A Warrant's 32g BioCube Build

[ReeferWarrant]

A little bit about myself, I've always been interested in marine life and never had the courage to try out a reef tank. My mother was a biology teacher and as a kid I was glued to anything the BBC produced that was related to the ocean. I spent my high school years working at a pet store in Kansas and joined the Army shortly after. While stationed near the ocean I became interested in scuba diving and once I met my wife she introduced me to free diving in the Hawaiian Islands. Now 18 years into my career and nearing retirement I decided to finally give saltwater tanks a try. So now 8 months into my tank I decided to document on here. Most of my success I credit to this forum and the great people that are a part of it.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

After weeks of looking I finally pulled the trigger on a 16g biocube online through marketplace. I set it up in my basement and let the system run while I went on a work trip.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Once I got back I went to my LFS in Virginia, Reef Escape, and purchased sand and live rock. Started my aquascape with the intent on having as many crevices as possible for the inhabitants to hide in.

Note: People doing a new build, use dry rock and buy the bottled bacteria starters. As cool as live rock from a shop can be and all the cool critters you get..... You may get ones that you don't want, in my case Vermetids....

 

[ReeferWarrant]

It was at this point I did some research and realized that the fish that I wanted would never fit in the 16g that I had, water parameters were easier to maintain in a larger tank and I needed to upgrade. Lucky for me another person was selling the 32g and made it easy for me to pull the trigger... I soon found myself in need of more live rock

 

[ReeferWarrant]

After a few months I added the CUC to the tank that was advised to me by another LFS. The biggest lesson I learned from there is they sold me way more than I needed and the excess ended in a couple of snail deaths.

2 of the 3 Conch Snails I was told to get......

At this point I also added 2 soft corals (Punk Rocker Zoanthids on the frag in front and Red Mushroom Corals on the left rock)

You may be wondering why the lights are so blue.... I wired the Turbo LED upgrade kit that came with the tank wrong/loosely. Apparently this causes the blues to be on 24/7, I just assumed they turned off at night. My algae explosion proved otherwise..... This was over a 1 week vacation to Aruba that this growth occurred.

Green Hammer Corals added prior to this.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Some scrubbing with a scraper and manual removal of the algae via my hands and a fine net later, the tank is clean. Also, rescaped the tank to allow more room in front.

Green Candy Cane Coral and Green Ricordea Mushroom added

 

[ReeferWarrant]

To help regulate any growth of future algae I purchase my first fish. A small Bicolor Blenny, who has quite a bit of personality I have learned.

 

[deeb]

Wow lovely tank and fish!

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Finally figured out to photograph everything without too much blue in it. Below are some photos of my tank where it stands now.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Recent additions to the tank:

Corals:
Frogspawn
Goniopora
Montipora

Livestock:
Blue Tuxedo Urchin
Neon Goby

Full List of Current Setup:
Bicolor Blenny
2 Ocellaris Clowns
Pink Streaked Wrasse
Fire Fish
Neon Goby
Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
Blue Tuxedo Urchin

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Update on the tank

added some SPS and currently going well. Also changed out the Hydor Pumps to a MP10. Frogspawn and my old hammer are splitting like crazy.

Additions:
Green Birds Nest
Montis
Blue Candy Cane
Hammer