Haggisman14's Oceanic Biocube 29

[Haggisman14]

Just a quick shoutout to Octo Aquatic. Wanted to note how much I'm loving my lid I got from them

Here's a pic that they used on their website!

Definitely my favorite product of their that I have. I'm entering their contest and hoping to win some float valve holders, and possibly some other goodies. Keep up the great work @cromag27

 

[Haggisman14]

So I scored a Sicce Syncra 3.0 for the cost of shipping. Going to clean this sucker up, and test fit it in the back of my cube. This will be an awesome upgrade from the current maxijet that I'm running in the back. This is going to pump into my current random flow generator, and worst case I also have a splitter for my lock line, so it's its pushing too much water, I can split the return and have it push out to 2 separate RFG's.

Fingers crossed I can get it to fit in the back compartment!

Thanks @jbrady429

 

[Haggisman14]

So today was a big tank day! To start it off I took my boys to the LFS to pick up a blue tuxedo urchin to start working on my hair algae problem, as well as picking up a small male clown fish to replace the female that I lost while on vacation two weeks back. So far the urchin has been going to town since he went into the tank, and the small male clown has buddies up with the larger male or possibly transitioned female.

After that it was Sicce 3.0 upgrade time. So this took quite a bit of time throughout the day. To start I was able to get it into the rear chamber, hooked up all piping(which needed a good amount of tweaking, and fired her up...worked like a charm but this silent pump was noisy as could be! This was totally unacceptable, but couldn’t be dealt with at the time...

 

[Haggisman14]

Sorry guys, busy weekend, and I was exhausted after starting that other post!

...it turns out that the housing that covers the intake end of the pump has a cover, and then an adjuster piece that allows you to change how much flow the pump puts out. As soon as I took off those pieces, the pump was back to running silent again. As for overall size, the Sicce 3.0 is on the larger size, and the last chamber of the biocube isn't extremely large. I needed to not only take off the return elbow to originally fit the pump into the back chamber, but I also needed to remove a bottom battle that prevented the pump from sitting on the bottom of the tank. Once that was completed the pump fit in chamber 3 perfectly and talk about an upgrade in flow from the MJ1200....WOW.

That brings me to "problem #2" too much flow. Now with the 3.0 pushing so much flow into the tank, everything seemed to be moving around too much. My torch/hammers, and acans were being pushed around so much you could tell they weren't happy...well wouldn't you know I had a solution in my back pocket. I have to RFG from VCA, and I had a loc-line splitter in my parts bing. I had previously tried doing this with the old MJ pump, but it simply did not push enough water and by using the splitter there was hardly any flow coming out of either RFG. Now with the force of the Sicce 3.0, the splitter works like a dream and I have a powerful, yet gentle enough random flow throughout my tank that everything seems to love.

I have also moved my Jaebo PP-4 a bit more towards the rear of the tank to help prevent any dead spots.

I'm really really happy with the current state of my BioCube in terms of hardware. I had been toying around with the idea of a EcoTech MP10 or MP40 to help aid in the flow, but I will tell you, any desire for that is now out the window due to my current setup. Now the only realy "hardware" think I would like to do is either get the Spectral Controller for my Kessil 160, or get a AI Hydra 26 for the tank (I would like to have more control over my main light.

Some pictures from this weekend to follow!

 

[Haggisman14]

Here are some pics!

I also added a comparison shot of y tri-color from a january WWC order that almost died on me after my second Prazipro treatment. As you can see it's encrusted a lot, and looks like it's getting ready to shoot out some branches.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Haggisman14]

A little video update of my tank...just cause! Also showcases the flow coming out of my dual RFG setup!

 

[Haggisman14]

One of my hammers fell yesterday so I had to remount it. Took the chance to take a few top-down pics. This was cool b/c I was able to see that some of my SPS frags from @Battlecorals are already starting to encrust. My fox flame had lost a lot of the bright yellow at the main tip, but I know frags can sometimes lose some coloring when they're adjusting to their new tank. The cool thing is, that you can already see some new yellow on some times that look like they're about to start building from the base.

Enjoy!

 

[Oneforone]

I love looking at my tank from top down, usually just bi-weekly when I do my water changes. I can't remember, have to started dosing yet? I started adding sps in my cube as well about 2 weeks ago, just an ORA bird of paradise and red monti-cap so far. I've been checking my Alk daily since and it hasn't really seemed to move a whole lot. I have been using salifert for my Alk test but I am partially colorblind so it makes it pretty dang hard to determine when the color change happens. So I bought the hanna checker for Alk and it made life so much easier, just spits out a number lol. I hope all goes well with the new sps, maybe in a few months I will test my luck with some Acro's.

 

[Haggisman14]

Noticed a boat load of baby snails in my tank last night. I have a felling they might be nerite snail babies as they don't have the pointy long shells like my ceriths have. Always cool seeing new life being born in the tank!

Doing my first water change tonight with my new Red Sea Coral Pro salt. Excited to get my numbers dialed in to exactly where I want them (store premixed water was coming in pretty constant at 1..023, whereas I'm trying to be at the 1.025 mark. Looking forward to see how my corals react to the new salt!

 

[DHill6]

Good luck with the nerites. I removed mine due to the unsightly white dots they put everywhere. I have Red banded trochius which are always having babies, fun to watch them grow up.

 

[Haggisman14]

...is it wrong to want an AI Hydra 52 for my biocube. I mean...when I upgrade to a bigger tank I can just place it on there!

 

[Haggisman14]

So a quick pre-weekend semi-update.

My wife and two boys were absolutely amazing, and went out to our LFS a few days ago, and surprised me with a small banded brittle starfish for the fish tank! My wife after doing all her normal running around with our 3 boys, took all 3 of them (one of which is only 5 months old), and walked around the store with the help of the LFS owner, picked out a cool banded brittle starfish, and talked to him about how to acclimate and put him into the tank. I am so proud of her because 1: she hates spiders, and kept saying how this guy reminded her of one, and 2: She's never had her hands in the tank before, so her doing this was stepping out of her comfort zone, and was really really awesome! Lastly my boys were so excited they couldn't contain themselves.

(side note the owner is the one who helped me get my used biocube, and he said that livestock wise we're at capacity....and the wife is fully on board with a bigger tank in the future....Red Sea 425/525XL anybody

Now as you all know, the @WWC 11th anniversary sale is this weekend, which I will most definitely be participating in, as well as their ebay sale, and who knows maybe even a frag pack...can't wait to add more corals to the tank, but just for nostalgic purposes, here are my two original tanks when they had grown out really well. The first picture is my 20 gallon tall tank, which is what I started with, and then the second picture is of my 50 gallon (3 foot long) tank. Loved them both. All rock/corals moved from the 20 gallon to the 50 gallon, and you can see how they really blew up once the 50 was stable the set in (I started that 20 gallon tank in my college dorm room--I was an RA, and had my own room, so I could do whatever I wanted).

20 Gallon Tall (Picture Taken January 1, 2003)

50 Gallon Tank (Picture Taken May 5, 2005)

 

[Haggisman14]

My day one winnings from the WWC Live Sale!

 

[Haggisman14]

Final Haul! I'm a happy man..here's hoping I get a killer free frag!

Thanks @WWC for another great live sale!

 

[Haggisman14]

So I'll throw in a quick update. Obvious it's easy to keep buying and buying corals, but I"ve decided that unless I win a new pack somehow or get a gift certificate to a vendor, I'm going to hold off on any new purchases until next year. I want to give my system a chance to grow and flourish with what i've put in so far. After these next 5 additions I'll continue with some monthly progress shots to track growth, and really just let my system mature and grow. I"m in the process of working water changes in to bring my Red Sea Coral Pro salt into the mix (previously AF pre-mixed from my LFS). My main reason for this is I didn't like the idea of having 20 gallons (5 gallon jugs) sitting in my garage for upwards of 1-2 months. I know it would keep the salinity, but I know some trace elements are able to precipitate out, and I wanted to prevent that. I also like the numbers of the RS salt, so figured i'd give it a whirl.

So all things considered, the only things I can see myself buying in the next few months is the Spectral controller for my Kessil 160W, and a float switch from Octo Aquatics. I remember back when I had my old tanks, once it hit around the 9-12 month mark, everything just took off, and I'm excited for that to happen here!

I'll post pictures on Wednesday when I get my @WWC live sale shipment, and then about a week after when everything is mounted, and then as mentioned probably a monthly post moving forward from here on out. Thanks for looking, and as always, happy to answer any questions if anyone has some.

Thanks!

 

[Haggisman14]

Got my new box-o-corals. As always @WWC did not disappoint!

I also remounted my one ricordia frag that keeps falling, as well as moved my WWC Cherry Garcia chalice to a shaded area as it has been receding in its current placement. Going to leave all the corals on the rack for a week, and figure out where their final resting place will be!

Thanks for looking!

On the rack

JFox Bi-Polar Favites

WWW Firecraker Aussie Lord

Radioactive Dragon Eyes

WWC Blue Watermelon

Full Tank and rack after acclimation and 5 gallon water change.

My freebie frag for purchasing shipping early. Not sure what this guy is. If anyone has an ID, i'm curious what the growout looks like.

Once again, a big shoutout to @WWC for another great live sale!

 

[Haggisman14]

Of course there are a few more updates. Let me say when I got home last night, those radioactive dragon eye zoas are really really ridiculously bright!

Everything was looking super happy after beign in the tank a few hours. Going to keep light aclimating for the rest of the week, and then after about a week i'll put them in their final resting places in the tank.

 

[Haggisman14]

So weekend update. Mounted my 3 large head (8 baby head) acan, and my jfox bi-polar favites over the weekend, and also had to say goodbye to my Fox Flame. Friday night I noticed the tip of the coral looked a bit whitish...Saturday night some more flesh had fallen off, and then by Sunday morning, nothing but a white skeleton. I'm hoping that this is some flesh in the back that I just can't see, but I feel it's a goner. Not really sure what happened as all my tank parameters have been pretty stable. About a week ago I did have a temperature "spike" where the tank went up to 82 degrees, but it's since been back at 80. Not sure if this was a delayed reaction from that.

Otherwise all corals are doing really well!

 

[Haggisman14]

Little update below. Nothing crazy, but who doesn't like some pictures!

Two new top down pics, and some slight progression pics. I mounted all my frags last night form the WWC live sale, and figured i'd snap a few as the top was off.

Fox Flame has went to the reef tank in the sky. I'm holding out hoping that the slight coloration on the base is still living and that it'll regrow...but I'm pretty sure it's toast! (@Battlecorals - what do you think?)

WWC Tri-Color is an encrusting machine. Hopefully soon it'll start throwing out some new branches! (new pic left)

Poletta Yellow Tip. It has encrusted a bit, and if you look closely it's starting to thiken up a bit (new picture on right about 1.5 months apart)

Random favia from my LFS that's encrusting and splitting (started out as 4 heads)

PC Rainbow is starting to color up and encrust a bit more. (new pic on bottom)

Lastly my WWC Armor of Gods zoa's had almost died on me...i think something in my tank tried to eat them as one day I came home from work and all of their color was gone and they were just little nubs (this was about 2 weeks ago). For the past 8 months they've been nothing more than just 2 lone polyps, but then out of nowwhere last week it sprouted 2 new heads...hopefully they'll start multiplying now that they're all settled in!

Thanks for looking!

 

[Haggisman14]

....so you know how I just said my PC Rainbow was starting to color up and encrust more....I get home last night...and half of it has RTN'd...work up this morning, and it's gone!

Nothing has changed in the tank, everything else is doing great (fingers crossed). As they say...crap happens! :mad: