Our Ocean In A Box: 74g Cube Build

[mfl74]

Thanks to a fellow local reeder, 5 days ago I was able to get a few used bioballs media from his existing tank to help seed mine. I also bought two pieces of live rock and put them in with my dead rock. I’ve been away until tonight and for the first time since starting the tank I see a bit of algae forming on things.

This week I’ll be doing some water testing and getting my QT tank ready to bring some fish home.

 

[Katrina71]

Nice scape!

 

[mfl74]

Acclimating first fish tonight!

 

[mfl74]

Today was a big day. A friend of mine locally gave me lots of frags, I think about 16 pieces, maybe 10 or so different items. I am so thankful for his generosity. Now I hope I can keep them alive and thriving!

I drip acclimated them after floating all the individual bags first in the tank. Then put them in coral revive/tank water mix for about 8 min and then did a second swish rinse in tank water. Got some worms and other critters off of them.

I used super glue gel to attach them to small rubble rock or coral pieces. Broke some into smaller pieces and worked on making them aesthetically natural looking if I could.

 

[mfl74]

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[mfl74]

Tank looking pretty good tonight. Hope all the corals stay happy tonight and into tomorrow.

 

[mfl74]

 

[mfl74]

 

[mfl74]

Tanks been up and running since August 3rd...so far so good.

A coral beauty is downstairs in the QT and should be ready in the next few days or maybe a week...doing ok so far.

 

[mfl74]

I need some help or opinions on day 16 of the quarantine of my Coral Beauty. It’s eating and I don’t see it doing anything strange. No meds, just watching it.

1. How does it look to you...healthy?

2. Opinion on how long quarantine days should be?

3. Anyone have a Coral Beauty and have experience...your thoughts if it looks ready for main tank now or soon?

Thanks for the input in advance!

 

[anonomous09]

I have zero experience with that fish. However I just stumbled upon the build and am very much a fan! That is an excellent location and everything seems top notch so far!

 

[its.jojo]

I love cubes! I’m working on building one right now. I like how yours fits in the corner perfectly.

On my current setup, I did a very similar light arm to the one you aborted. Squeezing the kessil lights was a pita. Lol

 

[mfl74]

I have zero experience with that fish. However I just stumbled upon the build and am very much a fan! That is an excellent location and everything seems top notch so far!

Thank you!

 

[mfl74]

I love cubes! I’m working on building one right now. I like how yours fits in the corner perfectly.

On my current setup, I did a very similar light arm to the one you aborted. Squeezing the kessil lights was a pita. Lol

Thanks!
I won’t tell you not to DIY a lighting arm (I started to after all), but since my tank and Kessil A360X with rigid arm have been set up I have no complaints and wouldn’t want anything else. The Kessil rigid arm looks great and with its ease of mounting and adjusting up & down it’s extremely functional. Very high quality and worth the extra bit of $$$ vs. me trying to DIY one.

 

[mfl74]

Well last night the Coral Beauty went into the display tank. Was in quarantine tank for 19 days prior. A little shy and hanging out in the rocks but comes out from time to time, and she’s eating.

 

[mfl74]

The first fish, the black & white clown, is still getting along ok, too. Day 1 with the Coral Beauty and neither is paying attention to one another.

 

[mfl74]

So it’s been quite a long time since posting.
Updates:

• Back in September when last posting, the Coral Beauty died; after QT it only made it less than a week in my DT. Cloudy or something going on with its eye I think.
• Today, added mandarin dragonet to DT along with pods. Added yellow tang and another clown to the basement QT.
• All my corals have been doing great that I added, not a single issue, sickness or loss.
• Tons of snails on the glass all the time; guess they came in on the live rock months ago as I never added a clean up crew. When they get annoying I clean them off the glass when I’m cleaning the glass, about 1-2 times / week.
• Will try to keep some regular updates going and as always, lots of pics!

 

[mfl74]

Mandarin in the display tank is doing well so far.

Anyone have one and can share some experiences with them, especially feeding? I put copepods in the tank...yours ever eat anything else?

 

[mfl74]

Yellow tang and clown heading in tonight. It’s been 4 weeks in quarantine.

 

[Chefwheredyougo]

I love the build, and the tank looks great.
I see 2 problems, or more so potential problems you may run into... 1st, the tang may turn fairly aggressive without much swimming room. They like horizontal swimming more than vertical.

2nd, the mandarin is notoriously difficult to keep because of its feeding. Dosing pods is a good idea, but it gets really expensive really quickly. If money is no issue, then no worries!

Other than those two things, I think everything is great! Especially the friend you got those nice frags from. How's the growth on them?