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Sciencing Daily
It's funny, Im the opposite in that I like to do corals first and then fish.
Going Slooooow... LQT's Oceanic BC29 Build
- Thread starter LQT
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Rotorocious
New member
Same here, at first I liked the fish more but then got in to coral a lot more. Lots of variety and easier to fit more of them than fish.
Nice build so far op!
LQT
Active member
Thanks guys! My rationale for fish first is to get the system mature so to speak and be able to get into a consistent maintenance routine as well as stable water parameters before adding coral.
As far as my current progress with the tank goes, I finally got around to getting the Apex installed, not nearly as bad as I had thought. The Apex Fusion web interface makes it very user friendly. Now I just have to do firmware updates and link my MP10s to the WXM. I'm beginning to get the expected "new tank syndrome" algae outbreak. Got a few Astrea and Mexican Turbo snails and they're already making a dent after just 2 days in. Once they do their job, I'll begin the coral stocking progress. Hopefully, once that happens, I'll take pictures with a better camera and continually update this thread with better quality photos of my progress.
As far as my current progress with the tank goes, I finally got around to getting the Apex installed, not nearly as bad as I had thought. The Apex Fusion web interface makes it very user friendly. Now I just have to do firmware updates and link my MP10s to the WXM. I'm beginning to get the expected "new tank syndrome" algae outbreak. Got a few Astrea and Mexican Turbo snails and they're already making a dent after just 2 days in. Once they do their job, I'll begin the coral stocking progress. Hopefully, once that happens, I'll take pictures with a better camera and continually update this thread with better quality photos of my progress.
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Exactly! Gets the Bio-filter running at a higher capacity and helps stabilize/mature the tank. The Apex is simple to setup, seems like it would be lots more work but it really isn't.
As far as snails go, I gotta give a huge vote for dwarf ceriths. I built a package from Reef Cleaners and the real workhorses out of my group was the Dwarf Cerith -- Those little guys don't stop, and they obliterated my diatoms in a matter of days. My sand looks brand new. They don't really care to explore the rockwork yet, they're mostly buried just below sand level or on the glass.
Once you build up some solid fish waste and leftover food (probably by now) Id say the Nass snails would be an awesome addition too. They absolutely are little vacuum cleaners picking up any little morsels they can find. Sometimes people complain they only come out when you feed the tank -- But the truth is that puts them in food hunt mode, and they spend the next 2 hours searching for that food and eating anything they find along the way.
Edit: Any plans to upgrade the skimmer eventually? I've been seeing some really promising skimmate from people running the Eshopps 75 and the AquaMaxx Hob-1.
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LQT
Active member
I actually have the skimmer sidelined right now. In order to make room for the Apex probes and eventual dosing lines in chamber 3, I moved the media reactor to chamber 1. With religious weekly 5 gallon water changes, I think I may be okay, we'll see. I actually have an HOB-1 skimmer that I'm selling in the classifieds section, if it doesn't move, I'm fine keeping it as my backup. It's a beast of a skimmer, but with the Nanobox Retro, I don't want to go hacking up my hood.
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Sciencing Daily
General advice is to vacuum the sand unless you have a deep sand bed. The issue with the deep sand bed is uncovering sulfur pockets and releasing them into the tank which an cause major issues and potential crash.
LQT
Active member
Ah, that makes sense.
Good price! The bubble plate had broken and was replaced?
LQT
Active member
No, the bubble plate is the undamaged original. It is the new style coke bottle shaped bubble plate. I guess the older model HOB-1s had a less efficient bubble plate, hence the change. The retaining plate of the mounting bracket is what broke when I dropped it. The good thing is it's not the part that bears the load of the full skimmer. The acrylic guys at MaxReef welded two acrylic reinforcement plates to either side to mend the retaining plate. They said it's probably stronger than the original. I figured since I'm not using it, I'll put it up for sale. If it doesn't sell, I'll keep it as backup. It skims like an absolute beast. I wish there was some way to incorporate it seamlessly while keeping my retro'd stock hood... Oh well.
LQT
Active member
So I am exactly at 3 months in since the tank has been wet. Livestock consists of 2 True Percula clowns, a Purple Firedish, several Astrea and Mexican Turbo snails and a boatload of pods.
To make room for the Apex probes in chamber 3, I moved my media reactor running GFO into chamber 1 and moved the skimmer offline. In the media tray, I have floss, Purigen, ROX carbon and Chemipure Elite. I have trimmed off 2/3 of my chaeto as it was running out of space in the fuge basket. I'm also still running 2 bags of SeaChem Matrix Biomedia on the bottom of Chamber 1 and underneath the fuge basket.
I think I'm going through the new tank syndrome algae / diatom bloom. My combination of Astrea and Mexican Turbos are slowly making progress. Once I get through this ugly phase, I think it will be time to finally begin adding coral!
My parameters are as follows:
Salinity - 1.025 (Red Sea refractometer)
Temp - 77.1 (Apex)
pH - 7.75 (Apex)
NO3 - 0 (Red Sea)
Alk - 8.3 (Hanna)
PO4 - 0.02 (Hanna)
To make room for the Apex probes in chamber 3, I moved my media reactor running GFO into chamber 1 and moved the skimmer offline. In the media tray, I have floss, Purigen, ROX carbon and Chemipure Elite. I have trimmed off 2/3 of my chaeto as it was running out of space in the fuge basket. I'm also still running 2 bags of SeaChem Matrix Biomedia on the bottom of Chamber 1 and underneath the fuge basket.
I think I'm going through the new tank syndrome algae / diatom bloom. My combination of Astrea and Mexican Turbos are slowly making progress. Once I get through this ugly phase, I think it will be time to finally begin adding coral!
My parameters are as follows:
Salinity - 1.025 (Red Sea refractometer)
Temp - 77.1 (Apex)
pH - 7.75 (Apex)
NO3 - 0 (Red Sea)
Alk - 8.3 (Hanna)
PO4 - 0.02 (Hanna)
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LQT
Active member
Yeah, that's the next round of testing that I will begin once this algae / uglies phase is over. I've got the Red Sea kits for Calc & Mag and Hanna for Alk. Been looking into dosers, either the DOS or Drew's dosers... I guess my question is at what point do I begin dosing? Shall I start stocking SPS frags then follow Calc, Alk and Mag consumption? Or should I measure where I currently stand with the big three, bring them up to adequate levels, and then add SPS frags, follow consumption and then dose. I know I can get by with weekly water changes for softies and some limited LPS, but I know that won't be enough for SPS. I am using Reef Crystals salt by the way. I appreciate everyone's collective wisdom.
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homer1475
New member
This is exactly how you should go about it. You won't know how much the corals are going to consume until you add them and they start to grow.
Get your levels where they need to be, add your coral, test weekly till you start seeing a significant drop. Then dose back up to normal levels and test daily for a week to see what your daily consumption is. Setup your dosers based on the daily usage, then test daily again for a week or so to see if they are setup properly and your levels are maintained.
FWIW, while I don't have any SPS's, I am heavily stocked with LPS. In my biocube, it took nearly 6 months before I needed to start dosing. Between weekly WC's and Kalk in the ATO, it was all I needed for a long time.
LQT
Active member
So after 3 1/2 months of my BioCube up and running, I finally added my first two coral frags for this build. Picked up a Duncan and Hammer at a local LFS on the cheap. Did a Bayer dip and triple rinse and now they sit on my sand bed for the time being. I'll slowly acclimate them to my lighting and then move them to mid level in my rock work.
I also took the Mexican Turbo snails back to the LFS and traded them in for some Trochus snails. They seem to be better at munching on the remaining diatoms. Next week, I'm getting a 6 Acan Lord frag pack delivered... needless to say, I'm super stoked. I guess this is when the real fun begins!
I also took the Mexican Turbo snails back to the LFS and traded them in for some Trochus snails. They seem to be better at munching on the remaining diatoms. Next week, I'm getting a 6 Acan Lord frag pack delivered... needless to say, I'm super stoked. I guess this is when the real fun begins!
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