29 gallon Biocube!
 

Hi all! I'm new to marine and thought I'd introduce myself.
My name is Aysha and I am a 22 year old Jane of all trades,Living in Edmonton.
Seriously you need a graphic designer? a Makeup artist? Code Monkeyr (I'm a professional lot of things lol)

My Fiance was nice enough to bring me a suprise one day in the form of a 29 gallon Biocube, it's small but it's mighty and I look forward to hotrodding it up.
I have started small my tank now contains:
35 lbs LR
30lbs LS
1 small sand polyp
The biggest snail you have ever seen in your life I think it's called a strawberry trochus? it's like the size of my hand.
and one goofy blue legged hermit.

I Just got my first marine fish today blue Chromis I have named Stuntman Mike and Super Dave. Seriously I'm a bit paranoid.

If all goes well I'd like to add a coral beauty, a pair of perculas,a Bengaii Cardinal and a fire fish.

i've been taking photos everyday since I started and look forward to seeing what develops I look forward to uploading them and getting some input.

Nice to meet you,
~Aysha

well thats perfect timing......Ive seriously been hunting around for a professional to help me with my makeup:mrgreen::mrgreen:.....

sounds like as good start....ya those strawberrys get huge!.....

we have one rule here for tank journals.......it didnt happen without the pics to prove it:razz:

before I put anything in it.these photos are kinda from stage 1 till now.
http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...71470037_n.jpg

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...63417704_n.jpg
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...18956161_n.jpg

Stuntman Mike and Super Dave
http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...36008306_n.jpg

The tank is still stock I plan on hotrodding the filter and I bought a new powerhead that I have yet to install. Spoiled fish.

awesome start!



always wondered what you do in your free time

LOL it's not far off I do stuff like this
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos...38093836_a.jpg

Great choice for a nano! Looks like you're off to a good start.

1 piece of advice before you go too far with fish and corals, let the tank cycle FIRST. Otherwise, you're just going to be flushing money down the toilet.

Nano-Reef has a section devoted to modding the BC29, check it out! Some are really simple and cheap to do.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/inde...owtopic=180788

DONT WORRY IM NOT CYCLING THE TANK WITH MY STUNTMEN!
Cyceling is good. I started with live everything from a tank that was being taken down that being said it sat for quite a while. I followed the advice of the woman I bought the tank from and started my cycle with a bit of shrimp In addition to the LR/LS.

My test kits confirm my tanks good to go so I figured Id try with something easy my LFS recommened Chromis or damsels.
Damsels are a bit to aggressive for my tastes and yes I know Chromis are damsels too! but you know how she goes. I gave them crazy names in reflection of this journey and trust me I will take care of them well fish gods willing.

That being said I'm New to salt. I kept reptiles for 10 years and FW for a long time but I still know how easy it is to make beginner mistakes (such as not letting my tank cycle. I chose a biocube for the right out of the box appeal and it was just the perfect size (the price didn't hurt either)

This is a learning process for me and I'm glad you are here to help :) Advice is good and advice is ALWAYS welcome.

No amount of chemicals or reading books or instasalt ect is ever a substitute for good ol' fashion asking questions and learning from others achivements,trials and errors.

I've already learned for instance that I hate hydrometers.:mrgreen:

The snail in your picture - I've seen in stores listed as a strawberry top turban and similar names and they always just seem to be sitting on the sand. Thinking about buying one and wondering does yours move much and how effective is it at algae clean up?

I've heard they are awesome, this guy moves around once and awhile, he's been known to sit on top of the highest rock! but, mostly he just sits in the sand. I went to the LFS and said I wanted a snail they said cool "all snails are 3.00" "excellent I'll take the coolest one"

So the snail left this mortal coil...typical. No smell quite like it to be sure.

I re arranged the rock to give the tank an all around better flow and better caves, added another polyp frag, a handful of hermits and a fire fish (who I don't see because he lives under a rock)

Red algae has come and gone & the green stuff has just started blooming.
I'm going to add one more fish in the next week and then focus on adding small frags of coral and wait for it to grow out.

I haven't installed the powerhead yet because I found bits of coral and shells were being blown all about the place after I moved my LR. SO I'm not sure that it's a good idea.Thoughts?


Oh and I ordered this :http://shop.mediabaskets.com/BioCube...ard-BC29FS.htm
Has anyone else used them?

Did you get the mediabasket and fugebasket?

No, My fiance is a laser operator and has the same equipment they use to make one so I'll have one made.

I had a biocube about 3 years ago! Loved it!! I found it to be a great started tank for me!
Great build so far!

I think a 29 may be too small for a coral beauty. Especially with all the other fish your planning. Just in my opinion.

A Coral Beauty will be fine provided that it'll be the very last fish you'll be adding.

I've got the Fish-Saver from inTank, it works like a charm! I had a Midas Blenny that liked to hop in to the overflow, and it's a PITA to get it out with the media basket, skimmer, pumps, heater, etc.

I'd also suggest a good skimmer, this is the one thing that you should not cheap out on. I've gone through 3 skimmers because I didn't want to bite the bullet on the Tunze 9002 Nano DOC Skimmer. Now, I see it as one of my better investments.

Cutting out the section between Chambers 1 and 2 is a really easy way to increase flow into the overflow also.

The BioCube is a great first tank, expecially if you like to tinker and mod. :wink:

the firefish bit the dust. he got his head stuck in a rock.
I've been looking into a protein skimmer, I figure with the amount I've already spent on this tank there is no real reason to cheap out on one.
I built a quarantine tank out of a 6 gallon edge I found on kijiji that was already running salt. the polyps and the test fish seem to be doing well.

My Ph keeps crashing does anyone have any ideas
its done it 3 times since yesterday.
I had to treat the tank with ich attack for the last 2 weeks JOY!
and thats the main thing that's changed.

I've done 3 15 percent waterchanges in a week and a half .
yesterday after I finished one I noticed my chromis acting wierd.
Ph 7.2
added marine buffer and marine builder
ph 8.4
checked again today
ph.7.8

ammonia zero
nitrates zero
nirates zero

I feel like im a really really bad fish keeper
ANY ideas whats causing this

29 gallons
temp 27
35 lbs live rock
15 lbs live sand
various inverts
2 fish
salinity 35

Your salinity is at 1.35?

That's what I was told to keep it at to keep my polyps alive, and thats what I got adding half cup of coralife per gallon of water should I lower it?

Yeah a lot lower.
1.24-1.26 is the range you want.

okay I'll start there, will this help with the ph issue?

The best way I found with reefs is just let them be on routine and dont mess around with them.
I would get your salt level down.

hold on before you go lowering the salinity.....two different ways to measure salinity......forget now exactly what they are called:redface:, but one measures out to 1.025ish and the other measures out to 35......

as for the ph.....dont worry about it too much.....a lot of time messing with it creates more issues (because of the swing) than if it is a little low or a little high but stable......

Good point. I never look at that side of my refractometer.
How are you measuring your salinity?

.35 and 1.35 are the same according to my refractometer
I changed it out a bit to 1.25
I won't mess with them anymore Ive done what I can and this hobby is starting to worry me

Lol. Just remember Keep It Stupid Simple.(kiss)
With my biocube all I do is small weekly water changes. And clean the skimmer once a week.

thats all I wanted and than things started going wrong...
my poor fish are now hanging out at the bottom of the tank rocking back and forth...

if i were to take a guess your having troubles because the tank needs time to stabilize its not the same as cycling even a tank thats fully cycled will go through swings of different things from algae to parameter swings in its first year. even when using already cured rock the tank needs time to stabilize, then you can add livestock.when adding the first livestock its important to do it very slowly , add one small fish or invert and let the tank catch up with the newly aquired "bio load" after some more maturing time goes by and the tank is still doing well( which it will ) you can consider adding more fish( but slowly) the longer your tank matures without over working the bacteria the healthier it will be and alot less frustrations you will have.

what are you using in the bc for water flow???

if your tank is testing for 0 amonia i would think your fish died for other reasons, how did you go about adding them to your tank??? did you acclimate them to your tanks temp??

the less you do with your tank right now the better, its a hard tip to follow but just do your water changes, 10% average weekly, get testing for alkalinity,calcium and magnesium, nitrate and phosphate. keep the tank clean and give it time to age as it ages it becomes stronger and can handle alot of pollution:P

make sure your tank has ample flow, the temp stays consistent,salinity is consistent,water changes are regular and with some patience you will have a stable tank in a couple weeks and within a year you will have an established system capable of growing what you like and keeping what you can:):)

get your other powerhead in the tank and running, and aim it slightly towards the top of the water so that the water just ripples. i think you may have a problem with oxygen for the fish

dont add anymore medicins to the tank untill everything comes back to normal adding things to an unstable tank is a whole new problem that you dont need:):)



**** edit****


dont add anything to the tank right now for a bit thats not ran on your reef aquarium on a normal basis.

no buffers
no meds
no dosing

if you like you can run carbon and is a good idea:)


right now just test and do water changes it will stabilize on its own in no time in a 30g

but what about the ich my guy came with will not medicating him kill him? I suppose it can't get anyworse if these two don't make it due to my misshandling of info I think i'll sell off the tank. I kept reptiles for 10 years fresh water for my whole life but this is the most stressful thing .
so it goes.

you can use your qt tank for treating the fish you have now, a hypo treatment will rid them of it without adding anything to your bio cube.

in my honest opinion i personally would just
bring the fish back, or give them up to someone with a running qt for meds, its the best thing you can do if you need help finding someone to take them let me know i know people in edmonton who could help you, you can even get them back if they make it:):)

dont quit yet trust me its actually very simple, just go the lazy route for a couple weeks , just do water changes and add nothing to the tank.time is what makes a reef work the more time the better:)

if i was still in edmonton i would come over and give you some tips in person but maybe someone else will offer. i also reccommend visiting others tanks and seeing what they do and how they have stuff set up you will learn a tons in just a few short visits:)

any questions feel free to ask away:):)

problem is my quarentine tank started the trouble in the first place I took a small rock from it and put it in the bio. 24 hours later little white spots appear.
Im sketchy about having people over because its a very small bacholer pad.
Ive met many members on here in person and know the LFS staff by name. nobody seems sure of whats going on in my tank.
everything was fantastic up until I brought that quarantine tank home (note to self kijiji is a $!@!@#!) I'm just at a loss right now.
water changes once weekly 10 percent
run my test kits
don't touch it.
there's just too much information out there.

Did the person you bought the qt ever run copper in it? I know anything used in a copper treatment tank can not go into your display, except fish obviously...is there anyway you can find out what was used in that tank?

it was his display tank the only thing he ever put in it was ich attack back in October. I was given everything that was with it it came with:
a blenny (rehomed due to common sense)
a blue and yellow damsel DOA
4 crabs
1 turbo
a sexy shrimp.
and a candycane coral DOA

a reeftank is a very strong thing doing amazing things and yet is also so fragile to changes.


every little thing you do to your tank affects it in some way.......... water changes one day, rock moving the next day, fish added the next day, inverts added, fish dies, coral added,fres water added,rock moved again,fish added......

there needs to be a "quiet time" where your not upsetting what the tank is supposed to do...grow......for me i do all my stuff on sundays i honestly try not to move stuff around too much and i just let it do its thing were not the creators just looking after it, were putting our own touches on it without interferring too much.


alot of the biggest problems people have in the hobby is trying to absord all the info too fast, and then doing too much to a system that cant handle it, its very hard to fix something your not sure why its broke;)
go slow and just do regular water changes, give it a couple of weeks and things will be back to par.


are you doing tests yourself or bringing to the lfs??? out of curiosity whats your lfs??;)

so whats in your biocube now for livestock???


nothing in the edge??

I do my tests myself and bring them to be double checked.
it's a good little fish store. not a big box crazy haus of fishy doom.

edge is empty . it has some water and 5 lbs LR in it which was going to be pulled.
what's in the biocube exactly:
*looks*
6 small crabs
1 sexy shrimp
1 coral beauty
1 chromi.

1 coral polyp tree
1 head of sand polyps
both are doing well

and both the cb and the chromis have spots?? all the time??