Jesse_Emel's Oceanic Biocube 29 Gallon

[Jesse_emel]

Does anyone else have any problems getting the Tunze 9002 Protein Skimmer to make bubbles?? I can't seem to get it to do anything. Slightly frustrating. It's fine for now but i would like to get it working before the tank starts to get some life.

After watching some videos on You Tube and reading some other posts on multiple forums I discovered that either my airline was bent or twisted and my pump was in backwards. Pointing directly at the collection cup instead of the bubble plate inside the skimmer. It's making many more bubbles now. Still not much to skim in a new tank but working better now. Breaking her in.

 

[Jesse_emel]

Does anyone local to Spokane want a Neon Green Mushroom? Willing to trade for any other coral/zoo/acan/duncan/hammer/torch or GSP frag. Not ready for sps yet. The mushroom let go of it's foot and it's now in a tupperware with some rock fragments waiting to be transported and re-homed. Would also trade for someone to come and kill the aptasia using some joes juice or aptasia x if you have some to spare.

[/QUOTE]

 

[Jesse_emel]

Got the media basket in from In-Tank and sent back the Fuge Basket for a refund. They were very understanding about my mistake ordering the wrong part and even provided a shipping label for my return parts. But in the mean time here is the media basket ready for insertion into the back of the BC29. You can see a little bit of Chaeto Macro in the bottom 2 compartments for now. The Fuge light mounted in the bottom of the In-Tank media basket. And a filter pad (tilted up in the 1st picture for clarity) in the top compartment with the water diverter to maximize aeration and cooling.....

Ready for Placement in the back of the BC29.....

And already in the back of the tank, you can see the fuge light already on.

Also started to see signs of my algae bloom, a little showed up on the glass today. Normally it would make me mad but for now it's a sign the cycle is starting. YaY

 

[MGDMIRAGE]

Wow welcome back to hobby great setup you found! and nice upgrades you bought

 

[Jesse_emel]

Wow welcome back to hobby great setup you found! and nice upgrades you bought

Thanks MGD! in a few more weeks we may have to hook up so i can see your tanks. They are all looking good. Went through your threads. Do you ever sell any frags?

 

[MGDMIRAGE]

Yes I have a few frags for sale, some candy cane(white), orange montipora digitata, purple acro valida, orange monti cap, purple rim monti cap, pink pocilipora, spongodes, strawberry fields monti.

 

[Jesse_emel]

Yes I have a few frags for sale, some candy cane(white), orange montipora digitata, purple acro valida, orange monti cap, purple rim monti cap, pink pocilipora, spongodes, strawberry fields monti.

Awesome, I have a feeling i'll probably start off with some zoo's and LPS first but when i feel the tank is ready I would love to pay a visit. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[MGDMIRAGE]

Yeah i'm just starting to get into zoanthids again eventually i'll have some I can trade off. I have about 15 types or so now mostly all just frags though.

 

[myindoorocean]

Shawn I may have to check put your frags one of these days. What part of Spokane do you live in?

 

[Jesse_emel]

Ready for Placement in the back of the BC29.....

So it turns out putting this little light under water was a good but also bad idea. It's a mini halogen bulb designed to go underwater but it's hot as HELL FIRE!! Burned my finger when i touched it to see how hot it gets. The tank temperature was raising 3 degrees per day with that bulb. It will get mounted outside the back viewport tomorrow. Hope that helps the temperature situation.

 

[Jesse_emel]

Fan Added

Mounted a small cooling fan to my cubicle wall today. I was having trouble controlling the temperature in the BC29. I'm not sure if it was the new protein skimmer pump or upgraded circulation pump or the LED's that was causing the heat to rise in the tank so significantly. But if i let the tank do it's own thing with the lids down the temp would rise from 77 to over 83 in less than 2 days. And it was not cooling off much at night. So i have this little $6 fan from WM, mounted to the steel backed cubicle wall panel. The fan will come on and turn off with the LED's. During the night I think the tank maintains or even drops in temperature which will be covered by the heater. In less then 20 minutes the temperature in the tank has dropped from 80 to 79.4. My ideal temperature will be right around 78 degrees. Now the tank will stay cool.

:smow:

 

[Jesse_emel]

Can't believe i'm still making mistakes in this hobby. Turns out i set my salinity at 1.015 instead of the ideal 1.025. Stupid new refractometer. So Saturday I slowly raised my salinity over a period of 8 hours. All the snails and hermit crabs I got from Aquatic Dreams are still alive. There is a serious algae bloom going on which was why i picked up a cleanup crew. Hope everyone makes it through the salinity change ok??

 

[Jesse_emel]

Well the salinity and temperature have stabilized. Amonia 0, Nitrites 0, and Nitrates 0.
I added some Hermits (10), Collumbelid Snails (10) and a bottle of tiger pods from Aquatic Dreams. There were also a few free snails that came on the live rock.
Livestock I added over the past few weeks:

Yellow and Black cleaner goby
Tail Spot Blenny
Yellow Clown Goby
Green Emerald Crab
Catalina Goby
Tiny Little Sexy Shrimp from a local breeder

I have some more stuff on order which will be here next week. I'll try to get some pictures up soon. I also glued a couple of GSP frags on the back wall of the BC29 which has started to open up and i hope starts to spread.

 

[Jesse_emel]

Livestock Pictures

Here are some of the fish who have made the BC29 home.....

Yellow Clown Goby Hiding

Yellow Clown Goby Swimming

Neon Goby watching the crazy hermit crab go rock climbing

Catalina Goby and Neon Goby BFF's

TailSpot Blenny checking out the camera

 

[IPisces]

Awww everyone is soo cute. I like the little fish.

 

[Jesse_emel]

Awww everyone is soo cute. I like the little fish.

Thanks IPisces, all the fish are so small i am going to attempt to pair them all up. I already have a extra clown goby on the way from Reefs2go. Everyone is doing well and responds to fresh food in the tank. No fights yet but the Catalina and Neon gobys do chase each other from time to time.

 

[Jesse_emel]

BC29 Auto Top Off JBJ

Picked up a 10 gallon glass tank with glass lid and am using the stock BC29 return pump for this Auto Top Off setup. Should have it installed tonight. Then hopefully i can get the Protein skimmer dialed in for continuous skimming. With the fan blowing to cool the tank I'm going through a little less than a gallon per day of RO/DI.

 

[Derbird]

Tank is looking great

Just a friendly heads up on the Catalina Goby. They are from the waters off California, so they ate a temperate water fish. Long term it will not fair well in a tropical tank.

 

[Recalibrate]

Tank is looking great

Just a friendly heads up on the Catalina Goby. They are from the waters off California, so they ate a temperate water fish. Long term it will not fair well in a tropical tank.

Have to agree with the Catalina.

 

[Jesse_emel]

Tank is looking great

Just a friendly heads up on the Catalina Goby. They are from the waters off California, so they ate a temperate water fish. Long term it will not fair well in a tropical tank.

Have to agree with the Catalina.

Yeah we talked about that at the fish store. The store has had 2 of them for months with tank temp's above 79 to 81, I keep my tank between 77 and 78.5. So far he's been the most active and thriving. Thanks for the heads up though. I'll keep an eye on him.