Oceana 29 biocube build

oceana

oceana

Active Member
Hey guys.
Well I have been in the big tank side of the hobby for quite some time and a few months ago I decided to buy a few smaller tanks just so I could have reef tanks in a few other parts of the house. For my first tank I chose the biocube 29 gallon. Now I have always seen all sorts of crazy modification to this tank and anyone that knows me know that I find that much of the equipment and mods to reef tanks nowadays are simply not needed. Keep is simple and smart has always been my way of doing things.
MY goals are to have very simple self contained "nano" tanks I say nano because IMO these 29 gallon biocubes are a bit outside of the true nano classification.
Modifications I have done are as follows
150 HQI nanocustoms retro
Return pump upgrade
Two small power heads
Bioball removal and replaced with live rock rubble.
These are the only mods I have done and they are the only mods I will do.
This will be a mixed reef with a few small fish.
Livestock will be
Black and white perc pair (these are from my original breeding pair that many of you watched grow from day one)
Blenny pair
Cleaner shrimp
Hermits
Snails
Starfish
Corals will be
A bit of everything from Soft to SPS and everything in between.
This wont be much of a build log since i have such large tanks already I can basicaly make several ready made tanks. I hate empty tanks so i plan to fill this up very quickly. I am at the "office" right now and I will have a few pics up later tonight. I just thought I would do this part now to save time. Yea I know I’m a tease.
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
http:///forum/post/2622864
Yay! Can't wait till its up and running!

oh its running already. been up for about two month now but i did take pics all the way from step 1. I have just have been lazy in posting. lol
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Ok here are a few pics like I said it has been set up now for around 7 weeksAdded some rock and sand on day one and let it sit for around a week before adding any live stock. A week is short yes but keep in mind the rock sand and water that went into this tank is now around 10+ years old. I just took it all from the larger tanks. I found I ad a very small about of diatoms but that lasted about two days before going away. I ended up with no cycle to speak of really. It is not the best looking tank yet but for a few weeks i think it is off to a good start.
The only difference now between these pics and now is I put the powerheads behind the wall in chamber 1 and 3. I just drilled a small hole to fit the outputs of the powerheads worked out great and helped keep things a bit cleaner. Other then that I added two more acans this morning. I will take more pics as time goes on.
I also took a bunch of pics while installing the nano customs HQI retro that i will post this week as well.





 
atrialfib22

atrialfib22

Member
The tank is looking great! And so quickly...2.5 months and yours looks like 20 times better than mine already~!!!
Amazing growth on the coraline and I really like your b&w pair...(not to mention all your corals)
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
http:///forum/post/2623614
WOW! It looks very beautiful!! How did you get all that coraline to grow in your tank that fast?!?

Ya know I'll be honest and say I have no idea why I get such good growth. From day one in this hobby 10+ years ago I have always had super fast coraline growth. in this case you have to remember that everything Except the corals is atleast 10 years. I guess I just started with great rock.
As you can see in the pics the rock had hardly any coralline when I put it in the tank. within days it was showing up everyhwere. I mix my own salt, run typhoon 3 RO/DI units and I am very good about water changes and keeping bulbs fresh. Other then that I dont do and have never done anything else. No dosing, no adding anything, no tricks. All needed minerals can be replaced with regular water changes and a good salt. The only time I agree that dosing is needed is when you have an extreme SPS dominated tank in which case even water changes cant keep up with the Ca needs.
 
cowfishrule

cowfishrule

Active Member
i agree with your logic of keep it simple.
i find that the less i mess with my tank, the better off it is.
1-2 gal w/c every 3 days or so, and im good to go.
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
thats all there is to it my friend. I think that 99% of the peoiple that throw in the towel and give up on reef kepping fall for all the crap being sold today. some of it does work and does have it's place but most of it also was never needed in the first place. I guess it just goes to show there are MANY ways to run a successful reef. I find my below pictured reefs to be proof that simple DOES work

 
coral keeper

coral keeper

Active Member
Nice tank! How many gallons is it? The only thing I do to my tank is, I feed my fish, 10-15% watcher changes a week, feed my suncoral ever so often and I think thats about it. Oh and, I also clean the front and side glass. lol
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
http:///forum/post/2624068
Nice tank! How many gallons is it? The only thing I do to my tank is, I feed my fish, 10-15% watcher changes a week, feed my suncoral ever so often and I think thats about it. Oh and, I also clean the front and side glass. lol
thanks. one is 110 and the other is 270
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
took a new picture of the cube tonight. added a few things. I have to redo the aqua scape becasue i feel it is getting to messy now. i hate when corals look just thrown in the tank. I have a few like that so i plan to fix it this weekend. any and all comments welcome
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
http:///forum/post/2645668
Its lookin good! What kind of salt do you use?

i mix my own. I use tropic marine pro and oceanic natural. i find one has high CA and the other does not along with some having more of other things. when i mix the two together half and half i find it makes a perfect salt mix. been doing it for years now and always been shocked at how things grow and flurish. not sure if it is the right thing to do but it works so weel i dont intend to stop
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top