My 29 Biocube

madtownman

madtownman

Member
Here is my 29 Biocube...
My stock list is:
-20 lbs of live rock
-10 lbs live sand
-15 lbs non live sand at first
-Yellow Polyp
-Watermellon Mushrooms
-Elephant Ear Mushrooms
-Ricordia
-Purple Zoos
-2 other unknown yet Zoos
-3 Feather Dusters
-3 Turbo Snails
-6 Nass. Snails
-6 Hermit Crabs
-1 Emerald Crab
-1 Sand Sifting Starfish
-2 Peppermint Shrimp
-1 Cleaner Shrimp
-1 Rainsford Goby
-1 Perc. Clownfish
-1 Bangai Cardinal
The Mods I have done to this tank are widened the first to second chambers, and installed the bc29r skimmer in the second chamber. I have also added an additional powerhead to give me an additional 145 gph.
I have the 144W lighting upgrade on the way. I also got the R3 moonlight upgrade, the higher capacity fans, and the adjustable switch for the fans and moonlights.
My levels are:
Ammonia - 0.5 (just added the cardinal and clown yesterday.)
Nitrate - 0.0
Nitrite - 0.0
Alk - 280
pH - 8.2
Calcium - 500
Phosphates - 0.0




 
madtownman

madtownman

Member
Thank you very much. It is still kinda coming together, and i am going to add another 5 lbs or so of live rock.
I was wondering where i could buy loc line at? I have found a couple of places on the internet, but it seems they only sell bulk. And none of my lfs sell it. Would menards or home depot sell it?
Thanks for all your help!!
 
madtownman

madtownman

Member
Thanks!! I have a little algae growth espected with a new tank... or so ivce heard. The skimmer is working great so far. The 144 lighting upgrade will be here on Thursday. I upgraded to the r2 moonlights, and got two more 50/50's. Also got the higher powered fans.
But i may have a prob... My mushrooms seem to be shrinking a little day by day. Im not sure what is going on. My temps have been at 79 the last few days so maybe thats it.... Everything else is the same as before. Ammonia is still at 1, so maybe thats it... That should be down here in the next few days. What do you all think?
Also my bangai cardinal hasnt eaten.....that ive seen.... since i got him. Ive had it for 4 days. It will take some food in his mouth, and spit it out. Ive tried formula one, brine shrimp(hikari) and some flake. Any suggestions?
THANKS!!
 
peef

peef

Active Member
Try feeding mysis my cardinal LOVES it. Since you don't have your new lights yet it is probably the ammonia that is hurting your mushrooms. Is the addition of new fish what you think caused the spike? Technically you shouldn't have any ammonia or nitrite at all, if your tank is fully cycled. Unless of course you add alot of bioload that the bacteria can't handle (new fish or TONS AND TONS of new coral). Also, a temp of 79 is not bad at all!!! What are you normally at and why is it higher/lower? The actuall temp is not as detrimental as the swing of the temp... example.... A constant temp of say 86-87 degrees is "by the book" bad, but if that is what everything in your tank is used to then might work GREAT for you.....a constant temp of say 73-74 again is too low, "by the book" depending on what animals you have, but might work GREAT for YOUR tank! what is 99.9% of the time bad for every tank is if you have swings in temp, like during the day you are 82 (ok constantly) and during the night 77 (ok constantly) but going from one to the other in a few hours every night is BAD. Yah know!
 
madtownman

madtownman

Member
The cardinal seemed to eat a little of the mysis. My ammonia is at .5 now. I recieved all my goodies today in the mail. Got the 144W upgrade with 2 50/50's, better fans and variable option, and r2 moonlights. Its going to interesting putting it together tomorrow.
I didnt recieve any instructions with it either. Only whats online....and i dont think theyre very informative at all. Theyre also not in the office over the weekend.
Also got that piece of locline and a unit of chemipure.
Im pretty sure the ammonia spiked because of the 2 fish i added, and 4 pieces of coral at once. That wasnt the best idea.

The skimmer is working good though. So theres some good news...
 
madtownman

madtownman

Member
Thanks.. So i put in the lights yesterday.. wow. What a project. It only took me about 4 hours. ha ha.
I have an electrical nightmare on my hands now that i need to fix. I also need to upgrade my pump in the third chamber now that i put a y splitter on the end of the outlet. While i was putting the lights together, the ole lady did a water change, and re-worked the aqua-scape. So its like a brand new system... And it looks better this way. I will post pics later today. I will also list my parameters. My mushrooms are still very small, and one detatched from the rock it was on. Not sure, but got some good reading material yesterday.
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
Hmmmm amonia
Have you had anything die? What is your feeding schedule like? If that was a nitrate reading IMO it wouldnt be anything to worry about. But in a tank with live stock in it, you should show 0 amonia.
 
madtownman

madtownman

Member
no fish. A starfish, 4 snails, cleaner shrimp, and all of the corals. Something happened, and i dont know what. So i have removed everything. Put the fish in the Hospital tank. The bangaii doesnt look too good. But everything else is good. I have had off work all week, but this afternoon 5 hours after i removed everything, the tank spiked for some reason to 1.0-2.0 ammonia. ph 8.1 nitrite .5 nitrate - 10 No idea whats going on at all!!! Very bummed. Just threw away around 300 in stuff. Not getting, angry yet...lol
 
madtownman

madtownman

Member
So i have done som more test today.... And theyre horrible!!!!!! ammonia is at 3.0 Nitrite - .25 Nitrate - 10 phosphate - 0 calcium - 450
Salt 1.024 ph 8.0 HORRIBLE!!!!!!
But my QT is all at zeros, and ph at 8.2.
And the fish are still alive. just no corals at all. And the cleaner shrimp died, anf the starfish. Also all the turbo snails, and 1 nass. snail.
I did a 50% change on the DT and cleaned everything. If i have a few more beers i might check the levels tonight. Otherwse i will test them in the morning.
 
madtownman

madtownman

Member
no i didnt add everything all at once. I did add three fish in a week That is what prolly did it. All of my corals were mucusing out, and looked like something bad. So i took them all and threw them. The cardinal died today. So that is the only fish down. I havnt done any tests yet tonight, but i was hoping i had a response. I am very new to this hobby, and prolly made the worst mistake about gettng excited and spend money stuff. I should have gone alot slower. I dont know what exactly to do. But any help is GREAT!!!
The water i do water changes with(that i buy at the pet store) isnt perfect either. There is .25 on amm. and fluctuates in the ph, and salinity. trites and trates are fine though. So i dunno...........
 
cleanrshrmpfan

cleanrshrmpfan

Member
well than you should start mixing your own water. and for what to do, well you just have to wait it out theres no reversing what you have done, its a mini cycle so in <month you should have a good tank.
p.s. are you a badger fan? cause i am!!!!
we just killed savanna in basketball 79-32!!
 
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