Evening all
I am up to day 20 on my 8 Gal BioCube. A quick background on set-up. I removed the tab between chambers 1 and 2 to increase flow. Chamber 2 has a 1/2 unit of chemi-pure on the bottom, next layer up is some filter floss, next layer is a homemade bag (not a filter pad) of carbon, top layer is more filter floss. The top drip tray has been removed as have all the bio-balls. I upgraded the pump in chamber 3 to a Mini-Jet 600 which is running much quieter and a little stronger than the stock pump included with the tank. All lights remain stock.
The substrate consists of 10 pounds (ish) of aragonite. I had a 20 pound bag as I am also building a 29G reef, so I was estimating actual amount of sand poured in the 8. There is roughly 12 pounds of liverock which has been curing for 20 days.
I have been testing parameters weekly and had an ammonia reading, finally, at about day 8..reading about .75. Day 12 had a spike at 1 and last night, day 19, both ammonia and nitrites tested 0. That seems a little quick to me so I am not taking chances and will continue to monitor over the next couple of weeks yet.
I may have a sponge coming back in the liverock. When I took a piece out to clean off some brown algae last night (too much light I guess for now), I found something soft and slightly white opaque. When I pressed it slightly, it compressed and sprang back when I lifted my fingertip again. I know it wasn't there when I started the curing process so MAYBE...... It looks like I may have some Caulerpa type "plants" coming back as well.
My plans are to stock a yellow clown goby (cute little buggars they are ), a peppermint shrimp and one or two hermit crabs..all reef safe of course. I am also debating an upgrade to a 12 simply because some of the reading I have been doing indicates clown gobies are a 10+ gallon type fish...will see. Other than the price of the tank itself, I have plenty of liverock between the two tanks to transfer everything. Much easier to do it now than wait until after corals are in place...those of which I am still trying to decide on...doing a LOT of research. Any suggestions on beginner type corals would be MOST welcome
Pics were taken on Day one, Day 10 and Day 20 respectively.
Comments, thoughts and suggestions are always welcome
Terese
I am up to day 20 on my 8 Gal BioCube. A quick background on set-up. I removed the tab between chambers 1 and 2 to increase flow. Chamber 2 has a 1/2 unit of chemi-pure on the bottom, next layer up is some filter floss, next layer is a homemade bag (not a filter pad) of carbon, top layer is more filter floss. The top drip tray has been removed as have all the bio-balls. I upgraded the pump in chamber 3 to a Mini-Jet 600 which is running much quieter and a little stronger than the stock pump included with the tank. All lights remain stock.
The substrate consists of 10 pounds (ish) of aragonite. I had a 20 pound bag as I am also building a 29G reef, so I was estimating actual amount of sand poured in the 8. There is roughly 12 pounds of liverock which has been curing for 20 days.
I have been testing parameters weekly and had an ammonia reading, finally, at about day 8..reading about .75. Day 12 had a spike at 1 and last night, day 19, both ammonia and nitrites tested 0. That seems a little quick to me so I am not taking chances and will continue to monitor over the next couple of weeks yet.
I may have a sponge coming back in the liverock. When I took a piece out to clean off some brown algae last night (too much light I guess for now), I found something soft and slightly white opaque. When I pressed it slightly, it compressed and sprang back when I lifted my fingertip again. I know it wasn't there when I started the curing process so MAYBE...... It looks like I may have some Caulerpa type "plants" coming back as well.
My plans are to stock a yellow clown goby (cute little buggars they are ), a peppermint shrimp and one or two hermit crabs..all reef safe of course. I am also debating an upgrade to a 12 simply because some of the reading I have been doing indicates clown gobies are a 10+ gallon type fish...will see. Other than the price of the tank itself, I have plenty of liverock between the two tanks to transfer everything. Much easier to do it now than wait until after corals are in place...those of which I am still trying to decide on...doing a LOT of research. Any suggestions on beginner type corals would be MOST welcome
Pics were taken on Day one, Day 10 and Day 20 respectively.
Comments, thoughts and suggestions are always welcome
Terese
