afresh's biocube

[afresh]

Hello pnwmas!

 

My name is Allen, I have Biocube that I would love to share to the community. I've had the tank up and running for little over 5 years. The tank started out as a LPS and softy tank but that changed as my understanding grew. The last 2 years I have switch the tank to a more mix reef, adding SPS while keeping some LPS and softies to keep the tank diverse. This transition has been challenging at best but as I fine-tuned my knowledge that I have acquired though the tanks life, my goals quickly changed as to keep a stable and successful long term mixed reef tank that I could be proud of. Hope you enjoy it!

 

Here are some pics.

 

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[PowderBlue]

That's beautiful awesome job!

 

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[Emerald525]

Welcome to the forum Allen! That is some impressive coral growth in a biocube! I have had one and getting the requirements just right to grow sps is so challenging! What light are you using? Are you dosing?

[Blue Z Reef]

Good god that's a lot smooshed into a Biocube LOL

 

nice tank! Looks like growth has been good! Keep it up

[Flashy Fins]

 Love the top-down view! So many colors, textures, and shapes! 

 

Do you have issues with the nem stinging corals? 

[afresh]

That's beautiful awesome job!

 

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

Thanks PowderBlue!

 

Welcome to the forum Allen! That is some impressive coral growth in a biocube! I have had one and getting the requirements just right to grow sps is so challenging! What light are you using? Are you dosing?

Thank you Emerald525. Awesome, thanks!

 

I dose alkalinity and calcium with Fauna Marin Balling Trace elements that I put into my two part. When I have to refill my two part, I'll check my magnesium and add what is needed to keep it in check. I think that's one of the biggest challenges as well as rewarding, keeping it stable in a small volume of water, especially when corals start to grow and consume more. All dosing are automated using a Reef Keeper and BRS dossers.

 

I'm using Ecotech's Radion Pro Gen 3. I have my light schedule from dusk to dawn. It ramps up from 5% at 4 am to 65% peak at 1 pm and ramps back down. It starts at 22K then to 12K back down to 22k. I have altered the 22K to have more of a purple look using more of the UV spectrum.  

 

Good god that's a lot smooshed into a Biocube LOL

 

nice tank! Looks like growth has been good! Keep it up

Thanks Blue Z Reef! There might be some more room in there.. lol...    Will do.

 

 Love the top-down view! So many colors, textures, and shapes! 

 

Do you have issues with the nem stinging corals? 

Thanks Flashy Fins!

 

I put a tri color Acro next to it which I feel it's pretty aggressive too. They have learned to coexist keeping a good distance from each other as they grow.

 

The ultra color anemone isn't really aggressive as much as I would expected it to be. However it like's to split a lot. At this point I just give the babies away to my friends that have tanks.

[Emerald525]

Thanks for the info! Yeah I think I will stick to mostly softies , lps and mostly monties! I travel a lot so I don't want to have to have someone watching my tank worry about dosing but with sps stability and calcium alk and mag in proper proportion and oh yeah fairly clean water but not too clean are the keys to successful sps!

 

Oh yeah and lights ..

 

Do you notice you get more growth with that arrangement of spectrum?

[Jorge]

Very impressive what you've accomplished in a biocube. Thanks for sharing!

[Linarestribe]

That's awesome. I hope my 29 biocube looks that good one day. I want to add a nem but I fear it will move around and sting everything.

[xmas_one]

Nicest BC I have ever seen. It's awesome to see a mature tank that looks that good. Keep the photos coming!

Edited February 21, 2017 by xmas_one

[Exodus]

That is extremely impressive for a biocube, While I admire your tank, you are one of those people that inspire newbies too get into the hobby with a Bicoube thinking they can have a tank of the month with the experience they learned from just a few forum posts and youtube vids

 

Congratulations on your years of dedication! You have accomplished allot to have that much growth and color in that small of volume of a tank. 

I have some questions for you.

 

What size is your Bicoube?

 

What equipment are you using? I think I see 2 MP10s? 

 

Is this cube hooked up to a sump? Is there any Sort of Skimmer?

 

Whats your scheduled maintanence include and how often?

 

What levels are you keeping Calc/Alk/Mag/Salinity ?

 

How much Fauna Marin Balling are you adding into your 2 part mix?

 

Thanks for your consideration, and keep up the Excellent work!!

[afresh]

On 2/20/2017 at 7:58 PM, Emerald525 said:

Thanks for the info! Yeah I think I will stick to mostly softies , lps and mostly monties! I travel a lot so I don't want to have to have someone watching my tank worry about dosing but with sps stability and calcium alk and mag in proper proportion and oh yeah fairly clean water but not too clean are the keys to successful sps!

 

Oh yeah and lights ..

 

Do you notice you get more growth with that arrangement of spectrum?

I think you could keep SPS Emerald525.. well I encourage you to do it. I think after you get the dossers set up and you find out what your net loss is, pretty much after that it's pretty much set. You do have to check the chemistry but not as much as you would think. For instance it's not going to one day consume like an extra 100 ppm or something crazy. From what I have seen it just decreases gradually.

 

I find lights aren't as important as you would think.. at least from what I have read and experienced. I feel that most of it is hype, the spectrum anyways, which really is just for us to make the aquarium look cool. Which I'm a big fan of.   Don't get me wrong there's different spectrum colors like having red and green in your daily light schedule that can feed different types of algae, etc but I think that's also part of the aquarium experience plus it helps keep everything stable too.

 

I think the biggest thing which you mentioned is keeping your chemistry stable, high feed with low nutrients in the water column, dynamic flow and lots... I mean lots of staring at your tank.

 

On 2/20/2017 at 8:02 PM, Jorge said:

Very impressive what you've accomplished in a biocube. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Jorge. Will do!

 

On 2/20/2017 at 11:59 PM, Linarestribe said:

That's awesome. I hope my 29 biocube looks that good one day. I want to add a nem but I fear it will move around and sting everything.

Thanks Linarestribe. I feel if your planing to put a nem in, it should a first pick. I got mine in early to let him settle. 

 

On 2/21/2017 at 0:33 PM, xmas_one said:

Nicest BC I have ever seen. It's awesome to see a mature tank that looks that good. Keep the photos coming!

Thanks Xmas_one... will do!

Edited March 12, 2017 by afresh

[afresh]

Morning feeding pics...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[afresh]

That is extremely impressive for a biocube, While I admire your tank, you are one of those people that inspire newbies too get into the hobby with a Bicoube thinking they can have a tank of the month with the experience they learned from just a few forum posts and youtube vids

 

Congratulations on your years of dedication! You have accomplished allot to have that much growth and color in that small of volume of a tank. 

I have some questions for you.

 

What size is your Bicoube?

 

What equipment are you using? I think I see 2 MP10s? 

 

Is this cube hooked up to a sump? Is there any Sort of Skimmer?

 

Whats your scheduled maintanence include and how often?

 

What levels are you keeping Calc/Alk/Mag/Salinity ?

 

How much Fauna Marin Balling are you adding into your 2 part mix?

 

Thanks for your consideration, and keep up the Excellent work!!

Thanks Exodus for the kind words.

 

The first statement is a little weird to be honest. It has a praise with a little undertone of a backhand to new comers  .... I do hope to inspire newbies if they see my tank. Once I was one to and probably still am as I'm always learning. I think that's the rewarding part as you start to refine what "I think I know" and adapting it to what I'm reading, experiencing and learning from communities like this one; you start to see your tank grow and mature. It does take patients and not rushing into changing things quickly for awesome result that I have seen here on this forum and others a like. My only words of caution would be to lets try to inspire as much people as we can because that's how the hobby grows and if they need help as they start, we help instead of being discouraging.

 

Here's my equipment list:

 

29 gallon biocube from Oceanic

Ecotech Gen 3 Pro

2 Ecotech MP 10's

Tunze Recirculation Pump Silence Electronic 1073.050

Tunze osmolator universal 3155

Digital Aquatics reefkeeper lite

PH probe, temp probe

Oceanic Chiller 1/10 hp

Coralife uv sterilizer 18 watt

BRS Media reactor with MJ1200

4 BRS dosers 1.1ml (alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, Red Sea NO3:PO4-X Nitrate & Phosphate Reducer)

inTank media basket

Coralife refugium light

Loc-Line spray bar

 

I don't use sump or a skimmer, I use what the AIO provides in the back chambers. I rely on the back chamber as a refugium that has Chaeto and small rocks. I had a skimmer but I took that out about 3 years ago.

 

I do 10-15 % water change about every 3 months and I clean my equipment every month. I test alkalinity daily for about 3 weeks after I do a water change to make sure everything is stable. I check my new water before my water change for the 3 major elements and add what is needed. I dose alkalinity and calcium 1.628 ml every hour with a 20 min gap between the elements. Once in the  morning I dose 3 ml NO3:PO4-X.

 

My parameters:

 

Calcium 450 - 480 ppm

Alkalinity 200 -220 ppm

Magnesium 1420 -1480 ppm

Salinity 1.026

Nitrates 2.5 - 5 ppm

PH - 0 - .03 ppm

Temp 78 degrees

 

Here's the link for adding in Fauna Marin Balling to your 2 part.

 

 

Hope that helps.. Keep reefing

[Emerald525]

Thanks for the update! You have a lot going on in that biocube! Nice work ! Beautiful !

[Exodus]

Yeah there is actually allot going on for a Biocube, so many upclose shots, what about a pic standing back about 10 ft from the tank?

[Emerald525]

Yeah there is actually allot going on for a Biocube, so many upclose shots, what about a pic standing back about 10 ft from the tank?

I meant it as a compliment . Lots of biodiversity im a 29 cube and everything is getting along. I like the close up shots too!????

[afresh]

Yeah there is actually allot going on for a Biocube, so many upclose shots, what about a pic standing back about 10 ft from the tank?

I'll try to take some tomorrow if I can get home in time before the tank goes to sleep.

 

I meant it as a compliment . Lots of biodiversity im a 29 cube and everything is getting along. I like the close up shots too!

I didn't take it any other way.

[afresh]

Missed typed....

 

PO4 0-0.03 ppm

PH 8.20 - 8.35

[Exodus]

My comment was in no way meant to be backhanded by any means. It was pointing at all the newcomers who see great pics like that in a Nano and decide to put down all the money needed to get the equipment and livestock and within a few months quickly realize they don't have tank of the month with just few forum posts and youtube videos they saw. They get frustrated realizing it takes allot of experience and patience to maintain such a tank and simply pull the plug. ( So I would say my comment was more Sarcastic with a comedic undertone. If the little guy waving his finger could be winking, it would have been a better representation.


That's quite a setup in equipment for sure! But I see your dosing Red Sea X Nitrate & Phosphate Reducer to help with stabilizing, whats in your reactor? Carbon? one last thing I'm also curious about is the 2 MP10's, do you have them linked and whats the max your setting those up too, seems like a lot of current for a 29G but then again you have a bunch of SPS in there. I have often considered adding a 2nd MP10 to my 30, but I also have 2 Mj1200 Cobalt's for return so have been content with all the flow so far.

[afresh]

On 2/26/2017 at 8:37 PM, Exodus said:

My comment was in no way meant to be backhanded by any means. It was pointing at all the newcomers who see great pics like that in a Nano and decide to put down all the money needed to get the equipment and livestock and within a few months quickly realize they don't have tank of the month with just few forum posts and youtube videos they saw. They get frustrated realizing it takes allot of experience and patience to maintain such a tank and simply pull the plug. ( So I would say my comment was more Sarcastic with a comedic undertone. If the little guy waving his finger could be winking, it would have been a better representation.


That's quite a setup in equipment for sure! But I see your dosing Red Sea X Nitrate & Phosphate Reducer to help with stabilizing, whats in your reactor? Carbon? one last thing I'm also curious about is the 2 MP10's, do you have them linked and whats the max your setting those up too, seems like a lot of current for a 29G but then again you have a bunch of SPS in there. I have often considered adding a 2nd MP10 to my 30, but I also have 2 Mj1200 Cobalt's for return so have been content with all the flow so far.

I understood what you where saying Exodus, but there's no need to be sarcastic which is discouraging to newcomers if they choose to buy Biocube and they find themselves wanting to quit because they don't get results they're expecting. This hobby is challenging at best. I think everyone gets discouraged and wants to quite the hobby at one point or another so I would just say moving forwards lets leave that out of the forum please.

I would like my thread to be super duper encouraging/ inspiring and let people see my tank and go "shnapp.. how did you get your tank to look like that?" then we can all reply with feedback to get them along their journey.

Back to the goodness!

I do like the Red Sea X Nitrate & Phosphate Reducer. I'm a big fan of it. It does a better job I feel then Vodka. You do have to be careful to how much you dose because I have seen it create bacterial blooms. It does go away after a while so that's something to consider. The reactor has Carbon ROX and GFO to help my tank a little more. I feed a lot in the morning so this helps keep the water clearer and reduce the phosphates.

The Tunze Recirculation Pump Silence Electronic 1073.050 pushes out 792.5 USgal./h but that's slowed down because it has to run through the Coralife uv sterilizer, chiller and back up to the tank. Adding the 2 MP 10's helps with the flow and makes it more dynamic. The reason I choose 2 MP 10's is because I found that with cube size tanks and having only one MP 10, the flow would be heavy on that side it's pointing to. It didn't have enough room to slow down before it hits the other side of the tank, resulting into an off balance flow unless you turned it down but then I wouldn't get enough flow for my SPS. For me it was all about centralizing the flow. The way I saw it was if I could slow down the other side with a MP 10 before it would crash into the glass I could get a more balanced high flow area. So adding another helped me balance the flow more in the middle of my tank allowing me to have higher flow for the SPS and not kill my anemone or other LPS/Softies. Hope that makes sense.

If you're thinking about adding another MP 10, I highly recommend it Exodus.

Edited March 11, 2017 by afresh

[afresh]

Image dump

 

 

[TheClark]

Stunning tank, inspiring!

 

[TheClark]

Is that alk 11-12 dkh?  Did I convert that right?  

It is interesting, a bit higher than some run.  How did you get there, intentionally or accidentally?  

There is no debating the fact it is working, just curious to learn more!

 

[afresh]

11 hours ago, TheClark said:

Stunning tank, inspiring!

 

Thanks TheClark!

11 hours ago, TheClark said:

Is that alk 11-12 dkh?  Did I convert that right?  

It is interesting, a bit higher than some run.  How did you get there, intentionally or accidentally?  

There is no debating the fact it is working, just curious to learn more!

 

Totally.. ask away please.

Yeah you're very close, it sits around 11.2 -12.3 dkh. I use this site to convert ppm to dkh. I use Hanna checkers for my test kits and it come in as ppm so I just use that.

https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/AlkConversion.php

Quote

It is interesting, a bit higher than some run.  How did you get there, intentionally or accidentally?  

That's a good question. I think it was a little of both. I played with the chemistry a lot in the beginning, trying to find the sweet spot (if there is one) while reading Randy Holmes-Farley docs on chemistry. I never got good results mostly because I was changing the chemistry a lot not allowing my corals to acclimate to the changes. It didn't kill them or anything but it didn't allow them to grow either. So I picked a base line, stuck with that and I saw some growth. Then Red Sea came out with their Reed Foundation Program and they put a lot money into their research trying figure out what is the "optimal chemistry levels" for a lot of species that we reefers collect in our tanks. Their findings where pretty awesome. Then of course they made products to help maintain those levels. So I watched their videos and started with their base line for great color. It has a lower alkalinity and calcium levels. Holly molly, the results that I saw were like night and day, my colors started started to pop. I got colors very similar to what you see in Zeofit systems without all the stuff you need. Then I thought to myself, if this works I'll try then the accelerated base line. That's when everything started to grow like weeds. My coloration did dim a little but I wanted growth so I could fill out my tank. I have stuck with that for the most part. 

You can find Red Sea videos here. It's worth watching.

 

Edited March 12, 2017 by afresh