Utterly Frustrated 29BC

[VicD81]

SOOOO... My first marine tank (Had a FW Discus for years). I read books (which were outdated) watched videos and did a little research. Decided to go with a JBJ 29G W/Intermediate LEDs. Walked into my LFS and walked out with a Coralife 29G BC, that garbage protein skimmer, live sand, a couple jugs of Nuri-Seawater and over 30Lbs of live rock. On the one hand I love the open layout of the rear chambers in the Coralife but I gave up the integrated LEDs and the build in wave timer of the JBJ. Oh well.

After everything was cycled added my CUC and my first Damsel. Fist thing I got rid of was the BioBalls and tried a refugium. I ripped off the filter floss of the stock filter tray threw out the carbon and just put some filter floss on top of the empty tray and threw in a bag of chemipure. Got a JBJ Nano-Glo suctioned on the back, some Cheato, Dragons breath and other misc macro algae. Failed miserably! Within 2 weeks this big ball of cheato was gone. The rest of the macro that I had out in the display shortly followed.

Next got rid of that garbage skimmer and after much research went with the Aquaticlife 115. Did the Airline mod before I even installed it, but this thing is almost impossible to tune with it in. The knob is so **** tight and still skims wet. I ended up attaching a valve on the end of the airline to fine tune it. EHHHH its ok now.

Which brings me to my Chem and Bio Filtration. Aside from the rock and sand I had nothing at this point. I decided to go with a pair of CPR Nano Tumblers after considering the price and the fact that the Minimax was out of stock. I set up one tumbler with Chemipure (Emptied media No bag) and the other with Biopellets. These are easy to tune as long as u are Hercules and can move the tank away from the wall and have fingers of steel and turn that tiny, hard to turn valve while its sitting in the rear of the tank! UGHHHHH!!! One time I looked at the tank and thought something didnt seem right. I Looked in the back with my iPhone flashlight and saw nothing was tumbling. what the heck!!!

So now that I'm done with my rant. What is everyone else out there using in their 29G BC? Filters, Equipment and how often do you perform preventative maintenance on it?

My list
Aquaticlife 115 skimmer
2 CPR Nano tumblers one with Chemipure (Needed the fine media kit) the other with Two Little Fishies Bioplastics.
Tunze Osmolator Nano ATO (Water filled with Kalk)
Vortech MP10wes. I said I'd never spend 300 on a powerhead but I did and I love it.

I remove everything once a month for a good scrub down and a Vinegar bath every 2 months. Thinking maybe I should do this less often. I get "Utterly frustrated" when I have to re-tune everything. :frusty: Many times even threatened with having my fish flushed down the toilet. :drama: I know its all talk. She loves the way it looks when im not messing with it!

 

[Luckysfrags]

I have a BC 29 and I have pretty much all the stock equipment. BC skimmer (it took a looooooong time figure out how to tune it but I finally got
It to give me a sluggish skimm, not dry but not wet, sadly I've lost the collection cup during my move :/
I have a MP 10 wES for my circulation and have a maxijet 1200 for my main pump.
I kept the bioballs (I'll be going to a fuge in my new tank)
I use the standard BC filters.

Now as far as work I do on the tank and how often, I do small water changes ever few days (2-3 days and about 3 gallons each time)
Clean my glass with each change and I also every other day take a turkey Baster and blast away any dead zones in my tank. Now when I do this it makes all the crud get tossed in the water flow and into my filter. I always have to rinse off my filter before and after this OR I place a filter pad in its place and toss it after.
It's a lot of work but I really can't complain too much about my BC and it's equipment. My tanks overly stocked but i manage to keep it in check. Only issues I ever have are tank volume (because you can never have a big enough tank) and that **** feeding door lid thing. Makes it sooooo hard to get your arm inside to work on it and it's a pain to take off the good and put it back on.
I'm a fan of my BC though. I hope things get better for you.

 

[nature786]

I can definitly understand your frustration. My first recommendation is to do the vinegar bath thing every 6 months. I wanted to get the CPR tumbler for my JBJ 30R but got allot of mixed reviews about it mostly not recommended for bio pellets.
What kind of test kits are you using? Your parameters are very important.
As far as equipment; I think Cadlights has outdone everyone else when it comes to skimmer & reactor for nano tanks. Check out their nano PLS skimmer and reactor. They will most likely fit in the back chambers and they're quality products with good reviews.
CAD Lights, "Think outside the cube
I'm not an expert on Macro but may be you didn't have enough waste in your system for all of them to grow, my personal opinion is to stick with chaeto only and definitly stay away from any of the grape algaes.
Post up your water parameters and I'm sure the pros here will get you on the path to success.

One last thing; don't be frustrated. When I was new in this hobby and for 3 years didn't know any better than asking the LFS for advice; needless to say I lost allot of money that way.
Reef tanks take a while to get good when you're a beginner so be patient and deal with one issue at a time.
How often do you do water changes? Do you have an RODI system?(I don't trust the LFS water).

Good luck

 

[eliramos]

dang man tell us how you really feel lol

but for me i have the 29 hqi
i kept the stock skimmer and it eventually tuned itself out i have a balanced wet/dry skim but it gets really dirty so i know its doing its job
i kept everything stock except the following

bioballs switched with chaeto (post cycle)
there is also a biocube fuge light that you can purchase its like 70 bucks but it fits perfectly in the little glass window on the back. It comes with one white and one blue light i swapped out the blue for another white. and i run it opposite my dt light to help with ph
i also bought a jbj ato which has helped immensely in maintaining more stable parameters(as i run an open top system) that is powered by a maxi-jet 1200
i swapped the return pump head with a spin stream head to change up the flow
i also have a small hydor running laterally on the back of the tank to help with detritus and the regular bio-cube circulation pump that shoots right across the spin stream to help for a more eratic flow.
hopefully that can give you some ideas on some things to help with yours!
Dont give up on the cube! once you get em going they are pretty sweet!

 

[VicD81]

When I first started I was super excited about testing so I got the full line of RedSea test kits. Tested EVERYTHING from Ammonia to Iron! The Reef colors kit was a point of sale Iodine was always good, Iron was always 0 and Potassium took like 20 min to do. Now all I really test for is Po4 and No3 with an occational test on Ca, Mg, and Alk if I add any new coral. I do 5G water changes every 2 weeks and the longest I've gone is 3 weeks. Everything looks great my levels are always good. As for the Macro, I thought it might have been because it had nothing to consume so I tried a clipping of dragons breath a couple months after. same results.

Luckysfrags: Ive got that Julian's thing and I blast everything after feeding to loosen up detritus and any algae on the rocks and put the Mp10 on nurient xport mode. I think my Zoas really like that.

Nature786: That CAD Lights PLS50 Looks pretty easy to set up. I will def look into that! Anyone have one of these?

eliramos: How do you keep the temp low with the halides? After I got home one day and the tank was at 85* I mounted a CPU fan on the back and keep that rear comp open.