The tower and over hang are secured with acrylic rod.
Seeing my vision coming to life, I got live-stock fever. I am at max capacity for fish; a Melanarus wrasse, 2 OG clowns, a firefish, a royal gramma, a tail spot blenny, a yellow watchman goby, and a kopang damsel. They all play very well except the damsel who gets a little grumpy with the firefish when he comes too close to his burrow. And I’m struggling to keep nutrients up! There are 2 emerald crabs, a peppermint shrimp, and a candy cane pistol shrimp. The Pom Pom crab got into it with an emerald crab and didn’t make it.
Every coral I’ve put in here has done well! The previously mentioned orange ‘something’ turned out to be a Deadpool mushroom! That, the toadstool, and the Zoas could thrive in a salty mud pit for what they went through. There are even some acros in there!
Mods to the system are fairly simple, intank back boxes, and 2x 21led actinic lights. I can’t grow chaeto in the intank box so my last ditch effort is a small reactor on the side. Otherwise weekly water changes and some occasional mag dosing, upkeep is going well.
Let me know what you think!
This is my first saltwater tank. I’ve always loved snorkeling and watching the life on a reef. I wanted a slice of reef for my own after moving to the great white north of Michigan. I finally convinced my wife so I immediately started tank shopping.
I found a biocube 32 on Facebook market place for a great deal. It was sorely neglected and the previous owner couldn’t keep up with the maintenance. The tank was ‘fully’ running with livestock. It had 2 storm clowns, a pom Pom crab, and a handful of Zoas, a bright orange ‘something’, and a toadstool leather.
It was covered in all kinds of algae and cyano.
I got it moved, and gave it a good clean. ‘Fully running’ also meant that there was so much bubble algae it had jammed up the return pump. The skimmer was the only thing running. Any wonder it was a mess!! I left the rock work as a pile to let the tank stabilize for a few weeks. In that time I had a mini cycle from the move, sloshing everything around. After I got that under control, I had a short battle with dinos. Nothing was working until I did a 3 day blackout while waiting for uv lights to come in. I think the combination of uv and the blackout finally tipped the scales in my favor.
After everything calmed down, I redid the rock scape. I really like the negative space concept, but didn’t want a full bonsai like design. I think what I landed on is a good happy medium. It consists of 4 removable chunks. The large base, the tower, the over hang, and the cave. The tower and over hang are secured with acrylic rod.
Seeing my vision coming to life, I got live-stock fever. I am at max capacity for fish; a Melanarus wrasse, 2 OG clowns, a firefish, a royal gramma, a tail spot blenny, a yellow watchman goby, and a kopang damsel. They all play very well except the damsel who gets a little grumpy with the firefish when he comes too close to his burrow. And I’m struggling to keep nutrients up! There are 2 emerald crabs, a peppermint shrimp, and a candy cane pistol shrimp. The Pom Pom crab got into it with an emerald crab and didn’t make it.
Every coral I’ve put in here has done well! The previously mentioned orange ‘something’ turned out to be a Deadpool mushroom! That, the toadstool, and the Zoas could thrive in a salty mud pit for what they went through. There are even some acros in there!
Mods to the system are fairly simple, intank back boxes, and 2x 21led actinic lights. I can’t grow chaeto in the intank box so my last ditch effort is a small reactor on the side. Otherwise weekly water changes and some occasional mag dosing, upkeep is going well.
Let me know what you think!
