New tank that's been through a lot!

mandarine65

mandarine65

Member
I have had my tank up and running for two months now. Made the classic mistake of adding stuff too quickly. My lfs didn't say we should cycle the tank with just one fish. After two weeks with just live rock we added a couple of snails, two yellow-tail damsels, a tomato clown, a coral beauty and a xenia attached to a rock with what I think is star polyp. The star polyp we didn't have to pay for since the xenia we wanted was attached to it. Two for one
!! Well, they lasted for a couple of weeks and then naturally, they started dropping like flies. We went back to the store and were told it would be ok to replace the fish we lost with a couple of anemones, a pom pom xenia, another coral beauty and a percula clown, and a scarlet shrimp. We lost the second coral beauty and the clown fish. I finally convinced by hubby that we should let it sit with just the corals, anemones and snails for a while. After just two weeks hubby wanted to more fish for the baby (the aquarium was our 3 year-olds birthday gift). I put my foot down and said just one little guy. We got a purple pseudochromis. After two more weeks we added the banggai cardinal (this Sunday). Well, here we are:W
Oh yeah, somewhere along the line we added frogspawn and a plug with some zoanthids.
We almost lost the [pulsing?] xenia once. It was drooping, turning white and it looked dead. But it came back and was doing really great, in fact, when I moved the rock it and the star polyp was on, I accidently tore off a piece that had spread to another rock. Now I have two
!! They looked really good and were growing quickly, but now they have taken a turn for the worst once again.
The pom pom xenia has been doing great until earlier this week when it started shrinking. It had really grown a lot. Now it looks very sad. The fish store guy gave me some iodine and said it would help my corals. He said to be really careful with it though since it can also kill everyone if I use too much.
I've got some alage that I'm dealing with. The fuzzy green stuff that I scrubbed off of the hard, stag coral and some brown algae on the sand. The fish guy gave me some stuff for that too.
This anemone seems to be doing very well, except that I dont know what kind he is. My other anemone is a pink tipped hatian reef anemone. He's doing ok.
Every one else seems to be doing ok. The zoanthids closed up for almost a week, but they appear to be begining to open up again. I moved their plug. When they were open you could hardly see the plug. I'm hopping they will completely cover it eventually.
I struggled with the specific gravity in the begining, but it has been pretty stable for about a month now. All other parameters have been perfect, so I'm not sure why all the drama.
Anyway, I know this is a very long post so I'm going to cut it off here even though I could go on and on. I would appreciate any advise, comments, suggestion etc. Thanks all - I wish I had found this site two months ago!
 
invertcrazy

invertcrazy

Member
welcome to the boards.
Ok first- cycling the tank should be started with a piece of uncooked table shrimp. By using damsels or other fish is not a good idea because ammonia burns the gills of the fish. Also if they survive the cycle people soon realize that damsels are very aggressive and territorial and want to get them out of their tanks but can't catch them. Ammonia and nitrites are very toxic to fish and inverts. With that being said and your tank up and running over two months now it should be done cycling.
Now the anemones- what kind of lights do you have? Anemones require
T5HO(high output) or Mh(metal halide) lights. Anemones get 90% of their food from the lights so the right lights is a must for keeping anemones.Also they should be put into a well established tank of 6 or 8 months or older. If you have powerheads be sure to cover the intakes. Anemones move when unhappy and make a mess when they get sucked into a powerhead. A filter sponge or piece of nylon mesh wrapped around the intake works well. They will move if the light or water movement is not right and roam until they feel comfortable. Also if they start moving keep an eye on the corals as both the anemones and corals can sting each other. Anemone in first pic looks like a long tentacle or a condy. Hard to tell without seeing more of it. Pink tip hiatian looks bleached. This is what happens when kept under wrong lighting probably at local fish store.
This is just my opinion and i'm sure someone else will add their .02 also.
I know it's hard with a 3yr old but try to do as much research as you can and ask a lot of questions. I'm sure someone on the site will have an answer. There is a lot of great people on here with lots of knowledge.
hope this helps
 
invertcrazy

invertcrazy

Member
Just one more thing, when adding chemicals to the tank (i.e. iodine or calcium etc) you should have a test kit for it so you don't overdose the tank and should be tested regularly.
 
mandarine65

mandarine65

Member
Thank you for your input. The lights description in the owner's manual says that there are (3) 75 watt Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow LED lights (these stay on automatically, 24-7), (1) 36 watt True Antinic 03 Blue straight pin, and (1) 36 watt 10,000k Daylight straight pin. I have no idea what any of that means, but this is what it looks like:
I don't know if I have power heads. What I do know is that water goes through these two openings in the back of the tank:
One set is at the top and one at the bottom. I have tried not to block them with rocks. The water from these goes into the first compartment, through a filter cartridge and into the second compartment which contains bioballs and then into a third compartment which contains the 106 gph pump. Does all this sound adequate for my guys?
I had been taking my water to the fs on a regular basis to have them test it for me (and its always been good) but this past weekend when I picked up the iodine and algaecide, I also picked up some test strips (which I now hear aren't that accurate) so I can test myself more often. I misread the algaecide instructions which said to use it once every three days, I thought it said once a day for three days. So I used it two days in a row before I caught my error.
I have also been giving the corals and anemones PhytoPlex. This is all I was told I needed to feed them. Is this correct? Thanks once again.
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
Unfortunately those anemones will most likely die, because of your lighting. Not only that but you should not add an anemone until your tank has been stable for a minimum of 6 months. Take them back. Biocubes can do a lot of things but keeping anemones is not one. Also you should add at least one koralia 1 for additional flow as the Biocubes pumps are terribly underpowered. Feel free to stop by the nano forum where many people have biocubes and can show you ways to get the most out of them. Again I would take the anemones back today.
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
Also stop dosing everything. Buy your own test kits, salifert are the best. Once your tank is stable without you adding any chemicals than you can see what/if you have any deficiencies that need to be corrected. I hate when lfs' lead people astray trying to sell them everything they don't need
Like I said before, take a look at the nano forum, at least 20 people with the same tank
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
If they don't, never go there again. Find a new fish store. They should have never sold them to you with an unestablished tank, and your current lighting set-up.
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
Sure anytime, I used a pair of pliers and bent the piece I wanted to remove. I also converted the 2nd chamber into a refugium but that may be a little much for now. Good luck.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Rule #1
Read everything you can on the subject of keeping a marine aquarium from those authors that are trusted scholars in the hobby. I suggest getting a book entitled "The Nano Reef Handbook" by Chris Brightwell. After reading that you can move up into some of the more "technical" books by Bob Fenner, Eric Bornemann.
Rule #2
99% of the time do not listen to what the LFS tells you.
Rule #3
The other 1% of the time do not act on what they tell you until you go and check out their recommendations from other sources.
Rule #4
Always remember while they seem like they have your best interest at heart, they don't. They are in a business where they don't make a lot of money and will sell you just about anything.
Rule #4
Listen to any advice given on these boards carefully, and then get multiple opinions on the subject and develop your own scenario from the information.
Rule #5
Your tank needs nothing added to it from a dosing perspective. All problems with algae, let me repeat that, all problems with algae are a result of too many nutrients in the tank. Reduce the amount of available nutrient ant the algae will go away. As for Iodine and any other chemical additives you tank will get everything it needs to replenish the used up items from a good salt mix and a good water change schedule. Somtime down the road whenif you get into more demanding coral you may need to dose something(s).
Rule #6
Never, Never, Never dose anything without first having tested you water for it.
Rule #7
Test strips are not worth the paper they are printed on. Get yourself a good kit for testing ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and ph. These are the items you will be most in need of untilif you get into more demanding coral.
Rule #7
Swing arm hydrometers are junk, floating hydrometers are better, calibrated temperature compensating refractometers are the best.
Your anemones will not live under the stock lighting supplied with the biocube. Take them back, even if it for 1/2 the cost credit. Stop adding livestock, get reading everything you can about equipment and animal husbandry. Get some good test kit(s) and use them often so that you can learn to use them correctly and see what is going on in your tank. Remember to top off your tank with some good clean RODI or distilled water. As water evaporates out of the tank, salt concentrates and drives up the salinity.
I could go on and on here but I think the most important things are stop what you are doing, and read, read, read.
JMO FWIW
 
mandarine65

mandarine65

Member
Thanks. I bought a book from B&N last week. They really didn't have a lot to choose from on SW Aquariums. Do you have any suggestions for specific books I can look for at Amazon?
 
socal57che

socal57che

Active Member
Originally Posted by mandarine65
http:///forum/post/2794698
Thanks. I bought a book from B&N last week. They really didn't have a lot to choose from on SW Aquariums. Do you have any suggestions for specific books I can look for at Amazon?
There's a thread concerning reading material floating around here somewhere. I'll see if I can find it and post a link.
"The Conscientiuos Marine Aquarist" by Robert Fenner is a great start.
 
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