homer1475's Biocube 29 Build Thread
- Thread starter homer1475
- Start date
I had to snap the plastic divider on the inside of my splash guard. It separated the lights from the ballast section. The heatsink overlapped it by about 3/4", so the divider had to go.
With the puck you would want a wide lens. With the solderless kit, I probably could have gotten away with wide lenses, but I decided to take everyone's advice and got no lenses. The spread is nice and reasonably even, with very little to no perceived discoball effect, except maybe in some shadows where only red gets in or something.
The puck is a nice approach to distributing the light more evenly, though I'm not complaining about the way the solderless blends light either.
soulpatch
New member
No I mean there is a retro puck kit.
http://www.rapidled.com/copy-of-oceanic-biocube-29-dimmable-retrofit-aurora-puck-kit/
I do not believe it is wide angle. I have whatever puck they sent with this and pretty sure it is standard which gives great light spread but also allows some edge to place lower light stuff.
You have seen my pics so you can see what the spread is like.
homer1475
New member
Fish out of TTM and into QT. I'll start prazipro treatments on sunday(let them get used to QT first).
I got to say, TTM for ich is pretty simple and quite stress lesson the fish. I would recommend it to anyone before trying any other method. Only part that sucks is the leaving my DT fallow for 72 days.
I got to say, TTM for ich is pretty simple and quite stress lesson the fish. I would recommend it to anyone before trying any other method. Only part that sucks is the leaving my DT fallow for 72 days.
homer1475
New member
Well I went to a "local" (2 1/2 hour drive) reef club's frag swap yesterday, was supposed to be from noon to 4, showed up at 2:30 and it was dead! Only 2 guys selling frags, mostly SPS, which I'm not really into, yet!
Anywho, the store the event was held at had several different octospawn, but they were either really large, or green. I have enough freaking green in my tank!!!! Might go back on Tuesday for an orange octo, just have to see how big it was again. I ended up with a yellow torch.
Pictures do it no justice. The tips look green in the pic, but are really yellow in my tank.
They had a couple small 1 to 3 head frags of some beautiful acans, but they were 180$ plus. My wife would have strangled me If I came home with them. If the octo is as big as I remember it being, it will probably be in my tank either tuesday or wednesday.
Anywho, the store the event was held at had several different octospawn, but they were either really large, or green. I have enough freaking green in my tank!!!! Might go back on Tuesday for an orange octo, just have to see how big it was again. I ended up with a yellow torch.
Pictures do it no justice. The tips look green in the pic, but are really yellow in my tank.
They had a couple small 1 to 3 head frags of some beautiful acans, but they were 180$ plus. My wife would have strangled me If I came home with them. If the octo is as big as I remember it being, it will probably be in my tank either tuesday or wednesday.
\Clownfish/
Saltwater Beginner
LOL I have to much green as well! Trying to stay away from green corals and looking into different colors. Looking great homer! Love the yellow torch.
homer1475
New member
Went to go grab that octo I saw on saturday, place is closed all week for renovations. So while I was already a 2 hour drive away from home I figured I might as well stop in to my LFS I've been dealing with. Has my black capped basslet in stock but has some parasites, and I'm going fallow, so he's going to keep it in QT for me least for another couple weeks till the parasites are gone. Then I'll throw him in my QT for the remainder of my fallow period.
WHile I was there my wife found some nice blue things to go in the tank, I present a blue star polyp, and what I was told is blue disaster zoas(No idea if that's the proper name, and don't really care what it is, I just love the different colors that zoas offer).
The stock biocube lighting doesn't really do them any justice, there's just not enough actinic to make them pop. I sooooo can't wait till my puck arrives and I get time to set it up!
WHile I was there my wife found some nice blue things to go in the tank, I present a blue star polyp, and what I was told is blue disaster zoas(No idea if that's the proper name, and don't really care what it is, I just love the different colors that zoas offer).
The stock biocube lighting doesn't really do them any justice, there's just not enough actinic to make them pop. I sooooo can't wait till my puck arrives and I get time to set it up!
The blue star polyps (I had to look them up) look cool, but if they're anything like green star polyps, I would make sure to keep them on or near a rock that you can easily remove from the tank or isolate, so they don't spread and crawl across your rock, like mine have.
soulpatch
New member
Yeah I have my GSP on a rock at the top rear so I can keep them in check for this reason.
Homer my LFS gave me a good tip. Get some rock rubble and barely glue it around the GSP or in your case blue polyps to form a sort of edging. As the coral grows onto those rocks where you want it to stop you can easily cut it and snap off the rocks for quick and easy frags...
Homer my LFS gave me a good tip. Get some rock rubble and barely glue it around the GSP or in your case blue polyps to form a sort of edging. As the coral grows onto those rocks where you want it to stop you can easily cut it and snap off the rocks for quick and easy frags...
Great call. I tried that by just placing the rocks down, but within a day my hermits had knocked them all to the sand bed (almost hitting my clam in the process!). Maybe I'll glue them down. I really want to get the GSP under control in my tank. I'm wondering if I should get one of those dental toothpick sets and take the 90 degree pick and dig underneath it to lift it out. I know it can be done off of glass, rocks may be too porous to do that successfully though.
Just be aware that polyps can be difficult to remove once they start to grow in.
homer1475
New member
Read about this technique. Just redid my rock work, again and I'm still not super happy with it, but its better then it was. When everything settles down I'll snap a fts. Killed one of my large feather duster when a rock slipped out of my hands and I crushed it. 
I left the GSP on the substrate so it doesn't get out of control. Seems I have plenty of "nuisance" corals in my tank, GSP, BSP, and Xenia, ooh well I'll just have to keep them in check.
I figured the BSP was exactly like GSP in being considered invasive, but I have a plan for it, as well as the GSP, as soon as they start growing.
OOH, my GSP was already encrusted on the rock it was on, but was very simple to peel off with just a bit left behind that I scrubbed off with a brush. My nuclear green paly on the other hand, didn't fair so well. I didn't glue it to a rock on purpose because I knew I was going to change up the rockwork, but it had already established itself and when I pulled the frag plug, 2 polyps peeled off the original head. I think it will be fine, just missing a couple heads. I did glue them back onto the plug, but I think those heads maybe a goner.
FTS maybe tomorrow after everything settles down and opens up. Looks like a sandstorm in there right now. My stupidity not knowing I was supposed to rinse the "live" sand before adding it to the tank originally.
I left the GSP on the substrate so it doesn't get out of control. Seems I have plenty of "nuisance" corals in my tank, GSP, BSP, and Xenia, ooh well I'll just have to keep them in check.
I figured the BSP was exactly like GSP in being considered invasive, but I have a plan for it, as well as the GSP, as soon as they start growing.
OOH, my GSP was already encrusted on the rock it was on, but was very simple to peel off with just a bit left behind that I scrubbed off with a brush. My nuclear green paly on the other hand, didn't fair so well. I didn't glue it to a rock on purpose because I knew I was going to change up the rockwork, but it had already established itself and when I pulled the frag plug, 2 polyps peeled off the original head. I think it will be fine, just missing a couple heads. I did glue them back onto the plug, but I think those heads maybe a goner.
FTS maybe tomorrow after everything settles down and opens up. Looks like a sandstorm in there right now. My stupidity not knowing I was supposed to rinse the "live" sand before adding it to the tank originally.
I've never rinsed my sand before introducing it, and I've only bought used tanks
FWIW, the finer grains will dissolve faster if there are ever pH issues in the tank, which will balance the pH/alkalinity better than larger grains only. So there is a silver lining to your cloud storm
FWIW, the finer grains will dissolve faster if there are ever pH issues in the tank, which will balance the pH/alkalinity better than larger grains only. So there is a silver lining to your cloud storm
