Jump to content
Cultivated Reef

MSS's Biocube 14 Adventure


deligirlmss

Recommended Posts

You really think it's because the heater is too big?

 

I'm having a similar problem in my 14g and I also have a 75 watt heater. At night the temps swing by +/-2, which is all about the heater. I can't even talk about how crazy it's been during the day, but we've gone from 95 to 55 to 85 just in the last few weeks up here in NYC and I don't have central air so controlling the temp has been a struggle.

 

Since the temps have started getting lower here in Florida, my temp has been staying stable. I'm thinking about maybe next summer investing in a smaller heater. Since you're in NY, I imagine it won't be to warm for much longer.

Link to comment
  • Replies 60
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Well change of plans on the corals. Mr.Coral doesn't encourage shipping on Fridays, that means I had to ask my boss to give me half of the day off on Thursday. I wanted to post some pictures of the frags I'm expecting to receive. Also the new guy at my LFS said that adding all of these frags at once is going to be a really big bioload. That one coral is like one fish? That makes me think I'm going to need to set up a little quarantine tank so I can slowly add corals to my display tank. Plus my LFS finally got in the tailspot blenny that I wanted. If it starts eating at the store, should I take it home this weekend or wait until a few weeks after I add all of the frags? I'm not sure if my LFS will hold the blenny for me for that long. What to do, what to do?

 

Anyways, the corals I ordered :)

 

post-45018-1318555283_thumb.jpg

post-45018-1318555305_thumb.jpg

 

post-45018-1318555463_thumb.jpg

post-45018-1318555498_thumb.jpg

 

post-45018-1318555581_thumb.jpg

post-45018-1318555604_thumb.jpg

 

post-45018-1318555666_thumb.jpg

post-45018-1318555692_thumb.jpg

Link to comment

post-45018-1318555758_thumb.jpg

post-45018-1318555803_thumb.jpg

 

post-45018-1318555898_thumb.jpg

post-45018-1318555924_thumb.jpg

 

post-45018-1318555981_thumb.jpg

 

Nice order. My sympodium is one of my favorites :)

 

What's the 4th picture? I like it too.

 

The 4th one is an alien eye chalice, I'm excited about acans and favia. :) Any tips on tank placement and care for the sympodium?

Link to comment

I likes it a lot.

 

As for the sympodium, I have mine in the sand in moderate flow. It seems really happy there. How many frags did you order??

 

Nvm, 13 to get free shipping. Duh. :lol:

Link to comment

Looking good so far. I love my biocube 14 :)

 

You should be fine adding all the corals at once. There is no way a coral is the same bioload as a fish. I've added several frags at once to my BC 14 without any issues. Plus the frags you get from Mr Coral are tiny so I doubt they will impact the bioload at all.

Link to comment

Is the first picture, of the blue coral, sympodium???? I like it a lot! I'll have to do some research on it.

 

I don't see any problem with adding the tailspot this weekend. You're going to love the fish..they have such a great personality

Link to comment

Looking good so far. I love my biocube 14 :)

 

You should be fine adding all the corals at once. There is no way a coral is the same bioload as a fish. I've added several frags at once to my BC 14 without any issues. Plus the frags you get from Mr Coral are tiny so I doubt they will impact the bioload at all.

 

 

That's what I thought. The frags are super small.

 

 

 

Thank you , Builder Anthony! Can favia be placed next to each other? I know they can be aggressive to other corals. Also I see alot of pictures of them placed on the sand. I'm working with pc lighting at the moment, I was thinking of placing them mid to higher up in the tank.

Link to comment
Is the first picture, of the blue coral, sympodium???? I like it a lot! I'll have to do some research on it.

 

I don't see any problem with adding the tailspot this weekend. You're going to love the fish..they have such a great personality

 

I'm pretty sure it is sympodium. I asked the guy to feed it and it wasn't interested in the food. They got it in last night though. They have it on a hold for me, I'm going back to the store tomorrow, hopefully it will be eating by then.

Link to comment

Well while I'm waiting on my boyfriend to buy me my LED upgrade, I'm thinking of adding one of the ecoxotic Stunner LED strips. I feel like my corals are going to need more than my stock lighting. The question is which strip I should get for coral growth? I'm looking at getting the smaller strip, just don't know what color to choose.

 

My choices are,

453nm Blue, 8,000°K White/453nm Blue, 8,000°K White, 403nm UV, Magenta, Magenta/12,000°K, 445nm Royal Blue, or Magenta/453nm Blue

Link to comment

I think I remember reading that the stunner strips aren't for coral growth, but more so for adding color. You might want to look into that before you make the purchase. I just purchased the panorama pro LEDs from them and while I was looking into those I think I remember reading that about the stunner strips.

Link to comment

Yeah stunners won't help much with light they just add some color. Panorama pro strips are great and give off a lot of light. I actually replaced my stock lighting with 2 panorama pro strips.

Link to comment
Builder Anthony

I kind of stoped back here to check out the frags you have but didnt see anything posted.From my understanding some people place two differnt favias next to each other in hopes of ataining a new form of favia.Its called gafting they cut tem then place them next to each other.I would try reading up on it in case im miising anything on the subject.I havent placed any favias right next to each other in my own experiences.Hope to see what you got in the tank there when shipping arrives.Hopefully it wont be disapointing.IM considering placceing a order of the same favias you got but i guess ill see.

Link to comment
I'm having a few problems with the tank though. I've had a diatom bloom for about a week now, and I have no idea why, since my levels all tested just fine at the lfs a day before the bloom. Also I can't seem to keep the temp where I want it. I'm having a temp swing from 77 to 81. I'm thinking it might be because I have a 75watt heater instead of a 50watt? My water level in my back chambers is also getting low faster than I think it should. Yet my salinity is just fine, according to my hydrometer. I'm taking water to the lfs store tomorrow to get my params checked out.

 

Looking back at my first month of the tank being up and running, I would do a few things differently.

 

1.) No Gulf Rock- Too many hitchhikers, and no place to put corals. Good for a FOWLR in my opinion.

2.) Get some sort of auto top off

3.) Smaller heater

4.) Get some type of controller that also has an app on my phone, so I know whats going on in my tank 24/7

5.) Purchased a refractometer

I have had the same trouble with diatom in mine, too, as well as some red cyno -- and like you, my params always read within acceptable ranges. I wonder if it's some influence on the LR itself? Some kind of die-off neutralized by the system overall, but still leaving enough to feed algae? I've decided to use Microbacter more often -- for medium to high nutrient loads OR new set up, the bottle recommends about 1/2 cap for 14 gallon tank (well, it's 1 capful/25 gallons) each day for 2 weeks. I am going to give this a try. It does seem to be helping with the bubble and the red cyno has stopped spreading.

 

I have also had strange fluctuations in temp -- my office is cold, and I finally got a 50 watt heater last week which I have set to 75 degrees. The monitor on the heater seems to run a bit cool, which is why it is set at 75 rather than 74...the heat from the lights brings it up a couple degrees during the day. This seems reasonable given the temp fluctuations found in shallow water and so far, nothing seems upset by it.

 

Finally, I agree that Gulf LR would make a great FOWLR but does complicate adding coral. Maybe a single piece would be a great way to help seed the tank, but more fully cured pieces should be used if going for the reef/coral thing (which is what I'd intended). I'm just going to place a few pieces of coral right on the coralline and hope for the best.

 

Beautiful fish, by the way! I want one more tank denizen, something that will move some. I am hoping for something yellow-y or orange-y to contrast the LR. Maybe this week, maybe next!

 

 

Anyways, the corals I ordered :)

Wow! Those are so nice!

Link to comment

I'm sorry about the lack of updates throughout the week. I have to go to college, work 30 hours a week, and try to maintain a relationship. Makes it hard to find extra time for the thread. But here's a much overdo update!

 

List of things that have happened over the last week or so.

1.) Got a tailspot blenny

2.) re-arreanged the scape...again

3.) Finally recieved my Mr.Coral shipment

 

1.) What's going on with the TailSpot? - I've had him over a week now, and I still can't get him to eat anything I put into the tank. He's been really fat the entire time and I couldn't figure out what he was eating since I don't have much algae.... Well. he's been eating sand, lots and lots of sand. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be taking him back to my LFS very soon.

 

2.) Aqua-scape- It's looking like my boyfriend won't be buying me my LED's for another month or 3. Therefore I felt like my corals would have a better chance of surviving if I could place them further up in the tank. Thus the need for a re-scape. I don't like this scape very much, but it serves a purpose. ( I'm looking at buying the AI nano)

 

3.) Oh Mr.Coral, what the heck is going on?- Okay, I'm going to try and keep this brief. Ordered on 10/8. Figured out that they don't ship on Saturdays, so I had to wait for my boss to give me a day off. They told me they would hold my corals until then. Well when I replied back to them telling them I could get Thursday off, I got no reply for 4 days. I had to email the Mr.Coral on this site so I could get a response. (I had quite the time dealing with UPS, but we won't get me started on that. :rant: ) When I got my corals home, one bag had almost no water in it, and the water temperature was 69 degrees. The coral that had barely any water was a doa zoa. I'm also concerned about my fungia frag. Out of all of the corals I was sent, I'm convinced that only 4 of them are actually what I ordered. :angry: The prism favia, the ridiculously small sympodium, and the two chalices. I'm almost 100% that the fungia isn't the one I ordered. I'm about to post pictures and let you decide.

 

myfts1022-1.jpg

 

myacan-1.jpg

 

mynewcorals.jpg

 

mytopdown.jpg

 

myfungia-1.jpg

Link to comment
I'm sorry about the lack of updates throughout the week. I have to go to college, work 30 hours a week, and try to maintain a relationship. Makes it hard to find extra time for the thread. But here's a much overdo update!

Totally understand! I am doing the same, but with kids, marriage, job, etc -- aah, life!

Gorgeous new avatar pic, BTW!! Professional shot?

Link to comment
Totally understand! I am doing the same, but with kids, marriage, job, etc -- aah, life!

Gorgeous new avatar pic, BTW!! Professional shot?

 

How do you manage it all!? Congrats on the new clown goby! I stopped by the day she got them in. Janet told me she'd be getting them in regularly and I should wait before I got one, I was ready to buy one as soon as I saw them. As for the picture, just my trusty old iphone and a mirror lol. Thank you for the compliment though! :)

Link to comment
Everything looks awesome. How do you like the Alien eye chalice? I'm thinking of a chalice for my next purchase.

 

Thank You! Well since I've only had it for 4 days, it's kind of hard to make a decision as to if I think it would be a good purchase. Though it is one of the better looking frags I received in my order.

Link to comment

Looking good if you want healthy frags try www.reefgardner.net she is a sponsor here. Her name is Morgan aka reef goddess. She is from Florida so shipping will be cheap for you.

Link to comment
Looking good if you want healthy frags try www.reefgardner.net she is a sponsor here. Her name is Morgan aka reef goddess. She is from Florida so shipping will be cheap for you.

 

I've drooled over so many of her pictures here on nano-reef. She is the person I planned on buying from next actually. I'm in love with her Ice Queen Palys and Maxi Minis! :wub: Just have to save up the money for alk and mag test kits and probably my leds before I add any of her amazing corals to my tank.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions


×
×
  • Create New...