Coralife BioCube 29g Build

[soulpatch]

I would put a piece of shrimp in the front corner and wait. Your couch is next to it so you will see him come out to it. Then skewer him

 

[soulpatch]

Not sure what all I am up to this weekend but perhaps you can come over to bring me back my pump and have a look in my tank. You can let me know if something in there catches your eye or see how I do some things...

 

[timfederwitz]

Not sure what all I am up to this weekend but perhaps you can come over to bring me back my pump and have a look in my tank. You can let me know if something in there catches your eye or see how I do some things...

Defnitely! I can actually bring you back the QT tank as I went out and got a 20g long and all the fixings. Since it is going in the boys room, my wife wanted something larger, etc. Got that setup now so I'm ready to get my clowns on Saturday. I'll post about that later with some pics.

 

[soulpatch]

Well with all the extra rock you had you most likely needed that 20 gallon. HA HA. Did you still use the HOB filter?

Yeah let me know when you are free this weekend and I will set it up. I dont have any plans this weekend that I know of save for a pod cast Sunday at noon. Might hit up the driving range too before next weekend so I can warm back up. Need to make some money off my friends at the golf course.

 

[timfederwitz]

Well with all the extra rock you had you most likely needed that 20 gallon. HA HA. Did you still use the HOB filter?

Yeah let me know when you are free this weekend and I will set it up. I dont have any plans this weekend that I know of save for a pod cast Sunday at noon. Might hit up the driving range too before next weekend so I can warm back up. Need to make some money off my friends at the golf course.

Pretty much on needing a larger tank for the rock I had. I've always wanted a 20L anyway. I went with a Coralife 30" T5 fixture and a glass hood. I figure, it's the same thing that's on the cube, so can't hurt and might help with acclimation for new corals down the road.

I got a new HOB filter, but the same exact thing you were lending me. Fluval 30 maybe? Anyway, same thing you had in the tank. Also ordered a Hydor Koralia 240 that should arrive Friday. For now I'm using the MJ1200 from my saltwater mixing tub. And I decided to use my Apex Jr on it for now.

The kids also wanted a Spongebob theme, so I got the spongebob stuff from Petco (You'll see in pics in a little bit). They are super excited! Wish ASR was open so I could go get my clowns! LOL

 

[timfederwitz]

Here's the QT tank in the boys room.

Notice the perfect placement of the SpongeBob dwellings? Even have Patrick's rock in there! LOL

HOB filter

Some closer shots of the dwellings (kids wanted me too)

 

[soulpatch]

you are going to have to watch having the glass top on it as it might overheat slightly. You are already at 79 and I bet you havent left the light on with nothing in the tank...

 

[homer1475]

I saw in a thread recently where someone took some GSP cut up the mat, glued it to a totem head like that one, it ended up looking like a chia pet. Looked pretty cool IMO.

 

[timfederwitz]

you are going to have to watch having the glass top on it as it might overheat slightly. You are already at 79 and I bet you havent left the light on with nothing in the tank...

Was noticing that myself, though I have switched my tanks to 78 from various thing's I've read about temps. I can always get one of those screen tops if it looks like it's going to be a problem.

But thanks for noticing that too! It takes a village... ;-)

 

[homer1475]

IMO, I would ditch the glass tops and go with a mesh top. You don't get enough evap with the glass tops to keep temps down.

 

[timfederwitz]

I saw in a thread recently where someone took some GSP cut up the mat, glued it to a totem head like that one, it ended up looking like a chia pet. Looked pretty cool IMO.

Easter Island Chia Pet... too funny!

IMO, I would ditch the glass tops and go with a mesh top. You don't get enough evap with the glass tops to keep temps down.

Yes... I think I will just order that now. Makes more sense for sure.

 

[soulpatch]

I saw in a thread recently where someone took some GSP cut up the mat, glued it to a totem head like that one, it ended up looking like a chia pet. Looked pretty cool IMO.

Well I do have excess GSP..... hmm

 

[timfederwitz]

Well I do have excess GSP..... hmm

ROTFL :lolspin:

 

[homer1475]

Anyone who has GSP, has an excess of it. lmao :lolspin:

 

[timfederwitz]

I also have a feeling that this "QT tank" will turn into a permanent reef tank at some point in the very near future. So I'm sure I will be setting up another (actual) QT tank soon.

 

[soulpatch]

just keep that 10 gal tank if you have someplace to put it. I dont need it as I have a 10 gal set up and my cube will be a qt here shortly.

 

[timfederwitz]

just keep that 10 gal tank if you have someplace to put it. I dont need it as I have a 10 gal set up and my cube will be a qt here shortly.

Thanks man! You ROCK!! :bounce3:

 

[Difrano]

Well, that big 'ole crab is decimating my barnacle population during the night. Two days in a row I wake up to dramatically less barnacles (my wife's favorites so far). He was sitting in plain view, though fairly well camouflaged, this morning and we tried to use tweezers to grab him. He slipped out and climbed under a rock. So I pulled that rock and he jumped off and disappeared. I pulled a few more rocks but couldn't find him. Aside from pulling damn near everything out of the tank, I'm at a loss.

I might try the food in a glass trick, but he is BIG and I don't have much room in my tank for a largish glass. He's much too large for a shot glass.

Edit: Next time I will just use gloves or even hands. My gloves weren't close by and I guess I wasn't thinking clearly yet"¦ didn't have enough coffee yet.

I have the TBS rock on my 29 Biocube too this is my build thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2527919

I have bad news for you, unless you feed the tank with plankton the barnacles population with be reduced day by day due to starvation, I have a emerald and red mithrax and they like to munch on the LR but never saw them chomping on barnacles, I still have a few alive mostly the ones that are on the strongest current.

Your tank looks awesome!

 

[timfederwitz]

H-O-L-Y crap! I finally got the bugger!! Earlier tonight he was up front and we tried to grab him (see earlier post). Then, he was straddling my yellow cucumber and I couldn't tell if he was trying to eat the cucumber or what was under him. Tried to grab him with a gloved hand, but as soon as he saw my hand he boogied out.

Then, I happened to look at the tank and the green grass stalk-thingy in the front of the tank was pulled from the sand and it looked like it was being pushed/sucked into the gave by the flow. I reached in and tried to grab it to put it back and all of a sudden there was strong tension pulling it the opposite direction, and moving fairly quickly! That's when I realized the crab had it and was pulling it into the cave and all the way between two rocks at the back!! That's when I saw him struggling at the back of the tank because he couldn't get it through the rocks, but was still holding on.

So I reached in and grabbed him and yanked him out of the tank. And it took more effort than I expected! Strong little sucker!

Here is the green thing he had. I had to re-bury it in the sand.

Also, earlier when the lights were still on, I got a pic of the small coral that is starting to open up a little.

Does anyone know what this is?

 

[Chibils]

Looks kinda like a goniopora to me.