A new start - my 24g cube build

[Bonsai reef]

And it starts again...!

Long story short...I had this 24g AIO cube mixed reef tank running from from May 2019 to July 2020 and then unfortunately had to take it down as I was not in town for a prolonged 8 months and the LFS care that I was relying on was not going much good.

This time I thought of documenting the build from that start.

Equipments:

• 24g Aquatop AIO cube with nano skimmer and return
• AI Prime HD+
• Jebao OW-10 wavemaker + Fluval sea CP2 circulation pump
• Hygger 100w thermostat heater with Inkbird cooling and heating controller
• Jebao DP-4 dosing pump
• DIY ATO with 2.5g RO reservoir
• Ceramic bio media basket & Marine Pure bio-filter media

Picked up a Tonga Branch Rockscape from local store...will go with a minimalistic aqua-scape this time (the back chamber media basket will be loaded to compensate) plus there would be crushed coral sand bed. SPS dominant tank is the long term view. Thus wanted to go with coarse crushed coral bed over sand so that I can crank up the flow later.


Dec 19th, 2020 - Tonga branch rockscape in empty tank below-

Dec 20th, 2020 - a quick leak test

Dec 20th, 2020 - Ready to get wet

Dec 20th, 2020 - The fish-less cycle begins with Red Sea Salt (blue bucket), Fritz Turbo start and Dr. Tims Ammonium Chloride.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Nice start....looking forward to this!

 

[Bonsai reef]

Nice start....looking forward to this!

thank you

 

[Bonsai reef]

The Fritz Turbo Start worked great as I started to see Nitrate reading right on day 3...kept dosing ammonia as per instruction till both ammonia and nitrite was reading zero within 24hrs which was about end of week 3.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

I had better success with the Fritzyme as well (compared to Dr. Tims). Glad it ran its course fairly quickly for you! I think going bare bottom as was the case with my tank extends that period a bit due to lesser surface area.

 

[Bonsai reef]

I had better success with the Fritzyme as well (compared to Dr. Tims). Glad it ran its course fairly quickly for you! I think going bare bottom as was the case with my tank extends that period a bit due to lesser surface area.

Yes sandbed v/s barebottom definitely plays a role.

 

[Bonsai reef]

Planning to run the Red Sea reef care recipe this time. I used polyplab - polyp booster and reef-roid before in my previous build but always had issues with PO4 going too high over NO3 causing cyano problem. Please let me know your experience.

 

[Bonsai reef]

Update Jan 10th, 2021-

Got my first fish a neon goby.

 

[GlfFxtrtYnky]

Looking good so far!

 

[Bonsai reef]

added few zoa frags too on Jan 10th belonging to my old setup. A fellow reefer was kind enough to house them for me.
Nitrate still hovering around 30ppm from the cycle and the zoas seem not so bothered.

 

[Bonsai reef]

Half of the middle chamber has been setup for marco algae. Fuge has worked well for me in my old setup as natural method of nutrient export and also as a great home for pods. Using this grow light from amazon. Lets see how it works with red ogo which is a slow grower. I had used chaeto before which is a fast grower and never had any readable NO3/PO4. So thought of giving the slow growing red ogo a try in my current setup.

 

[GlfFxtrtYnky]

Nice! I am waiting on my order to come with my fuge light and my fuge rack.

 

[Phil D.]

So you want to go SPS, I would recommend going with the Red Sea Coral Pro salt as it has elevated Ca, Alk and Mag levels that if you do weekly water changes will help keep your parameters up without a lot of dosing.

 

[Bonsai reef]

So you want to go SPS, I would recommend going with the Red Sea Coral Pro salt as it has elevated Ca, Alk and Mag levels that if you do weekly water changes will help keep your parameters up without a lot of dosing.

RCP is best suited for mixed reef i guess...red sea recommends the blue bucket for sps dominant tanks.

 

[Phil D.]

True, I have 80% sps and use Pro, they love it.

 

[Bonsai reef]

True, I have 80% sps and use Pro, they love it.

thats good to know...actually it comes to stability and alk vs nutrient ratio i believe. high alk never worked well for me may be due to low nutrient level in my system. 7.7-8 dKh is where i had success earlier.

 

[Phil D.]

What works is good. I personally have my Ca at 460, Alk at 8.5 and Mag at 1380.

The tank is 2 years old now.

 

[Bonsai reef]

What works is good. I personally have my Ca at 460, Alk at 8.5 and Mag at 1380.

The tank is 2 years old now.

thats a very beautiful tank...well done!

 

[Bonsai reef]

what are you dosing and feeding?

 

[Phil D.]

Thanks!! It's a Red Sea E-260, (total 81g), and I do a 5g water change every week and I dose Aquaforest Component 1-2-3 evry day, (120ml each). I feed Red Sea AB+ once a month. Feed the fish brine, mysis and fish eggs every 3 days.