My biocube 29 - Thoughts suggestions ect.

[mmenz22779]

Here is a piture of my new 29 gal biocube. I am now after really colorful fish that serve some type of purpose that do well in a 29 gal reef tank.



http://www.calportal.com/fish/phase%204/images/IMGP7388_JPG.jpg

http://www.calportal.com/fish/phase%204/images/IMGP7409_JPG.jpg

[JHall651]

Whats wrong with your GSP? What is Purple Cove?

[Sinful Aquatics]

Btw are you just looking for one more fish?

[mmenz22779]

Here is the thread i have on my GPS (this is the best it has looked for the past 2 weeks)

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16773611#post16773611

Sorry spelling error, i meant Blue Clove. I fixed the image as well.

[mmenz22779]

Sinful, yes i am something that is really bright, for example a yellow tang, or yellow angle fish ect..

I know not to put a tang in there but something that will really stand out, that is reef safe and i would like would contribute to the tank. Everything in there so far has a job to to. (Jawfish, Sandsifting Sea Star, Harliquin star, nass snails take care of my sand sifting, my crabs take care of the uneating stuff and my snails and Gobie take care of algea). anything else of suggestion please let me know. I have been researching.

[JHall651]

Is that power head in the top right the only one you have? What kind is that?

[mmenz22779]

No i have the stock powerhead on the left hand side.

I dont remember the brand and i threw the box away. It is made for a 5 gal tank, cost me 13.00. I did not want a high flow just something soft. It is cool though it has lots of attachments.

[JHall651]

well ya i figured you had your return pump. Im just talking about your additional power head. Just seems like not a whole lot of flow for the tank and corals. But Im a newb and other than the GSP your stuff looks healthy so...

[mmenz22779]

here are some small pics

<b>Phase I got lots of stuff from a trade</b>
http://www.calportal.com/fish/phase%201/thumbnails/IMGP6702_JPG.jpg<br>
http://www.calportal.com/fish/phase%201/thumbnails/IMGP6733_JPG.jpg<br>
<HR>
<b>Phase 2 (getting tank stable)</b>
http://www.calportal.com/fish/phase%202/thumbnails/IMGP6817_JPG.jpg<br>
http://www.calportal.com/fish/phase%202/thumbnails/IMGP6825_JPG.jpg<br>
<b>Frag stuck to my Urchin</b>
http://www.calportal.com/fish/phase%202/thumbnails/IMGP6838_JPG.jpg<br>
http://www.calportal.com/fish/phase%202/thumbnails/IMGP6837_JPG.jpg<br>
<hr>
<b>Phase 3 (Arrange the LR, added 30 lbs of LR and 25 lbs Live Sand)</b>
http://www.calportal.com/fish/phase%203/thumbnails/IMGP7082_JPG.jpg<br>
<hr>
<b>Phase 4 done</b>
http://www.calportal.com/fish/phase%204/thumbnails/IMGP7390_JPG.jpg<br>
http://www.calportal.com/fish/phase%204/thumbnails/IMGP7409_JPG.jpg<br>
http://www.calportal.com/fish/phase%204/thumbnails/IMGP7423_JPG.jpg

[mmenz22779]

Ya i was afraid of the flow to, but everything in the tank moves enough and is happy. I also tried to move the powerheads so the bounce off of the glass.

I to am new to salt water. I did fresh for nearly 20 years and wanted a change. plus the kids love it. I only started last month. I traded my 55 gal live stock and LED lights for a this guys esblished corals and LR. So i used his water and moved everything into my new Biocube, put in fresh sand and more LR, and added a few other coral.

The GSP is looking much better thanks to lots of help. This guys cost me 50 at the LFS and as soon as i get him home he closes up and does just now starts to open after lots of trouble shooting. LOL my wife comes home and asks me "YOU SPENT 50.00 ON A ROCK"?. Finally i can show her that there really is coral in there. :)

[JHall651]

Haha. That is funny I just called my LFS about buying a 3x3" rock of GSP and they told me 50 bucks too. I guess that is the going rate. I plan on placing mine right smack dab in the middle of my little "cove" I got going on so that it is not touching nothing else. I don't want it to get out of control but it is one of my favorite corals. I am going to wait about two more weeks before I do it though. I really love the Blue clove stuff though. I have never seen it before. I am going to check on it at my LFS. Its like purple coralline algae but prettier.

[mmenz22779]

yes i really like it to. It is hard to find from what i understand. If your LFS cannot get it i have seen it online. There is a mushroom in the middle of it as well. I got this big piece as part of a trade. He has already spread to a smaller LR i have near by.

[mmenz22779]

I really enjoy the soft coral and with BioCubes and the stock lighting Soft corals are the best one to have in the tank. I have a total of 72 watts of lighting.

[JHall651]

Cool, I have the Biocube 29 HQI with the 150 watt MH.

[mmenz22779]

I saw the HQI but I had bought my 29 gal 2 years ago and had it sitting. As you know the lighting is very low and i dont want to have a open top. So with that said, i have learned to keep low light coral, lucky for me mostof the low light coral are the ones i like anyway. I love soft corals the way they wave back and fourth.

[mmenz22779]

Last night i scrubed the GSP one more time with a soft toothbrush and hope that that makes him happy. As of this morning he closed back up. Guess I gotta wait again. SHESSHH this is one tempermental guy.

I will post pics as soon as he opens up.

[mmenz22779]

Fishinboy84-

Yes I have the stock lighting, (2) 36 watt lights, one is 10000k the other is 6000k.

It is working great for me. Of couse you can only have low light corals or non photosynthtic corals. So you are limited on your coral selections.

I like the soft corals anyway so it is fine with me. I dont want to mess with the look of the tank to upgrade the lights as you would have to remove the hood. My wife is happy with the way it looks and so am I .

So I just stay with the soft corals and selected hard. I have seen brains in people nano cubes. If you get nonphotsynthetic just remember you have to usally spot feed them. I am thinkg of getting one, but one that i dont have to spot feed.

You can see in my more pitures on my webpage in my sig or on the top of this thread, the corals are very healty and look good (with the exeption of the green star poylp) working on him.

The advice i would give you is if you are sticking with stock lighting then just look for lowlight to no light corals and you will be fine. There a big selection, maybe not at your LFS, but online there is lots and lots of different ones. Just dont get a clam and expect it to survive or look nice. You have to work with what you got.

I leave the lights on for 10 hours a day and i really dont have a algea issue, I do wipe the glass once a week, but I also have lots of guys in my tank that take care of the algea for me as well like 7-8 turbos, 15 or so misc snails, tuxedo urchin, emerald crabs, sea stars and shrimps. I am a big fan of inverts as they can make your life easier and they are fun to watch (at least for me) This weekend i am going to pick up a few more turbos and smaller snails and something else that is good at eating algea. I think the trick is to have diffent types of guys that do the same thing.

[mmenz22779]

The Urchin is fun to have but can make a mess, so if you do get one be sure that everything is firmly in place, as you can see a frag got stuck on him. I now have no more loose pieces in my tank, but my hermits still get stuck to him one in a while so i have to pull them off.

[Fishinboy84]

ok -1-24 Watt 10K Straight Pin Compact Fluorescent, 1-24W True Actinic 03 Straight Pin Compact Fluorescent. Remote quick-disconnect ballasts. Cooling Fans.
Night lights: Two Lunar Blue, .75 Watt Blue-Moon-Glow LED Lights -
that is what i have so just soft corals or non photosynthetic corals? this should be fine right?
I do have a brown algea problem though. what should i do about that?

[mmenz22779]

With 48 watts of light i would be very careful with what you buy. Research it but most soft guys should be fine, and non photosynth.. dont need light. Remember that the biggest role of the light provides is food in one way or anouther. If you have any coral that requires more light put them towards the top.

Brown algea is just one of those issues that everyone has. The best way to control it from what i know of (i am new to salt water as well) is make sure your nitrates are low.

I would not think your lighting is the issue. I would look into the inverts that specialize in algea eating but make sure they are reef safe. There are lots of them, cucumbers, urchins, snails, some fish, some star fish ect.. Crabs and shrimp are great at eating left overs as left overs can lead to a nitrate spike.

You will never be able to prevent the algea just control it. You might have to wipe you tank down 1-2 times a week.

[mmenz22779]

2 good sites

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/Invert%20Safe:%20Yes_c_261.html

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=597

[mmenz22779]

here are some made for nanos

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=597+2790

[fstar25]

Mmenz,
If you ever decide you want more light but want to stick with the stock look, go to nanotuners.com and check out there retro kits. They have LED kits as well as additional PC kits to add wattage and open up options. You are obviously very happy with what you have, I just wanted you to know about the retro kits.

Keep up the good work.

[mmenz22779]

thanks fstar I will keep that as a option. Thats the great thing about forums, is this. I love this hobby.

[mmenz22779]

Update

I decied to turn chamber 2 into a fuge, ordred my underwater light today, and going to LFS to pick up some macro. I am goint take out the LR and use the entire chamber as my fuge/media things.

Emerald crab killed 3 out of 4 of my feather dusters, but i got to keep the crabs as a part of my eco system, but i really like the feather dusters. The only thing i can think of is to some how elevate them so the crab cannot crawl on it. Maybe something that uses suction cups with a ledge then put the feather duster on it? here is my thread on the feather duster issue http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1817191

Looking to add to my algea eating snails but I want some that dont muliply, any suggestions let me know

looking for a very colorful fish preferabley yellow or bright orange that would be good for my tank any suggestions let me know please.

My GSP is starting to open again after i scrubbed him off i think he is going to be just fine.

Gonna add iodine and trace elements soon

I am after a kenya tree maybe next week after my coral dip gets here

Its been 4 weeks so far from set up. (75% of the things in here was from a esablished 3-4 year old tank from a trade i did)

Here is a full image of my tank (and my daugher playing with the child proof lock)
<hr>
http://www.calportal.com/fish/phase%204/images/IMGP7428_JPG.jpg<br>
<hr>
http://www.calportal.com/fish/phase%204/images/IMGP7409_JPG.jpg<br>
<hr>

I think i am done for now execpt for the kenya tree and something that is neon as well. Maybe a ric as well and 1-2 more very bright colorful fun fish. (ok i guess i am not done :)

How does my bioload look with my livestock? Do i have room to get 1-2 more fish?

please comments or suggestions let me know

[fstar25]

you can find some really sick neon rics online.

i think for fish most people will say 3-5 in this tank. im going to end up with 5. might be a little heavy but with good water husbandry it should be fine.

[dogstar74]

I loved this guy when I had one in my 20. Very fun fish to have.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/images/diversden/approved/0309101-327.jpg

But a yellow assessor is a good one too according to Michael Palletta.

[blennydude]

I have a oceanic 29 and have a yasha goby, pistol shrimp pair. I love watching them interact and the yasha is bright and small so produces very little waste. Sorry, don't have a pic of the pistol shrimp yet.

[mmenz22779]

Update:

I have captured the 5 of the Emeralds and am heading to the fish store to get credit for them, That leaves me with 1 or 2 left. Maybe this will help.

<hr>
http://www.calportal.com/fish/misc-1/imgp7550.jpg
<HR><br>

Fstar i am also really adament about my water as well. Presenlty i have 3 fish in here, 2 are bottom dwellers and "nemo" is the only one swimming. I am looking around. I really like the neon rics as well. soon one of these will be in my tank.

Dogstar That is is really nice looking fish. That something that i am looking for, nice and bright, reef safe and will be happy in my 29 gal.

blennydude I have one goby already too he as fun to watch. The pistol shriimp look real nice. I wonder how many shrimp i should have total. Presently I have 3

Suggestions?

[mmenz22779]

dogstar what kind of fish is that?

[mmenz22779]

Hey Dogstar just did a google for the yellow assessor looks like the go for around $100

wayy to high for me

[mmenz22779]

Hey Dog Never mind i found it
fireball anglefish for 80.00
still to high for a fish for me at the moment.

[mmenz22779]

Update to tank

Well I added 10 lbs more of live rock and 10bs of live sand. Bought a few more coral, added a new power head (k nano) modded the back to include chamber 1 is heater and polyfill in a media bag, widend the flow between chamber 1 and 2.

Chamber 2 have macro algea and underwater light, carbin in media bag, chemi pure in media bag, and filter floss

Chamber 3 took out the stock sponge and put in purechem in place if it.

for some reason I lost my blenny and jawfish, water para are normal.

Replaced 2 of my 5 feather dusters thanks to the emerald crabs using them for lunch (this is discussed in a different thread).

got rid of 4 out of 5 emerald crabs and my sand sifting star fish, added 1 cleaner shrimp.

I had to move things around and right now my tank is a complete mess. I think I have to many smaller LR in it. I glued my coral to the smaller LR then put that LR on top of the bigger LR so i can move it. Problem now is how to place the Smaller LR with out the tank looking crowded. I might have to remove some smaller LR.

I am kinda mad at myself for messing things up. Now I am not sure what to do. I want to grow either the GSP or the Blue Clove on the back wall so i dont have to keep scrubbing it.

I know GSP can get out of control if you dont watch it but i will keep an eye on it. I dont know if it will take hold of the backwall. I put the rock it is on agaist the wall and we will see if it grabs hold.

I guess i need to take everything out of the tank to reaquascape it. Kinda frustrated at this point though.

here is a pic of my mess. I want a clean look, what do you guys/gals think? to cluttered huh, or is there hope and it just depends on how to stack it.
<hr>
http://calportal.com/fish/misc-1/imgp8304.jpg

[Moonstream]

cherub angels look a lot like the african flameback that dogstar posted, but with the blue extending over the whole body with yellow just on the face and lighter blue edging the eyes and fins.

SeaLife.inc has them for around 16 bucks, and they seem to go for about twice that (I see them genereally for 30 bucks) in local stores.

[r_jay]

I think it has a lot of potential, I try to leave a big enough gap between the glass to pass the cleaning magnet. Once everything has been there for a while it will purple up and corals will spread making it look like one solid piece.

[mmenz22779]

Moon - i will shurly take a look.

R_Jay - Yes i too do the same thing as far as leaving a space between the glass and the rocks so I can scrub the glass easy. I was trying to keep everything from the back as well to try and scrub it but it is just to hard. I did start to reaquascape it last night and took a big piece of LR and put it against the wall along with my big peice of Blue Clove and my GSP. Maybe one of these will take hold and cover the back wall.

So far it is looking better, i did remove 2 smaller LR though for now to give more wiggle room. Still have more work to do this weekend.

[mmenz22779]

updated - Finished re-aquascaping

Well i am finally done and pleased of how it turned out. I was just playing around getting frustrated and all of a sudden things just fell into place. I am now really happy with how the set up turned out.

My goal was to push as much as i could agaist the back wall. (originally I wanted to keep the backwall clear so I could scrub it but then I ran out of room so I went ahead and scraped that idea and put things agaist it).

I put my GSP on the left bottom-middle corner so it can grow on my back wall. Not sure yet if this will stay. I made a cave in the middle by accident and am happy with it. My prize peice is my big blue clove is out front, I moved my tourch and frog spawn, bought new feather dusters, for some reason I did lose my peppermint shrimp, my blenny and jawfish. I think because I was really messing around with the tank there for a while and they just got too stressed out.

now things look like they are in the the right places. I added a k nano after tesing out other powerheads this one was the right one for my tank. I modded the back chambers with;

chamber 1 heater and polyfill.
chamber 2 macro algea, underwater light, carbon, purichem and filter floss
chamber 3 stock return pump and chemipure

everything else is still stock on the tank.

Added:
k nano
hynaphora esesa (coral)
Horn coral (coral)
birds nest (coral)
2 feather dusters

lost or removed
all emeralds (removed)
5 feather dusters (got ate by emeralds)
2 peppermint shrimp (lost)
algea blenny (lost)
jawfish (lost)
sand sifting star fish (removed)

Images

<hr><b>Original </b><br>
http://www.calportal.com/fish/misc-1/phase%201.jpg

<hr><b>After 1st attempt</b><br>

http://www.calportal.com/fish/misc-1/phase%204.jpg

<hr>

<b>Current</b><br>

http://www.calportal.com/fish/misc-1/phase%206.jpg<br>
and
http://www.calportal.com/fish/misc-1/phase%206-1.jpg<br>
and
http://www.calportal.com/fish/misc-1/phase%206-2.jpg<br>

[dogstar74]

Very nice 'scape.

The fish I posted was a Brazillian Flameback angel. You can tell by the blue tail. The African FB angel has a yellow to whitish tail. The carribean cherub angel is much less expensive as stated above at about 16 bucks for the fish. They are all pygmy angels and would do well in that size tank. I just like the coloration of the brazillian best.

Cheers
Aaron