First Saltwater Aquarium: 29 Gallon Biocube

[Braden8558]

Update 4-13-14

Hey guys! Been awhile since an update, so I figured I would fill you all in on what's been going on in the tank. I believe that the tank has been going for about 4-5 months now and is doing well. I recently went to the annual BRS auction and had a great time! Thanks Flame Angel and others who organized this great event! I got some new corals such as pavona, a big zoa rock with green zoeas, black and yellow zoas, and a small rock with some brown and blue zoas that are not tubbs blues, but still neat looking. I also got a torch coral, something labeled "corky gorg" (maybe short for gorgonian?) and some Pociliopora. After the meeting I stopped in at Tropic Isle and met a member that was at the auction. His name is Dave and he arranged for me to pick up a free green bubble tip anemone with pink tips! I got it Friday night and it has been doing very well! I just fed it some mysis today and it seemed to be loving it. Unfortunately my smaller maroon clownfish seems to have passed away. I never found his body but I believe that it could have been due to the fact that I was on a poor feeding schedule, and didn't feed them for at least a week. Now I have gotten better at feeding them and do it right after school along with my other fish. I have decided to do an every other day routine. For example, since I fed the fish today, I will skip tomorrow and feed them on Tuesday. Seems to be working fairly well. The maroon clown could have died of other reasons to, but I suspect it may have been the lack of food. I do have a pink tip condy anemone in the tank, but I don't think her would eat the whole maroon clown, it is possible though. I have been monitoring my ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels, and they are all in check. Maybe the clean up crew got him, maybe it was the anemone? We will never know... I also can't seem to find my skunk cleaner shrimp...hopefully nothing happened to him but I haven't seem him for a number of days

Anyways here's some pictures taken today of the tank and inhabitants. My regular camera does not pick up the color in the reef with the LEDS so I am using my cell phone camera. Please Excuse the mediocre quality!



















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I also got a pistol shrimp at Tropic Isle for about $23. I would have gotten one at Unique Aquaria but we weren't close to there at the time. I hope the pistol is okay. I saw him the second say I got him and then he disappeared. He is small and I'm hoping the maroon wouldn't go after the pistol shrimp. Since I lost the one maroon clown I am thinking about getting something else? What do you guys think I should go for? I was thinking about a royal gramma? Anything else that could stand up to the maroon and six line already in there? The maroon and sixline seem to get along wonderfully and the yellow watchman goby doesn't seem to have a problem with any of them.

On another note I tested my parameters today and I realized according to my API test kit my pH is about 7.7-7.8!!! I know it is really low. I am using distilled water that has a pH of 6. I use instant ocean salt. I want to get coral sea pro salt. Do you think I should invest in an RODI unit and just use my own water? My town has a high pH. Anyone selling a used RODI unit? Preferably with somewhat new filters? They are pricey!

Thanks for checking out my thread. Any advice and comments are always welcome!

Braden

 

[Steviereefs]

Sweet setup Braden it looks awesome and your coral looks great as well you must be doing something or everything right at this point keep up the progress bud!!! About the clown you might not want to add another clown unless you get rid of that one if you want a different variety.
It's better if you buy 2 clowns you like and put them in together at the same time so the can pair up .

 

[Braden8558]

Thank you for the kind comments! I appreciate the advice on the clown. I know that some of the varieties don't get along, more so in smaller tanks such as the biocube! I plan to leave the maroon alone for now. I think that two maroons is a lot for the tank especially when they get older and the bioload on the tank becomes greater. Eventually the maroon will need to go due to the fact that they can become very large.

So that leaves me with...

-1 Maroon Clownfish
-1 Six Line Wrasse
-1 Yellow Watchman Goby

Do you think I have room for one or two more fish? I just got my refugium started up yesterday. Shouldn't have a huge impact on nutrients, but I hope it will help with my hair algae and possibly do something as far as absorbing any other nutrients or nitrates, (even though I don't have detectable levels of nitrates). What are some good options for stocking my tank? I might want to ask this on the other forums instead, but I figured I would see if I could get some input here. The fish I have in there right now are semi-aggressive to aggressive (except for the goby), so I don't want any fish that are too peaceful for them, like a firefish. I like how royal grammas look but I think that I might want something a little more personable that is unique but isn't to pricey. I love the look of leopard wrasses, but I have done research and apparently they should have a minimum of 50 gallons if I recall correctly. The goby is neat but a little bit boring as most of the time he just hides in the rockwork and I'm not sure if he ever found the pistol shrimp. Then again, the pistol may have been taken out by a mean and hungry maroon clownfish!

So what do you guys think for stocking? Any ideas or opinions on the subject? What have people tried? I really like the look of flame angels, but I have heard that a biocube does not have enough swimming space for them and that they can also be coral nippers.

Thanks for the help, Braden

 

[Marshall O]

You are correct that your tank is too small for a Leopard Wrasse. Besides that, with the already established Sixline in there, it would be a miracle if you were able to add any Wrasse without it beating the newcomer to death. That and the Maroon is basically in the same boat. And yes, a Flame Angel needs a larger home as well. I think if you are going to add anything else, you will need it to not be a peaceful fish, but rather one that can be a bully. A Dottyback fits that bill, though I usually never recommend them to anyone!

 

[Flame Angel]

Braden, you know you may want to save some of those pictures for picture of the month or tank of the quarter...

 

[Braden8558]

You are correct that your tank is too small for a Leopard Wrasse. Besides that, with the already established Sixline in there, it would be a miracle if you were able to add any Wrasse without it beating the newcomer to death. That and the Maroon is basically in the same boat. And yes, a Flame Angel needs a larger home as well. I think if you are going to add anything else, you will need it to not be a peaceful fish, but rather one that can be a bully. A Dottyback fits that bill, though I usually never recommend them to anyone!

Thanks for the comment. Why do you typically not recommended dotty backs? I'm guessing due to their aggressive behavior? With my fish they should be fine though. The maroon and six line get a long excellent and the goby just does his own thing on the bottom. Anything else besides dottybacks or damsels??

 

[Marshall O]

Thanks for the comment. Why do you typically not recommended dotty backs? I'm guessing due to their aggressive behavior? With my fish they should be fine though. The maroon and six line get a long excellent and the goby just does his own thing on the bottom. Anything else besides dottybacks or damsels??

Yup, due to their aggressiveness. Another option may be a Yellow Candy/Two Spot Hogfish. They get a bit large for your tank, though it should still work. You will want to use an acclimation box for whatever you chose.

 

[Braden8558]

Braden, you know you may want to save some of those pictures for picture of the month or tank of the quarter...

Thanks for the tip! These pictures are not worthy though. Darn cell phone photos! I should really invest in a new camera that will pick up the color of the LEDS and really bring out the reef!

 

[Braden8558]

Here is an update video for those interested....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xNcAQUQlTA&list=UUYauGmZuR2p2ed9_DUZCU1w

Going to be doing a new 10 gallon reef with a DIY wood LED canopy and DIY PVC pipe overflow then tying it all together by painting the back of the tank black! Should be a fun and interesting project.

 

[Flame Angel]

Nice video Jacques/Braden Cousteau. Looks great and love the narrative.

 

[Braden8558]

Update: 11/17/2015

Update: The tank is still running! It went downhill with invasive plant life and lots of the corals died off. Now I mainly have soft corals which are doing pretty well. I am going off to college soon and I plan to set up a small pico or nano reef between 5 and 10 gallons. I might wind up just using a basic 5 gallon tank, or purchase an AIO cube. I plan to hopefully get this new tank set up and going fairly soon. I plan to stock it with a variety of soft and LPS corals, and the fish will most likely be one yellow watchman goby (who resides in the 29 Biocube), and one clownfish.

Here are some old photographs from the glory days of this tank. It is much more established now, but the invasive species and lack of maintenance has taken a toll on the tank in general. I am excited for the new tank build and the fresh start. Anyways here are some photographs! Enjoy.