Eagle_Steve’s 28g Nano Cube

[Eagle_Steve]

Well the wife didn’t want the nano cube to go the office. She wanted it in the bedroom. No complaints there. So the build has begun. I plan for this tank to be all zoas and lps. I am also hoping for a quick cycle. The sand has been in a holding tank with the rock connected to my big tank, fingers crossed. I built a stand this morning for it and it is now full of water, sand and the rock. Ammonia was at 0 so I have added some to get it to .25 and gonna see how long it takes to go 0. The rest of the tests are matching my big tank currently, which is to be expected as the water came from the holding tub after a water change. Below is all the goodies.

28 jbj nano cube
165w Diy led light that put 100 par on the bottom at 50%.(done during fresh water leak test)
DIY media basket
DIY cheato basket and small led light
Hydor 100w heater
Tunze 9004 nano skimmer
Cobalt mj1200 pump runs a random flow nozzle on the left side
Small green killing machine on right side outlet into a fan nozzle. (Very low flow out of it)

10lbs of Tampa Bay live rock
20 pounds of diy rock with a ton of holes for frag plugs
40 lbs of bahama oolite sand
About 10 pounds of rock rubble in the bottom of the back area. They had tons of sponges, s hoping for a nice cryptic area.

No live stock yet. They will go in once I am sure the tank is ready. The below are in the holding tub and happy.
1 lightening maroon female
1 naked maroon male
1 tailspin blenny
Clean up crew (arriving Tuesday from ReefCleaners and they may go into the tub depending on the nano cube testing)

I know everyone loves pics so here ya go.

 

[dylana407]

Cool. Liking the rock work already.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Very nice setup! How was the 10 lbs. of TBS live rock? I was wondering how a small order would be? I considered it when I started but found live rock locally.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Very nice setup! How was the 10 lbs. of TBS live rock? I was wondering how a small order would be? I considered it when I started but found live rock locally.

It was frigging awesome. I end up with a ton of sponges and macro algae. I did have some apstasia, but easy enough to get rid of as it was in a tub. I also received a bunch of stars, feathers, worms, and 5 crabs. The cool thing was the small blenny that made the trip. He is super shy and I cannot get a pic to ID him. Once he gets used to things I will snag a pic.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Meant to add, I did have some die off and an ammonia spike. Went to .50 when tested this morning. Just tested and it’s down .05 right now. I can live with it dropping that fast. This makes me assume the .25 I added last night and the die off coincided with each other. I believe the die off was due to some rocks being out of water for quite a while to epoxy them. Either way it looks like the bacteria are doing their job. I had 10 nitrates this morning and am down to 5 this evening. Still gonna wait for fish to be added at this point. Tub bound they stay. No need to burn my little buddies gills.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Meant to add, I did have some die off and an ammonia spike. Went to .50 when tested this morning. Just tested and it’s down .05 right now. I can live with it dropping that fast. This makes me assume the .25 I added last night and the die off coincided with each other. I believe the die off was due to some rocks being out of water for quite a while to epoxy them. Either way it looks like the bacteria are doing their job. I had 10 nitrates this morning and am down to 5 this evening. Still gonna wait for fish to be added at this point. Tub bound they stay. No need to burn my little buddies gills.

Wow, a hitchhiker fish! Nice! I would not add ammonia with live rock, just let the die off help the cycle along.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Wow, a hitchhiker fish! Nice! I would not add ammonia with live rock, just let the die off help the cycle along.

Yeah. After the first add, I have not added any. Was not thinking of die off from arranging the rock. Ammonia is steady at 0 now, so if no ammonia tomorrow, the clown pair goes in.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Added the clowns at lunch time today. Ammonia still at 0 as of right now. Also put in some macro algae and a Kenya tree pop off lol. Clean up crew arrives tomorrow thank goodness. Got some gha for them to munch on. Money says the eat the macro first lol.

Excuse the sandy glass, haven’t cleaned it yet.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Also pulled out the top layer of rock. Need to build a nice pedestal for higher light stuff. Gonna epoxy it and let it cycle out in the tub. 200 gallons is a lot easier to manage a small ammonia spike.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Well...seems my wife decided since my LTA let loose in the main tank, stung a torch colony (torch may have stung the nem. Not sure which one is stronger), she moved it to the 29 cube. I tried to tell her it would be fine and the LTA moves about 5 inches one way or another in its corner every so often and that her torch was just in the way lol. It really needs to be fragged or moved. The torch has 20 or so heads now and is massive. She didn’t care and uprooted the nem from its new spot (not dug all the way down yet thank god) and plopped it in the 29 with no care in the world. (Well she cared and tested the water first, drip acclimated it for 4 hours, and placed another rock from the tub in there for more filtration lol) Being as not to agitate her more lol. I told her it would be fine and then called my oldest son after she went to run some errands. At that point I had him run all tests on the water after he said the nem pooped and all is well with those. He was happy that the clowns in there are being allowed to host the nem. He also said the male clown grabbed the poop and carried it up to the overflow and let it go. Never heard of that before. That’s good housekeeping for sure. Better than my black photons that just tail swipe it out of their bubble in the big tank.

The pic below shows it’s buried and back out in all its glory. The clowns wouldn’t cooperate with him for a good pic and went straight to the glass looking for food.

I still am worried sick, as the nem has been with me for a while now. Hopefully all is well until I am back home in a few days. If the nem does well, it may stay in there and I just setup an auto water changer for the 29 if needed.