New to hobby - Biocube 32 Build

[Latrobe]

Hi all - this is my first attempt with a saltwater aquarium. Have had decent success with freshwater over the years so figured I'd give this a shot!

Set everything up last night to begin cycling the tank. Pics to come once the tank clears up (had to smooth out the sand bed and add a bit more concentrated saltwater as the SG was about 1.02 this morning)

Here's my build -

Biocube 32 (stock filter media during cycle)
Roughly 25lbs reefsaver rock
13.5lbs fiji live rock from lfs
20lbs Caribsea fiji pink sand
Instant ocean salt
Jebao PP4 wavemaker x 2 (1 in tank, #2 on standby/mixing saltwater)
Eheim Jager 125W heater (chamber 1)
Coralife biocube protein skimmer (chamber 1-install after cycle)
Intank media basket w/filter floss, purigen, chemi-pure elite (install after cycle)
Aquatic life RO/DI 50gpd
Refractometer
Master test kit (don't have yet)
Intank fuge basket (don't have yet)
Fuge light (don't have yet)

Pretty sure I have/will have everything i need for the foreseeable future. I'm open to suggestions if anyone thinks I'm missing something/shouldn't get it use anything above..

For the cycle, I've read so many different "rules" I don't know which way is the right way, so like many things in life i can only assume there is no right way...I'm running my powerhead, heater, return pump (obviously) and light times on a "what my tank will be running once cycled" schedule which is:

LC1 (Daylights) 9am to 9pm
LC2 (BeautyMax) 8:30am to 9pm
LC3 (Blue LEDs) 7am to 11pm

Not sure if the lighting schedule is too much right away but again, from some threads I've read the idea was to get your tank acclimated to a regular routine right away...

Thanks for reading!

[dabob79]

Welcome! Sounds like you’re off to a good start! If you stay with this and get serious you’ll probably end up ditching the stock LEDs and upgrading to something custom as most of us have done. The stock LEDs are ok but they’re too white and eventually you’ll end up having trouble with nuisance algaes. There’s a lot of different options, I went with a couple Reefbar Pros from 21led.com.

I also came up with a decent mod for the bio cube protein slimmer to make it work better, I’ll post the link later but if you search my posts (threads I started) you can find it easy enough.

Good luck and welcome to the nano world!


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[rockhead51]

Originally Posted by dabob79

Welcome! Sounds like you’re off to a good start! If you stay with this and get serious you’ll probably end up ditching the stock LEDs and upgrading to something custom as most of us have done. The stock LEDs are ok but they’re too white and eventually you’ll end up having trouble with nuisance algaes. There’s a lot of different options, I went with a couple Reefbar Pros from 21led.com.

I also came up with a decent mod for the bio cube protein slimmer to make it work better, I’ll post the link later but if you search my posts (threads I started) you can find it easy enough.

Good luck and welcome to the nano world!


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+1 to that.
I'm still running stock lights, but I keep telling myself I'm going to get Steve's LEDs.....

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[journeyman]

Good luck. I came from fresh water myself and currently have a 34g. I'd recommend an auto top off when you get a chance. It's makes it so much easier to deal with evaporation.

For me the other big difference was that I find that it's better to remove the mechanical filtration for salt water tanks and use a biological instead (meaning, running a fuge with chaeto). Some people like algae turf scrubbers. I've lately gone to using a media reactor filled with chaeto and wrapped with string led grow lights. It hangs on the side of my tank and had been keeping my nutrient levels at 0.

Final thought is to say salt water takes a lot more patience than fresh. As an example I remember fresh water you can cycle in a few days, whereas salt water will take closer to a month.

Oh, one more difference.... Salt water fish are way more aggressive than fresh. Even African cichlids have nothing on salt water fish. You have to stock much lighter and plan out your livestock way more carefully for aggression.

Good luck!

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[Latrobe]

Originally Posted by dabob79

Welcome! Sounds like you’re off to a good start! If you stay with this and get serious you’ll probably end up ditching the stock LEDs and upgrading to something custom as most of us have done. The stock LEDs are ok but they’re too white and eventually you’ll end up having trouble with nuisance algaes. There’s a lot of different options, I went with a couple Reefbar Pros from 21led.com.

I also came up with a decent mod for the bio cube protein slimmer to make it work better, I’ll post the link later but if you search my posts (threads I started) you can find it easy enough.

Good luck and welcome to the nano world!


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Originally Posted by rockhead51

+1 to that.
I'm still running stock lights, but I keep telling myself I'm going to get Steve's LEDs.....

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For sure will be upgrading my lights on the future...I've been checking out Steve's LESs as well....now that I'm broke from the initial investment of everything, it'll probably be a while before I can take that plunge without the wife giving me the third degree I'll check out your posts @dabob79 ...might change the direction I take on the lights...

Appreciate the feedback!!

[Latrobe]

Originally Posted by journeyman

Good luck. I came from fresh water myself and currently have a 34g. I'd recommend an auto top off when you get a chance. It's makes it so much easier to deal with evaporation.

For me the other big difference was that I find that it's better to remove the mechanical filtration for salt water tanks and use a biological instead (meaning, running a fuge with chaeto). Some people like algae turf scrubbers. I've lately gone to using a media reactor filled with chaeto and wrapped with string led grow lights. It hangs on the side of my tank and had been keeping my nutrient levels at 0.

Final thought is to say salt water takes a lot more patience than fresh. As an example I remember fresh water you can cycle in a few days, whereas salt water will take closer to a month.

Oh, one more difference.... Salt water fish are way more aggressive than fresh. Even African cichlids have nothing on salt water fish. You have to stock much lighter and plan out your livestock way more carefully for aggression.

Good luck!

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ATO is on my research list! Read a lot of good things about the "filter floss/purigen/chemo-pure elite combo so wanted to start off with that after cycle. Then slowly add the fuge to the mix and see how things progress. Definitely going to go slow and steady with this, I have a feeling I'll get a bit more attached to my tank and it's inhabitants than I ever have with a freshwater setup (not to mention salties are but more $) and speaking of, sticking with some basic, easy to care for stock in the early days: 1st - Algae attack pack from liveaquaria, 2nd - Detritus attack pack, bonded pair of clowns, firefish, diamond goby, and that's about as far as I've gotten. Will probably compile but some zoas if I go to the lfs with extra cash

[dabob79]

Originally Posted by Latrobe

For sure will be upgrading my lights on the future...I've been checking out Steve's LESs as well....now that I'm broke from the initial investment of everything, it'll probably be a while before I can take that plunge without the wife giving me the third degree I'll check out your posts @dabob79 ...might change the direction I take on the lights...



Appreciate the feedback!!

Yeah the lights I got look amazing and they won’t empty your wallet, $80 for the lights and $50 for the controller.


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[Latrobe]

Originally Posted by dabob79

Yeah the lights I got look amazing and they won’t empty your wallet, $80 for the lights and $50 for the controller.


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And my post should have said "Steve's LED's" dumb autocorrect...

$130 for both...all I've been seeing in people's posts is $300...I def need to go look myself, upgrade may happen sooner than I thought, haha! Thanks for the info!

[journeyman]

Originally Posted by Latrobe

And my post should have said "Steve's LED's" dumb autocorrect...

$130 for both...all I've been seeing in people's posts is $300...I def need to go look myself, upgrade may happen sooner than I thought, haha! Thanks for the info!

Take a look at reefbreeders as well. I've had good luck with their LEDs. Not as cheap as $130, but for example I picked up their nano-lite plus led, on sale for $170 shipped. It's got built in WiFi, is programmable and can grow sps.

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[Latrobe]

Still a little cloudy, but here she is
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[Latrobe]

Didn't realize how crappy those pics are.. taken with my kindle....I'll get better ones up when it's all clear..

[journeyman]

Actually, just double checked my PayPal receipt. My reefbreeders light regular price is $179. I got it for $150 shipped during their Thanksgiving sale.

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[dabob79]

Here’s a pic of mine under the Reefbar Pro strips from 21led.com...






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[Latrobe]

Originally Posted by dabob79

Here’s a pic of mine under the Reefbar Pro strips from 21led.com...

Nice! I checked those out and that's probably the route I'll go when I upgrade...

[Latrobe]

Week 1 and starting to get some orange/rust colored algae growth. Playing around and added a second powerhead for a more random current...knocked my structure over when doing so, had to move a couple rocks around, definitely more stable now and have plenty of flat space up top for corals, swim throughs on the sides, hidden cave (top back) overhang and big main cave and a lot of other places for corals, I think!!

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[rockhead51]

Nice scape.

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[TexChuck]

Like the scape! Further away from the glass it looks like in the first pics... I made the mistake (despite warnings from here!) of building too close to the glass, and I now have sections of glass that area a @#!)*$!@ to clean.

[dabob79]

Looks good!

[Diana A]

Good luck @Latrobe! It's looking great. What part of the country are you from?

@dabob79 love your zoas!

[dabob79]

Originally Posted by Diana A

Good luck @Latrobe! It's looking great. What part of the country are you from?

@dabob79 love your zoas!

Thanks!!


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[rockhead51]

Someone say "zoas"?

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[Latrobe]

Sorry all, didn't get alerts for anyone's replies. Haven't really had much to update on recently other than a huge algae outbreak. Just did a 10 gallon water change today and switched out the stock filter media and put the intank media basket in with filter floss, purigen and chemi-pur elite. Also put the protein skimmer in to get it going. Hoping the cycle runs its course soon so I can get a CUC in ASAP cause it's looking nasty in there, even after I cleaned up some of the really bad areas and scraped the glass....there's pods all over the glass,which I hope is a good sign...

Originally Posted by rockhead51

Nice scape.

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Thanks rockhead.., took a lot of moving things around and lots of cuts to my hands to get where it is....trying not to play around with it anymore and leave well enough alone..

Originally Posted by TexChuck

Like the scape! Further away from the glass it looks like in the first pics... I made the mistake (despite warnings from here!) of building too close to the glass, and I now have sections of glass that area a @#!)*$!@ to clean.

Every scape I played around with I made sure there was enough room, plus a little extra, to get my glass scraper through.

Originally Posted by dabob79

Looks good!

Thanks dabob!!


[QUOTE=Diana A;25382411]Good luck @Latrobe! It's looking great. What part of the country are you from?

Thanks!! Hoping things go well! I'm now in Nashville, TN...need to update my profile soon, ha!