ReefWreak's 29g SPS Biocube Adventure!
- Thread starter ReefWreak
- Start date
Your feedback is always appreciated, but honestly I'm pretty annoyed with the colors right now, and I know that once they're back up again and I iron out the issues I've been having that have browned out some of the corals, then it will be worthy of your praise :fish2:
Your input/following is always appreciated though :beer:
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
After I got back from a recent vacation a lot of my corals browned out. Its one of those things you just work to bring back. The health of the corals all look good. The torches look great. Very impressed with them.
DarthReefer27
New member
I have been having high nitrates for a while (even though i didn't realize it since everything has been doing great) so i just started dosing nopox as well. with all my other levels good and now that I have my salinity in check, once my nitrates are back down to respectable levels, i will try another cleaner shrimp. i had not been able to keep any but i think the high nitrates has been the cause. Oh, and I also just started my first biocube (first dive into reefing) in March. It is sooooooooo addicting and now even my wife (not a huge nature/animal person) is really enjoying it!
Welcome to the reefing/nano club then! My wife is a big animal person, but not really nature person, but she knows more about aquariums than most people on RC just because I talk about it and think out loud about it a lot
Always a good feeling, and makes it more fun and easy to have as a hobby when they are interested and care too.Cleaner shrimp are sort of sensitive to nitrates, but will likely be okay in anything <40ppm or so. cleaner shrimp are more likely to be harmed by salinity, or really anything, changing quickly. Corals and fishes can usually adjust pretty quickly, but shrimps are particularly sensitive to salinity changes, so keep that in mind.
Also something to keep in mind is that nitrates are not necessarily explicitly bad. You want very low nitrates, but not necessarily zero. Early in the hobby and in your reefing experience you want to aim for zero, but once you hit it, you can back off a bit and your tank will likely be better off. Really the more important thing (and I still struggle with this) is consistency and stability. Doing things slowly, slowing yourself down, understanding what's going on, and maintaining/fixing slowly.
Something worth mentioning (though it probably belongs stated somewhere where more people will see it than my build thread) is that if you are concerned about using low power devices on solid state/Triac relays in your controller, I added these, and am now able to run my skimmer on that outlet, and it turns on and off properly. It was not turning off when only it was hooked up, as it was a pretty low power draw pump (4w).
YMMV on this one, since nobody can give an exact answer of "yes this fixes it" or "no it doesn't", but in my experience, this did fix the low power switching issue that my solid-state/triarc relay had with my Tunze 9001 skimmer not being able to turn off.
YMMV on this one, since nobody can give an exact answer of "yes this fixes it" or "no it doesn't", but in my experience, this did fix the low power switching issue that my solid-state/triarc relay had with my Tunze 9001 skimmer not being able to turn off.
homer1475
New member
Interesting fix, I will definitely try that when I get near a hardware store as I'm having the same issue with my skimmer. Only difference is mine turns off, just not back on so I have it on a normal outlet, but would love to plug something else into that outlet. For a couple bucks its worth a shot. If it doesn't work, then I'm sure I could find another use for it either way.
Yea, if you have a low power dosing pump, skimmer pump, or other relatively low wattage pump, they frequently are too low of a draw for the triac/SS relay to notice them, and as a function of that, the switch won't switch power off (or on), so you need something with a reasonable load to trip the relay.
Yeah definitely not. Honestly, I hated the stupid magdrive pumps. Were loud as crap. I hope yours is better. If it is loud, since you saved so much $$$, maybe check out an eheim of matching stats?
Dude, if I could upsize stuff on this tank (room or if it would work wise), I would totally pick up this awesome euro-reef recirculating skimmer up in CT for $150 (basically the same that I used to run on my 120, but it's recirculating instead of direct-feed, helluva deal and it has an eheim recirc pump), and I would have bought one of the MRC dual chamber calcium reactor setups that I've been seeing locally too... many/most of them <$300 for the entire setup, CO2, regulator, reactor, pump, media, etc. I loved my Deltec, but MRC make excellent products too (GEO as well).
Always more to get/look at.
I'm still almost tempted to pick up that euro-reef to stick in storage in my garage spot here in NYC, just so I can use it in the future... Technology hasn't changed much since the 2000s as far as skimmers, reactors, and even controllers. LED is really the only big thing that has changed, although a lot of people will tell you they don't count since those people don't believe that they truly work over a reef... oh well..
The only "new" thing that I've been thinking about recently (it's not new, it's tested, and old, but not really used in a hobbyist scale) is DyMiCo systems. Seems new and interesting... I'm always looking for the next fun new thing to play with!
DC and vortech, classy
Jesfromdax
New member
I always heard that the problem with the Mag pumps was excess heat in the system. Would bring up temps 1-2 degrees. Have a MJ 1200 on my new skimmer and I've already notice a slight rise in temperature.
Well, it would probably be worse with a Mag 3 (that's the pump that was on my remora pro when I ran it for a few months on my 24g cube).
soulpatch
New member
It isnt going on my nano unless I plumbed it into the rear and ran it external. Otherwise the pump is not going to fit into the chambers of the biocube.
For the new 93 tank I shouldnt have a heat issue as I am running open top with LED lighting. I do have fans hooked into my apex to turn on when needed and can cool hidden down in the sump if needed.
Also I should be set up for auto water change and as such the water coming in will be slightly cooler (in a heated tub set to around 74-76 I imagine) so that should help.
Either way I am awaiting what people think of the ecotech pumps for these skimmers and I might make the switch. I am planning to also eventually have the MP40 so having both the return and PH working in unison will be awesome. I can create some epic clean, feed, calm night, and storm modes with everything working as one.
I just need my 125 gallon and all its crap to sell to help fund this all. Also selling all my old remote control helicopter stuff to raise some funds as well. That said I with all that selling I am going to be lucky if I have the 700 or so for 2 ecotech return pumps...
So a few updates:
I was away all last week. I left feeding the fish and topping off the tank to my friend who lives nearby. I think that me being away from the tank for a week was the best thing that I could have done for it The colors are now back from when the Vortech died, and everything looks fat and healthy and happy and colorful.
But of course now that I'm back, I need to start messing around again.
So I dosed Prodibio biodigest (bacteria), bioptim (vitamins, minerals, and carbon source), and reefbooster (fatty acids + other foodstuffs that cloud the tank for 24 hours).
I did them all Monday night after lights out, and took the skimmer offline (which I'm only running at night now anyways, so it was off that night, the following morning, and then back on again Tuesday night). Skimmer went nuts last night, so I had to raise the 9001, and pull the cup off the top, rotate it so that it was on top of the body, and it was still filling within hours. It looked like someone put soap in the tank or something. So it'll be a while before that friggin skimmer is dialed-in again.
I like the 9001, but it is SO sensitive to water level, and it overflows VERY easily. The Aquaticlife 115 wasn't nearly as sensitive to substances in the water. Maybe that's because it was in the first chamber with consistent water levels, or maybe it's not as efficient, or maybe something else, but either way I'm having to struggle a lot more with the 9001. I even purchased the Tunze nano ATO to do auto topoffs now. It'll be here this weekend and I'll install it then. I'm a little nervous about dosing kalk (or saturated kalkwasser) through it, but it sounds like as long as I'm not letting it suck in kalk sludge, and I rinse it out with vinegar every few weeks, it should last a while.
Other than that... No big changes. I'm going to keep on dosing bacteria every other week, maybe do one week of prodibio biodigest and bioptim as recommended, and then the next week dose microbacter7 and Acropower, then the following week prodibio again, which would go with their recommendation of dosing every 15 days.
At some point I should dose the Stronti+, Iodi+, and Coralvits, maybe I'll mix them in and dose every 30 days. I'm a bit nervous about the Iodi+ since all of these are recommended for minimum 30g tanks, and I have a 29g tank with 20g of actual water volume. I guess they anticipate that though, so I should be fine.
I've been PMing with some members with questions on skimmers and other stuff, but feel free to post or ask in this thread as well. It's always best to post questions in here because then others can read them. I wish I followed everyone else's threads, but I just haven't really had time as of late to do too much RC surfing.
One thing that I'm considering, that my wife is very unhappy with, is adding a tiny amount of fluke tab, to kill off my GSP that is growing all over the place, and starting to kill some of my acros. It's too late to peel it off, as they've grown prolifically, so the nuclear option may be my only resort. I still have to figure it out, and still have to see how hard it would be to pull the GSP mat off of the rocks, but I think that would be a huge pain and waste of time that would still end up with GSP coming back anyway.
Updated FTS added, because everyone loves pictures!
And some skimmer related ones, as people have been asking:
Hole cut in canopy to fit bracket for Aquaticlife 115
9001 with the cup turned sideways because it's overflowing and I need to skim out whatever the crazy surficant is that is causing it:
I was away all last week. I left feeding the fish and topping off the tank to my friend who lives nearby. I think that me being away from the tank for a week was the best thing that I could have done for it
The colors are now back from when the Vortech died, and everything looks fat and healthy and happy and colorful.But of course now that I'm back, I need to start messing around again.
So I dosed Prodibio biodigest (bacteria), bioptim (vitamins, minerals, and carbon source), and reefbooster (fatty acids + other foodstuffs that cloud the tank for 24 hours).
I did them all Monday night after lights out, and took the skimmer offline (which I'm only running at night now anyways, so it was off that night, the following morning, and then back on again Tuesday night). Skimmer went nuts last night, so I had to raise the 9001, and pull the cup off the top, rotate it so that it was on top of the body, and it was still filling within hours. It looked like someone put soap in the tank or something. So it'll be a while before that friggin skimmer is dialed-in again.
I like the 9001, but it is SO sensitive to water level, and it overflows VERY easily. The Aquaticlife 115 wasn't nearly as sensitive to substances in the water. Maybe that's because it was in the first chamber with consistent water levels, or maybe it's not as efficient, or maybe something else, but either way I'm having to struggle a lot more with the 9001. I even purchased the Tunze nano ATO to do auto topoffs now. It'll be here this weekend and I'll install it then. I'm a little nervous about dosing kalk (or saturated kalkwasser) through it, but it sounds like as long as I'm not letting it suck in kalk sludge, and I rinse it out with vinegar every few weeks, it should last a while.
Other than that... No big changes. I'm going to keep on dosing bacteria every other week, maybe do one week of prodibio biodigest and bioptim as recommended, and then the next week dose microbacter7 and Acropower, then the following week prodibio again, which would go with their recommendation of dosing every 15 days.
At some point I should dose the Stronti+, Iodi+, and Coralvits, maybe I'll mix them in and dose every 30 days. I'm a bit nervous about the Iodi+ since all of these are recommended for minimum 30g tanks, and I have a 29g tank with 20g of actual water volume. I guess they anticipate that though, so I should be fine.
I've been PMing with some members with questions on skimmers and other stuff, but feel free to post or ask in this thread as well. It's always best to post questions in here because then others can read them. I wish I followed everyone else's threads, but I just haven't really had time as of late to do too much RC surfing.
One thing that I'm considering, that my wife is very unhappy with, is adding a tiny amount of fluke tab, to kill off my GSP that is growing all over the place, and starting to kill some of my acros. It's too late to peel it off, as they've grown prolifically, so the nuclear option may be my only resort. I still have to figure it out, and still have to see how hard it would be to pull the GSP mat off of the rocks, but I think that would be a huge pain and waste of time that would still end up with GSP coming back anyway.
Updated FTS added, because everyone loves pictures!
And some skimmer related ones, as people have been asking:
Hole cut in canopy to fit bracket for Aquaticlife 115
9001 with the cup turned sideways because it's overflowing and I need to skim out whatever the crazy surficant is that is causing it:
homer1475
New member
So the AL115 will fit in the first chamber without the crazy modding and adding a magnet thing I saw on youtube? I've seen a couple people ask about it, but since I modded mine that way, I wasn't sure if it fit any other way.
So it fits two ways, either cut the skimmer mount and use a magnet, or cut the hood of the cube.
So it fits two ways, either cut the skimmer mount and use a magnet, or cut the hood of the cube.
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