New 32 gallon biocube

[Jamie S]

Coralife Size 32 LED BioCube Aquarium COMPLETE REEF PACKAGE

The Coralife Size 32 LED BioCube Aquarium Reef SALT, SAND & ROCK PACKAGE combines the exact amounts of salt, rock, sand (plus glue & egg crate) you will need.

www.marineandreef.com

Last month I ordered an AIO biocube and had it filled with water right away. It seems like a nice kit so far and I was impressed with the rock that came with it although it didn’t seem too “live”. The only things I added was chemipure elite in the media chamber and a Jebao SW2 powerhead. I also got a 7lb bucket of Red Sea coral pro salt however I may move to the blue bucket after seeing how high it raises the alkalinity.
I plan on keeping zoas, softies, and LPS’s and possibly one day be open to adding a few SPS’s at the top. If I can succeed in producing the tank I envision in my head, then I’d love to setup a 120 gallon in the future.
i plan on possibly upgrading the light to a ReefLED 50 when I start adding corals in a month or 2 and getting rid of the stock light and adding a mesh top.
The diatom bloom started about a week ago and I cut back the lights a few days ago and I can see some improvements.
So far I have 2 Percula Clowns and an assortment of about 15 hermit crabs and snails. I just ordered a Hannah Phosphate checker so I haven’t tested them yet but my other parameters are as followed:
Salinity-1.05
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-2
Temp-78
Any advise is much appreciated to helping make this a successful reef tank. Thank you in advance!

 

[NikkiT]

Welcome to the club and to nano reefing!
Those are some cute clowns
Your specific gravity looks a bit high. We usually aim for 1.026. Did you mistype?
If you didn't, are you using a hydrometer or a refractometer to measure your sg?

 

[Jamie S]

Welcome to the club and to nano reefing!
Those are some cute clowns
Your specific gravity looks a bit high. We usually aim for 1.026. Did you mistype?
If you didn't, are you using a hydrometer or a refractometer to measure your sg?

I’m sorry it was a typo it’s 1.025 thanks for picking up on that! I’m using a refractometer.

 

[Diogenes]

Would love to see an updated picture of your tank.

 

[Jamie S]

So I lost one of the clowns the other day but I’m a little baffled because my parameters seemed really good:
78 degrees
1.025 salinity
0 nitrates
0 ammonia
0 nitrites
And 0 phosphates.
The skimmer was putting a lot of micro bubbles in the tank so I have that off. Running chemipure elite and phosban in the overflow area with filter pads that I clean every few days. I made a mistake and thought I got “live” rock but the package says “life” rock so the only bacteria in the tank from the beginning is the Instant Ocean BioSpira. I know I’m at least a month away from coral but I’m definitely itching. I plan on upgrading the stock light before hand to possibly the Ocean Revive T247, I haven’t made up my mind yet. I did replace the clown fish with a fairy wrasse. My daughter loves it and she’s very energetic. Any recommendations is greatly appreciated.

 

[diana a]

You're going to have to get your nitrates and phosphates up especially if you plan to have corals in the future. Your tank was just setup. You'll need to measure your Ca. You will also need a stable tank: Ca, Kh, Mg and salinity

 

[Jamie S]

You're going to have to get your nitrates and phosphates up especially if you plan to have corals in the future. Your tank was just setup. You'll need to measure your Ca. You will also need a stable tank: Ca, Kh, Mg and salinity

Yes you are absolutely correct! I plan on getting Hannah Checkers to monitor the major trace elements. Would you recommend dosing more bacteria to get those up? Or maybe leave the filter media in and clean it less often? I’m just worried about Amon is spiking.

 

[Jamie S]

I meant ammonia

 

[Trio91]

It's only been a month so the tank may still be stabilizing. Resist the temptation on purchasing more livestock (its gonna be hard) until the tank matures a bit more.

 

[diana a]

The bacteria in a bottle will not help mature the system. Once the tank is cycled there is no need for the bottled bacteria. Nitrogen cycling (first setup), by adding bottled bacteria helps speed up cycling.

 

[Jamie S]

Not much has changed in the last few weeks except that I did get a few goodies from fellow members. Thanks to @USMCReefer for the Hydra26 light and Santa Monica drop (although I haven’t set the drop up yet) @jgraz for the jebao wave maker, and today I picked Hannah calcium and alkalinity checkers from @DangerDave. It was great meeting all of you and looking forward to picking your brains in the future.
I’m thinking I may be close to ready for coral since it’s been exactly 2 months since I put water in the tank. I’ve been weekly monitoring the basic water chemistry with ammonia and nitrates reading 0 most of the time, ph has been a steady 8.2 and nitrates have recently stabilized at 10ppm and phosphates have been between .02 and .08. Calcium and alkalinity checked out today at 7.9 alk and 347 calcium. So what’s the consensus of adding a few zoas to the tank in the next week? My goal is to have a nice zoa garden, some lps’s and a few euphyllias with the potential for sps corals in the future. Thanks for any advise!

 

[Sponge]

Two months is not a very long time as far reefing goes. But your parameters have been consistent and that is what matters. I see no problem with you testing the waters with a zoa or simple coral. However I do have one recommendation. Even though what you want to add requires very little calcium. You are going to want to raise it to a number between 400 and 450. You want to Do this because as you start to add Coral that have skeletons that’s where you want to be and you will want to raise it. Problem is there is a balance between alkalinity and calcium And as you raise calcium it will affect alkalinity. Now the BUT... you make no mention of magnesium. and magnesium has a direct effect on how calcium and alkalinity bind, change and fluctuate. Magnesium does not swing as much as the other parameters so it is often looked at as UN- or at least considerably less- important but that’s simply not the case. In short... have you been testing for magnesium and if so. What is it At.

 

[Jamie S]

I may recheck the calcium again, that may be user error. Good call on the magnesium I totally forgot to a magnesium kit, will have to get one soon before adding corals. I obviously haven’t started dosing yet, was wondering what everyone uses? BRS kalkwasser seems like a viable option in my top off water. I’m using the Brightwell NeoMarine salt so hopefully it will take care of the trace elements so I don’t have to dose them if I do weekly water changes.

 

[amado]

I may recheck the calcium again, that may be user error. Good call on the magnesium I totally forgot to a magnesium kit, will have to get one soon before adding corals. I obviously haven’t started dosing yet, was wondering what everyone uses? BRS kalkwasser seems like a viable option in my top off water. I’m using the Brightwell NeoMarine salt so hopefully it will take care of the trace elements so I don’t have to dose them if I do weekly water changes.

I wouldn’t spend money on test kits. I would
Do a icp test. You can do one for $20.
That will give you a good and accurate of how your tank is doing.
You can use the icp test to also confirm the numbers you are getting.
I would worry about calcium too much.
If your alk is good your calcium should be with in range.
Kalkwasser is very hard on ATO pumps.
If you will dose Kalkwasser I would use a separate reactor just for that.
If I had your tank I would skip Kalkwasser
And just use a single dosing pump from BRS
And I would dose “all for reef” from tropic Marin. It has everything you need to support your tank.

You could also just dose it manually as needed.

All-For-Reef

Tropic Marin All-For-Reef is a revolutionary approach to dosing, combining calcium, alkalinity, and other trace elements into a single, easy to use solution. It's no longer necessary to maintain two, three, or four solutions, or a complicated reactor. All-For-Reef is a balanced source of calcium...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[Jamie S]

I was looking at the “all for reef” dosing because it just looked so much easier and could be simply manually dosed each day. I’ve read about the icp tests, how do I get one? I still like to get the test kits just so I can monitor them weekly. I have most of them already.

 

[Jamie S]

I wouldn’t spend money on test kits. I would
Do a icp test. You can do one for $20.
That will give you a good and accurate of how your tank is doing.
You can use the icp test to also confirm the numbers you are getting.
I would worry about calcium too much.
If your alk is good your calcium should be with in range.
Kalkwasser is very hard on ATO pumps.
If you will dose Kalkwasser I would use a separate reactor just for that.
If I had your tank I would skip Kalkwasser
And just use a single dosing pump from BRS
And I would dose “all for reef” from tropic Marin. It has everything you need to support your tank.

You could also just dose it manually as needed.

All-For-Reef

Tropic Marin All-For-Reef is a revolutionary approach to dosing, combining calcium, alkalinity, and other trace elements into a single, easy to use solution. It's no longer necessary to maintain two, three, or four solutions, or a complicated reactor. All-For-Reef is a balanced source of calcium...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

I was looking at the “all for reef” dosing because it just looked so much easier and could be simply manually dosed each day. I’ve read about the icp tests, how do I get one? I still like to get the test kits just so I can monitor them weekly. I have most of them already.

 

[Sponge]

If you are planning on just doing Zoas and softies, for the time being, Regular water changes. WILL take care of your basic parameters and trace elements However. At least for me. Testing can give you insight into what’s going on as well as peace of mind. additionally it can let you see changes. Before a true problem rears it’s head. Generally speaking, testing is more important in the first year simply because things are less stable. Plus as you get to know your tank you will start to see things that are off possibly before testing will show you.
Truth is. Testing Is a great tool. But observation may be the greatest tool of all. On a personal level I tend to test more than the average person. Generally I test at least one parameter everyday. For me. It has helped me to see what happens in the tank as parameters change. With that said. Testing a lot can cause one problem. CHASING NUMBERS the one thing you absolutely don’t want to do is allow testing to make you constantly making micro changes trying to hit some mythical number. Stability is way more important. So yes I believe in testing and yes I test a lot but all that testing is informational only. Because changes in a reef occur painfully slow. You can and likely will make a second change before your first change has taken affect. Only exasperating the first problem. So take your testing info. Move slow and trust your gut.

 

[Jamie S]

I plan on doing more zoas, lps, and euphellias in the beginning and adding a few sps’ slayer down the road. I agree that the regular water changes will most likely be sufficient in the beginning and weekly testing as I add more coral will tell me when that’s not enough. I’m just trying to decide which route to take when that day comes although I know I’m months away from that.

 

[amado]

I plan on doing more zoas, lps, and euphellias in the beginning and adding a few sps’ slayer down the road. I agree that the regular water changes will most likely be sufficient in the beginning and weekly testing as I add more coral will tell me when that’s not enough. I’m just trying to decide which route to take when that day comes although I know I’m months away from that.

You will be surprised how much alk is consumed by the tank. When you start growing Coraline algae it will consume alk.
It’s always a good idea to have everything ready before you need it. My tank right now doesn’t need dosing. I don’t have enough corals but in a month or so I should see a need for daily dosing

 

[USMCReefer]

I use all for reef and absolutely recommend it for smaller tanks!

Also, stop by and I'll give you a couple large zoa frags for testers brother...glad your tanks is coming together!