ReefWreak's 29g SPS Biocube Adventure!

[ReefWreak]

Great looking tank!! So cool that your clowns are laying eggs.

Thanks! It's very exciting. They laid their third clutch of eggs yesterday. They picked a new surface that is harder to get pics of, so I may not be able to get any pics, but they laid a LOT more eggs too.

I picked up a few books on breeding fishes (M. Wittenrich) and clownfishes in particular (J. Wilkerson) and have skimmed/perused them with the intent of hopefully raising some clowns. One thing to keep in mind, which I did mostly out of lazyness (again), was to leave alone the first clutch of eggs (or first few) and let what happens happen, don't disturb them or bother them, otherwise the clowns may not lay eggs again.

So I'm debating what to do about the eggs, but again thanks for the comment

I have noticed my clowns are now doing the same type of "dance", but have yet to see any eggs.

Coming up on my one year anniversary also in 4 short months. Can't believe its been nearly a year already! No real super issues to speak of so far. A couple hitches in the road, but no real speed bumps.....YET!

Nice on the dancing. Mine had been doing it for about 4 months or so before actually laying eggs (though they may have been laying them in a location I couldn't see them since they used to hang out in the back of the tank before I bought the torch and set it up in the front of the tank).

I know, how time flies on a reef tank. One big thing I learned, and am still working on, is keeping calcium and alkalinity up. It's one thing to keep nitrates down, salinity stable, and kind of the basics set, but man, I'm struggling to keep alkalinity and calcium stable at 8dkh / 440ppm. It's all from not paying attention to what the right values should be, so that's entirely my fault, but it proves that you can have a beautiful tank at 6dkh and 360ish ppm calcium.

All things considered, and I've said this all along, I'll be happy if I can keep corals alive and colored nicely. I don't need growth with so little space. It'll be nice to be able to grow pieces out and share with others, but that's not really my goal. My goal is beautiful happy aquarium specimens.

Also, for all of you topless tankers, I'm glad I had my hood on last night, because my wrasse shot up and bonked his head into the light protector. My wife and I were watching TV, and heard the noise and saw the splash, and she was freaking out because despite a closed hood, we couldn't find him for 15 or so minutes. He must have been nipped at by the clowns, and darted and went straight into the light, then bounced down and must have hidden in the sand, because he was nowhere to be found right after.

We were very relieved that he came out 15 minutes or so later. But shows the value of either a hood or net over the tank. I've heard/seen wrasses hit the netting at other reefer's tanks before, but I'm not sure I've experienced this before in my own cube.

It also made me feel better about not ending up getting two new fishes. Between the existing aggression from the spawning clowns and the already dangerously high nutrient balance from the 9001 not doing a great job skimming, I'm probably toeing the line as it is. But things are good, I'm happy, and we'll see what the tank looks like for its one year anniversary in a few weeks.

 

[ReefWreak]

Approaching 1 year. I'll do more pictures/posting before then, but it looks like the tank was started right around October 29th, so I'll try to do something nice. It'll probably look like more of the same, but we'll see.

The one thing I think I want for the holidays is the Avast Marine porthole for my camera lens, so I can take top-down photos with the macro lens.

Updated pic from this week:

 

[soulpatch]

This is what I am buying my wife for xmas: http://buildinganobsession.com/products/top-down-camera-box

I like the lifetime replacement on the lens though the cmount on the avast looks pretty cool...

 

[ReefWreak]

This is what I am buying my wife for xmas: http://buildinganobsession.com/products/top-down-camera-box

I like the lifetime replacement on the lens though the cmount on the avast looks pretty cool...

I have the feeling that their lifetime replacement isn't really replacement, it's just acrylic so if you scratch it they'll buff it out and send it back. For the price of shipping, might as well buy a cheap acrylic buffing kit.

But yea, that's a cool setup too, thanks for sharing it.

 

[soulpatch]

I'm willing to bet they would send you a new lens and you would then ship the old one back for them to put into rotation after buffing it. Regardless an option for those instances where the scratches are deep or you have already buffed some out and it is getting thin.

 

[ReefWreak]

1 year anniversary! No accompanying pics because nothing has changed since the prior pic.

Only news is that instead of laying eggs on Sundayish, my female clown delivered pop-eye in one of her eyes! So that sucks. I'm hoping she pulls through. She's still eating well, though her behavior is changed slightly, but I'm keeping a close eye, and watching to make sure it doesn't get further infected.

I figured it was worth making a re-cap of where the tank stands today on it's 1 year anniversary.

Equipment
29g Biocube - No rear filtration
spraybar instead of standard outlet from rear chambers
Tunze 9001 skimmer - still don't like it, just too lazy to put back the Aquaticlife 115; running 24/7
Ecotech Vortech MP10WQD for flow - on reef-crest mode 70% 24/7
RapidLED full-spectrum retrofit kit for 29g biocube - with two Cool White LEDs swapped out for Neutral White. White and colors (UV, Red, Green) on one channel running at 600mah, RBs running on another channel at 1300mah, both currently are running at 45% brightness
Reefkeeper lite - controlling everything, including light cycle of LEDs (30 minute ramp up and down for both channels, blues come on 30 minutes before white LEDs come on). Monitoring pH, temp (and controlling heater and chiller that I haven't hooked up yet)
Cobalt 75w heater
Flipper magnetic cleaner
2 BRS 1.1mL dosing pumps - dosing BRS 2 part solution from gallon milk jugs. Make sure they're 100% sealed and have no dents in the bottom before using! lesson learned!
Tunze nano ATO - recent acquisition to try to tame the Tunze 9001. Helpful, but not necessary

Husbandry
Bi weekly water changes currently (well, technically currently I haven't done one in a month [oops]
Constant calcium/alkalinity dosing doses spread out 12 hours apart, 12mL daily of each part
Adding prodibio reefkit and vodka - dosing the bacteria one weekend, then the stronti/iodine/reefvits the next weekend; adding 1mL of vodka and one capful of Microbacter7 on the weekends that I'm adding the stronti/iodine/reefvits
I was adding a dash of Acropower now and then, but have stopped since the 9001 is allowing algae to grow on the front glass.

Non-Coral Livestock
6 Astrea snails - added at tank start
6 Blue-legged hermits - added at tank start
Centropyge Loricula - Flame Angel
mated pair of A. Ocellaris - Have laid 3 clutches of eggs in the last month
Pseudocheilinus Mccoskeri - McCosker's Flasher/Fairy Wrasse
lysmata Amboinensis - Skunk cleaner shrimp
Tridacna Maxima
Tridacna Derasa

CORALS!
I've actually kept a list, but it's at home so I'll post it later. Surprise! It's mostly SPS

 

[smtank]

Looks fantastic.

Yuppers I am looking at a new skimmer as well. I have no really reason to complain, and obviously your sps are doing really well, so why the change for you?

 

[E.Rude]

Your tank looks great! Do you dose? I'm working on a SPS dominated BC29 and I'm wondering, in comparison to your tank, if/when I should expect to have to start dosing.

 

[ReefWreak]

Looks fantastic.

Yuppers I am looking at a new skimmer as well. I have no really reason to complain, and obviously your sps are doing really well, so why the change for you?

Thank you! My complaints with the Tunze 9001 is that it just doesn't consistently produce skimmate. It's very on and off. I laid out some of my frustrations in this thread.

Your tank looks great! Do you dose? I'm working on a SPS dominated BC29 and I'm wondering, in comparison to your tank, if/when I should expect to have to start dosing.

Thank you! I am dosing, and quite a lot. I end up not evaporating much (about 0.5g/week) so I had to skip kalkwasser and just go for 2 part dosing. I'm using BRS, dosing parts one and two at 22mL/day (wow, I just realized I was dosing that much. That's quite a bit! I didn't realize it because I have them set on timers, and I just adjust the amount of time the pump is on, and they come on twice a day, so I was thinking I was dosing something like 11mL/day, but it's actually double that since it runs twice a day!).

I've also been throwing in bacterial supplementation (the Prodibio Reefkit, Brightwell Microbacter7, and some vodka here and there) to encourage bacterial biodiversity in the tank while reducing nutrients (and adding to skimmate). That's it as far as dosing. I'm a pretty lazy reefer, so I like to set it and forget it. I test CA/ALK and salinity every week, adjust the dosing based on that. I test nitrates if I have to clean the glass more than every 2-3 days (and also will start dosing mid-week vodka [tiny amounts] to counter algae growth), and phosphates every now and then just to make sure that they're in check (particularly if I'm having algae issues).

I need to start keeping track of my magnesium. I haven't been adding it to topoffs or anything like that, and it's not in the 2 part. I should probably add some to the topoff container so it slowly does increase. I've been lucky that the alk/ca balance hasn't been thrown off as a result.

 

[ReefWreak]

CORALS!
I've actually kept a list, but it's at home so I'll post it later. Surprise! It's mostly SPS

In order of being added to the tank
Seriatopora Hystrix - Ponape Birdsnest
Cyphastrea Sp. - Meteor shower cyphastrea
Montipora Confusa
Montipora Capricornis - Chili pepper monti cap
Leptoseris Sp. - Jason Fox Jack- O- Lantern
Acropora Sp. - ORA Red Planet
Acropora Formosa - ORA Stuber Stag
Acropora Sp. - ORA Joe the Coral
Acropora Sp. - Berlin Acro
Euphyllia paraancora - Branching hammer coral with green body with purple tips
Montipora Setosa
Acropora Millepora - Red/purple
Acropora Sp. - (Probably Aquacultured) Purple Bonsai
Montipora Venosa - Tyree Pink Sand Dollar
Stylophora Sp. - ORA Purple Stylophora
Acropora Echinata - ORA Hawkins Echinata
Acropora Sp. - Tyree Red Dragon
Acropora Sp. - Chips Acro
Acropora Sp. - Emerald Sky (?)
Acropora Sp. - Purple Fuzzy
Acropora Sp. - Paletta Pink Tip
Caulastrea Sp. - Blue/green
Tubipora Musica - Green/white pipe organ coral
Acropora Sp. - ORA Purple Plasma
Acropora Millepora - Sunset Mille
Acropora Austera - Green
Acropora Sp. - ORA Frogskin
Acropora Abrolhosensis - Green with orange tips
Acropora Sp. - Strawberry Short Cake
Alveopora - Red (never done well for me)
Euphyllia glabrescens - Gold torch coral
Acropora Sp. - Pearlberry
Acropora Sp. - Copps purple hulk
Montipora Stellata - Tubbs Montipora Stellata
Pocillopora Sp. - Rainbow Pocillopora
Montipora Spongodes

Whew!

 

[soulpatch]

so you have some acros eh?

 

[ReefWreak]

so you have some acros eh?

A few of them, nbd.

Sticks don't take up any space

 

[soulpatch]

Did you see in my thread where I thought I had some sort of plate monti that it appears to actually be a bonsai? LOL.

That is what I get for a no name frag that took time for actual PE.

 

[ReefWreak]

Did you see in my thread where I thought I had some sort of plate monti that it appears to actually be a bonsai? LOL.

That is what I get for a no name frag that took time for actual PE.

What page? I just went looking and didn't see it.

It's nothing like someone's thread around here that I saw recently, where they had an acro "that a friend tossed into my tank" basically grow across the entire top of their rockwork without actually growing up at all. It was definitely an acro, but it just spread out in like a 6"+ diameter around his top rocks. Really funny.

 

[soulpatch]

I thought I had posted it but did not last night so I just posted...

 

[ReefWreak]

Just a quick update. Did a water change over the weekend. Siphoned out the back chambers and pulled a huge chunk of either sponge or bacterial mat. No harm in removing it either way.

Given the opportunity, I changed out the skimmers and put the AquaticLife 115 back in the tank to see how it does compared to the Tunze 9001. For better or worse, it's performing much better than the Tunze, with me just cleaning out a gunked up neck and dark tea colored skimmate-filled main chamber.

It definitely pulled much more clumps of matter compared to the Tunze, as well as pulled darker skimmate, and collected more hard foam at the top, and more crud on the neck. We're still talking nano skimmers here, so it's nothing amazing, but it did perform noticeably better than the Tunze with no break in or tweaking.

I also noticed that bubble algae was growing out from the bottom of my alveopora frag, so I took the dental pick to it outside the tank, scraping them all off, and put it back in my tank in a different location. Hopefully it does better. It has done nothing but barely survive in my tank so far, which is disappointing.

I still want to swap out my Cree Green LED for a Lime... I have it at home and everything... just need the time to do it. Maybe this weekend? Though I may have a guitar hero-athon instead

 

[soulpatch]

my alveopora passed on me.

I need to clean my skimmer this weekend in a vinegar bath as it has slowed in its production. Typical issue when you have it sucking in gunk from first chamber...

I am slightly interested in the aquamaxx in sump nano skimmer to see if that would work. I like to skim wet and at times if lazy I can overflow. It does drip back into the skimmer for the most part but there can be a few drops that fall behind the tank. Need to see if I want to spend that money when the new build is needed...But it would clean p the tank look and allow me to more easily put the cube in another spot of the room.


I would tell you to use that tunze skimmer as a door stop but I believe it would fail at that as well.

 

[ReefWreak]

I spent an hour yesterday morning writing up a nice post, but when I hit submit, the site was down and I lost it all, so I’ll try to recap it here. Maybe I should start authoring longer posts in word, not just on the website.

Sorry to hear about the alveopora. Mine is definitely on the rocks as well, though last night it puffed up nicely. I’ve had the skimmer off for two days, I wonder if that’s what is making it happier.

I’m still working on coloration in my tank. Always another project. There was a Manhattan Reefs frag swap this past weekend. While I don’t have room for any more coral, I had to pick something up, since I was there and all. CherryCorals had some great looking pieces at reasonable prices, so I grabbed a few from them.

My wife started with interest in a Rainbow Montipora, so I grabbed a piece of that. I’ve had rainbow and superman in my old 120g tank and it grew prolifically and looked awesome, so I was happy to get that going again. Then she saw a really cool favia piece that looked like crazy melting colors all over the place, almost like a Dali melting clock, so we grabbed that piece as well. It’s in bright light, which I think is actually doing it harm, so I’ll move it off to the corner of my tank. My other favia/war coral is in the shade and loves it and colors up nicely there, so hopefully that helps.

Then I had to get something out of this arrangement, so I picked up a nice efflo that they’re going to be releasing on their website in the next few weeks/months (I’ve always wanted a nice efflo piece and they’re hard to come by). Then finally, I read the Reef Builders article on acropora coloration and using yellow as a constant parameter check in your tank, so picked up a small piece of Pink Lemonade. I’ve put it high in the tank, so we’ll see how it’s colors turn out in the next few weeks once it starts to settle in. I also realized that the Paletta Pink Tip I have should be yellow with pink tips, but is green, so that may have already been my indicator coral and I just forgot about that, but either way, now I’ll know.

I ordered a Salifert nitrate test kit so I could get a potentially better measure of nitrates in my tank. It always tested 0, but since my yellow coral is green, maybe there is more than being indicated, so I figured I’d give Salifert a shot. It looks like, from jason2459’s reviews in the chemistry forum that I will get some good results out of it, so I’m excited for it to arrive.

I think with the Black Friday sales, I may pick up another Vortech, as I’m still trying to figure out why I’m getting tissue recession at the bottom of my purple bonsai coral. The tops are growing, but the bottom is receding. No pests (I’ve checked many times with lots of lights and close inspection), so I’ve narrowed it down to either a problem with LEDs, or not enough flow. I hate to implicate the LEDs, as I don’t have many other options available to me (and I want to believe!), so I’m going to try increased flow and see if that helps. I’ve noticed that even with the vortech at 80-100%, with all of the coral growth I have, it’s still dramatically slowing down flow around the tank. And if I run at 100%, it’ll just start ripping tissue, not really diffusing or spreading out flow. So I’ll try adding even flow from both sides of the tank.

 

[ReefWreak]

I just saw that the first link breaks as Reefcentral blocks reef builders dot com, so if you want to read the article swap out the %2A%2A%2A to their actual website address and it'll work.

 

[ReefWreak]

A quick update, I got the nitrate test in. Lo and behold, tested a full 0 on nitrates in the tank. So I guess my mysterious yellow corals turning green/blue doesn't have to do with high nutrients. Next guess would be lighting, since the locations that they are in have plenty of flow.

I've had my skimmer off for a week now, and I'm giving away pieces of the dragon's breath algae that is growing in my tank which is absorbing my nutrients and maybe that will cause it to rise, but I just worry about keeping nutrients under consistent control in such a small tank. Maybe I'll go to skimming M-W-F only or something. Who knows.

An updated FTS to share; not much new, just a bit of growth. Can't complain though!: