29G Biocube setup and equipment questions

veselym · Feb 28, 2014

I have a 29G Biocube that I will be setting up in the next couple months and have stocked up on some equipment that I need input on

This is what I have so far:

Cobalt 100W heater
Tunze ATO
Apex Controller w/PH probe
In-Tank media basket
In-Tank Refugium basket w/LED light
MP10
WXM mode
AI Sol Blue w/controller
MJ 1200 return pump
4 Stage RODI

I will be using all dry rock and live sand for the build

Let me know if I am missing anything or suggestions on another piece of equipment...I thought about dosing kalk but don't want to buy a reactor or use my Tunze pump and worried about such a small water column

any suggestions on kalk and equip??

veselym · Feb 28, 2014

forgot to mention the stocking list...2 clowns and a CUC

this will be a LPS dominated tank, maybe a birdsnest a year down the road

veselym · Feb 28, 2014

I want to does kalk but not in my ATO...the Tunze pushes water fast and beeps every time you turn it off/on so timing it would be super annoying

can I use a BRS doser along with an ATO or would that be too much topping off? or will a lower concentrate of kalk be fine with the ATO? maybe 2 part?

I want stable parameters

Ginu · Feb 28, 2014

What you're asking for is pretty hard for anyone to pinpoint... Kalk will keep your Alk in check but will also affect your Ph... this doesn't affect your Magnesium and Calcium, so you will have to find another method to supplement those.
If you want a safe method I suggest getting the two part solutions and the dosers as a pack and dose Ca/Alk ran by Apex.

I used to have a 34g cube and didn't like dosing kalk in such small fish tank, it would always get the pH out of whack and would end up doing water changes to drop the pH...
Also as the system matures, you will have a different alk/ca consumption due to Coraline algae and growth of corals so it needs to be monitored and adjusted accordingly on regular basis.

veselym · Feb 28, 2014

I know It affects the PH and that's why I am concerned with the Tunze as it pumps fast...it's just hard for a nano but love the affect of having stable Alk, Cal and Mag numbers

everyone says that WC's are the only thing you need in a nano but it will not keep the numbers stable throughout the week

I know I need to monitor but was just wondering the best/safest dosing for a nano tank

Ginu · Feb 28, 2014

As I said, run two part solution through the BRS 1.1ml/min calcium and alk

Basically don't dose anything for a week and measure parameters and after, then use the BRS calc and find out how much of each to dose and split by the days then by the hours to see how much to dose or whatever schedule you want to run.

I typically dose alk at night as it has a small effect on pH and dose calcium all day long.

I'm hoping you have enough plugs on the apex and run the dosers on 4th and 8th plug as they are low current and need the solenoid to turn them on or off.

Mg doesn't need to be dosed on regular basis. I typically dose after a water change to bring it back up as each salt mix is different.

veselym · Feb 28, 2014

I have an 8 bar so if I need more, I will order a 4 bar...so the calculator is for a week on BRS? so if it says 120 ML, you need to split that up by 7 days?

Ginu · Feb 28, 2014

No the calculator is for the time in between measurement....
Let's say you measure Sunday at noon and wait a week and measure again... You week get a all drop of let's say 1

Then you go to brs and plug in the desired alk, the current alk and the water volume and it will spit out a number which you have to divide by 7 days in between the readings.

Then you divide by the number of times you would like to dose during the day.
Then the BRS dosers are 1.1ml/min and go from there.

I dose all at night for 1min per hour *12 times so only 13.2 ml per day and the same in calcium but I dose 30 sec every hour every hour.

Then I take readings over a week and see what changes I need to make. Add more time or less.

Mg doesn't swing too much and I dose it weekly if needed or with water changes as my salt is not very high in mg. It's about 1200 but I like it closer to 1350-1400 so I manually dose. Seriously that package from BRS is golden...
You get two 1.1 ml /min pumps
Three mixing jugs
The mixing chemicals (just mix and add rodi)
Three measuring cups
One funnel
And two manual pumps (I only use one for mg as the other two ate behind the two pumps)

In a 34g I don't think you will need new mixes for at least a year depending on your sps and coralline growth.

Now as the system matures, you can supplement with kalk water if the alk demand is high. Problem here is the pH though.

You can also skip the dosing pumps and dose by hand the appropriate amount daily. Perhaps once in the morning and once at night to split it up a bit.