Blackbeard's 30 Gallon Treasure Cube

[Agamerce]

Hi! New to R2R, first thread, and first Saltwater build ever. Extremely excited and looking forward to growing experience and size, 300-gallon goal, in years to come. Already inspired 2 others to start their own tanks from scratch after a decade-long hiatus and loving it.

Tank: Coralife Biocube 29 with starter kit and skimmer
Sump: in-tank overflow with skimmer and heater, middle filter tray with bioballs, and return with filter and return pump
Light: 10k, Actinic Fluorescent, and 5 LED
Stand: 2 unused single doors cabinet furniture made of oak on repurposed packing styrofoam

DT cycle 3 weeks. are those diatoms or is that late stage6 ?
some of the rock is covered in Bahama oolite from setup.

QT filter cycle in DT sump 1 week.
In the process of setup. could use advice and recommendations on meds.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Chrisfish]

Welcome, you've picked a great place

 

[Agamerce]

Thanks! Nice build yourself. following.

 

[Tanked_Life]

just put copper in your QT best way to do it! have any fish stocking in mind?

 

[Agamerce]

Hi Tanked_Life! My eyes are already too big for the tank. looking at bright colored indigo dottyback and purple dottyback, goby, royal gramma, and love the green/red mandarin. My LFS has promised free starter corals too.

Should I be running any lights now too?

 

[Tanked_Life]

coming from someone who had an LPS dominant biocube, I would definitely start running lights with the live sand about 3-4" substrate (trust me you will need it) and some live rock in there about 30 # of the stuff. Also it is a good idea to start off with some soft coral in there and you can feed them weekly. With a biocube it is best to spend the money to get a good light. I waited 3 years before getting a good light and I regretted it! as for the fish, the dottybacks might fight each other and do not get a mandarin just yet! before you put fish in the system, I would put copepods in there with the corals and clean up crew so that the copepods will become a nice big colony and the mandarin when added will eat them all up and be happy since pods are mandarins natural food source

 

[Tanked_Life]

BTW take out the bioballs! they are nothing but bad news since you will not feel like scooping out 50 balls every other week and scrubbing them down.

 

[Agamerce]

I really appreciate that Tanked_Life. Looks like I have some product research to do. Whats a good bioball alternative?

I'm truly most interested in plate corals atm.

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Good start! I have a BioCube 29 as well. I removed the bioballs and replaced them with a media basket from InTank, as well as a Tunze 9002 skimmer (with the InTank modified cup). Also upgraded the lighting with LED's and am very happy with how this tank functions. Good luck!

 

[Agamerce]

Good start! I have a BioCube 29 as well. I removed the bioballs and replaced them with a media basket from InTank, as well as a Tunze 9002 skimmer (with the InTank modified cup). Also upgraded the lighting with LED's and am very happy with how this tank functions. Good luck!

Great help! I'm gonna need it. Would love to see pictures of yours.

 

[Agamerce]

I'm planning to cycle qt filter 2 weeks and then cycle together one week before invert package so i can setup dt at the same time. Works?

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Here's my sump area. Mine is the Oceanic model of the BC fwiw.

 

[Agamerce]

Yeah, I think it would have been a good idea to go with the Oceanic instead too. Is that an EHEIM pipe to something?

Maybe if I stay away from fire fish I can remove the canopy and remodel the lights. I just so happen to work across from Sealife and could easily get some free pointers and a walk-through with the employees I've met.

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Yeah, that is an Eheim feed down to my canister filter. All I run in it is GFO. If you decide to go with LED, check out Steves LEDs or others for retrofit kits for the existing canopy. I used Steves in mine and am really happy with them.

 

[Agamerce]

Today marks the first month of my Bio29 in documenting my progress, observations, and thoughts here. I'm doing this as a record of my success and failure to keep a log and share with others and those in R2R who are interested to share as well. This is my documentation of pretty pictures of the tank, a place to compare, ask questions, and explain my philosophy of fish and reef keeping.

Though I have been consistent with water changes and cleaning I finished my first deep clean of the tank today to mark that milestone. I took out all bioballs, yes bioballs, and with sub boiling water temperature washed every single one, strained, and amonia bathed them. I replaced the filter media and cleaned the return pump filter with the balls. The sump walls were wiped down, and the skimmer washed including a new airstone.

A few personal thoughts about the clean. One, Im not that concerned about the manual labor of the clean including bioballs. While I didnt exactly scrub each one, the water temperature and rinsing meathod I used really made it easy. Two, I literally paid attention to every detail. I kept in mind every step of the process and treated all equipment ad though they were each biologically sensitive. No bioball or otherwise touched a surface that was not cleaned and thought out. Not a scrap of skin or hair no matter how bad my nose itched.

Pics to follow [emoji41]

 

[Agamerce]

Anybody correct me, this seems to be a dusty brown diatom type algae and a brown hair algae growing. I've used aquavitro and the tank after a month has had its significant growth pictured below. My question is, this is the growth I have been looking to cycle and just a late start? or is it un contested growth after the cycle because I still dont have a cuc?

 

[Arron209]

I'd say it's part of the normal cycle. When you add your cuc it should go away. Have you considered using some marine pure spheres instead of the bio balls?

 

[Agamerce]

 

[Agamerce]

delete

 

[Chrisfish]

I can't see the pictures , but the algae and diatoms are all part of the cycle as @Arron209 stated. I know it's hard to be patient but your doing a good job . I'm sure others will chime in.