Biocube 16 tank build

[jk_s124]

Yeah my coworkers, friends, and family look like a deer in headlights when I start talking about reefing. I have seen some awesome zoa gardens on this site. Definitely something I want to try.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

So I noticed today 2 things.
1. My white rock which my Zoa is attached to is (a) going through the uglies but more importantly (B) it has its own spot of Coraline algae growing on it (woohoo)

2. My rBTA didn’t close up like it usually does before the lights go off and when I woke up before the lights cut on he was open. Hoping this mean he be happy

 

[jk_s124]

Congrats on the coraline!

 

[Reefing_addiction]

So my female clown has decided since my nem has moved she would like to sleep in the pulsing Xenia. Geez. I’ve order a acrylic tube to see if I can have success at reintroducing her to the rbta.

Ok so I just walked back to look at the tank and snap a c of the silly fish and noticed my male found the nem. Woohoo. Maybe I won’t need the acrylic tube because if he found it maybe she will figure it out

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Ok I got 6 new editions but I’m only showing two because the other 4 are closed up.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Ok so this one started opting a little bit

 

[Reefing_addiction]

So another Zoa started opening up! Just a little! I also put in my new return pump in and it’s definitely a big difference in flow already!

 

[Reefing_addiction]

I noticed new growth on my pulsing Xenia

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

That xenia will grow good!

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Ok so some updated photos with pictures of my new corals and hopefully my videos

 

[jk_s124]

Looking great! Good job with the videos!

 

[Luckyduck]

My fish finally came out of there clown shells and they greet me every time they see me. They realize i am the one who brings food. I redid my rock scape.
Any opinions?
I’m going to shove the Chaeto underneath that rock in the front corner.

I recently purchased those three corals. I’m not sure where to stick them yet.

Looks pretty good man. Add some more rock. That's my suggestion.

Chaeto may do okay under a rock but as with any plant it needs light to grow.

Hang on back refugiums..Oh how I love them! I have ran hang on back refugiums on every nano tank I've ever had and thays been 5. I am currently running a small (13") CPR refugium on my 20 gallon cube and was also on my 15 column before I upgraded to the 20. I actually purchased a medium one (19") to replace the the small on the 20 because there's room for a bigger one. Got a great deal off AquaCave.com. They are the cheapest around for CPR fuges.

Is your Mandarin tank raised or wild? I worry about it having enough food especially in a new reef. Mandarins especially wild will only eat live Copepods and will spend their entire days hunting for food. They will eat hundreds a day so you either need to seed with pods from algae barn or other source and replenish every couple months. If it is captive bred you will have much better luck keeping it as they will eat frozen food. I also started my tank in May. The 15th to be exact. Moved everything into a 20 gallon 2 weeks ago.

First pic is of the 15 the day before I tore it down @ 8 weeks old.
2nd and 3rd are of my refugium which has its own grow light over it to help grow the algae and Mangroves and houses my heater and protien skimmer. I have upgraded my protien skimmer to a reef glass so that picture is not current. I also have a small UV sterilizer that I'm going to install into the new refugium once I get it set up next week to help kill off some micro algae.
4th and 5th pic of of the 20 I took yesterday. First pic just a regular lense, Second is with a yellow lense filter to filter out the blue light and make it more clear.

I'm happy to help you out bud. Any questions just ask. I have been keeping saltwater aquariums since I was 18 and I'm 36 now. I have a lot of experience. If you have the money I would suggest upgrading your light as you will get MUCH BETTER coloration out of your corals than you will with the stock light on that tank.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

@Luckyduck
So my chaeto is hanging in a black mesh bag at the back of my tank next to my return. It seems to be doing good there.

I rescued my mandarin from petco have no idea if it is wild or captive bred but I do buy pods from algae barn frequently and recently bought brine shrimp eggs but need to make a feeding station so she can eat them at her leisure. She does not like the turkey baster feedings.


I do want to upgrade my light remove my hood.

I just need to wait a bit.

I’ll look into those CPR units maybe when I upgrade my lights I’ll sneak that in.

 

[Luckyduck]

@Luckyduck
So my chaeto is hanging in a black mesh bag at the back of my tank next to my return. It seems to be doing good there.

I rescued my mandarin from petco have no idea if it is wild or captive bred but I do buy pods from algae barn frequently and recently bought brine shrimp eggs but need to make a feeding station so she can eat them at her leisure. She does not like the turkey baster feedings.


I do want to upgrade my light remove my hood.

I just need to wait a bit.

I’ll look into those CPR units maybe when I upgrade my lights I’ll sneak that in.

Sweet! As long as the Cheato is nice and dark green and growing its healthy. If you do end up getting a refugium you should definitely put in in there. You can get a gooseneck grow light for like $20 that works great for it. And I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself but if and when you do that you are going to want to run the grow light opposite schedule of your main tank. It helps to balance your pH. I can get into why if you decide to do it. Definitely check out aquacave.com for the best pricing.
That's great that you are providing enough food for the Mandarin. Sounds like you know what you're doing with it.
If you have any questions about lights let me know but you'll definitely be happy when you do upgrade.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Sweet! As long as the Cheato is nice and dark green and growing its healthy. If you do end up getting a refugium you should definitely put in in there. You can get a gooseneck grow light for like $20 that works great for it. And I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself but if and when you do that you are going to want to run the grow light opposite schedule of your main tank. It helps to balance your pH. I can get into why if you decide to do it. Definitely check out aquacave.com for the best pricing.
That's great that you are providing enough food for the Mandarin. Sounds like you know what you're doing with it.
If you have any questions about lights let me know but you'll definitely be happy when you do upgrade.

So how exactly does this CPR fuge work on the back of my 16gal biocube

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Sweet! As long as the Cheato is nice and dark green and growing its healthy. If you do end up getting a refugium you should definitely put in in there. You can get a gooseneck grow light for like $20 that works great for it. And I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself but if and when you do that you are going to want to run the grow light opposite schedule of your main tank. It helps to balance your pH. I can get into why if you decide to do it. Definitely check out aquacave.com for the best pricing.
That's great that you are providing enough food for the Mandarin. Sounds like you know what you're doing with it.
If you have any questions about lights let me know but you'll definitely be happy when you do upgrade.

I’m really trying to figure out how to make this work on my 16gal. Where my media goes my heater yadda yadda yadda


I can’t afford both the light upgrade and fuge at the same time, or can i, sneak it in past my bf! Just throw away the receipts. Need to determine my new lights, aaaaarrrrrr. See what you did lol. Ok seriously though how would I set this thing up on my biocube 16

 

[Luckyduck]

I’m really trying to figure out how to make this work on my 16gal. Where my media goes my heater yadda yadda yadda


I can’t afford both the light upgrade and fuge at the same time, or can i, sneak it in past my bf! Just throw away the receipts. Need to determine my new lights, aaaaarrrrrr. See what you did lol. Ok seriously though how would I set this thing up on my biocube 16

Lol sorry!! Yes I'm bad too. My wife has no idea how much $$ I have spent on my tank. It's only 3 months old and a 20 gallon tank and I have over $5000 invested already! ;Facepalm I have A LOT of stuff though, pretty much everything one could need and doesn't really need but wants lol and I have a show tank with a lot of really nice corals.

So the fuge comes with a pump and hangs on the back of the tank. Inlet and outlet. Pump pulls water in, gravity feeds the outlet. There are chambers in it. The first chamber is where I put my heater and the last is where I put my bio cubes (Brightwell Aquatics products for bacterial colonization) and my protein skimmer. The center compartment is where you add substrate and macro algae, a few small rocks of you want and maybe a Scarlet hermit to keep it all clean. I can give you a link if you'd like. The light I have was like $20 and it works great but I did upgrade that for the new refugium to a $100 Chaeto Max light. I'll be setting up my new fuge this week as soon as I get my care package from Brightwell Aquatics with this new refugium substrate I wanted to test out and I'll take some pics and share them with you. I'm also going to be filming it as I have a Youtube channel that I want to do a video on my refugium. I will surley let you know when I get that posted. Any more questions you have about it feel free to ask! Also what is the width of your tank (the back of it left to right).

Here's my most recent video on the tank move.

 

[Luckyduck]

Ya known the more I think about it I just upgraded everyting that you're looking for. It's totally up to you and may be more than you want to spend but I will sell you my 2 month old AI Prime 16HD (which is an awesome light) and my refugium, pump and light for it for $325.
The AI Primes are $210 brand new and another $30 for a gooseneck mount which I would include. The small refugium is $200 and the light as I said is $20. Totally up to you. You can do some research on the light but you can control it off your phone and adjust each spectrum individually. I really wanted to hang onto the stuff for future aquariums but its a ways off and I want to help you out. Totally up to you though I'm happy with or without it.

 

[Luckyduck]

Ok so I found another LFS that is a little farther away but the people there seem a bit more knowledgeable and well they are definitely nicer!

The picture below is what they say my water tested at. After talking with the guy who did the test he said if you fish and corals are happy then don’t stress. They like stability and if they are happy don’t go making drastic changes just to hit numbers

I am slightly concerned about my nitrates though and think tomorrow I’ll do a 10-15 % water change.

My Salinity has been between 1.022 - 1.023

Any opinions?

That is good advise about stability. All of their suggestions look good except for the Phosphates. That is waaaaaay off! 1.0ppm?! Thats way way to high. Target phosphates are 0.05ppm so I'm not sure how they came up with 1.0 as a good number lol Craziness!
So you're good @ 0.03ppm.

Water changes will help to keep your Nitrates down but you could also get a small protein skimmer.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Ya known the more I think about it I just upgraded everyting that you're looking for. It's totally up to you and may be more than you want to spend but I will sell you my 2 month old AI Prime 16HD (which is an awesome light) and my refugium, pump and light for it for $325.
The AI Primes are $210 brand new and another $30 for a gooseneck mount which I would include. The small refugium is $200 and the light as I said is $20. Totally up to you. You can do some research on the light but you can control it off your phone and adjust each spectrum individually. I really wanted to hang onto the stuff for future aquariums but its a ways off and I want to help you out. Totally up to you though I'm happy with or without it.

Get out of my head!

I was looking at the ai prime HD’s last night.

Tank Dimensions: 15" long X 16.75" Wide X 17.5" High

I don’t currently run a skimmer as that is impossible on the biocube 16 with the lid. It is one of those all in one systems.

Look into shipping for me 80017 unless you happen to live in Colorado