So I though I would start a thread on the "rebirth" of my Biocube 29 here. Any thoughts, recommendations, insight, and criticism are appreciated.
Current Equipment (my path to this will be described below):
Coralife Biocube 29G
Ecotech MP10w ES Powerhead
InTank Media Basket (using Filter Floss, Seachem Purigen, and Chemi-pure Blue)
Tunze 9001 Skimmer
Tunze Nano Osmolator ATO with 2.5G DIY tank setup
Cobalt MJ1200 Return Pump
Kessil A80 Tuna Blue Light (with Mini Gooseneck)
Kessil Sprectral Lighting Controller
So some quick background...
Growing up in Fl my entire life until I joined the Navy after 9/11 at the age of 22 I have always loved spending time diving on the reefs. My 13 year Navy career was never conducive to caring for a reef. My last 3 years in the Navy I was fortunate to be stationed in Hawaii and experience some amazing reefs there. This was how I was able to get my new wife to gain a love for reefs. After separating from service we wound up in STL and I now had the time to commit to keeping a reef tank.
My first tank, my wife got me as Christmas present, was the Jellyfish Art Nano tank. That thing is awesome. I get some requests I may start a thread to share what mods I have done to that tank, maintenance, and how my 3 jellies are doing. Really easy tank to take care of.
My jellyfish tank was really what got the itch going for more. So I looked around and I knew that the Biocube was a good starting tank. I looked around the area and I found my LFS, The Corner Reef in Columbia, IL. They had a used Biocube 29 with stand for $150. I jumped at it and picked it up the week after the 4th of July.
The first things I did was order an InTank Media Basket, a Cobalt MJ1200 (came with the Mainland MJ1200), Tunze Nano Osmolator for a DIY ATO setup, and a Tunze 9001 skimmer. I got some CaribSea Arag-Alive Into-Pacific Live Sand (reminded me of Hawaii), about 25 lbs of Live Rock from my LFS, and 30G of Water from my LFS.
I ending up having a cycle after about a week and had a fairly decent diatom bloom going. I went back to my LFS and picked up a CUC, Chemi-Pure Blue, Purigen, and some Filter Floss. A couple of days later I went back and picked up a used MP10 powerhead, some coral (Favia, Acan, GSP, Zoas, Duncan, and Clove Polyps) and fish (Black Oc Clown, Oc Clown. I had my water tested and so I picked up some Dr Tim's One and Only bacteria and some Doc's Phyto. This was just the beginning of my battle with Nitrates and Phosphates (this is towards the middle of July 2016) until the last week. Towards the end of July I picked up some Peppermint shrimp, some hermits, an Emerald Crab (had some bubble algae pop up), a Green Chromis, and a Lawnmower Blenny.
Middle of August comes around and my wife and I have to go out to Colorado for her best friends wedding. We had a friend house sit for us. No issues there as I was feeding Hikari Mysis at this point and had cut some up in small cubes for her to feed and LRS Reef Frenzy (I didn't have her mess with that) After we got back I noticed my Lawnmower Blenny wasn't doing too well and he went to hang out with Davy Jones. At some point along the way I picked up some more coral pieces (a Wellso, a Lobo, Gold Leptastrea, Hollywood Stunner Chalice, Hairy Mushroom, Assorted mushrooms, 2 Florida Ricordia, Thick Finger Leather, Green Sinularia Finger Leather, Gorgonia, War Coral, and a Blasto. I also had added a replacement Emerald Crab, a cleaner shrimp, a pistol shrimp, a Yasha Goby, a Black Sailfin Blenny, and a Bicolor Blenny (has lost its "bicolor".
PO4 was going back up and down and once I thought Nitrates under a control....BAM...high as hell again. My corals were starting to die, and I was losing snails. I was adding Dr Tims Waste-Away after my weekly 5 gal Water Changes and using Phosphate-Rx.
Sometime in September I pretty much lost all my coral (with the exception of Shrooms, Leathers, Blasto, and Gorgonian) and my cleaner shrimp. At this point I was at a lost and started to just let the tank go. I stopped cleaning the glass and was close to calling it a failure, but, I'm not a quitter.
This month, October 2016, I started searching the forums, ordered a Flipper Nano Scraper, and put my "REBIRTH" plan in place on how I was going to give this tank a rebirth. My Scraper arrived and I got all the algae off of the glass (it was REAL bad). Grabbed my turkey baster and blew off all my live rock (tank got real cloudy and I was amazed at how much detritus was on the rock...realized that I probably should have done this sooner and that I need to do this on a daily basis going forward). Tested my water and Nitrates were at 80ppm. Did a 5G water change and added some Waste-Away (currently adding Waste-Away every 2 days). Added 3 capfuls of Doc's Bytes Live Phyto. That night I seeded the tank with Doc's Eco-Matter (live Pods). The following day I added Dr Tim's Eco-Balance Probiotic bacteria (currently adding after weekly 5G water changes). I also switched my food from LRS Reef Frenzy to Doc's Super Eggs (the Reef Frenzy is great but is very easy to over-feed the tank with and the Super Eggs are so easy...shake it up and start putting drops directly over the MP10 and just watch the tank go crazy).
On Veterans Day I tested my water...PO4 were 0 and Nitrates were between 20 and 30 ppm (still high but a lot lower than what they have been. I went to my LFS got the first piece of equipment for my "rebirth" plan, the new Kessil A80 (along with the mini gooseneck and spectral controller). I removed the lid of the tank and mounted the Kessil (this thing is awesome and perfect for the Biocube). That night I also took out my MJ1200, Skimmer, flow director, and MP10 and gave them some much needed maintenance/cleaning (the MJ1200 really needed it). Added some Waste-Away and Phyto. After the lights went out I seeded the tank again with some Doc's Eco-Matter. This morning I added the Eco-Balance Probiotic bacteria per my schedule. The tank is responding really well. My blasto, which I think may have had a week left before all the remaining 2 heads died, is really happy again
The lighting schedule I am using is the "Unofficial Official Kessil Schedule" that I found in a thread somewhere. We are night owls and like to enjoy the tank while we are watching TV at night.
Time Color/Intensity
12A 40/50
2A 0/0
4P 0/15
6P 20/50
8P 50/100
10P 75/100
My plan is to test the water tomorrow when I get home from work and see what the tank is doing. Hopefully my nitrates will be less than 10ppm and PO4 will be between 0 and 0.08ppm. I really want to get some new pieces.
As for the remaining pieces of the "Rebirth" plan:
Aquamaxx HOB-1 Hang on Back skimmer off of Chamber 1
InTank Fuge Basket with Chaeto in Chamber 2 (next to media basket)
MiniMax All-in-one Reactor with Biopellets (until I know that absolutely have no issues with Nitrates spiking again and then switch over to GFO) in Chamber 3
Depending on how my tank temperature does with the lid removed (lid on I was 80 degrees via a stick on thermometer) get the Cobalt Neo-Therm 100W heater.
I'm also going to remove the rim for a rimless tank look (really like the pictures I have seen of this) and possibly paint the stand and remaining black portions of the tank white to match the scheme of our interior decorating.
Here are some pics at 72% Color/96% Intensity using my Nikon D3100 (Disclaimer: Still need to research how to take great pics of the reef and aquarium)
FTS
Side View
Florida Ricorda
i
Gorgonian
Blasto (was very close to being gone...has recovered well since the "rebirth" plan...you can see a dead head at the bottom right which is starting to get some growth back)
Thick Finger Leather Toadstool (ticked off because my Emerald Crab has been nipping at him)
Hairy Mushroom
Mushrooms
Bangaii Cardinal
Black Oc Clown
Platinum Clown
Kessil A80 Tuna Blue (This thing is highly Recommended so farad sexy...been 3 days so far)
Back Chamber Setup (Chamber 1 (top): empty, Chamber 2: InTank Media Basket (Filter Floss, Purigen, Chemi-pure Blue) and Tunze 9001 Skimmer), Chamber 3: Cobalt MJ1200 and Tunze Nano Osmolator ATO Float Switch)
Current Equipment (my path to this will be described below):
Coralife Biocube 29G
Ecotech MP10w ES Powerhead
InTank Media Basket (using Filter Floss, Seachem Purigen, and Chemi-pure Blue)
Tunze 9001 Skimmer
Tunze Nano Osmolator ATO with 2.5G DIY tank setup
Cobalt MJ1200 Return Pump
Kessil A80 Tuna Blue Light (with Mini Gooseneck)
Kessil Sprectral Lighting Controller
So some quick background...
Growing up in Fl my entire life until I joined the Navy after 9/11 at the age of 22 I have always loved spending time diving on the reefs. My 13 year Navy career was never conducive to caring for a reef. My last 3 years in the Navy I was fortunate to be stationed in Hawaii and experience some amazing reefs there. This was how I was able to get my new wife to gain a love for reefs. After separating from service we wound up in STL and I now had the time to commit to keeping a reef tank.
My first tank, my wife got me as Christmas present, was the Jellyfish Art Nano tank. That thing is awesome. I get some requests I may start a thread to share what mods I have done to that tank, maintenance, and how my 3 jellies are doing. Really easy tank to take care of.
My jellyfish tank was really what got the itch going for more. So I looked around and I knew that the Biocube was a good starting tank. I looked around the area and I found my LFS, The Corner Reef in Columbia, IL. They had a used Biocube 29 with stand for $150. I jumped at it and picked it up the week after the 4th of July.
The first things I did was order an InTank Media Basket, a Cobalt MJ1200 (came with the Mainland MJ1200), Tunze Nano Osmolator for a DIY ATO setup, and a Tunze 9001 skimmer. I got some CaribSea Arag-Alive Into-Pacific Live Sand (reminded me of Hawaii), about 25 lbs of Live Rock from my LFS, and 30G of Water from my LFS.
I ending up having a cycle after about a week and had a fairly decent diatom bloom going. I went back to my LFS and picked up a CUC, Chemi-Pure Blue, Purigen, and some Filter Floss. A couple of days later I went back and picked up a used MP10 powerhead, some coral (Favia, Acan, GSP, Zoas, Duncan, and Clove Polyps) and fish (Black Oc Clown, Oc Clown. I had my water tested and so I picked up some Dr Tim's One and Only bacteria and some Doc's Phyto. This was just the beginning of my battle with Nitrates and Phosphates (this is towards the middle of July 2016) until the last week. Towards the end of July I picked up some Peppermint shrimp, some hermits, an Emerald Crab (had some bubble algae pop up), a Green Chromis, and a Lawnmower Blenny.
Middle of August comes around and my wife and I have to go out to Colorado for her best friends wedding. We had a friend house sit for us. No issues there as I was feeding Hikari Mysis at this point and had cut some up in small cubes for her to feed and LRS Reef Frenzy (I didn't have her mess with that) After we got back I noticed my Lawnmower Blenny wasn't doing too well and he went to hang out with Davy Jones. At some point along the way I picked up some more coral pieces (a Wellso, a Lobo, Gold Leptastrea, Hollywood Stunner Chalice, Hairy Mushroom, Assorted mushrooms, 2 Florida Ricordia, Thick Finger Leather, Green Sinularia Finger Leather, Gorgonia, War Coral, and a Blasto. I also had added a replacement Emerald Crab, a cleaner shrimp, a pistol shrimp, a Yasha Goby, a Black Sailfin Blenny, and a Bicolor Blenny (has lost its "bicolor".
PO4 was going back up and down and once I thought Nitrates under a control....BAM...high as hell again. My corals were starting to die, and I was losing snails. I was adding Dr Tims Waste-Away after my weekly 5 gal Water Changes and using Phosphate-Rx.
Sometime in September I pretty much lost all my coral (with the exception of Shrooms, Leathers, Blasto, and Gorgonian) and my cleaner shrimp. At this point I was at a lost and started to just let the tank go. I stopped cleaning the glass and was close to calling it a failure, but, I'm not a quitter.
This month, October 2016, I started searching the forums, ordered a Flipper Nano Scraper, and put my "REBIRTH" plan in place on how I was going to give this tank a rebirth. My Scraper arrived and I got all the algae off of the glass (it was REAL bad). Grabbed my turkey baster and blew off all my live rock (tank got real cloudy and I was amazed at how much detritus was on the rock...realized that I probably should have done this sooner and that I need to do this on a daily basis going forward). Tested my water and Nitrates were at 80ppm. Did a 5G water change and added some Waste-Away (currently adding Waste-Away every 2 days). Added 3 capfuls of Doc's Bytes Live Phyto. That night I seeded the tank with Doc's Eco-Matter (live Pods). The following day I added Dr Tim's Eco-Balance Probiotic bacteria (currently adding after weekly 5G water changes). I also switched my food from LRS Reef Frenzy to Doc's Super Eggs (the Reef Frenzy is great but is very easy to over-feed the tank with and the Super Eggs are so easy...shake it up and start putting drops directly over the MP10 and just watch the tank go crazy).
On Veterans Day I tested my water...PO4 were 0 and Nitrates were between 20 and 30 ppm (still high but a lot lower than what they have been. I went to my LFS got the first piece of equipment for my "rebirth" plan, the new Kessil A80 (along with the mini gooseneck and spectral controller). I removed the lid of the tank and mounted the Kessil (this thing is awesome and perfect for the Biocube). That night I also took out my MJ1200, Skimmer, flow director, and MP10 and gave them some much needed maintenance/cleaning (the MJ1200 really needed it). Added some Waste-Away and Phyto. After the lights went out I seeded the tank again with some Doc's Eco-Matter. This morning I added the Eco-Balance Probiotic bacteria per my schedule. The tank is responding really well. My blasto, which I think may have had a week left before all the remaining 2 heads died, is really happy again
The lighting schedule I am using is the "Unofficial Official Kessil Schedule" that I found in a thread somewhere. We are night owls and like to enjoy the tank while we are watching TV at night.
Time Color/Intensity
12A 40/50
2A 0/0
4P 0/15
6P 20/50
8P 50/100
10P 75/100
My plan is to test the water tomorrow when I get home from work and see what the tank is doing. Hopefully my nitrates will be less than 10ppm and PO4 will be between 0 and 0.08ppm. I really want to get some new pieces.
As for the remaining pieces of the "Rebirth" plan:
Aquamaxx HOB-1 Hang on Back skimmer off of Chamber 1
InTank Fuge Basket with Chaeto in Chamber 2 (next to media basket)
MiniMax All-in-one Reactor with Biopellets (until I know that absolutely have no issues with Nitrates spiking again and then switch over to GFO) in Chamber 3
Depending on how my tank temperature does with the lid removed (lid on I was 80 degrees via a stick on thermometer) get the Cobalt Neo-Therm 100W heater.
I'm also going to remove the rim for a rimless tank look (really like the pictures I have seen of this) and possibly paint the stand and remaining black portions of the tank white to match the scheme of our interior decorating.
Here are some pics at 72% Color/96% Intensity using my Nikon D3100 (Disclaimer: Still need to research how to take great pics of the reef and aquarium)
FTS
Side View
Florida Ricorda
i
Gorgonian
Blasto (was very close to being gone...has recovered well since the "rebirth" plan...you can see a dead head at the bottom right which is starting to get some growth back)
Thick Finger Leather Toadstool (ticked off because my Emerald Crab has been nipping at him)
Hairy Mushroom
Mushrooms
Bangaii Cardinal
Black Oc Clown
Platinum Clown
Kessil A80 Tuna Blue (This thing is highly Recommended so farad sexy...been 3 days so far)
Back Chamber Setup (Chamber 1 (top): empty, Chamber 2: InTank Media Basket (Filter Floss, Purigen, Chemi-pure Blue) and Tunze 9001 Skimmer), Chamber 3: Cobalt MJ1200 and Tunze Nano Osmolator ATO Float Switch)
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