Kevan's 34g cube (Picture heavy)

kevantheman35

kevantheman35

Member
I have had an addiction to this hobby & all marine life for around 5 years now. In that time I have learned a great deal and still feel like I have barely begun to scratch the surface of what there is to know about the hobby. This tank has been running since christmas of 2010, and I am not very happy with the growth I have gotten in that time. In the passed 6 months or so I have been putting a lot of time and money into upgrading equipment in an attempt to get better growth and lower algae problems. You may be able to tell in some of these pics that I am having some real problems with bryopsis lately, and am currently trying to come up with a solution if anyone has any input. Anyways, here is my tank as of tonight (10-16-2012).
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Aquarium
34g Solana. 20''x20''x20''
Home made red oak stand with marble top & removeable magnetic doors for easy access when I upgrade to a 24'' cube in the future.
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Lighting
Ice cap 250w pendant & ballast with a 250w pheonix 14k bulb
DIY 3w Cree LED royal blue actinics. Hung from the ceiling with a gieseman hanging kit.
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Filtration
Gfo & carbon run in a phosban reactor with a maxijet400
Bubble Magnus NAC5E HOB skimmer(kind of big for the tank but I like it a lot)
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Other Equipment
Digital aquatics Reef Keeper Lite controller
JBJ Auto top off
Milwaukee SMS122 pH monitor
Rf20 Refractometer
150w jager heater
Maxijet 900(Return)
Tunze 4045(Circulation)
Brs 4 stage ro/di plus system http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-4-stage-value-plus-ro-di-system-75gpd.html
I have always bought water locally but recently purchased this rodi as I just did not trust the water I was using and contributed it partially to my algae problems.
Maintainance
I do 5g water changes every week (sometimes 10g)
Clean the glass every three days or so
Feed every other day on a rotation of Mysis, rodsfood, & IO marine blend. I also fix in some coral frenzy every now and then. I try not to feed very heavy as I have algae problems but I spot feed coral when I can.
Dosing
I am not as good as I should be with dosing & have struggled getting a dosing schedual down. I do add kalk to my top off water (2tsp per gallon), and dose b-ionic 2 part.
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Live Stock
Fish
Darwin Clownfish pair
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Pseudochromis
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Inverts
Rose Bubble Tip Anemone(Clowns don't seem to be interested but the nem is still fairly small)
3 Maxi-mini Carpet Anemone variations
Sea cucumber
Yellow sea cucumber
2 maxima clams
Theres also a few emerald crabs, a porcelain crab, and some various snail species.
Coral
SPS
Gnarf Bonsai (frags available)
Green Digitata
Green Birdsnest
Orange moniticap
Purple rim green monti cap
Superman monti
Spongodes
Unknown deepwater sps
LPS
Frogspawn
Neon Green Candycane
Blue Candycane
Pot of Gold Favia
Prism Favia (frags available)
A few unknown favias
Lobophyllia
Softies
Purple death palys
Captain Amrica palys
Pink palys (frags available)
Green palys
Blue Hornet Zoas
Rasta Zoas
Whammin Watermelon Zoas
Nuclear dragon eye Zoas (frags available)
Yellow button polyps (frags available)
Abunch of bright pink Yumas
 
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Your tank is really nice! Is that purple coral (#3) a Ricordea, an anemone, or something else?

I read in a different thread that high magnesium can shelp with Bryopsis, but I would have to reread the thread for specifics.

Agree that the Bubble Magus HOB is a lot of skimmer - the one I'm considering for my 38 is a Reef Octopus BH-90, with about half of the air draw of yours. Then again, I only plan on using it for cycling and emergencies, with macroalgae providing the usual filtration along with live rock/sand (I prefer skimmerless systems as you get more feather dusters/sponges/et cetera).
 
Orm Embar said:
Your tank is really nice! Is that purple coral (#3) a Ricordea, an anemone, or something else?

I read in a different thread that high magnesium can shelp with Bryopsis, but I would have to reread the thread for specifics.

Agree that the Bubble Magus HOB is a lot of skimmer - the one I'm considering for my 38 is a Reef Octopus BH-90, with about half of the air draw of yours. Then again, I only plan on using it for cycling and emergencies, with macroalgae providing the usual filtration along with live rock/sand (I prefer skimmerless systems as you get more feather dusters/sponges/et cetera).
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Thanks for your comment embar!
Its a maxi mini carpet nem. I have 2 other variations but they can barely be seen where they moved to in the tank. The purple one in the pic is actually pretty large, probably around 7'' accross when fully open.
From what I have seen my options are either magnesium, or peroxide dosing to rid myself of bryopsis. I am scared of peroxide dosing as I would hate to lose any of my corals and I have no other tank to put them in at the moment. If anyone has any input let me know. I have been running crazy amounts of gfo for months now with no real effects.
 
Awesome tank! Beautiful cabinet! So all you have under the cabinet is the phosban reactor? Ever think about a sump for this tank? Keep up the good work!
 
echopiece said:
Awesome tank! Beautiful cabinet! So all you have under the cabinet is the phosban reactor? Ever think about a sump for this tank? Keep up the good work!
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Thanks a lot!
The phosban reactor is actually hanging on the back of the tank. You can see it in the pic above of the skimmer. In the cabinet is a 5gallon bucket used as my ato reserve, my controller and power strips, my pH monitor, and some hooks where various tools are hung. So its actually pretty full down there but I would love to have a sump on this tank just doesnt seem practical? I eventually want to upgrade to the cadlights 50g artisan cube or similar.
 
Awesome! I never knew why my acans where dying until I looked at night and saw their close favia neighbor friend stinging the crap out of them :angryfire: lol
 
Very nice setup. Does your tank get very hot with the 250 MH over it? Why are you running LEDs in conjunction with the MH? Dawn/Dusk cycle?
 
drouner said:
Very nice setup. Does your tank get very hot with the 250 MH over it? Why are you running LEDs in conjunction with the MH? Dawn/Dusk cycle?
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Being a rimless tank it really doesn't get hot at all, even with the 250w mh I fluctuate between 78-80. I bought fans and never had to use them. I had a 150w mh fixture up until about 3 months ago and I don't really notice any difference in heat. The leds are mostly for looks and I have them run on a dawn/dusk effect, as well as on all day to give some of my corals a nice pop.
 
Is the skimmer loud or quiet? I have the same tank and was hoping to add a skimmer but not sure what would fit that was silent enough. I downgraded from a larger tank with a alpha cone skimmer so I'm used to very quiet skimmers.

Does this skimmer you have fit in the chambers or did you have to modify anything? Could you snap some more pics of the skimmer's setup or the back side if possible?

How much GFO and GAC do you use?

Thats a really nice tank, wish mine looked like that lol
 
Hey linkin, the skimmer is fairly quiet in my tank. The guy i bought it from said it made a loud gargling sound and so he put a pill container upside down over the air adjustment. I have never really noticed much sound myself. It fits the tank without any mods but the intake is not very long and so you have to keep the back chanbers very full of water for it to work. It would be better to extend the intake using pvc or something? I will take some pics for you in the next couple days. I am running about 1-1 1 1/2 cups gfo and a couple cups of carbon in my reactor right now, and i have it so the outtake shoots the water into the main display to kind of speed the water through the filter chambers more than just the return pump. Hope you understand all this haha, thanks for your comment!
 
How do you like the Phoenix 14k bulb? That's my next choice in my 250w. I'm currently running the stock Hamilton 14k. It has a nice blue hue to it, but from what I have seen the Phoenix is much bluer.
 
I like it a lot I ran the same in my 150w fixture. I am ready for a new bulb and chances are I will get the same bulb as they're too expensive to gamble on lol.
 
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