ReefWreak's 29g SPS Biocube Adventure!

[ReefWreak]

Yeah, I haven't done a water change in about a month. My SSC is totally brown, though most of the other corals are doing fine.

I'd really like to get a new heatsink from RapidLED that is wider to accommodate more lights along the sides of the tank, as the corals on the sides aren't getting nearly as much light. I asked, but they're working on other projects, so they said they'd let me know if it comes up. I'm sure it can be cut, drilled, and tapped elsewhere, but I'd like to set an beta/example for them since I think I've already driven a lot of business their way, and I'd like to help them expand their offering for hobbyists like myself.

I did notice that my alveopora is unhappy within 24 hours of skimming, but sorry buddy, if it's you or the rest of the tank, sacrifices must be made. Nothing is suffering I don't think (though I see some STN patches on corals, but that also happens frequently if they or someone else grows and blocks flow to the coral, it gets STN), but I just want to keep the tank beautiful.

 

[ReefWreak]

I'm proud of myself, I did some basic maintenance today. Did my water change, scrubbed the glass down, cleaned up the skimmer, re-organized some corals that had fallen over. No losses (yet), but some stuff is still a bit disorganized. The alveopora is actually still happy even with the skimmer running. Also, while cleaning, I broke some small acro tips, as usual, however I was surprised that when I banged my hand into the big ORA Stuber Stag (Acropora Formosa) it didn't give an inch. Solid growth. I guess that's why it's a reef builder!

I also added back in some Bioptim and Biodigest, so hopefully that feeds some of the bacteria that will be growing off of the decaying glass scrapings. Skimmer is in full force, and I'm even contemplating going back to bacteria/vodka dosing. I know stability is key, and I'm still not registering nutrients, but with all of the algae growth on the glass and the browning of the corals, I'm running into the normal hobbyist issue of no nitrates or phosphates registering but still getting brown algae. I think I'll be fighting an invisible foe (no registered nutrients), but I'll treat them like they're there just to be sure. It's not a big problem to have too few nutrients, your corals just pale out.

I also noticed the tank didn't look as bright as I remember it, so I dialed the LEDs up to 60% for RBs and 55% for white/red/lime/cyan/UV. I still like the coloration, and I know it's entirely psychosomatic, but I swear the corals colored up a bit.

So we'll see if the brighter lights an nutrient assault help bring the colors back. In the meantime, I'll share some shots I took tonight with my cellphone.

Top down (cheaty)

FTS

Side shot:

 

[soulpatch]

Looking good reef

 

[Brett28]

Well done!!

 

[ReefWreak]

Thanks!

I'm trying desperately to not get bored. The tank is great, and a ton of fun, but things get brown, you find some bubble algae, some corals break, you get disheartened, and I have to just keep up the maintenance on the tank.

Still hanging in there, but man do I want a bigger tank... One to two more years before we move out to the 'burbs and I get some sort of larger tank, either something ridiculously big and shallow, or a 300

 

[Justintegra]

Thanks!

but things get brown, you find some bubble algae, some corals break, you get disheartened, and I have to just keep up the maintenance on the tank.

Is a bigger tank supposed to fix or end all of that? I thought that was life whether you had a 30 gallon or a 300 gallon. (Serious question, not being snarky).

 

[soulpatch]

Bigger tank typically allows for things like larger sump, bigger refugiums, bigger equipment, ect. All things that greatly aid in the battle of things like algae in the display tank.

For coloring you can typically also go in more directions for lighting with a larger tank. LED/T5 combo, MH, all three, ect.

corals breaking though is a thing in all size tanks.

 

[Justintegra]

And on an unrelated note, I have been struggling with flow in my tank for a while now. I have two Koralia 425s with that timer/controller they sell, set to alternate between them every 5 seconds. I had one along the back wall blowing across and the other on the opposite side near the front of the tank blowing back across and it was either feast or famine. If I had them on it was a tornado in there and my poor pulsing xenia was just like a whacky flailing arm inflatable tube man., turn them off and back to ground zero.

Seeing your tank and power head setup prompted me to try having them positioned just like yours, but a little higher, maybe 4 inches from the surface, and it's like magic now, just perfect. Thanks for all the pictures and sharing your "story" it's directly helped me fix one problem with my biocube.

 

[ReefWreak]

It's true that a larger tank doesn't fix all/most/many problems, but it makes it easier to manage. When you have bubble algae, there are a number of tangs that will pick at them and hide/remove it, at least from accessible areas where you'll see it. Same with many other algaes.

There is also bigger and better (more efficient) equipment available for larger tanks too, as well as much more variety in stocking that you can add to your tank to help with issues (algae eating fishes, cucumbers to stir sand, etc.).

It also makes the tank more stable in general, generally taking longer for good or bad things to happen. I've browned out ALL of my corals in a single weekend, and it took months to restore the color. That was the last time the vortech died. It can happen in a large tank too, but generally it's harder to make a major disruption like that.

I'm glad that the new flow pattern was helpful, and that I could spark the idea. That's why we all share! I think if I had two powerheads with adjustable directionality, I would probably put them towards the middle back of the tank, or even low back of the tank, and angle them upwards towards the front of the glass. Not sure how it would work out, but I believe that was my strategy in my old 120g and worked reasonably well.

You could also check out Homer's new build thread where we're discussing this very issue right now.

 

[AngelandNathan]

Just out of curiosity because you and I have very similar setups, what do you have your drivers set to? I've been playing with mine ever since the tank was first set up and just wondered what other people are doing. Tank looks great by the way.

 

[Kolkri]

Ya and bigger tanks suck up your money faster too. lol

 

[ReefWreak]

Sorry for not responding sooner, my phone isn't getting any incoming emails right now... No bueno when I'm not at the computer.

My drivers are set to 1300ma for the string if royal blues, and 700ma for the uv/colors/whites LEDs. I then have them additionally dimmed to 60% on blues and 55% on mixed color.

Coral have generally been doing well. Colors are starting to brown despite still not showing any nitrates, so I'm running the skimmer again.

I look forward to the stability and room of a larger system, even with the bigger cost.

 

[homer1475]

I look forward to the stability and room of a larger system, even with the bigger cost.

Thinking of upgrading again? :dance:
Who will give all the newbie nano guys advice? It was us 3(soul, you, and me), but we'll all be upgrading.

 

[soulpatch]

still here though...

 

[ReefWreak]

Thinking of upgrading again? :dance:
Who will give all the newbie nano guys advice? It was us 3(soul, you, and me), but we'll all be upgrading.

I'm always thinking if upgrading. Just saw some exhibit 1,500 - 10,000 gallon saltwater tanks, and seeing the beautiful large fishes that I'm missing out on, it reignited the spark (though every time I see the corals in my tank growing into each other the spark is reignited, so not a new sensation.).

I'm still here, and I'm sure I'll still be around, considering I still check on the south FL club here on reefcentral after moving out from there like 5+ years ago.

It's nice to have a group of people who you (sorta) know too.

Speaking if which, soul, you pick up the division yet? Already a level 30 m16 wizard?

 

[soulpatch]

HA No I did not pick up the division. Thinking about it but then again I don't have much time right now. I still have like 3 games I haven't touched yet sitting here.

It is Spring time so right now I have a full plate with:

Tanks
Golf
Motorcycles (need to start prepping the race bike)
mountain biking (local reefer is trying to get me into it and been fun thus far)
Kid (time to get her out of the house and as such tons of time at the park lately)
Beach (Soon should be warm enough to enjoy the beach house again)

 

[PhilsAquatics]

beautiful tank I hope to achieve similar results with sps !!!

 

[homer1475]

Love mountain biking, have a full suspension Gary fisher(too bad gary fisher sold out to Trek)myself. Only problem for you though, what mountains are you riding? Up here we have many ski hills that run their chairlifts in the summer just for that purpose.

 

[soulpatch]

Love mountain biking, have a full suspension Gary fisher(too bad gary fisher sold out to Trek)myself. Only problem for you though, what mountains are you riding? Up here we have many ski hills that run their chairlifts in the summer just for that purpose.

I have to bike up the hill around me to ride back down. A ton of trails around me though I can go up to the ski mountains should I wish...

 

[ReefWreak]

I know it's a function of a good thing, but man, it's a pain to have to make a new batch of 2 part every 3-4 months. Mine ran out this past week while I was on vacation. I'm testing in at 3.5dkh, which I imagine is too low (I tested twice and got the same number; could also be the test kit being off as it is almost finished), but nothing is hurt, just kinda brown right now. Been so busy with travelling that I haven't had time for water changes or 2 part or anything, but I have my list of maintenance.

It is nice having the ATO and auto dosing though, as my friend can come twice a week to feed the fish and make sure everything is still alive and that's it.

I am going to start vodka and/or carbon dosing I think. Corals have been brown(er) for a few months now, and I think it's nutrients, so I'm going to try to fix it.

I just finished reading Forest Rowher's "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" and it was definitely an interesting book on the ecosystem and interaction of nutrients in the coral reefs. It was a very quick read (150 pages of medium/large text, small book), and got into some of the specifics of how microbial density and population is calculated and determined, and then what drives microbial change on the reef, how that relates to coral disease, and then how global climate change is disrupting the stability of the reefs and allowing the opportunity for "bad" microbes to get out of hand and kill corals.

Though interestingly, and the reason I brought it up was because it spends a lot of time discussing the cycle of algae on the reefs releasing DOCs (mostly carbon chain products, similar to how we are carbon dosing), and that this is allowing microbial communities to grow out of the normal range of control, which allows disease-causing microbes to multiply and take over corals. It made me wonder about how and why carbon dosing works in our smaller aquariums without allowing "disease" microbes to take over and kill coral as it sounds like they do when there are natural sources of carbon on the reefs in abundance. It was just very interesting and thought provoking.

Also amazingly interesting about how little we know about the microbial environment of the reefs, and how much we're learning in the last decade or so since broadcast DNA sampling and analysis came on the scene.

Good word/concept to understand about corals is "holobiont" or the micro environment in and around specific corals. Similar to our own personal biosphere of how our skin is covered with bacteria, viruses, and other microbial/microscopic life and they're moderately unique to individuals and we just don't know much about them or how or why they are there.

Now to stop reading and more spending time fixing my tank