Cole's Free 28 Nano Cube Build

[00youknowit00]

So a little background on how this happened! My boss knows how crazy I am about fish haha, so when his dad wanted to get rid of his cube he thought of me. When he asked if I wanted it I asked how much, his reply "if you come get it, you can have it". How do you turn that down!? Lol
The tank was in a serious need of cleaning.. Took about 8hrs to get it all done! There was coralline on Everything!


This is it now, just like new! I got absolutely everything with it, including a heater.




I got all the rock with the tank, it was COVERED in cyano and all kinds of junk, so I scrubbed it and now have it sitting on my back porch drying out, there was no way I wanted that rock as it was haha, bubble algae, aiptasia ect.. So I'm in the process of killing it so I can can cure it, thoughts on the best way to go about it?

Other thing right now I'm questioning is if I should just keep the quad cf lights or do a led retrofit? In my other tanks I keep mainly LPS and SPS, and some softies as well. I've read that the stock like will suffice to grow most anything, supposedly SPS higher up in the tank. What would y'all do if you were me? I've looked at rapid led and ill be around $230 all said and done, with dimmers and stuff. Not sure if I can justify the switch.

That's all I can think of right now, I'm sure more will come! Haha Plan on taking my time on this one, not really in a rush.

Thanks guys!
Cole

[00youknowit00]

The rock is bleached out now from sitting outside, to cure it, do I need to use salt water? Or can I just use RO/DI? I assume dechlorinated tap water would be bad since the rock can absorb the things in it that I want to keep out (ie phosphates, silicates).

[Grizz]

Use salt water to cure/cycle your rock. I'd up grade the lights to LED the cost of bulbs long term will pay for the upgrade.

[00youknowit00]

Originally Posted by Grizz

Use salt water to cure/cycle your rock. I'd up grade the lights to LED the cost of bulbs long term will pay for the upgrade.

I figured, and that was my thought too, ~$50 per bulb, 2 years and the light pays for itself. Think the RapidLED one is a good choice?

[Grizz]

I've never used then myself But many have and seem to swear by them IMO you cant go wrong with them I'd go with the dimmable set so you can adjust the colors

[00youknowit00]

Okay, that's my impression as well. And I'm doing dimmable no matter what

When curing the rock all I need in the bucket is a powerhead and an air stone right? Or so I've read

[Grizz]

Just a power-head aimed at the surface and heater You can cycle the rock right in the tank That way the BB will grow on the glass and sand as well

[00youknowit00]

I want to use a bucket just so I don't have to make as much saltwater and change as much before I add livestock, I expect there to be some serious dieoff from this rock. Just being lazy I guess haha

Doesn't aeration aid in aerobic bacteria growth? It'd have to since they use oxygen to grow. That's my theory with the air stone

[Grizz]

Yes it does but with a powerhead aimed at the surface you'll get the needed gas exchange An air stone will cause salt creep lowering the salinity of the water

[Alan79]

Nice score. My LFS lined up a free 2 foot 15g i picked up today and on my way home i scored another 5g rimless cube free that included 2 harlequin Rasboras (i wanted 5 more) an extra 4 Neon tetras (that i didn't need as i have a large enough school) and a bristlenose plec who will keep my solitary one company. Nice to get free tanks and even better when they conatin fish i like.

Your tank cleaned up very nicely and it's an attractive setup. Hope you enjoy running it.

[00youknowit00]

Originally Posted by Grizz

Yes it does but with a powerhead aimed at the surface you'll get the needed gas exchange An air stone will cause salt creep lowering the salinity of the water

That was my next question since I figured it get crazy salt creep. I'll get the rock cycling in the next few days.

Originally Posted by Alan79

Nice score. My LFS lined up a free 2 foot 15g i picked up today and on my way home i scored another 5g rimless cube free that included 2 harlequin Rasboras (i wanted 5 more) an extra 4 Neon tetras (that i didn't need as i have a large enough school) and a bristlenose plec who will keep my solitary one company. Nice to get free tanks and even better when they conatin fish i like.

Your tank cleaned up very nicely and it's an attractive setup. Hope you enjoy running it.

Thanks, I hope it turns out well!

[00youknowit00]

Rock is in a bucket with a PH and heater for now. Need to get some sand, thinking about doing a white/black mix. Any thoughts?

[Grizz]

I had that in mine never liked the look of it as it always looked dirty I switched to pool filter sand and now it looks like a real reef

[00youknowit00]

Thats my hesitation, I've tried all black sand and it was a pain to keep clean

[00youknowit00]

So last night at 12:45 am I tested the bucket for ammonia just for fun..




That's some serious dieoff! Haha

[Grizz]

I would say so plus is you'll have a strong Bacti base when it done cycling

[teklabs]

That's insanely high! wow

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[00youknowit00]

Originally Posted by Grizz

I would say so plus is you'll have a strong Bacti base when it done cycling

Originally Posted by craigbooker

That's insanely high! wow

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Oh yeah, I'm curious to see what it is now, since that was only after like 9hrs haha. I'll test once I'm home from work

[00youknowit00]

This morning its a solid 8ppm hahaha



Will probably change some water today, that's just to much haha

Edit: I don't know why it keeps rotating the picture, when I take it and post it it's right side up!

[teklabs]

Hehe, definitely would do a water change.