Robs Nano Reef

R

robertmathern1

Member
Hey guys its been a long long time since I have been on here. Been out the hobby for a couple years, but this sunday I will be getting my feet wet again as I head down to gainesville to pick up a used biocube 29. Hope it all works out just never know when you buy anything off craigslist. Anyway glad to see some old faces still on here. Cant wait to hopefully get my next tank.
 
R

robertmathern1

Member
Snakeblitz have not see you around. Last I seen of you, you were getting out of the hobby. Hmmm guess we never really get out of the hobby. Its more like an addiction it never just goes away.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I'm back in the hobby. I graduated college and started working full time as a taxidermist. Now that I have money and time, it's nice to have a hobby again.
 
R

robertmathern1

Member
Same here got laid off after almost 10 years of building jet engines and went back to school. Now I work right next door to where I used to in Enviromental health and safety. So now got to have something to throw money at again. Tanks were always fun. Still got a drilled 75 gallon collecting dust so who knows maybe after this build I will break out the old 75 and see what I can do there.
 
R

robertmathern1

Member
Debating on lighting. I hear the rapid leds are decent and from what I can see reasonably priced. Not to sure if they will surfice. I have always been a MH guy. I know the stock pc lighing has to go and I want to keep the stock hood as I have a 3 year old. Not really looking to go all out on this tank but would like a birdsnest. If I can grow that then all other corals on my wish list will be fine. Anyhow I will be heading out tomorrow to get my tank. Hope all goes well.
 
R

robertmathern1

Member
Figured out I have a aqua pod but a biocube. Never trust the guy on craigslist lol. I got it for cheap so whatever. The 2 chambers will probably work out better. As far as lighting I am not sure still thinking of getting the biocube29 retrofit from rapid LED even though it is made for a BC I am sure I can make it fit the AP. I will be building a stand soon and will post the build then.
 
R

robertmathern1

Member
So its been about 4 months and I decided that this tank was just not going to do. I got a custom made 32 gallon acrylic tank. Still an all in one even has a built in chiller Stand and canopy. Here are some picks

Front of tank


Back chambers

 
R

robertmathern1

Member
Now After picking up the tank and buffing some scratches out of it. I bought a mars aqua led light fixture and gutted the top to attach it to my canopy. Also since it is only about 5" off the water I removed all the optics on the light to reduce the strength of the fixture and also made a plexi glass top for the tank to try and reduce the amount of moisture in the fixture. I also scrapped the skimmer in the above pic that was built with the tank and removed the pieces of plastic holding it in place. Toss a Reef Octo BH100 hang on back skimmer. Its a little bigger than I thought as if I change the water in the skimmer it will be more than enough for my 10% water change lol. Now since the BH100 has 2 chambers in it I will use the return chamber for carbon and the like and this frees up the entire back of the tank (except for the return chamber in the tank) to run macros. I am hopeing there is enough bleed off from the marsaqua to grow macro if not no biggie can just pick up a fuge light. Here are some pics of my tank set up.

FTS


shhh I think he is sleeping



So that is the tank as of last night. Now just wait for it to cycle and go from there. I will get more ics of the setup after work tonight as I have done quite a bit of mods to this tank.
 
R

robertmathern1

Member
Its all dry rock as of right now. Will be picking up a few pieces of live rock on sunday and probably removing that huge piece of dead brain coral at the top
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
If you want to keep the live rock you are going to buy useful then take that big shrimp out or the ammonia will get way too high.
 
pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
Remove the shrimp and let the ammonia drop to 5-10ppm. After that, just a tiny bit of flake food will suffice. Just pretend you're feeding an invisible fish daily (AKA: ghost feeding) and wait for ammonia and nitrite to fall to zero... ;)
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
In my experience, ammonia above 1.0ppm is detrimental. Ammonia between 0.25 and 0.50ppm is all that is needed for a good cycle and that's not high enough to kill the organisms in your live rock.
 
Kristin1234

Kristin1234

Active Member
pegasus said:
Remove the shrimp and let the ammonia drop to 5-10ppm. After that, just a tiny bit of flake food will suffice. Just pretend you're feeding an invisible fish daily (AKA: ghost feeding) and wait for ammonia and nitrite to fall to zero... ;)
Click to expand...
Pegasus for admin. I love how you are always there to answer questions from everyone. And you always know what you are talking about. Just wanted to say that.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
A hard cycle will certainly cycle a tank but it will kill most of the animals you spent all that money on with the live rock. If you want biodiversity in your rock and sand a hard cycle is about the worst possible method you could use.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top