My little upgrade! 60gal cube

[Jorge Linares]

Hey Flash is looking great. I had the same experience with Dr Tim's. Others have reported similar longer cycles. I had to use Microbacter from Brightwell. Love your aquascape good luck

Thanks. I was bummed about Sr Tims. I hear people say it's all snake oil but biospira worked in less than 48hrs.

 

[Jorge Linares]

The tank is chugging along and appears to be doing nicely. I was pleasantly surprised to see coralline algae already popping up in a few spots. You can also see some diatoms growing.

Having a great looking tank beside the old one was more than I could handle. I decided to move most of the coral over. I began to swap water between the tanks a little at a time and after a few days made the move. It took hours. Maybe 8-10 with a few breaks. It was also nerve racking. All this time and money on little life forms. I also moved the ato, doser, lights and wavemakers over. Everything looks good but I know that now is the most delicate time and will be monitoring it closely.

Orange filter

Thanks for following along.

 

[Jorge Linares]

Fish 2 is in and is doing really well. I've added what I think is a beautiful and under rated fish, a chalk bass. Hard to capture but he glows under the blue lights.

 

[Jorge Linares]

Tanks running along and tests seem stable.

pH: 7.8
Phosphate: .071
Alkilinity: 7.1
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrate: 6
Calcium: 420
Magnesium: 1350

I want to bump up the alk and maybe get the algae reactor online for the nitrate and phosphate.

Which FTS do you like better?

Orange gel:

No gel:

Some coral pics:

Thanks for following along.

 

[Smotz]

looks awesome

 

[Jorge Linares]

looks awesome

Thanks

 

[Smotz]

curious, what salt do you use?

 

[Jorge Linares]

I'm using RedSea Coral Pro. It mixes with Alk at 12 so it's dropped a lot. I think I want to keep it closer to 8.5 so I'll probably be switching to the regular RS salt to keep it there.

 

[Jorge Linares]

Tank is rolling along. On auto pilot for the most part and test are looking good. I’ve raised Alk to 8.0 as I want to keep it closer to that.

After BRS posted the AI Prime test I decided to try creating the same AB+ spectrum. It looks a little more blue than I like but the coral lab has had success so I’ll give it a go. I’ll probably just add some white during my most common viewing times. Previously running a modified Saxby preset which I liked so I have a backup.
AB+

My Saxby

On another note I add two new life forms. A tiny chalice and a royal grama!

Thanks for following along.

 

[Jorge Linares]

After my last post I realized I could just turn my Saxby schedule into a Saxby AB+ schedule.

I know I shouldn’t make too big of changes but this actually isn’t that much. BRS also addressed my worry of to much UV in today’s FAQ. Unfortunately I’m working my 7 days of night shifts 8pm to 8am so I can’t evaluate the look yet.

 

[leahfiish]

Looking great I like the aquascape.

 

[Jorge Linares]

Looking great I like the aquascape.

Thanks

 

[Jorge Linares]

No posts since October. Ouch.

The truth is I am embarrassed at the many set backs the cube has taken. It started with the skimmer overflowing for days. Nutrients skyrocketed creating a mini cycle the killed off a ton of coral and the fish I had added. Killing off living creatures by my own mistakes is hard. I added more livestock and things seemed well until it happed again. I was broken hearted but vowed to press on. To fix this I got a cool gadget. Has a full cup shut off and time delay restarting.


I restocked a bit and decided to try Triton. Well I accidentally ordered the regular version and not the “other methods”. Algae broke out all over the rocks and living coral choking and killing most of them. I quickly did a few water changes and switched to Triton “other methods” and after several weeks the algae has receded. Unfortunately with so much coral loss Alk demand is almost nonexistent and dosing is hardly needed. I want to provide the most stability possible and liked the Corabox WiFi doser so I picked one up. Very cool piece of gear that’s been working great.


Meanwhile pH is constantly low. I’ve added a Co2 scrubber which brings it up to 7.8-7.9 but learned I now need a new pH probe since the one I have is a cheapy. I can’t run air outside and Alk demand is to low for kalkwasser. I’ll get a new meter and test again.

Since losing so much I’ve moved much slower in adding livestock. A few coral held strong but I haven’t added more. Fish are a Blue Star Leapard Wrasse, Tomini Tang, Royal Gramma, PJ Cardinal and Banggai Cardinal. I also added a Halloween Hermitcrab. It’s been fun seeing the Royal Gramma swimming upside down as I read this is how the swim in the wild in caves.


I plan on ramping up the addition of LPS coral just to raise the Alk demand to then dose Kalk or Randy’s higher pH 2part for that pH boost. I’ll then just let it “mature” so that I can successfully transition to more SPS. I’ll also ad a fish here and there.

Sorry for the long delay and thanks for following along.