Reef crest inspired 14 gallon Biocube!

VTGrant · Feb 6, 2017

After being out of the hobby due to living in the dorms for a while, I couldn't resist the temptation to have a micro section of the ocean in my room again. I dug up my old pumps, chemicals, once live rock, and anything else those boxes of treasure had. Next, I had to rummage through the old tanks and determine which would fit my budget and space the best. The Biocube it was, but let's be real even a nano reef can blow the "budget" out of the water! I bought some live sand and a couple pounds of live rock and set off for school. Fast forward a few hours and the tank was set up and ready to cycle, this was back in February 2016. After a few months of cycling and the addition of some inhabitants, vuala:

Fast forward a year through removing the hood, a few old pumps dying, the creation of a DIY auto-top off, along with many months of playing with the light spectrum and you have this (sorry about some of the out of focus photos):

The start of a Zoa Garden:

The RFA Garden and its Gardeners:

The surge crest:

Top down views plus the clam:

Full Tank Shot:

Tank specs:
Main Display- 14 gallon Biocube with the hood removed and the first chamber a mini fuge
Lighting- AI Prime
Skimmer- No skimmer
Circulation- stock pump plus a 240 gallon per hour in-tank pump
Ammonia- 0ppm
Nitrate- 0pmm
Nitrite- 0ppm
Phosphate- 0.02ppm
Alkalinity- 10-11 dKH
Calcium- 400-450ppm
Magnesium- 1380-1400ppm
Temperature- 76.5-78.5˚F
pH- 7.9-8.1
Salinity- 1.027

Inhabitants:
-yellow watchman goby with tiger pistol shrimp, cryptic wrasse, banggai cardinal, small cleaner shrimp, fromia starfish, 3 sexy anemone shrimp, emerald crab, 2 feather dusters, T. derasa clam, several nerite snails, cerith snails, astrea snails, turbos, nassarius snails, and blue leg hermits, green planet acro, green and pink pocillopora, purple bonsai acro, purple stylo, green digi, MIMF yellow fuzzy acro, green acro, sunset milli, trip-color acro, chili pepper acro, blue green tenius acro, pink prostrata, pink birds nest, rainbow monti (new and acclimating), superman monti, green hairy mushroom, red/orange yuma, red mangrove, frogspawn, hammer, trumpets, various zoas and palys, and sun coral.

I will continue to update as I have some new additions to add (i.e. millis, maxima clams, more zoas, more RFAs, and a few other acros) along with growth pictures and possible automation. I'm arranging the corals so that once they grow out it will look like a reef crest. Stay tuned!

*also I know I have Fauche algae, trying all I can to get rid of it naturally*

Mandrew · Feb 6, 2017

Beautiful tank! How do you keep your nutrients so low without a skimmer?

VTGrant · Feb 6, 2017

Mandrew said:
Beautiful tank! How do you keep your nutrients so low without a skimmer?

Thanks, Mandrew! I keep feedings to just enough for what I have, I have a media bag of phosban, and I do a gallon water change every 2 weeks. I also attribute some of it to the amount of macro algae growing in the tank and in the mini fuge. I also watch for any difference in algae growth and if I see it I test the water and do a water change.

ludnix · Feb 6, 2017

Beautiful setup! A real inspiration for biocube owners!

Mandrew · Feb 6, 2017

I'm going to be setting up a 29g without a skimmer here shortly is why I asked, I was thinking about running a penguin biowheel HOB filter in order to put filter media in, do you suggest phosban? I've previously used chemipure elite and really liked that but I've not tried phosban.

VTGrant · Feb 6, 2017

ludnix said:
Beautiful setup! A real inspiration for biocube owners!

Thanks a lot ludnix! With many years of failures and successes in the hobby it is nice to hear that after months of planning!

Mandrew said:
I'm going to be setting up a 29g without a skimmer here shortly is why I asked, I was thinking about running a penguin biowheel HOB filter in order to put filter media in, do you suggest phosban? I've previously used chemipure elite and really liked that but I've not tried phosban.

I have only been using phosban for 5 months now after reading a lot of threads and articles, but it definitely does a great job. So from my small amount of time with the product, yes I suggest it phosphates are a problem. I have not had any of the 'side effects' that I have read about. I used to use chemipure back when I had larger tanks, but I wanted to focus on phosphate, i.e. my decision to use phosban. I also used a HOB for a small sexy shrimp tank once and it did wonders, ultimately the temperature swings became its downfall.