Kodey's 2x2x2 Cube - Shut down

[CoralAddict]

Introduction:
Hello everyone. Like everyone else i have had alot of ups and downs in this hobby, After my tank crashed about 12 months ago i have been busy trying to rebuild and make a better environment for the creatures in this little glass tub.

System Objectives: My main objective is to get the hang of reefing and learn as much as i could about water chemistry and keeping it stable, and also to grow out some frags so i have a bit of stock to move into my bigger tank once i buy my own place.

System Type: Mixed Reef, Plenty of SPS

Display System:

Strike up Date: Around February/March 2011

Display Tank: Dalbarb 2x2x2 Cube

Display Lighting: 8 x 24W ATI Sunpower Dimmable

Stand: Black MDF

Hood: Topless

Sump: Custom 3 Section - Skimmer/Return/Refugium

Refugium: Miracle Mud

Refugium Lighting: None

Support systems:

System Water: Artificial Salt Water - Salinity

Display Water circulation: 2 x Vortech MP10 + Koralia 1600 Nano (Ohh Yea I Got Waves )

Return Pump: Waveline DC 10000

Skimmer: Reef Octopus Core 800i

Evaporation Top Up: Tunze Osmolator 3155

Chemical Support:

Calcium Addition: Brightwell Alkalin8.3-P

Alkilinity Addition: Brightwell Calcion-P

Other Chemical Maintenance:Brightwell Magnesion-P, Potassion-P, Strontion-P, Lugol's, Ferrion, KoralColor.


Current Water Chemistry:
Nitrates: 0ppm (Salifert)
Phosphates: 0.00-0.03ppm (Hanna)
Alkalinity: 9.54 Dkh (Hanna)
Calcium: 451 ppm (Hanna)
Salinity / Specific Gravity: 35 ppt / 1.026
Magnesuim:1310 ppm
PH: 8.46

Images:
January 2013


April 2012


March 2012


January 2012


September 2011


From The Left Hand Side...


A Few Of The SPS...






One Of My Frags Thats Going Great Guns...


A Few Other Bits And Peices...






Thanks For Looking.

[mnemonix]

Sensational looking cube Kodey. I'd love to trade some pieces with you if you ever do some pruning.

[CoralAddict]

Thanks.
That will certainly be on the cards in the future. There is just something special about growing frags.

[gcebiker]

Just amazing colours Kodey looking very crisp under that LED

[MeLLeR]

Looks fantastic mate any updates??

[CoralAddict]

Hey thanks,

Will be some updates shortly, just getting some more gear together then will be putting a sump on the tank.

Need to get a decent camera to cos the one on my phone cant pick up the colours.

Cheers

Kodey

[CoralAddict]

Well just a quick update, got my skimmer thanks to mnemonix, CPR overflow and have ordered kamoer dosing pumps, return pump, reef octopus phosfusion reactor and bits and peices for ATO.

Will give plans for the sump to the tank builder on the weekend then hopefully within the next couple of weeks the cube will finally be sumped. And i wont have to worry about manual dosing anymore

And to be honest i cant wait, im like a kid on christmas eve.

[CoralAddict]

Hello all,

Another little update, and thought i would post pics of the gear i have got so far.

I have got the skimmer, the phosfusion reactor and CPR overflow.





The phosfusion reactor was supposed to be the 1000L rated one but Joe at Reef Octopus had none in stock so he sent the 1500L one instead which was a nice little bonus.

The overflow is massive and very solid. Not sure if i should mod it like other people have done to have the full syphon, durso and emergancy. But after thinking about it i may have to as i was going to run a 5000 LPH return pump.

Also here is the sump design i gave to the tank builder, he complained that it was complicated but he can suck it up



Hope you enjoyed.


kodey

[CoralAddict]

Got my sump, was built very quick which i was happy with but i can see why everyone travels to sydney to get their display's built. This particular builder is ruff as guts, glass doesnt line up right, silicone everywhere and all the sharp edges were left on.

Im just very lucky that this thing will be hidden in the stand

Will post a pic when i clean it up a bit. On the plus side though all the measurements are pretty spot on and everything fits.

kodey

[CoralAddict]

well it took me from 10 o'clock this morning until now but my sump is finally installed with the whole cabinet re-arranged.

getting a few micro bubbles but hoping its just because the sump is new and everything isnt settled yet.

will take some photo's shortly.



kodey

[Byronredsea]

Kodey i think you will find the 5000lph is to big return and that is the reason for micro bubbles to much flow in the sump if the sump was bigger it might work you might have to restrict the pump turn the flow down.
regards Jason

[CoralAddict]

hey thanks for that, but the micro bubbles went after a couple of days. and i had to restrict the return pump as the overflow box couldnt handle the flow on the 5000. but i figured that would happen anyway.

cheers.



kodey

[CoralAddict]

Hey everyone,

For those that didnt see my post in the corals section of the forum, i had a few issues and long story short i lost all my SPS but a dallas frag. And also lost a few of my Acans.

Here are some before and after pics, they are very low quality pictures and i apologize for that but it shows the amount that has died.

Before - about 2 months ago.


Now - Not really in the mood for cleaning glass


Please excuse the tangs, i was told they would be ok in my tank by someone i thought i could trust. In some ways i regret getting them but they are great to watch and have great personalities. I also cant really bring myself to get rid of them, i know this is selfish but i also know i will have a tank suited to them soon.

cheers.


kodey

[Benzito]

That before and after shot is hard to look at, and it's not even my tank. I feel for you Kodey.
Keep your head up, and good luck getting it re-established. Wish I could help you diagnose the cause of the failure.

[CoralAddict]

A little up-date, completely pulled down the tank today and rebuilt it.

Went for a minimalistic look with the aquascape, also a bit of a bonsai style.

Will post some pics when the water cleans up.

ALSO i sold my tangs today, since the ICH issue they never seemed completely happy again. Plus they had grown a bit.
To anyone thinking about getting the fish small and JUST getting rid of them when they get to big, it is easier said then done. I had these tangs for about 12 months and was very attached, it was hard watching all my coral die but so much harder selling my tangs.




kodey

[CoralAddict]

Ok here are the pics of the new scape, hope you like.

From The Front


From The Front, Gravel Level


Front / Right Hand Side


Right Hand Side


Left Hand Side


It has plenty of flat rock for SPS
Also the little island thing (front left) is for a zoa garden, to be surrounded by Acans and other LPS.

I really like the minimalistic look and the whole bonsai idea, I got all my inspiration from Thorly Aka Crazy4Acros's from reef central
If you havent seen his video or tank journal I suggest you take a look, it is absolutely amazing.
The Video
The Tank Journal

It feels great to have interest in my tank again.

Thanks for looking.



Kodey

[Seano]

Looking good mate hopefully it'll look as good if not better then it did before!!

[CoralAddict]

Hey,

Yea im hopeing it does, will be good once i can get some colour back in it. Its hard looking at rock covered with diatoms again

Another couple of weeks and it may be steady enough to put some Zoas in.

kodey

[Seano]

I've got a few different coloured zoo's let me know when your ready and i'll frag some for ya

[CoralAddict]

sounds good buddy, cheers.

[CoralAddict]

Thanks Chris,

I appreciate the offer and may just have to take you up on it.

Im still slowly moving the corals that survived back into the tank.

cheers.



kodey

[CoralAddict]

Well got some colour back into the tank, I fragged some zoa's and glued them to the rock (not attached to main structure). Also added my torch and orange fungai.

The Zoa's are opening back up already so thats a good sign.

Hopefully it continues improving.



kodey

[CoralAddict]

Ok thought it was time for a little update.
I have recently finished getting my dosing pumps dialed in to keep the parameters stable.

Water Parameters
Salinity - 35ppt (Refractometer)
Alkalinity - 7.8 Dkh (Hanna)
Calcium - 430ppm (Red Sea Pro)
Magnesium - 1320ppm (Red Sea Pro)

Nitrate - 0.00ppm (Red Sea Pro)
Phosphate - 0.00ppm (Hanna)

All the corals are doing well and growing already.

Anyway here are some pics, the tank is looking very bare still.
(Please excuse poor quality once again, its only off a phone and it struggles with the blue light)

Just a pic of the layout



Full Tank Shot, Not that its a very full tank



Right Hand Side



My Electric Blue Squamosa



Left Hand Side



My Zoa Garden, Just have to wait for them to start spreading then should look a treat



My Tiger Squamosa, Big thanks to Hunter Pets for this.

[CoralAddict]

Started NPX Bio-Pellets yesterday. So far so good.

Havent experienced any bacteria blooms other people have had.

[King Venom]

Awsome man. Nice clams

[CoralAddict]

Cheers bud, I should probably get some more pics up on here.

[aznsiko]

nice cube.. i like the way you have placed your rock.. is that flat piece glued??

[CoralAddict]

nice cube.. i like the way you have placed your rock.. is that flat piece glued??

Thanks, the whole structure is held together with 8mm acrylic rod and a little bit of reef putty. its pretty easy to do, the hardest part is you have to build it outside the tank than dismantle it and put it back together inside the tank, would also be made easier if you could use dry rock instead of liverock.

[CoralAddict]

Hey,

Just a quick update, the tank has been going really well, all the frags are doing great and growing very quickly. I will however be changing from LED's to T5's at some point in the future so will see how much of a difference that makes.

Also got a couple of true percs that are absolutely gorgeous, i have got them in the QT at the moment





I also took a quick pic of one of the corals, (all photo's are taking with my phone's camera so had to touch up the coral one)



also found this in the QT today, god knows how long its been in there, i added a small amount of live rock to it months ago so it must of been in there since then, is it just a collector urchin. Do you think i should add it to my DT.



Hope you enjoy.

[CoralAddict]

Hey,

Thought i would upload some more pics of the tank. Keep in mind that they were taken with my shitty phone camera and i had to turn the lights right down for the camera to pick up any colour at all.

The parameters are:

Alk - 8.4
Cal - 450
Mag - 1400
Salinity - 35 ppt / 1.025
Phos - 0.00/0.03 (Hanna)
Nitrate - 0.0 (Red Sea pro and API)

Im slowly trying to bring the alk up to 9.0 but it seems the higher i take it up the quicker it gets sucked out of the water. The two clams probably dont help this, also more than 90% of the corals in my tank are grown from frags.

Full Tank Shot


From Right Hand Side


From Left Hand Side


Front Bottom


Zoa Rock + The much sought after aptasia


Lobo, You cant see this in the pic but it has metallic green stripes running from the edge to its mouths.


Hope you like the pics.

Kodey