Cocoa's 29 Gallon Biocube

cocoacf

Member
So after having a outbreak of dinoflagellates in my 14 gallon biocube, I tried to do a major cleansing of most existence in the tank, and to no avail was I able to get the algae to go away. After coming to the realization I would have to completely start over in order to rid myself of these inglorious basterds I decided I might as well upgrade while in the process! Thus, my 29 gallon biocube.
On the 28th I set up the tank with water from a friends established tank. On the following day I bought a 20lb bag of live sand and 16 lbs of new live rock to go with the 16 pounds I had in my 14g biocube. I had let the LR I used in my 14g dry out to kill off the dinoflagellates and become base rock. As of now its about 5050 LR:BR. The only 'upgrades' to the tank I have preformed are adding 4 lbs of LR & 3 lbs of BR to the 2nd chamber (I filled the left over space with bioballs in order to minimize the noise from the water) and using a 150 watt HQI sunpod [14k Phoenix bulb].
I got the LR for $3.50 a LB, and two of the pieces had a fairly good amount of GSP on them! They aren't opened up all the way because today was the first full day I had my lights on with LRLS in the tank. I've also seen 3 banded serpent starfish. I don't know if any of this will make it through the cycle but I've got my fingers crossed..
Here are a few pictures. I'm really loving the rock scape I came up with. I've seen some people just throw their rock in the tank and call it a days work, but I think its important to spend a good amount of time seeing what fits where and such. The thing I love about a nano tank is that they are relatively small so you can get really personal with them, and spend a lot of time making it look neat.



I'm not really satisfied with the depth in these pictures, they were taken with my cellphone. I tried to take pictures with my camera but the colors were coming out blue.. So I'll try to find a balance and get some good pictures up.
All comments are welcome!
 

cocoacf

Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3164485
Looks good....congrats on the upgrade and good luck with it too
Thanks!
It's a lot of work moving from smaller tank to small tank.. haha more than I thought it would be at least !
 

cocoacf

Member
Thanks chery !

The water has cleared up a lot since those pictures.. here is another, with the GSP open a bit more.

Here's a picture of what I think might be a sponge? Anyone know what it is? It came on my LR.. Has a slimyspongish feel to it. The black dot you see is an opening in it that used to not be there. Perhaps it's feeding?

Also, I started my tank with water from a friends established tank, 5050 LR:BR, and 20 lbs of bio-activ live aragonite for live sand. When should I expect the cycle to be complete?
 

skadwick

Member
Tank looks awesome I love the rock work! If the LR you added is already cured your cycle shouldnt take more than two weeks id say...Iv heard people that add cured/established LR can avoid a cycle all together
 

cocoacf

Member
Hey.. So I might start to do a picture of the day because it's pretty easy for me to snap a pic and upload it from my phone, but idk, it could get tedious so don't complain if I skip a day or so! :p
I've added two ricordea, and a leather that were in my previous tank. The LFS watched over them until I got set up again. I also added my clownfish back, one is hiding in the rockwork in the picture though. Enjoy!
 

cocoacf

Member
Some of you might remember a thread awhile back before I tart my 29g. It was about a 25 head frogspawn I was interested in. Well I purchased it a longggg time ago, and finally took it home ! I counted 28 heads. it's only been in the tank for 2 days and is really opened up nicely. Here are a few pictures:





I really love it. It looks like a little tree. Except it's quite a large frogspawn!
 

cocoacf

Member
Thanks

it's got one small head on the left side that is closed because it was shoved up in a corner of LR for several weeks while it was at the LFS... Do you think it will be able to get better? It's just really retracted and deflated with a little bit of skeleton showing at times.
 

redsea

Active Member
Originally Posted by Cocoacf
http:///forum/post/3176209
Some of you might remember a thread awhile back before I tart my 29g. It was about a 25 head frogspawn I was interested in. Well I purchased it a longggg time ago, and finally took it home ! I counted 28 heads. it's only been in the tank for 2 days and is really opened up nicely. Here are a few pictures:





I really love it. It looks like a little tree. Except it's quite a large frogspawn!

Beautfiul corals! Your tank looks amazing!
 

cocoacf

Member
Idk how many people hear check out the DIY part of the boards, but I've been working on a custom canopy for my biocube because I have a 150 w HQI sunpod. Here are some pics of where it's at right now:

 

cocoacf

Member
Thanks everyone.
I've been having a lot of breaks off from school, so I haven't been able to work on the canopy much seeing as it is at school. But I'm hoping to have it done by the end of this week!
Stay tuned...
Also added my anemone back into the tank a couple weeks ago, which is doing great! One of my clowns hosted it in a couple of days but the bigger one still won't go in it..
 

cocoacf

Member
I've almost got the canopy completed! The only thing left to do is sand the joints of the veneers together, and paint it!
I must say the project was fairly easy until I got to the veneering. Anyone who would like to make a canopy like this, I suggest you make a lot more dado cuts in the front, so you can hold multiple curve supports. Only having two like I had made it very tricky to glue because I couldn't find veneer wide enough to do it in one piece like I wanted..... for under $60 a roll....
So what I did was buy a pack of 6.5 inch wide veneers, and did the curve once with the veneer sheets going vertically. Then I went back over the front and did two sheets horizontal, to make it look cleaner. Also, I put glue over the whole back of every sheet so that it would strengthen the veneers once it it dried.
Here are pics on the tank!!



The gap you see between the tank and canopy is because I've got a sheet of glass sitting on top. I'm having a glass cutting company saw the glass to fit on the top of the inside soon, so the gap won't be there any more.
 

cocoacf

Member
Originally Posted by nissan577
http:///forum/post/3190337
i must say it looks super nice!

Thanks

It's a little tall for my taste... but I've seen some canopies that go much higher.
Maybe it'll look at bit better once it's black. The protective covering is drying as we speak.
Think one day outside is enough airing out before I put it on the tank, or would the fumes still be harmful?
 
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