Spanko's bio cube, what in Posiden's name is he up to now?

spanko

spanko

Active Member
Many marine snails are omnivores. I really don't think the ULNS system has a specific need for any type of CUC you have. whether ULNS or not IMO you need to have some diversity to your CUC. Snails, worms, and yes even a couple of evil hermits (I like the red legged reef hermits myself) are all part of the required diverse CUC that helps tokeep the sand bed both clean and stirred.
 
nissan577

nissan577

Active Member
Well well well look who has the nicest nano tank ever! :) Henry glad to see your doing a great job :)
Idk how many times Ive seen you reaquascape your tank! lol man it sure has been a long time! :)
 
tirtza

tirtza

Member
Your tank is simply amazing. It's a real testament to your talent and expertise. When I went back and looked at the photos again, I could see the lighting changes you made. You definitely know your stuff! You should enter this in the tank of the month contest!
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Thank you Terri. Have entered a couple of times but there are some amazing tanks out there and my little piece of work has not been a competitor of note.
How is your tank coming along?
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
Hey Henry, and waving at Nissan
. Tank looks wonderful and still hoping on the day I can get my bio cube back up and running. Lol. Reaquascaped my 56 and still not to satisfied but hey waddya do.
Just dropped by to say hey and great job!
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Well stranger, how's the health care business??????
Have you updated your thread with pictures?????
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
health care business is continuing to thrive, now that it's flu season anyway,.... plenty of orthopedic surgeries going on right now so keeping me busy. Still struggling with this cursed respiratory infection and Paidey and I just keep taking turns with this demon.
I have not updated, I have lost the thread so I will have to go on a hunt, (shhhhhh, I'm hunting wabbitts) Lol. I have added a fish since then and rescued a few coral and they are thriving well i the system so we will see. I will update this weekend.
Going down to Indy Saturday. My niece who lives in Corpus Christi, won nationals in gymnastics and they are competing up here in Indy. Ganna go visit, watch some gymnastics, and take my sis and niece to dinner. Should be fun.
 
tirtza

tirtza

Member
Hi Henry and Keith

Sorry I've been a little MIA, this past month I've been insanely busy. This January doesn't look like things will be any better....in fact I was hired as an adjunct professor and am now teaching 3 extra college courses (for which I'm totally unprepared). Yikes!
My tank is coming along nicely. I haven't added any new livestock yet. I went out of town for a week in December and was afraid to add any coral before I left (just in case something went wrong while I was gone). I still hired a guy from an LFS (that also does tank maintenance) to come in once during the week while I was gone. He tested the water, cleaned the tank and fed the really hungry little fish. He must have thought I was pretty paranoid if I was willing to hire someone to check on a little 29 gal. FOWLR cube w/ 3 fish during a 1 week absence. I'm sure he was used to much bigger jobs! However, the fish survived my absence and I had some peace of mind :)
I changed the Purigen today, I had started to see brown and black dark spots on the bag (plus my phosphate level was at .25) so I thought it might be time to change it. The bag of Purigen wasn't in there for 6 months (more like 4?) but I figured that there wasn't to much harm in playing it safe and changing it anyways. I'm going to wait a week and then change out the Chemi-Pure Elite. The LFS I was at today only carried Chemi-Pure (not the 'Elite' variety that I've been using). The LFS guy told me there wasn't a difference except in price. Is this true? I didn't purchase it because I wanted to wait and see what you guys thought. Is there a difference?
In preparation for finally adding a little coral I bought the replacement light bulbs. I should plan on changing these bulbs about every 6 months correct? I'm still in the process of setting up a QT, I can't wait to add a new fish and some coral!
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Chemipure elite has an added phosphate remover in it. Some will say a year on bulb change but with coral and not just fish, and if you have a large bioload changing them on a 6-8 month rotation shocks the coral less with the change of light intensity and reduces the possibility of the spectrum change boosting the algae growth.
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
to add what Spankp pointed out, the Chem pure elite should be rinsed off in the water you took out during the water change. This will get some of the build up particles off the bag and clean up the pellets in the sack. Nothing crazy, just swish around a bit a couple of time and let it drain then replace it. Typically, pending on your bioload, you can keep the chempure elite in the system for a little over 6 months. I have two bags in my sump for my 56 gallon.
As with the lights, pending on how long you have them on now, cut the time in half for the first week, the gradually bring the time limit up to your normal time. You can bleach your corals, that you don't have yet, and at the same time the fish will need a little acclimation too, you will see an increase in algea growth as well.
Since you have no coral critters as of yet, I would say do the lights first then get some corals a couple of weeks later.
 
tirtza

tirtza

Member
Hello everyone!

I'm a bit confused Kiefers, when you said...
Quote:
the Chem pure elite should be rinsed off in the water you took out during the water change.
Are you saying to rinse off the new bag of Chemi-Pure Elite or the old one during water changes? Since I decreased the amount of time my lights are on, there only running about 4 hours a day right now. I'll increase it an hour next week and then another hour a week after that. I'll definitely wait a couple of weeks before I add any coral as you suggested. When I do finally add some coral, (probably some mushrooms and/or candy cane), what is the recommended amount of lighting time they'll need?
I noticed on the container of Chemi-Pure Elite it indicates that it's a "1/2 Unit appropriate for up to 20 gallons". Since my tank is a 29 gallon, am I better off putting in a full unit (2 bags) of Chemi-Pure Elite?
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by tirtza http:///t/332430/spankos-bio-cube-what-in-posidens-name-is-he-up-to-now/980#post_3449022
Hello everyone!

I'm a bit confused Kiefers, when you said...
Are you saying to rinse off the new bag of Chemi-Pure Elite or the old one during water changes? Since I decreased the amount of time my lights are on, there only running about 4 hours a day right now. I'll increase it an hour next week and then another hour a week after that. I'll definitely wait a couple of weeks before I add any coral as you suggested. When I do finally add some coral, (probably some mushrooms and/or candy cane), what is the recommended amount of lighting time they'll need?
I noticed on the container of Chemi-Pure Elite it indicates that it's a "1/2 Unit appropriate for up to 20 gallons". Since my tank is a 29 gallon, am I better off putting in a full unit (2 bags) of Chemi-Pure Elite?
when you do your water changes, take out the bag and swish it around in the old water to get any gunk or build up off. It needs recharched. The one bag will be fine, just rinse off during water changes.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by tirtza http:///t/332430/spankos-bio-cube-what-in-posidens-name-is-he-up-to-now/980#post_3449022
Hello everyone!

I'm a bit confused Kiefers, when you said...
Are you saying to rinse off the new bag of Chemi-Pure Elite or the old one during water changes? Since I decreased the amount of time my lights are on, there only running about 4 hours a day right now. I'll increase it an hour next week and then another hour a week after that. I'll definitely wait a couple of weeks before I add any coral as you suggested. When I do finally add some coral, (probably some mushrooms and/or candy cane), what is the recommended amount of lighting time they'll need?
I noticed on the container of Chemi-Pure Elite it indicates that it's a "1/2 Unit appropriate for up to 20 gallons". Since my tank is a 29 gallon, am I better off putting in a full unit (2 bags) of Chemi-Pure Elite?
I use the full size Chemipure, about $3 more per package, cheaper than purchasing 2 1/2 sizes.
You need to rinse the new bag off some to get some of the black powder out of the bag. Does not have to be perfect just to get the bulk of it out. You can and I do also rinse the bag being used about twice during its lifespan in the tank to get some of the accumulated gunk off it. Do both of these operations in water you have removed from the tank during a water change.
Lighting can be on from about 6 up to 10 hours per day. Without getting into a whole photosaturationphotoinhibition discussion just be aware there is a certain amount of time that the symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) actually use the available light before they actually "shut down" because they have had enough light. In your case with the stock lighting on the biocube if that is what you have (power compact bulbs) you have to watch the coral you get to see if they are maintaining their color with the light you are giving them. Remember a (oh my God he is going to say it) rule of thumb here is too much light the coral bleach - turn white, and too little light they turn brown. With the mushroom sand or candy cane I would think an 8 hour schedule would suffice. This being the actinics come on for one hour the the whites come on with the actinics for 8 hours then the whites turn off and the actinics stay on for another 1 hour, then only the moonlights for the rest of the time until the next cycle starts. Just a suggestion. You can vary the white and actinics on length from the 6 - 10 hours.
The cost of electricity to run the lights is another variable if you want to consider it however should be minimal with the stock lighting.
 
tirtza

tirtza

Member
Hello!
You guys are AWESOME! I know I say it a lot, but I truly mean it. If it wasn't for your advice my system would have crashed by now. It'd be covered in long hair algae, I'd have dead fish, and probably would have given up on the hobby by now. So far I've almost consistently had perfect water quality and the only fish I've lost was my LMB.

  • It's been roughly a week since I added the new bag of Purigen, so today I added the new bag of Chemi-Pure (a whole unit this time). I didn't know that I should be rinsing it off during water changes, I'll start doing that from now on (using the old tank water of course) Do I need to rinse off the bag of Purigen as well?

  • Thank you so much for the lighting suggestions. It's comforting to have a plan now! I just put in the new bulbs last Sunday (4 days ago). In a few days I'll start slowly increasing the lighting time 1 hour per week so that I don't have an algae bloom. Is my plan to increase the lighting time 1 hour per week to slow or to fast? (keep in mind its still only a FOWLR for right now).
    I've been keeping the sponge part of a sponge filter in the middle chamber of the BioCube just in case I need it to set up a QT or hospital tank. I've been rinsing it out in old water during water changes each week. Am I doing the right thing?
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Just as a reference.And by the way all of my lights are set the same, white, blue and royal blue. According to the folks at AI this should emulate a 20k metal halide.
 
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