Heidi's 150 gallon Cube

BlakeT said:
How have I missed this thread for so long? Great looking tank! I'm a big fan of larger cube tanks and this one is no exception. Great variety of corals and great pictures! That mushroom 3 pics up is pretty crazy looking.
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Awww thanks so much BlakeT!! Yes we love our cube for sure. My favorite thing is that where you sit in the room determines what tank you see. 3 tanks in one!! :)
As for why you missed me, maybe it's cause nobody ever posts in my thread... I update and hear crickets... Thanks for noticing and the lovely complement!! It means a lot to me :)
Heidi
 
Your tank is looking great, good job with everything....and that new camera really brings out the colors and detail of your fish and corals. :)
 
Roller Coaster.. of reef hehe

So the crushed coral just had to go. It looked so dirty, it was holding phosphates and nitrates and leaching out calcium...(can't prove that but my calcium was never under 500 and my alk was never high enough to make that ok) It was just crap, I should have been patient and bought good sand first thing...but alas.. so here is this part of the month in pictures...
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Yup you read that right. I'm still not sure how since I did take out the sand over the course of 2 weeks. But during the last "sucking out" of the sand bed both of these tangs were super stressed and when the "sand cleared" the next day I found them both dead. All the other fish and coral were fine. A couple days later I noticed a Pocillopora starting to loose flesh, it stopped after a couple of days and is now just one little "bump" on the whole piece. everything else has been fine.
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I replaced the crap with "sugar sized" Caribsea sand. I used only 2 30 pound bags and haven't decided if I want more or not yet. It is very white and looks GREAT imo but it does like to shift around because I have a lot of flow.

So I was thinking I would get a little diatom bloom..hehe YEAH I think I kicked my tank into a full out cycle. My Nitrates spiked to 40ppm, I had some MAD corals and phosphates were really high too. Most of my coral got pretty browned out so in the following pictures its still coming back. My phosphates are back down at zero and my Nitrates are on there way down as well. (20 to 30 yesterday) I am slowly getting color back and tomorrow when I do a water change I am thinking that will help even more with the nitrates. So here are the photos I took today. Enjoy!
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Left side
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right side
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front
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Thanks as always for looking and following along in my journey. What a ride.
Heidi
 
Sorry to hear about the couple of losses. Sounds like the biological stability went completely haywire, which is expected considering the situation.

Overall, I think it looks 1000% better. THat had to be alot of work.
 
Thanks a lot. My nitrates are down to 20 now.. Phosphates are undetectable so stuffs coloring back up and getting happy again.
Heidi
 
tank looks awesome.. i too am a big fan of the big cube tanks.. Sorry bout ur loses.. but keep up the good work with ur tank..:)
 
Thanks guys! I picked up a diamond goby today to sift the sand good and keep it nice and white :). Hoping that and the sand sifting star will do the trick. I started with the one goby but happy corals getting some in next week so I may buy it a girlfriend if it seems lonely :D gotta live fish couples!

Heidi
 
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