My 60g Nem cube build thread

[Daniel@R2R]

I love those FTS pics! Bump for an update!

 

[WillKatt]

I love those FTS pics! Bump for an update!

Sorry its been awhile

So Id say its pretty official this tank is much more of a mixed reef although I do plan on attempting to add another sunburst at some point. Ive added a few sps corals to the mix mostly a bunch of different montis with a cali tort and a birds nest. The sps have been in the tank around 2-3 weeks and are starting to encrust to the rocks they are on. the green digi definitely needs some tlc but I got it cheap. It should color up soon enough.

a few updated pics.

 

[Sabres429]

this tank build is seriously amazing.

 

[WillKatt]

this tank build is seriously amazing.

Thanks! I think it's really starting to mature and take off. I think just yesterday marked this tank right at 9 months old. I'm now able to feed pretty heavy, more than the the fish can handle without any issues with nutrients or even a hint of algae. Knock on wood.

For now I'm dosing 2ml of fuel in the morning with a scoop of reef chili, a couple pinches of flake and pellets along with a strip of nori in the afternoon, and I alternate every other day between a cube of frozen mysis and a cube of another locally made frozen food which contains a little bit of everything topped of with another scoop of zooplan.

I generally like to keep my nutrients at least detectable around 1-2 ppm nitrate and .01-.03 phosphate and for the most part thats where this tank has been for the last several months but when I started dosing the aquavitro fuel I expected a small jump in nutrients but actually the opposite happened. My nutrients fell off to undetectable on phosphate and is now only reading about .5-1ppm nitrate on a RedSea pro test kit.

I'm not sure why this is. My Skimmate production definitely increased when the fuel was added so maybe I'm skimmeing more efficiently or the tank is just maturing or both, IDK. Anyway this is part of the reason I've been feeding so much or at least I think it's allot. What do others think?

I'm trying to get my nutrients to at least register. Lately I've been using the the amount of green film that forms on the glass as a gauge for knowing if I'm feeding enough or not.

Sorry for the rambling.

 

[gettaReef]

Do you run a biopellet reactor or use some form of carbon dosing? Also, can you elaborate a little on how you use the green algae film on the glass to gauge your nutrient levels? Tank is looking Amazing btw!!

 

[WillKatt]

Do you run a biopellet reactor or use some form of carbon dosing? Also, can you elaborate a little on how you use the green algae film on the glass to gauge your nutrient levels? Tank is looking Amazing btw!!

I do not use biopellets or any form of carbon dosing and never have. I used to run 10 TBS of GAC with 1 TBS of GFO in a TLF-150 reactor for 6 hours a day but now I only run the GAC for 6 hours a day. Other than that I have an over sized BK skimmer which I run 24-7 and I do use filter socks which I change every 3-4 days. All the rock I used was very well established very light weight porous live rock. I attribute allot of this to that alone. Oh and I should mention I do 13% water change religiously every week.

What I mean about the film on the glass is I shoot to have to scrape at least some film off the glass every 2-3 days. If I'm not getting any film I feed more if Im having to scrape everyday or the amount of green film increases significantly I cut back on the feeding. I have found this method to work pretty well for me when i have no other visual indicators of nutrient levels and am not measuring anything worth note.

I obsess about my feeding because one Im very OCD and two in the past I learned that allot of my personal failures in this hobby were related to starving my tank.

 

[vanz]

Your cube rocks. I'm also into nems and shrooms. It's too bad all your nems except one didn't make it. What is it that you think killed them? Incompatible nems? I read a thread on another forum that a green bta took out the others probably through chemical warfare. I want to do a tank like yours but may just stick to a really bright bta and its clones.

 

[WillKatt]

Your cube rocks. I'm also into nems and shrooms. It's too bad all your nems except one didn't make it. What is it that you think killed them? Incompatible nems? I read a thread on another forum that a green bta took out the others probably through chemical warfare. I want to do a tank like yours but may just stick to a really bright bta and its clones.

Well I gave the others away and decided to just keep the rose since that's what the clowns were hosting anyway, and honestly I like it better than the rainbow I gave away. I have no idea what caused there demise. Perhaps it was just too many nems for such a small unestablished tank. The tank is just barely over 9 months old today.

There may have been some chemical warfare but I was running allot of carbon. I had an issue around the same time with some chloramine getting past my rodi which in turn went in the tank. Anything I might think it was caused by would only be speculation.

As for an update I got a couple clams at MACNA. Things are getting pretty crowded in this tank. Hooked up my dosers today now that I have added some sps and the clams of course.

 

[WillKatt]

Also hooked up the Kessil controller I got a MACNA. I like it I'm glad I got it over using the Digital Aquatics ALC unit.

 

[WillKatt]

This trachyphyllia was pretty bleached out when I originally got it two months ago or so. Its starting to color up really nice. Its really hard to photograph for some reason but im hoping the colors continue to darken up.

 

[vanz]

So you've got the spectral controller for awhile now. How do you like it. Anything you don't like? The dawn to dusk working great? I have the rkl and the alc module, but thinking of going with the spectral instead for more controllability with the kessil.

 

[WillKatt]

I do like it! The dusk to dawn works pretty well but its not as smooth as you would get with say an radion or ai light. Probaly do yo the 0-10v thing. I like that you can save multiple programs as well as run two seperate programs simultaniously one for each port. One thing thats a bit bothersome is the screen flickers when it goes to screen saver mode. Perhaps that was intensipnal but it only does it on one side so im thinking its not. Iv also noticed the light itself seems to flicker a bit a very low dusk settings, but not sure if that is the controller or the light. Overall i like it better than say the ai controller. Never got around to using the ALC but i have to assume for $20 more its way better!