Reef Newbie 1st Tank Build, Coralife Biocube 29

Kronic · Mar 5, 2015

I am new to the reef keeping hobby, so new I have just set up my very first tank! My wife bought me a Coralife Biocube 29 for xmas and I have been gathering as much knowledge as I can about the hobby so I can try and do this right the first time. I have the tank now set up and did a simple filter modification since everywhere I looked people said the bio balls should be tossed. I removed them and the filter pad and put in 2 eshopps sump sponges for mechanical, a bag of Matrix bio media and a bag of Purigen for chemical (Yes I saw the reefthuz vid on youtube lol), I have roughly 24lbs of live rock for the biological. I also bought 40lbs of Arag-alive Fiji pink sand, but only ended up putting 20lbs in the tank. I used Petco's Real Ocean Water to fill the tank. I will be ordering a Jebao WP10 in the next week or 2. I have a 150w Penn Plax heater in chamber one. The sump sponges and Matrix are in chamber 2 and the Purigen is in chamber 3 next to the pump. I just set everything up and got it running last night. I plan on getting the Current USA Orbit Marine PRO in a few months to replace the lighting. My fish list goals are a pair of Clowns and eventually a Nem for them, a YWG and pistol shrimp, a royal gramma, and possibly a purple firefish. Also a good CUC and probably a fire and cleaner shrimp, maybe a blue tuxedo urchin at some point. And corals I want are mostly Zoas, Mushrooms, and a few various LPS. Any suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated as I am very new to reef keeping. :rockon:

Dextereef · Mar 5, 2015

sweet rock scape. now to get some cool fishies to hang out in there! :eyebrows:

I would try and get some good flow through and around your rockwork. It can become a nutrient trap. That was a big issue I had with my biocube. Good luck!

SeahorseKeeper · Mar 5, 2015

Looks like you are off to a good start!

Kronic · Mar 6, 2015

Ok, tanks been set up for 2 days and I did my first water tests. I'm reading it as Ammonia 0.25ppm, Nitrite 1.0ppm, and Nitrate 80ppm. Is this correct? Are these levels normal or do I need to do something? Nitrate seems a bit high to me but, I'm very new at this.

Kronic · Mar 31, 2015

Update time! The tank has been holding at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 15ppm nitrate for over a week now. Last Thursday I did a 25% water change and rearranged the rocks. Friday I added a peppermint shrimp, a emerald crab, and a feather duster. They are all doing well despite me finding the shrimps molt in my powerhead and thinking he was dead lol

Here's the new scape.

Can't really get a good pic of the shrimp, but I finally got one of the crab last night. I ended up removing the eshopps sponges and am now using a 50 micron filter pad instead, I've also added a Jebao RW4 and Orbit marine LED. I gutted the hood and the Orbit fits nicely. I've ordered some snails from John at reef cleaners to round out my CUC which should be here tomorrow. I will add more photos as I slowly stock the tank. Thanks for reading and any advice or comments are always appreciated!

Kronic · Apr 11, 2015

New Additions!

Kronic · Apr 19, 2015

My first coral!

Rjramos · Apr 19, 2015

Nice start up! I started mine with stock everything and slowly upgraded. RapidLED retro, upgrade MJ 1200 pump. I went with a media basket and Refugium basket in chamber 2, a small protein skimmer in chamber 1, and pump in chamber 3. Wasn't sure how how you configured your media in chambers? The baskets make your water flow better through your media and the little refugium is full of chaeto with lots of amphipods.

ImageUploadedByREEF2REEF1429464612.041121.jpg

Kronic · Apr 19, 2015

Right now I just have the media bags sitting in front of the return to the pump in chamber 2, but I am going to get the intank media basket soon. What skimmer did you use in chamber 1? I was thinking about getting the coralife one, but heard it six. I already upgraded to the mj 1200 and I have the current USA orbit marine LED. What are you using for a light for the refugium? I would like to get the refugium basket and start that up too, but I'm still not sure how to do it right.

revhtree · Apr 19, 2015

Looking great! Congrats!

Rjramos · Apr 20, 2015

Kronic said:
Right now I just have the media bags sitting in front of the return to the pump in chamber 2, but I am going to get the intank media basket soon. What skimmer did you use in chamber 1? I was thinking about getting the coralife one, but heard it six. I already upgraded to the mj 1200 and I have the current USA orbit marine LED. What are you using for a light for the refugium? I would like to get the refugium basket and start that up too, but I'm still not sure how to do it right.

I made my own media and refugium baskets and drip plate out of plexiglas, similar dimensions to intank. I went with oceanic biocube skimmer in chamber 1. It was initially sitting too low in chamber 1 and producing very wet skimate. So I got rid of the top suction cup and placed the pin on the tank edge lip. Now it works good but not the best out there. The back lid does close over it though. For the refugium I got the magnetic 4 LED nanoglo that intank sells. At first I stuck it to the back with magnet but the chaeto closest to it was turning yellow and dying. I took out the magnet and velcro'd the light to the wall behind the tank. I shielded the light scatter with some foam between the wall and back of the tank. Now it's working great as you can see. Also in the media basket I'm running floss pad, purigen, then chemipure blue in that order.