Biocube29 (Now with Pics)

[recoiljpr]

Hello all, I have a 2 month old Oceanic Biocube 29 gallon tank. I have approximately 40 lbs of live rock, 40 lbs of live sand (bought "live"), stock pump, one Hydor 1 powerhead and stock lights (72 W total) and I took out the bioballs first thing. As far as maintenance goes I do 5 gallon water changes every weekend, rise out the sponge, etc. I keep my salinity about 1.024.

As far as the inhabitants go I have 9 blue legged hermits, 2 nassarius, 4 turbo snails, 5 nerite and I finally added 2 false perc clownfish last night (I wanted to be exta sure the tank was stable before adding them). I don't plan on adding any additional fish, snails, etc (Do you think my cleanup crew is adequate, or should I add more)? This is the "Mans cave tank", so I want it mostly corals, etc.

Now, while I wish I had limitless money, I don't. The things I will do to my tank is purchase a skimmer (something like a CPR SR3) and upgrade the lighting (Like a sunpod 150 Watt HQI). I'd like yalls opnion on what track should I take? Should I add some softies/shrooms first, then the skimmer, then the light? Or should I add the skimmer and light and THEN add the corals, etc?

I would post a pic but (A) nothing much to look at and (B) i'm currently fighting a diatom bloom (Daggum new tanks).

[Third Coast Tropical]

id get a skimmer first.........then mushrooms and zoos would be fine.......a light upgrade would be nice but not necessary initially.....

I have four of these cubes you speak of....love them......

[edshas2]

Sounds like a good start i have a 29biocube to. check out my thread, http://www.maast.org/forums/showthread.php?t=50353. I think Zoos and mushrooms should do good under that lighting, you should post pics just to show your progress.

[tony]

sounds like you are well on your way. i think your cleanup crew will be efficient.

[recoiljpr]

Additional question for anyone using a biocube (or anyone with any additional ideas). My biocube temp hovers around 79.8 during the day, and around 78 or so at night. My house is completely air conditioned and the room it's in does not ever get over 75 degrees (It goes down to 73 at night). Should I be concerned at the 79.8 degree temps? I know everyone has opinions, and i'd like to see what yall think about it?

I purchased the nanotuners lighting upgrade for the biocube 29 this week (to make it 144W), that is supposed to lower temps as well. I should get it Friday, so i'll see!

[Third Coast Tropical]

mine range from 76 to 80, depending on ambient temperature....tank is usually a couple of degrees higher than room temp.....i run about 9.5 hrs with the bright lite.....about 7 hrs with actiinc spread throughout the day (some with bright lites), with majority being at end of lite period...photoperiod is 12:12 i think.....its been awhile since i looked at the timers

[recoiljpr]

Well a little update for everyone. Culligan came by today and installed the water softner and the RO/DI unit. (As a side note softened water sure makes you slimy after using soap now!). I am going to let it run for 24 hours (and a 2 cycles) before testing out the base water to see what the PH and other levels are. Assuming everything is good, I plan on changing out 50% of the water this weekend, and 50% again next weekend. That should then leave around 25% of the original tap water left.

My diatom bloom has finally run it's course. After coming home from work, today was the first day the brown crud didn't appear all over my rocks and sand. So tomorrow I will take the first pictures of the tank. I am also receiving my 144w light upgrade for the biocube from nanotuners on Saturday so i'm going to install that as well. I think a before upgrade/after upgrade photo comparison may be in order.

Assuming all is good (parameters) in 2 weeks I plan on adding my first coral (will make my tank almost 4 months old). I'm thinking Xenia or maybe a zoo, not sure yet.

[Crazyeyes]

It all depends on what you want to keep, and the fish load. I would find a good hang on back (HOB) skimmer a deltec would be the best for that, but if you get softies you don't need that good of a skimmer, just if you want to upgrade you can take the skimmer with the new tank, and same if you get an hqi. I would worry more about build the most stable tank and then place in corals and fish, because then they will take off in growth.

[recoiljpr]

Okay, so I went ahead and purchased some corals to add to the tank. I figured since my Nitrates consistently test below 5 PPM, The 144W upgrade went well and the Sapphire skimmer will be here tomorrow, I could add them to the tank. After drip accumulating them for 4 hours (probably too much, but I was nervous!) I added them to the tank last night. This morning, everyone seems to be doing fine and are opened up (some of the zoanthids still seem angry but i've heard they take a while). It also looks like the zoanthids have two diferent types in the colony.

So here are the pics of the tank I added (Bird of Paradise, Green Ricordia, Kenya Tree, Purple Zoanthids). I placed the bird of paradise up high because I know it requires the most light of any of the coral.