# new 29g biocube set up



## SilverThorn (Jul 22, 2010)

I started this tank over a month ago. Out of the box the stand was broken AllGlass sent me a replacement out & I was able to get it started.

my cat helped me set it up she kept hauling out the dog toys stored under the old tank in the background while I was working lol










I made the opening between chamber 1&2 wider got rid of the bio balls & used LR rubble in chamber 2 covered over the top with some bio bale. I kept the filter cartage & added a skimmer to chamber 1
I swapped the light fixtures around so the fans would come on with the blues & not the day lights

After I got it set up I put 20 lbs argite(sp?) sand 10 lbs crushed argite(sp?) & 10 lbs crushed coral/sand mix from my old tank I added filter media & about 15g water from my old tank

I let the tank sit for about a week then over the next 3 weeks I slowly added LR from my old tank. On week 4 the tank had been stable for a while & I added the macros followed by mushrooms & livestock from my old tank

I have been fiddling with the rock work a bit but this is the tank for the most part
















the tank looks so washed out in these pics it's nicer in person probably the flash


here are some of the softies

lots of mushrooms 
superman mushrooms








watermellom mushrooms








ultra red mushrooms








hairy green mushrooms









I also have a green stripe mushroom (no pic yet)
I added some yellow colonial polyps & some brown buttons a few days ago (pics soon)

Live stock

1skunk cleaner shrimp
5 or 6 various snails 
1 blue legs hermit crab
1 false clown fish
1 lubboc's Wrase
2 fire fish

Macros 
2 types of Caulerpa 
purple leafy hitch hiker I'm told is a rose "kelp"

I plan on geting at least 2 types of zoos & perhaps one other thing for the tank depending on how it comes out after adding the zoos perhaps a toad stool


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## SilverThorn (Jul 22, 2010)

oops forgot I'm down to one fire fish. One died mysteriously this morning. It was getting eaten by my clean up crew when I found it. It was fine & eating yesterday.
No idea why it died water was good temp spiked a bit up to 84 from the normal 82 but the other fish look fine.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

why do you have your temp up so high? even 82 is high for saltwater.
Also why did you make your fan come on only with the actinic lighting?
Tank looks good, id love to turn my red sea into a mushroom tank, prob will lol
LOVE to superman shrooms!


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## kay-bee (Dec 6, 2006)

Nice tank! Zoanthids would compliment what you have very nicely.


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## SilverThorn (Jul 22, 2010)

The fans comes on with one light or the other not both. I put the blues on first & off last & I want the fans on at the same time to help cool the tank. I read an interesting thread somewhere where some people have done the same thing with other cubes. This is one of the threads.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=915714&highlight=biocube

the tank runs 82 with the lights & around 78 without, when I'm out of the house. I planing on putting some more fans on the tank for one thing, also My house temp is usually around 79 or higher when I'm out. So that's not helping. I wish I had central ac. I only leave one one window unit on low in the house when I'm out & the fans. I'm starting to leave both units on so hopefully that will help. When I'm home the tanks run cooler with the lights around 78-79 usually. I work 16 hr shifts so it gets pretty warm.

I saw some LED lights that don't put out as much heat.they look great another mod I'd love to do. I think they were like 150$ just one long row of lights it looks great.


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## FishMatt (May 12, 2010)

The tank looks great!


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## Dragonbeards (Dec 14, 2008)

Very, very nice tank, and I love the cat


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## chocolatecrunch (May 21, 2010)

Wicked cat  The tank is beautiful and 10X better than my tank ever will be!

Sorry about the dead fishie


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## SilverThorn (Jul 22, 2010)

thanks guys my dad was watching the tank while I was at work. He bumped the tank & or something & messed up some of the rock work. He turned all the ac off & the lights without the fans on & left it on for 2 days. My corals look so unhappy. I think my wrasse is dead...:rip: the water temp was 90 + I am so mad :chair:& I showed him how to do the lights & told him to leave the ac on 
it took me 4 hrs to get it back down to 78 I kept pulling water out chilling it in the freezer & slowly adding it back.
I can not get my rocks to look right I messed with it for 4 hrs & I am so frustrated I just left it for later.
No more Sw tank siting for my dad he feeds my freshwater fish & stuff but that's it.

Yes that cat is my I got her when I was about 6 she is 18 now with 3 legs I call her Hibou (ebu) in french that's Owl because of her huge eyes. I love her to death.


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## SilverThorn (Jul 22, 2010)

well Ok... I had to redo the rock work no sign of the wrasse then after I let things settle down I gave the remaining fire fish & clown a treat of frozen brine shrimp & poof the wrasse comes out! No idea where he was hiding at. my yellow colonial polyps & brown buttons perked right up & my mushrooms are starting to look alive again so I guess the tank is Ok now the temp is now stable no more spikes The fish are acting ok so I guess it's good. The tank is now stable at 78 Hopefully no more temp spikes.

The rock work got rearranged a bit after every one adjusts I'm going to get some pis of how it looks & the polyps.


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## chocolatecrunch (May 21, 2010)

SilverThorn said:


> well Ok... I had to redo the rock work no sign of the wrasse then after I let things settle down I gave the remaining fire fish & clown a treat of frozen brine shrimp & poof the wrasse comes out! No idea where he was hiding at. my yellow colonial polyps & brown buttons perked right up & my mushrooms are starting to look alive again so I guess the tank is Ok now the temp is now stable no more spikes The fish are acting ok so I guess it's good. The tank is now stable at 78 Hopefully no more temp spikes.
> 
> The rock work got rearranged a bit after every one adjusts I'm going to get some pis of how it looks & the polyps.


LOL. That sucks  I can't really imagine that tank looking bad though! You must be so proud of the work you done...What other fish are planning on adding?


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## SilverThorn (Jul 22, 2010)

well I want to replace the fire fish that died first off
& then perhaps some small goby or something or a black clown i have seen regular clowns pair of with black clowns but I'd have to get a very small one as mine is already female & aggressive.

the rock work doesn't look "bad" but it's just not as nice as it was it bugs me to death that i can't get it to look um... "right" I'm a little ocd with my rocks

it will probly look good in a week or 2 when the plants & shrooms start to spread again & grow in to fill in the gaps


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## chocolatecrunch (May 21, 2010)

SilverThorn said:


> well I want to replace the fire fish that died first off
> & then perhaps some small goby or something or a black clown i have seen regular clowns pair of with black clowns but I'd have to get a very small one as mine is already female & aggressive.
> 
> the rock work doesn't look "bad" but it's just not as nice as it was it bugs me to death that i can't get it to look um... "right" I'm a little ocd with my rocks
> ...


Yea...Black clownfish are gorgeouse  It's like nemo gone bad -_- LOL.


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## SilverThorn (Jul 22, 2010)

Well it's been a while sense I posted about the tank. I got some timers for the lights they worked great until one crapped out & left the light with out the fan on for 2 days straight, water was around 90 again ...:chair: I had been leaving the ac on in the house when the lights were on but after a little experimenting the temp did not go over 79 with the timers & fans running and no ac unfortunately when the timer crashed. I was at work all weekend & the ac was not on. With just the light running & no airflow the tank got really hot.

I lost my skunk Shrimp & all but 3 yellow colonial polyps the remaining one are not opening fully. My red mushrooms look like they *MAY* be recovering a bit they were nearly white & are now getting a bit pinkish again.

I put some feet under the hood of the tank to let some increased airflow in. the temp has stayed at 78.5 for the last few days even with the lights on. I have again resorted to running the ac with the lights on.*fingers crossed that this will help the heat issues I have some increased evaporation but it's not too bad.:console: I had planed on changing to full led lights but with the ambient temp of the house getting so high without the ac this isn't really going to solve the issue.

The next thing I plan to do is get some better fans for the tank & change out the stock ones.
I am also looking at some supplemental led lighting from exotic the purple/ ultraviolet & a 50/50 & a new quieter pump.

On a good note the plants have fully settled in & are looking good & I have the rock work the way I want it now & the brown button polyps are also multiplying.:fun: also seeing an increase of purple Coraline on the rocks & Green? Coraline on the back of the tank.


























I took these picks shortly after the lights were on so the harry mushrooms & others are not fully open yet.

I'm going to wait a few weeks before I add any new live stuff to the tank to make sure it's all going smoothly so i don't cook anything else. 

I've currently started clearing out the last of the back rooms in the house for painting & floor renovation I will be putting a 3rd window unit in this room when finished that should also help with any future heat issues. :chair:


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## SilverThorn (Jul 22, 2010)

Wow it's been a while! hope no one shoots me for resurrecting an old thread.:shock:

well the heat issues have been solved for a while now. Just in time too as the fans have started making a horrendous noise! I unhooked them & the water is not over 74 for the past 2 months. I added a small aquarium heater also as the cold months are fast approaching.

The harry mushrooms red mushrooms & yellow colonial polyps were all damaged in the previous heat incident. 
Harry mushroom making a slow come back. most have migrated to different places.
The red mushrooms are bleached but I found a beautiful frag to replace them the bleached ones are at the back of the tank still recovering ...slowly
A few of the yellow polyps survived & have colored up nicely.
The other mushrooms & the brown buttons are spreading like mad along with the plants.

I added 2 blue spotted mushrooms & some zoas. I got the zoas cheep due to no one wanting them.They were brown ones I thought when I got them But I have noticed some starting to get peach yellow & greenish centers with other colors showing up slowly after 1 week.
I have also added a yellow watchman I call "Toady" that I love to watch.

I found what looks like some sort of clove polyp hitch hikers on the button polyp rock. Also have what I originally thought was sundial snail but turns out is a harmless colonial(sp) algae grazing snail!

Thursday night I had a scare when I came in & found 15 of the tanks 29g on the floor O.O I thought I had a leak :-( & began looking frantically for it. 
What I found was that the pump for the skimmer had died on me & back siphoned the water out! I replaced the pump & the faulty check valve & every thing is fine the water thankfully did not drop below where any of my mushrooms & stuff are.

for live stock I now have
1 peppermint shrimp 
1 false clownish
1 fairy wrase
1 fire fish
1 yellow watchman goby
some snails & hermits for clean up

macros
2 types of Caulerpa
purple leafy hitch hiker I'm told is a rose "kelp"

other
superman mushrooms
blue spot mushrooms
ultra red mushrooms
watermelon mushrooms
hairy mushrooms
brown button polyps
yellow colonial polyps
some assorted zoas (coloring up yet to id)
purple daisy? clove polyp (still not too sure of the id on this)

all are doing well

Wrase









yellow watchman 










new "brown" zoas showing some slight color









blue spotted mushroom









hitchhiker clove polyp









the tank


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

THAT LOOKS GREAT! the shapes are amazing looking, (I like the recent ones better) and the colors of the rock and coral are perfect! I've been thinking about what colors I'm going to get for my tank, and you answered for me! feel free to email me pictures, because I LOVE YOU'RE TANK!!!


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## SilverThorn (Jul 22, 2010)

Wow thnx funlad with all the lighting/fan & heat issues & with the back syphoning indecent last time I was almost ready to chunk this tank. It's doing well now *cross fingers* I tried to make it as natural looking as I could.


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## SilverThorn (Jul 22, 2010)

*update*

long time sense I updated this. No one probly not even looking at it any more but anyway. 
A few things.

I have 2 new rose kelp that just appeared  

My wrase committed suicide in the overflow (EW!) 

I've noticed a few tiny sand sifting brittle stars about the size of dimes hanging their arms out of crevasses in the rock looking for yummy bits. 

Lobed a chunk off of one of my polyp colones to make a new colony the bare spot on the rock from the fraging looks.....bare:chair:

Have been watching what I thought was a odd bump on a rock & noticed it to be growing (bumps don't grow:chair has been in the tank for 6 months or so never appeared to move, or so I thought. Noticed a little crack under it today reached in & used my finger nail to flick it off the rock & found myself looking face to squishy face with what I then realized was a tiny limpet. Learned that these things have a homing sense & return to the same spot on a rock after feeding on algae after lights out O.O explains why it never appeared to move lol. So strange. cute little thing same color as the rock that's why I thought it was the rock lol.

Added some beautiful blue mushrooms. <3<3

added some florescent green frilly mushrooms

Removed the star polyps they appeared to aggravate my mushrooms by brushing on them when they got caught in the current.

Have xenia hitch hiker on the blue mushroom rock it's not happy because it's in the shadow of one of my macros.

Added a nice rock with lots of Coraline on it

Most of my superman mushrooms have disappeared they don't appear to be reproducing very fast at all & they were on the same rock as some green & red ones that are now taking over that real estate.

Lovely yellow encrusting sponge growing on some of the rocks doing VERY well.

Removed my remaining harry mushrooms the lights were too bright for them & they were hidden anyway.

My dead mans hand leather is getting ("fat") wider & has new arm nubs but not mush arm growth in length. It's just generally getting fat looking. The polyps are now fully extended thought the day.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

No pictures?


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## SilverThorn (Jul 22, 2010)

lol I'll put some soon


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## zog (Jul 21, 2011)

A few brightly colored corals, and your tank will look great.


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