# Build...29 Bio cube



## Roccus (Nov 1, 2013)

I thought I'd start this tanks own build instead of confusing it with the old 20 G bow front sea horse thread...

I started with a 29 Gallon bio cube... as an up grade for my 20 gallon bow front... as a new home for my Sea horses....

The built in sump and filtration appealed to me as I could add an ATO to have more stability in the tank.... The bio balls were replaced with a CPR Industries SR3 skimmer that fits perfectly in the middle chamber...it took the unit about a week to stop making micro bubbles and start pulling thick skimmate...it outperforms the Remora C HOB skimmer on the 20 .... next I made an acrylic retainer for the stock floss/carbon filter and hung it in first chamber in front of the intake... I'm not totally satisfied with it and will be working on a better solution.. I'll update...

a 100 w heater was placed in the first chamber and set to 75 degrees ( the max I would want) An Aqua C 2 stage controller( set to 73) controls the heater and ventilation fan( I added a 4" box fan blowing cool air from OUTSIDE the cabinet).. during months that I need cooling the controller is set to Chill ( thus controlling the fan)... in the winter it is set to heat .. the Chiller is an Aqua Euro USA 800 W .. the chiller is set to 73 and operates independently of the controller..

the stock 275 gph pump was replaced with a 325 gph Hydor to compensate for the head loss through the chiller... I feel it is still insufficient and will be looking for another to fit in the 3rd chamber that can produce about 500GPH... again I'll post when I figure it out...

I added a small ATO ( detailed in my 20 gallon bow front thread)..

the tank was initially fitted with about 20lbs of live Fiji rock... I added another 15lbs from the 20 G...

I wanted a natural environment for my ponies, recreating the Lagoon setting they originate from( their ancestors. Mine are tank bred)..I added 4 different macro algae's and 4 species of gorgonians to the tank... I moved the snails and the white leg hermit, coco worms as well as my fighting conch to the new home but exiled my tiger cowrie to the reef tank, it seems to have developed a taste for tube worms and gorgonians.. it will have to fend off hermit crabs there and wont have time for mischief!. My peppermint shrimps ( 3 of them) were the last ones to go.. they sure are slippery little critters when the tank is wide open!

I moved every thing on Sunday, starting by closely monitoring the Sg..Ca...Mg...dkh and PH in both tanks all week... when the parameters for each tank were as close as humanly possible, I siphoned 2 gallons from the 20G and topped off the tank about 1 pint at a time every 20 minutes... I repeated the siphoning /adding for 2 hours and made the switch... my normal feeding time is 6 Am... 9 Am and 4 Pm for the sea horses ( the reef only gets fed once a day at 4).. all 3 ponies ate like nothing had happened and all but one of the gorgonians( the purple ribbon) were extending their polyps...Everyone seems to be happy in their new home.. the ponies love going to the top of the "mountain" and hunt for living morsels in the macro's...


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## SantaMonica (Sep 19, 2008)

How are they doing?


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## Roccus (Nov 1, 2013)

SantaMonica said:


> How are they doing?


Quite well... well except the male... I lost him about a month after the switch... he stopped eating and became reclusive shortly after the move... the other two have grown to triple their original size...I added a pair of blue banded pipe fish ......2 emerald crabs to clean up some bubble algae that came in on one of the rocks..... I have one of the 2 original coco worms... again shortly after the move I lost one of them.... the macro algae does not seem to fare well in there...my assumption is that the water is a bit too clean and they do not have the nutrients they need to survive... they do well upstairs in the 20 G bow front with the scallop... but that gets 2 heavy feeding of phytoplankton daily and I think that is the difference... I may try it again soon now that the tank is maturing and starting to grow coralline algae... the mushroom colony has blossomed and is spreading all around the tank and on the sand...I'll post some pictures soon..it amazing to see how fish and invertebrates can be trained... when I shut off the pumps .. the sea horses move to the top of the tank waiting to be fed... the pipe fish come out from the rocks and go through an amazing ritual of swimming upside down and at right angles waiting for the food to be dispersed... of coarse the peppermint shrimp are front and center... even the emerald crabs sneak out of hiding to look for scraps...

speaking of pumps... I found a hydor 700 that fits perfectly in the chamber....my only filtration is the skimmer... a factory foam filter and a bag of matrix carbon that is in the pump chamber... I added a fine screw to the intake to isolate the pipe fish that have an affinity to caves...


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## Roccus (Nov 1, 2013)

The tank is do for it's weekly cleaning and rearranging.. thus some of the hitching post are lying on their sides... these guy's pull their smaller hitching posts out of the sand almost daily... these pictures were taken at feeding time ( thus the snowy look as the food drifts down).. they get fed a 1/2 cube of Hakari Mysis ( smaller size) and 1/16 of a cube of Cyclops( for the gorgonians and pipe fish).. twice a day...the purple ribbion gorgonians are in shed right now and are not as attractive as they could be.. if you look around you will see most of the tank inhabitants come running when I ring the dinner bell ( turn of the pumps)


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## Roccus (Nov 1, 2013)

those little green specks ( there is also some bubble algae remaining but my emerald crabs are on the job) on the sand are sea horse poop... it needs to be vacuumed up every few days...


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