\Clownfish/ 29 Gallon BioCube Tank

[soulpatch]

If i were you, i would put a little more live rock. Its so worth it, helps my parameter big time. Also, don't add too much fish if your planning to have corals. There are so many stuff out there that people talk about to waste your money on. I have 29 biocube but definitely plan to upgrade your lighting if your keeping corals. Biocube light sucks so bad for corals, I upgraded my lights to LED, corals love it and open up like there is no tomorrow.

Depends on the coral and your rock sacpe. I had LPS in there without any issues though I do agree upgrading is beneficial. I now have Rapid LED set and the corals open up a bit more plus with the UV and blue lights i see the corals pop a lot more. Probably best 300 I spent on the tank thus far.


Clown looking good. Keep testing to see when you are ready for next steps

 

[\Clownfish/]

Day #8

Parameters Today

Salinity - 1.025
Ammonia - 0 ppm celeb2
Nitrite - 0.25 eek1: almost 0!!!!)
Nitrate - 40 ppm (Same as yesterday)
Phosphate - 1.0 ppm (Same as yesterday)

Does this mean if my Nitrites are 0 tomorrow, that I can preform a 5 Gal water change? Also when I spike ammonia again do I need to water change again or no?



Tank Today (Copepods Everywhere)

 

[soulpatch]

yes you can do a change and then again at the end. The one at the end should be like a 80% change as you will be dumping out the nitrates. Your bacteria will be fine and the parameters of the changed water will be in line for livestock.

 

[\Clownfish/]

Day #9

Today is the start of my second spike, decided to do shrimp again

Parameters Today (Before shrimp) - 3:30pm

Salinity - 1.026
Ammonia - 0 ppm (Looks darker in picture, but it is not)
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 40 ppm
Phosphate - 1.0 ppm



Second Parameters Today (Shrimp In Tank) - 11:30 pm

Ammonia - 0.25 ppm (Going to wait till it reaches 2.0 ppm)
Nitrite - 0.15 ppm



Tank Today (Shrimp In It)

 

[soulpatch]

looking good Clown.

Have you thought about more rock work to give you more areas for corals and hiding places for the fish?

 

[dinger28]

Very nice! Have had a BC29 for a while now and am loving it. In regards to the skimmer, just purchased (used) an Aquamaxx HOB-1 and it is simply incredible. Thought my tank was pretty good, but the crap that it pulled out blew my mind. Corals are open more than I have ever seen them after the skimmer was added. To each is own though!

Matt

 

[\Clownfish/]

yep hopefully today I get the chance to go buy some cured rock

 

[\Clownfish/]

Day #10

Parameters So Far (9:40am) will be testing again at 3pm to see if there are any changes.

Ammonia - 0.50 ppm
Nitrite - 0.50 ppm

 

[Zwickm]

Very nice! Have had a BC29 for a while now and am loving it. In regards to the skimmer, just purchased (used) an Aquamaxx HOB-1 and it is simply incredible. Thought my tank was pretty good, but the crap that it pulled out blew my mind. Corals are open more than I have ever seen them after the skimmer was added. To each is own though!

Matt

I second this! I use a AquaMaxx HOB-1 and love it!

 

[\Clownfish/]

Day # 10 pt.2

Parameters for today - 4pm

Ammonia - 0.75
Nitrite - 2.0 ppm

11 pm

Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrite - 2.0

Ammonia never went far down and I placed a whole shrimp in there. Last time I added the shrimp the ammonia spike in half a day. This time its been in there since 3pm yesterday till 11pm tonight. I decided to take the shrimp out and see if ammonia clears as well as nitrites.

(left side is 4pm - right 11pm)

 

[Azedenkae]

That is good news. It basically means that your bacteria are at levels where they are breaking down ammonia faster than it can be produced to generate a spike.

 

[soulpatch]

if you zero out then time for a massive water change and some cuc with light feeding to them and constant checking of water for a bit before fish are introduced.

If you get the fish and QT them at same time you get the CUC then everything shoudl be ready at the same time. That is what I did. I had the fish in a tank for a month to check on them before adding to my DT.

 

[\Clownfish/]

Day #11

Parameters Today

Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0.50 ppm

Ammonia was at zero around 3pm today YAY!! :smurf:
and now Nitrite is lowering . Getting all my water ready for tomorrow cause I know it will be zero by morning. I will test again and do a massive water change and start looking for a clean up crew. I will then wait for about a week and then think about adding my first fishy. Today I also added three new pieces of rock to the tank which now totals to 30 lbs of cured rock .

 

[soulpatch]

You better qt those fish...

 

[\Clownfish/]

Oh I will :fish2:

 

[soulpatch]

I would go get your fish now then and throw them in a QT tank. They will need to be there a minimum of 2 weeks anyway to watch for possible disease. Within that time you can get your CUC for the DT and finish any scaping changes you wish to make.

 

[\Clownfish/]

Day #12

Parameters Today

Salinity 1.025
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm
Phosphate - 0 ppm

I did a massive water change this morning and turned on the skimmer to break it in and added carbon in my filtration system. Today I am also getting my clean up crew from reef cleaners since I new it would be clear today. They will be here later this afternoon YAY! Will post a pic later today of my test and of the tank :rollface:

 

[soulpatch]

excited to see pics.

I have to do some cleaning and update my thread as well. I am spending more time in everyone else's lol

 

[\Clownfish/]

Here is the picture of today's test (looks darker in picture than in person )


Tank Today
I added more rocks and made more platforms for future corals to sit. I wanted to keep the arch so water movement could go through the rocks and for fish to swim through.


The Cleaners
lots of snails and about 5 hermit crabs reef compatible. They are already cleaning away the dead stuff. I wont feed till the 3rd day.

 

[\Clownfish/]

Plans for next weekend are to buy my two clowns and place them in QT for about three weeks

I will be checking them heavily the first week for illnesses and if there is, I will let you all know so I know so I know how to treat at the moment I have a small filter sponge which I will be using for the QT and will place in the HOB filter. I will use newly mixed saltwater at the temp of 78. Please let me know if my plan needs correction :beachbum: