First Tank - BioCube 32 LED

[cjwb2012]

Hello All!

This is my first tank and I plan on posting my progress here. Ill continue to add pictures as I go along. Clean up crew in the next few week. Thanks for looking!

Current Equipment:
LED BioCube 32 with stand
Stock media tray with stock filter
Eheim 100 watt heater
Seawater Refractometer
API Saltwater Master Kit
28 Pounds of Live rock
20 Pounds of Live Sand - CaribSea - Fiji Pink

Current Specs:
Temp: 79
PH: 8.1-8.2
Salinity: 1.024
Ammonia: .025 ppm
Nitrite: 0 - Tested for purposes of learning
Nitrate: 0 - Tested for purposes of learning

Wishlist:
RO/DI system
Protein skimmer
Sump/Refugium
Quarantine Tank
Mp-10


September 28th 2018

 

[James M]

Nice set up. How are you planning to do the cycle ?

 

[cjwb2012]

Nice set up. How are you planning to do the cycle ?

Thanks! I plan on just letting it ride and monitoring the specs. Are you referring to adding something to speed the process along?

 

[James M]

Thanks! I plan on just letting it ride and monitoring the specs. Are you referring to adding something to speed the process along?

Yeah many people dose ammonia and bacteria .

 

[cjwb2012]

Yeah many people dose ammonia and bacteria .

I wasn't planning on dosing anything but have read that a lot of people do. On the other hand Ive also read (and advised by my LFS) that the live rock and live sand would provide enough ammonia/bacteria. What are your thoughts? Clearly I have no idea what the most consistent way is. My plan was to continue testing the water to watch for spikes in ammonia/nitrates/nitrites. Then when it stabilized start stocking.

 

[James M]

I think your way is better so your not rushing anything

 

[cjwb2012]

I think your way is better so your not rushing anything

Good to hear! Thanks

 

[cjwb2012]

Quick update. I will be ordering a new RO/DI system in the next day or so. Also, after some great feedback I plan on moving a few of the rocks further away from the glass for ease of cleaning. Something I never considered when I set it up. Thanks for everyone giving me great info on what fish/coral etc to use. Im impressed by the members on this forum so far. Other forums Ive been a part of in the past. Not so much.

 

[Kyle Rinker]

Welcome to R2R @cjwb2012 --I look forward to watching your progress. Happy reefing

 

[cjwb2012]

Tank is moving along nicely! Here are some updates on whats happened since my last post. The Tank cycled very quickly. Ive been doing water changes Bi-Weekly and that's been going well. I'm slowly getting organized in the water change department. I have stocked 5 gallons of ro/di saltwater and 5 gallons of ro/do freshwater in case of a required quick change. My local fish store sells the water cheap enough for me not to want to deal with making my own which was my previous plan.

Current Stock list:

Lawnmower Blenny
Firefish Goby
Fireshrimp
Cleanup crew -Snails/Hermits

Coral:
GSP
Kenya Tree Coral
Zoanthids - Just picked these up last week
Some type of mushroom coral that was attached to the coral with the zoanthids

Light Schedule:
Channel 1: 11:30am-5:00pm
Channel 2: 06:30am-7:00pm
Channel 3: 0700pm-11:00pm

At this schedule the lower light comes on first to give the inhabitants a chance to wake up before being blasted. Channel 2 runs for 4 hours until channel 1 comes on in comination with channel 2 which is when the sun would normally start becoming its brightest. Then at 5pm I kick off the high beams and leave on the channel 2 lights for a few more hours to allow for the "sun to set".

What are all my BioCube 32 Led friends doing with there lighting schedule?

I know this can be tweaked a bit but I created this to establish a baseline.

 

[cjwb2012]

Another addition!