Biocube29 from mantis tank to Clown heaven

[Polscot]

went out and got some more macro algae, i love the look of it and it helps clean the water and fight off micro algae, i also got a couple fish they are clown yellow gobys, only $7 each so if they get eaten i wont freak, plus there cool looking.

[Polscot]

so i recently got a 29g biocube as the mantis is getting bigger and i got a good deal so i figured id get it b4 he outgrows the 10g, im in the process of building a custom back wall and gutting the back to make a refugium.....ill be posting pics as i progress, ill be setting up using 10g of the old water and 20g from Red coral along with turning it into a reef eventually n e ways heres the progress

Tank was dirty so im cleaning it in a vinegar bath





stand was a lil rough so ill fix it right up





The lights were both burned out, but considering how cheap i got it i was more then happy with spending $80 on 2 new ones



Start of the rock/foam DIY wall i cut out eggcrate into the shape of the back of the tank



cut holes out for the intake and outtake



i then cut out shapes goal was 3 ledges, top one will be for a Brain (always wanted one) middle one will be for a clam my gf wants to buy
and bottom will be for n e thing else, maybe a favia not sure....



inside FTS i put two pieces on the bottom in a right angle mannor that i will stack live rock on, to weigh down the wall and keep it stable and less likley to collapse



Side shot shows the 3 ledges

[Polscot]

just picked up 30lbs of dead rock from a fellow reefer, so im cleaning it in a bleach bath then ill scrub it with a wire brush then bake at 400 for an hour or more to make sure the bleach is all evaporated, 30lbs dry is alot more then wet so ima have to figure out a aquascape cause there ALOT of rock.....



you can tell there was some fantastic coralline algae on this rock its to bad its been out of water for so long so its all dead and smelly

[Skimmerking]

and its in the bath tub mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

wow you got big $#%^$%!

[Polscot]

the bath tub i only put 1 cup of bleach to loosen up the algae, i then used a bbq brush to scrap off as much die off as i could, then into the oven for 1 hour at 400, when it came out it was alot whiter. I dont want to take any chances so im going to do a full out clean on the rock its now in a 50/50 bleach bath (ina syrafoam container) for 2 days then ill drain and put in freshwater for 1 day, then a baking soda bath for 2 days (neutralises PH and removes bleach) then freshwater for 2 more days followed by a week of drying lol. so 2 weeks essentially to get this rock ready but by that time my refugeum lights and skimmer should have arrived and ill get this tank ready to roll.....

heres the 50/50 bleach bath



starting to get super white and clean,

[AHHope]

Originally Posted by Polscot

they acctually are reef safe, there not as bad as everyone says they are, the most ud lose is the odd clean up crew (there cheap so who cares), specially if u keep him feed every second day, which is fun to do, aahope has a reef bio cube with one in it and its fine, and the local FS has a massive 100g reef with a smithii in it and ud never be able to tell, there really not that destructive (AS LOGN AS U GET A SMASHER) as spearers kill fish

Im happy someone finally has the same views as me towards mantises. The one i have in my reef i dont even spot feed he just grabes scraps as they flot by. You really need to learn there specific tastes in food. My smithii will only hunt down crabs but leaves shrimps and snails alone so i keep him in there to pick off any hitch hikers that are gonna munch on coral. The only conflict i ever see is when he chases my orange spotted blenny out of his hole. Congrats on a great mantis and hopefully more people will start seeing the good sides of them.

[Greenmaster]

One thing about the rock wall... I hear of a lot of them that float. The best way to weigh them down is with tile, slate or marble slabs in the base of the structure. And compress the foam a bit as well... after you spray it on then you wait till it's started to dry then press it down to get some of the air out and take away some of the buoyancy.

[Polscot]

cool, thanx for the info green i try compressing it for sure, im also gunna be putting about 10lbs of rock on the wall so that should help weigh it down also

[Greenmaster]

I still recommend that you put either tile, slate, or marble on the base. Although I have seen people glue their rock wall to the glass and that works as well.

[Polscot]

went to ocean city today to grab some purigen and chemi pure, and i stumbled across this lil anemone it was SUPER cheap and i was going to eventually buy one, so i picked it up, its sitting in my edge right now untill i get the biocube set up, my clowns will love it

Green bubble tip bout the size of a loonie