Biocube 29, and need advice getting started.
- Thread starter Will H.
- Start date
Will H.
New Member
Hey Everyone, Thank you for all the help thus far, its really starting to come together now. So it was about a month ago when i last posted and since then ive made quite a few changes Based on the issues i had, and the advice everyone put forth and the research i did. Right now in my tank i have 1 Emerald Crab, 2 nassiurus snail (although i havent seen the larger 1 for about a week), 2 red leg hermits, 2 beautiful clowns, 1 skunk cleaner shrimp, 1 green brittle starfish (whom hitchiked into my tank through the live rock and is still going strong) and my new favorite 1 ruby red dragonette. For corals i have a few green mushrooms and a colony of green star polyps. Besides livestock i have made a few alterations and additions to my tank, first off i added a Koralia 850 power head, JBJ ATO with a 6 gallon RO/DI reservoir. I also moved my thermometer into the first compartment in the back of the tank and i took out the carbon filter and bio balls from the second container, i instead added cheato, small pieces of live rock, and some pods (tisbe). For the lighting on the back of the tank i have a Ray Fuge 10k + actinic led light bar. the tank is also now on a timed power strip, the inside tank is on 12 and back is on 12.
Levels are doing good minus the amonia spike that popped up yesterday but that was expected since i added 1 clown, red ruby, star polyp colony and red hermits at the same time. Everything is currently 0.00 except ammonia which is at .5, i will be watching to see how the chatoe handles the nitrates as it breaks down and am prepared for a waterchange if necessary. the tank is clear, and the red hermits have cleared out almost all of the hair algea which was growing on the rocks. Calcium is a tish high at 500ppm and dkh is at 11. temp is stable now at 79-80 (thanks for the tip on the ATO and Powerhead).
I was a little worried about not having an established tisbe population in the tank so i may have pod overloaded but i added 1 8oz bag of tisbe the the fuge and one to the main display, i have noticed the ruby red pecking at the rocks so i am taking that as a good sign. anyways let me post some pictures and like always please put forth any advice you may have.
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kopczynski
Member
How much did you lye for the ruby red if you mind me asking?
Will H.
New Member
Nope I don't mind, I bought him the day I bought about 300$ worth of equipment so I think he sold me the Ruby for 35$
kopczynski
Member
yeah I want to get one, but idk if I have pods. There were some in my tank at one point but idk if my four line wrasse ate them.
Will H.
New Member
Hey, You should go ahead and get one. I was throwing alot of pods into my tank to make sure there was enough but I began wondering if i was going overboard (i was adding 1-2 bags every 1.5 weeks of tisbe). Then when I went to talk to my fish guy he recomended that i feed him "Cyclop-eeze" Frozen cyclops. I was very leary but then he prepared some and not only did the majority of his corals and mushrooms eat it, every fish (including the red ruby) in the fish tanks went crazy for it too. I brought it home and sure enough, not only has he been eating it, he has become alot less skidish, he actually comes out of the rocks when i come to the tank now. Now i add a tiny piece of the frozen cube to my brine and mysis cup when i thaw meals.
He was deff worth it, not only do i sneak over to the tank every time i see him pop out, every one who comes over notices and comments on him. Even children choose the ruby as there favorite over the two clowns i have.
Will H.
New Member
Okay, i know i am bad at getting on here and posting updates other than when i need help. I am sorry I am a full time nursing student and a single father so when im not doing homework or hanging out with my 3 year old I am tending my tank or having some quite time. With that being said I am here for help again.
I May be over reacting but i think there is a problem with my tank. I am going to go through my problems one at a time. (see all of my tank info to include water parameters, light schedule, inhabitants... at the bottom of this blog)
#1.) Water Quality - I am starting to become slightly confused with my water quality. My Nitrates and Nitrites have never gone over 0.0 (last water check it looked as though the nitrates may have been a tish higher than 0.0 but not significant to show a full color change). My ammonia is always 0.25, one time it went up to .5 but i did a water change and it was right back to 0.25. Every thing i am reading says that ammonia needs to be 0.00 and nitrates and nitrites can be no higher than 0.1. *****Anyways i guess my question is in regards to the nitrifying bacteria. Do i not have enough, or am i worrying myself over nothing? I feel like if there is a constant ammonia level the nitrifying bacteria should be reproducing at a rate that they are using it just as quickly as it is being produced.********
#2.) I am having an algae outbreak... again. I am not sure what is wrong as my water quality is good (Again, see tank info at the bottom of the tank please). I clean my glass about 2 times a week (by hand). And i use the magnetic glass cleaner about 2-3 times a week. I have a refugium in the back which is lit up opposite of the main display and is filled with the spaghetti algae (chaeto). I really seems to be doing good, but it has only reduced the speed of agae growth in the tank. I have continually added to my cleanup crew in hopes in hopes of getting par with the algae. i dont want to add to many cleaners only to have them all starve later. Right now i have 4 red hermits, an unknown hermit (maybe someone can identify him, he is a bit larger, and is blueish with spots and the tips of his claws are whitish yellow, i got him as part of a deal, a friend gave me his biocube skimmer because he was getting rid of his tank but i had to take his last living inhabitant in return... the hermit). I also have a pistol shrimp and yellow watchman (for substrate aeration) 1 or 2 nassirus snails (i only ever see one at a time), 1 pepermint shrimp (there was a skunk cleaner shrimp also but i haven't seen him for about a week ... since i added the pistol shrimp, and ive read online that the pistol shrimp will stun/kill and eat the skunk shrimp), and 2 emerald crabs. I have also noticed that the chaeto algae could use a trimming but I am not sure how much i should throw out, and i am not sure if that will cause the algae in my display tank to grow even faster. I am also noticing specs floating around my tank and i think i should do another water change but i just did one Jan 22nd and I dont know if I should just let my tank go for a little bit longer before i do another change as i tend to freak and clean anytime this happened in the past.
#3.) Mushroom Coral - So i bought a beautiful colony of metallic green mushrooms which were doing great in my tank at first, (this was about a month ago before i got anything else or set up the fuge) I was having a hard time stabilizing my pH and was told by the BBS that i could add this pH buffer/stabalizer which said "safe for marine and coral aquariums" on it. I added it to my tank and the mushrooms instantly shot out a large amount of mucus (i thought they were dying but later found out it was a toxic defense mechanism). the mushrooms then closed up, and have not fully expanded since. They originally expanded fully, but now they wont even attempt it, they look about the same day or night give or take 1 or 2 mm of expansion. I have done everything i moved them to a shadier area in the back of the tank with no success, i then created a shelf to shade them which made no difference, i have since just left them alone in the back of the tank. they have still not changed in condition and this has now been well over a month. Since then i have added a Green star polyp colony, 1 Ricordea mushroom, 1 very small Miami Vice colony (bout 6 polyps), and a week ago i added my first LPS ... a Galaxia. Everything else seems to be doing just fine, ****altough the star poly is not always active, some days there all open, some days half, some days less***.
#4.) Deaths - In the past month and a half I have lost a few inverts, 1 emerald crab about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and 1 or 2 hermits around the same time. I havent lost any inverts since, except for the shrimp which is odd because the pepermint is doing fine. The other odd thing is that the Skunk was doing great he was growing rapidly and was molting about once ever other week which is why i think something else ate him.
I am still enjoying this tank i just wish I knew more. I know, i know.... i should read more, (incoming excuse) but between a 3 yr old and school there's not much time (i wish i would have taken up this hobby years ago, although i would have never been able to afford it then).
So i am going to attach screen shots of all my tank information, (i log it in excel and i cant upload documents in here). I based my excel off of the information that **Snakeblitz** said anyone requesting help should provide.
I May be over reacting but i think there is a problem with my tank. I am going to go through my problems one at a time. (see all of my tank info to include water parameters, light schedule, inhabitants... at the bottom of this blog)
#1.) Water Quality - I am starting to become slightly confused with my water quality. My Nitrates and Nitrites have never gone over 0.0 (last water check it looked as though the nitrates may have been a tish higher than 0.0 but not significant to show a full color change). My ammonia is always 0.25, one time it went up to .5 but i did a water change and it was right back to 0.25. Every thing i am reading says that ammonia needs to be 0.00 and nitrates and nitrites can be no higher than 0.1. *****Anyways i guess my question is in regards to the nitrifying bacteria. Do i not have enough, or am i worrying myself over nothing? I feel like if there is a constant ammonia level the nitrifying bacteria should be reproducing at a rate that they are using it just as quickly as it is being produced.********
#2.) I am having an algae outbreak... again. I am not sure what is wrong as my water quality is good (Again, see tank info at the bottom of the tank please). I clean my glass about 2 times a week (by hand). And i use the magnetic glass cleaner about 2-3 times a week. I have a refugium in the back which is lit up opposite of the main display and is filled with the spaghetti algae (chaeto). I really seems to be doing good, but it has only reduced the speed of agae growth in the tank. I have continually added to my cleanup crew in hopes in hopes of getting par with the algae. i dont want to add to many cleaners only to have them all starve later. Right now i have 4 red hermits, an unknown hermit (maybe someone can identify him, he is a bit larger, and is blueish with spots and the tips of his claws are whitish yellow, i got him as part of a deal, a friend gave me his biocube skimmer because he was getting rid of his tank but i had to take his last living inhabitant in return... the hermit). I also have a pistol shrimp and yellow watchman (for substrate aeration) 1 or 2 nassirus snails (i only ever see one at a time), 1 pepermint shrimp (there was a skunk cleaner shrimp also but i haven't seen him for about a week ... since i added the pistol shrimp, and ive read online that the pistol shrimp will stun/kill and eat the skunk shrimp), and 2 emerald crabs. I have also noticed that the chaeto algae could use a trimming but I am not sure how much i should throw out, and i am not sure if that will cause the algae in my display tank to grow even faster. I am also noticing specs floating around my tank and i think i should do another water change but i just did one Jan 22nd and I dont know if I should just let my tank go for a little bit longer before i do another change as i tend to freak and clean anytime this happened in the past.
#3.) Mushroom Coral - So i bought a beautiful colony of metallic green mushrooms which were doing great in my tank at first, (this was about a month ago before i got anything else or set up the fuge) I was having a hard time stabilizing my pH and was told by the BBS that i could add this pH buffer/stabalizer which said "safe for marine and coral aquariums" on it. I added it to my tank and the mushrooms instantly shot out a large amount of mucus (i thought they were dying but later found out it was a toxic defense mechanism). the mushrooms then closed up, and have not fully expanded since. They originally expanded fully, but now they wont even attempt it, they look about the same day or night give or take 1 or 2 mm of expansion. I have done everything i moved them to a shadier area in the back of the tank with no success, i then created a shelf to shade them which made no difference, i have since just left them alone in the back of the tank. they have still not changed in condition and this has now been well over a month. Since then i have added a Green star polyp colony, 1 Ricordea mushroom, 1 very small Miami Vice colony (bout 6 polyps), and a week ago i added my first LPS ... a Galaxia. Everything else seems to be doing just fine, ****altough the star poly is not always active, some days there all open, some days half, some days less***.
#4.) Deaths - In the past month and a half I have lost a few inverts, 1 emerald crab about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and 1 or 2 hermits around the same time. I havent lost any inverts since, except for the shrimp which is odd because the pepermint is doing fine. The other odd thing is that the Skunk was doing great he was growing rapidly and was molting about once ever other week which is why i think something else ate him.
I am still enjoying this tank i just wish I knew more. I know, i know.... i should read more, (incoming excuse) but between a 3 yr old and school there's not much time (i wish i would have taken up this hobby years ago, although i would have never been able to afford it then).
So i am going to attach screen shots of all my tank information, (i log it in excel and i cant upload documents in here). I based my excel off of the information that **Snakeblitz** said anyone requesting help should provide.
Attachments
honu808
Member
I do water changes weekly. The minerals and such in the salt mix get consumed by corals etc. To me you added alot way to fast, again thats just my thoughts.
I always place new purchases in qt tank first for several weeks. That does two things; ensures no unhealthy or diseased fish get added and also lets your tank bacteria catch up between additions. Good luck and keep us posted.
I always place new purchases in qt tank first for several weeks. That does two things; ensures no unhealthy or diseased fish get added and also lets your tank bacteria catch up between additions. Good luck and keep us posted.
pegasus
Well-Known Member
I think 27 more snails will help with your film algae problem, but not many critters have a taste for the hair algae growing on the rock. My emerald crab munches on it, but not enough to make any difference. It grows too fast, so I'm manually plucking it with hemostats. You should have some of those laying around. It's strange that you have ammonia present, but no nitrite or nitrate. It's usually the latter. The mushrooms could have had a bad reaction to the PH treatment, especially if they were in the line of fire when it was added. Broad swings in PH can have devastating effects, so it must be raised s-l-o-w-l-y, just as salinity. As far as harvesting chaeto, you should remove enough so there's room for new growth. The old growth contains nitrate and phosphate that it has removed from the water, and removing it effectively removes those nasties from the system. Try removing 1/4 of it and see how long it takes to fill in. If it fills in within a week or so, you're removing just the right amount. It probably would help to take the chaeto out of the fuge and give a rinse every once in a while. That residue that's built up on it will actually hinder it's ability to absorb nitrate, phosphate, and even ammonia. Old saltwater is good for rinsing, RO/DI water, distilled water, or a super quick rinsing in tap water. Chaeto is tough, so it could probably make it through a cycle in the washing machine. Don't try it in the washing machine, I'm just saying it's tough...
Will H.
New Member
2
So I did another water change and i trimmed out alot of the Chaeto, its looking much better now. But 27 snails, wouldnt that be to many for a 29g tank?
pegasus
Well-Known Member
+1. A variety of snails covers different problem areas. Some snails eat detritus, some eat leftover food, some eat algae, and some eat combinations of these things. Diversity equals a clean tank. Nassarius, Cerith, Turbo/Astrea, and Nerite snails are good choices for a CUC. I also use Hermit Crabs, an Emerald Crab, a large sand sifting sea star, and a large Serpent Sea Star in my 125. My 40 has only snails and hermits... and a small sand sifting sea star. One snail per gallon may seem like a lot, but it really isn't for a stocked tank. You may not need that many now, but it's a good idea to have close to that once the tank reaches capacity. I generally purchase 100 or so snails each year, as there are some fatalities and some predation from the hermits. I usually take a rough estimate after the tank's been dark an hour or two, as this is when the most activity occurs. If I don't see as many as I think I should, I add them to my "things-to-do" list.
silverado61
Well-Known Member
If you don't mind my asking, what brand of marine test kit are you using?
Will H.
New Member
Thanks Pegasus, I took your advice and it has definitely helped. I added 10 Astrea, 5 more Nassarius, and 1 Mexican Turbo. I also added a 5 more sm hermits, and 4 Scarlet hermits, and a small sand sifting star.
Will H.
New Member
API Master Reef, and API Master Marine