Kitty's 34G Oceanic Cube (Not an AIO) (1 Viewer)

[Kittysnax]

FTS 2/14/10

Current Setup
Tank/Stand: Oceanic 34G Cube (Black Trim)(Drilled for later use)
Substrate: 30# Caribsea Aragonite Oolite (I wanted fiji pink...nowhere sold it)
Heating: Fluval Vuetech E100
Filtration: 12# Fiji Live rock + ? Dead Fiji, AC70 fuge mod, Octopus 100BH Skimmer
Flow: 1 K-Nano, 1 K-1
Timers: Coralife Digital Powerstrip (its a PITA) 10am-8pm
Salt: Oceanic Natural Sea Salt Mix (Will probably switch once this bucket is used.)
Lighting: 150W 20k HQI w/T5HO All Blues (MH is the only one in use at the moment)

STOCKING LIST
What I currently have:

Livestock:
1 Occ. Clown
1 Peppermint Shrimp

Macro Algaes:
Chaeto
Red Gracilaria

CUC:
3 ??? Snails
1 Blue Leg Hermit
2 Emerald Crabs
149 Dwarf Ceriths
7 Nerites
7 Florida Ceriths
7 Nassarius


What I plan to stock:
Corals:
GSP
Mushrooms
Rics
Zoas
Bubble Coral
Candy Cane
Hammer Coral
Plate Coral
Xenias

Livestock:
1 - B&W Occ. Clown to accompany my Reg Occ. Clown
1 - Goby/Blenny (undecided as to what species)
1 - Pistol Shrimp

CUC:
1 Brittle Starfish?

Future 10 Gallon Fuge List:
Bristleworms
added: Nassarius(?) Snails
added: Micro Stars (If I can find)
Cerith Snails
Chaeto

I plan on having a couple of macros in the display as well, Not sure which ones though...CUC:
1 Emerald Crab
10 or so Cerith Snails
1 Brittle Starfish
added: 5-10 Nassarius(?) Snails

5-10Gallon Fuge List:
Cleaner Clams
Bristleworms
added: Nassarius(?) Snails
added: Micro Stars (If I can find)
Cerith Snails
Chaeto

I plan on having a couple of macros in the display as well, Not sure which ones though...

 

[UoH_Chibi]

Looks good, cant wait to see some updates!

I recently picked up a Tiger Pistol Shrimp and he has been working since he went in. Took about 2 days for the YWG and him to meet up but they havent left eachothers side. Awesome pair to watch, having alil trouble target feeding the shrimp but Im working something out.

How and where are you going to do your fuge placement and plumbing?

 

[Kittysnax]

Im not really sure yet to be honest. The Oceanic stand is awkward underneath so a 10Gallon cant be placed. We made a mod so that a 10 WILL fit, but only front-to-back ways. I might look around at a custom fuge or somthing, but that will be awhile. (I already spent WAY more $$$ than I budgeted for D

/shame on me

 

[mike13oy]

looks good. I have a 22" cube and i fit a 20g sump front to back but i have a side door.. works good for me and i think you should do the same to save you $$$.

hotwater9 is selling 2 w/b clowns for $50 and he is in Dickinson, Tx..

 

[Kittysnax]

Quick semi clear pics:

Right Side:

Front:

Left Side:

 

[Kittysnax]

UPDATE:
Not entirely crystal, but better than last night. I put on the HOB Octo Skimmer I got used locally. Its spewin micro bubbles and a few regular bubbles. bah. I also took off the AC70 and fuge modded it. Only I did not create a baffle for a heater or anything. Just more room. It is drying and hopefully will be ready in a day or so.

edit: The microbubbles have settled down alot. But i still see about 3 or so regular bubbles a second. Not a big deal since it has cleared the water up faster than the AC70 has LOL!

FTS:

Skimmate after a hour:

 

[flipside]

It'll do that at first. It will clear up "completely" after it breaks-in again. If not, I'll gladly buy it back.

 

[Kittysnax]

lol thanks flip! the micros have settled down. the only thing now is it doesnt seem to be skimming as much as it did when i put it on, but more than likely is because there is nothing TO skim. I bet as soon as my cycle is over and i start adding livestock it will start back up lol!

 

[Kittysnax]

Blar ditty blar! I was bored...moar pix...of the same shizz

FTS w/flash (cant wait for the litterbox cover to get here >_>):

Rockscape w/flash. Done to show the caves and stuffs:

Filtration. Octo BH100 Skimmer and a fuge-modded AC70. The plastic peice on the back of the filter is to clip a mini clamp lamp onto:

 

[flipside]

Wow! Tight squeeze! You going to turn the HOB carbon filter into a something with floss or macro in it?

I really like your rock work, too!

 

[Kittysnax]

I was planning on lowering the flow on the AC70 and putting a layer of sand in the bottom (a bigger particle than whats in the display), chaeto, and a clamp lamp. It seems like 90% of the nano community does this LOL

 

[Kittysnax]

Ok well Im slowly putting together my DIY Fuge/sump. I dont really plan on pullin the plug on the bulkhead until I get a overflow box. Ill probably order one from glassholes. I unno.

Here are some pics:

note the catbox cover! viola!

return pump...might be overkill, but I have a ball valve im gonna use

I also have the sand in the box ready to be cleaned and put in for the fuge ^_^

 

[fstar25]

It seems like you know what your doing, and I'm new to this so take my question with a grain of salt. But I notice your aquascape is touching both side walls. Won't this make cleaning quite difficult? just curious if you thought about it and don't care, or maybe just hadn't considered it.

Good luck with this setup, It looks great.

 

[Kittysnax]

Yea I changed it, just didnt update the pic LOL!
---
Took new readings today after what seemed like a teeny diatom bloom. It was weird cause it only affected the top pink rock. /shrugs

Ammonia: 0
NitrAte: 5.0-10
NitrIte: .50-1.0

 

[Kittysnax]

New lights came in! /yay!

I got this fixture:
http://fishneedit.com/150w-mhl-with-2-x-2bulbs-2ft-f150222.html

with a 20k MH bulb and 4 blues. I just have the MH on it right now since it was too wide front to back with all 3 fixtures together so I will probably be only using 1 actinic strip for supplimental blues when i get corals. I think the MH is fine for now though as it displays a HUGE blue spectrum, which I like alot!

FTS:

FTS closeup:

Pretty blue-hued sand. It actually has a light dusting of diatoms on it right now. I cant tell as much with this fixture lol!:

Over-exposed pink coralline rock. It has the most diatoms on it right now:

 

[mike13oy]

looks good. I dont think you need actinic light if you are running 20k.. Im running 250w 20k MH over my 22'' cube without any actinic..

 

[Kittysnax]

good to know LOL. I just told my husband id use them later so he wouldnt get mad at me for ordering the combo :<

 

[Kittysnax]

Well I went ahead and decided not to be too stupid in my purchases...seeing as how my impatience has gotten the best of me, I went home after looking, did some research, thought things over and went back to the store. Here is what I came home with......

1 Peppermint Shrimp
1 ORA False Percula Clown

Peppermint shrimp acclimating:

Peppermint Shrimp 'splorin:

ORA False Perc acclimating:

Snail Trails:

Zombie Snail nommin away:

I also think I may have some hair algae or Calothrix......I honestly have no idea I dont really wanna drop those big bad names because I could be over-reacting. Hopefully by the time the CUC gets here it will be a good time for them to start...

 

[Kittysnax]

Well, seems like he isnt a False Perc at all....but an Occ!

 

[Kittysnax]

Ok so I dumped em in and sure 'nough the clown had to peck at their heads a couple of times. It was so cute, but I felt kinda sorry for the lil guys! The clown quickly realized it wasnt a snack and left em alone, but noticed I was paying more attention to the crabs by trying to watch them....."Short Bus" wouldnt have any of that so he decided to swim up in my face over and over again...lil bastard.

The crabs seem to be doing well considering I just dumped them in. They havent touched the algae yet, but they have been sifting through the sand so I suppose that is a good sign. I hope they are hungry..... fingerscrossed

up close:

zoomed out:

cat pie?