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Megan's BC14 Journal


meganistkrieg

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meganistkrieg

Hey all!

 

Going to use this first post from now on as a list of my current stock, parameters, etc!

 

BIOCUBE 14

est. 01/2010

 

2" Live Sand

12lb Live Rock (Sealife Inc.)

 

EQUIPMENT

stock lighting

Maxi-Jet 900

Koralia Nano

InTank Media Basket (floss and Chemipure Elite)

Rena Smartheater

Azoo Dual Fan

no-name ATO system

 

PARAMETERS

TEMP: 81-83

pH: 7.8-8.2

SG: 1.026

AMM: 0

NO2: 0

NO3: 20-ish

CA: 420

dKH: 9

PO4: <.5

 

LIVESTOCK

2 black and white clownfish

1 blue tuxedo urchin

1 skunk cleaner shrimp

1 emerald mithrax crab

2 scarlet reef hermit crabs

snail clean-up crew (cerith, dwarf cerith, nerite, nassarius)

 

CORAL

mushrooms (actinodiscus variety - green, blue, blue spotted, red spotted)

ricordea florida

hammer (branching)

zoanthids (various)

blue xenia

green star polyps

kenya tree

 

HITCHHIKERS

pistol shrimp, curlicue anemone, colonista snails, chitons, limpets, sponges, mini-brittle stars, spaghetti worms, bristle worms, eunice worm (ugh)

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Welcome back, you and I are kind of in the same boat. I'm getting back into the hobby after being out for 7 years. My tank should be up by the middle of next week.

 

Good luck with everything.

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meganistkrieg
Welcome back, you and I are kind of in the same boat. I'm getting back into the hobby after being out for 7 years. My tank should be up by the middle of next week.

 

Good luck with everything.

 

Fantastic! Welcome back to you as well - it's a bit like riding a bike, isn't it? All the information I had digested before is slowly coming back to me. Seven years is a much longer time than I've been without though, so I'm excited for you!

 

If you start a tank thread, let me know and I'll tag along with your progress!

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Fantastic! Welcome back to you as well - it's a bit like riding a bike, isn't it? All the information I had digested before is slowly coming back to me. Seven years is a much longer time than I've been without though, so I'm excited for you!

 

If you start a tank thread, let me know and I'll tag along with your progress!

 

I did start one but it only has a picture of my empty tank for now. I have everything ready to go, just waiting on the live rock to be shipped this week and my new bulbs and powerheads as well. Your tank is looking good!

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meganistkrieg
I did start one but it only has a picture of my empty tank for now. I have everything ready to go, just waiting on the live rock to be shipped this week and my new bulbs and powerheads as well. Your tank is looking good!

 

Oooh, link me! I want to look at your shiny new tank!

 

Looking good! Oh the looooong wait, how I hate it!

 

I'm trying to enjoy the newness of it all still - I'm sure by week two I'll be going crazy!

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meganistkrieg

Exciting noob-news!

 

I came home today and passed by my tank (or "the box of wet rocks" as it's affectionately known) without much thought for anything having happened yet, but unable to resist the draw of investigation, I came back to it a bit later and got to squintin'. And suddenly, seeming out of nowhere...

 

BUGS! EVERYWHERE! omgomgomg Apparently there was a 'pod EXPLOSION while I was at work today, and though it takes my eyes a minute to "adjust" to seeing them, they're climbing all over my rocks. The only way I can describe them is that they look like teeny tiny crawling gnats that happen to be underwater - so cool!

 

I'm also considering letting my tank run for a while with the LFS rock that I have in it now, until the ammonia spike part of the cycle is done, and then ordering some ultra-awesome rock from Sea Life Inc. since everyone's got amazing things to say about their LR. I figure if the pieces they send fit with the ones I have, great, if not then I can remove the less-impressive LFS pieces and replace with Sea Life LR. I realize this will set back my cycle a bit but I'm not in a hurry to rush things, anyway, and I hope that by letting my current rock do the brunt of the cycle, maybe I'll have less die-off of neat hitchhikers on the new rock.

 

Thoughts? Let me know!

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meganistkrieg

Well, the failure of my LFS rock continues! :lol: As I was eying the next strand of grape caulerpa to be removed, guess who I see peeking out at me from behind a rock...

 

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my pet aiptasia

 

Besides the copious copepods and a bit of coralline, this rock doesn't have much going for it. I realized that the caulerpa's runners are all inside the pores of the rock itself, on at least three of the five pieces I have, and I've seen it on one other as well. The risk of this stuff 1) never getting out of my display and 2) someday nuking my tank when it goes sexual, along with my newfound glassine buddies, means that I've made an executive decision:

 

After looking at the beautiful rock from Sea Life Inc., I'm going to put in an order for about twelve pounds of replacement rock and dump this LFS stuff when it gets here. At least then, if there's baddies on it, there'll also be enough good stuff worth fighting for, because I'm sure as heck not getting anything but tank-compromising trouble from the current stuff!

 

I'd rather cut my losses now (goodbye NYC-priced LFS rock :( ) and save myself heartache later! Added bonus: the sweet oceanic grab-bag that Sea Life Inc. seems to host. Woohoo!

 

As always, any thoughts are welcome! Thanks for reading!

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lookin good! i just set mine up on sunday as well! Been a while since I had a saltwater tank (7/8 years) so i have new tank syndrome somthin fierce! LOL!

 

We CAN resist the temptation of constant rock-rearrangements!! :P

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meganistkrieg
lookin good! i just set mine up on sunday as well! Been a while since I had a saltwater tank (7/8 years) so i have new tank syndrome somthin fierce! LOL!

 

We CAN resist the temptation of constant rock-rearrangements!! :P

 

Oh man, I don't know WHAT I'd do with 30 gallons! I'm overwhelmed by my 14. :lol: Checking out your thread now!

 

We can start a support group - Tank Alterers Anonymous.

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meganistkrieg

Only bad updates today. Waiting for a quote from Sea Life Inc. on shipment for my new rock, and made a post here about yet another problem from this terrible rock.

 

On top of the grape caulerpa and aiptasia growing all over my LR, I found flatworms today. The bad kind. What luck!

 

Threw the rock out. Reevaluating what to do with the tank in the meantime before my new rock gets here on Monday. Frustration at an all time high and feeling pretty defeated.

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ugh....i feel for ya. My dad got flatworms in his 500G reef tank when he got sick. They took over and killed EVERYTHING. The entire glass was covered in them I used to use a magfloat just to clear a path to see in the tank. (They were the rusty brown worms. I later found out killin em released toxins but I was like 14/15 at the time LOL)

 

Nip em in the butt before they get bad. Assuming thats the kind ya got!

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meganistkrieg
ugh....i feel for ya. My dad got flatworms in his 500G reef tank when he got sick. They took over and killed EVERYTHING. The entire glass was covered in them I used to use a magfloat just to clear a path to see in the tank. (They were the rusty brown worms. I later found out killin em released toxins but I was like 14/15 at the time LOL)

 

Nip em in the butt before they get bad. Assuming thats the kind ya got!

 

They were definitely the rusty brown bad kind. I dumped all my rock tonight, considering dumping the sand too in case they're in that, and just starting over fresh. Probably the best option, sadly, but I don't even know right now! Hoping I get some good advice on the Disease & Pest thread I started.

 

Sorry to hear about your dad's tank. :( I can't even imagine having to treat 500 gallons...

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They were definitely the rusty brown bad kind. I dumped all my rock tonight, considering dumping the sand too in case they're in that, and just starting over fresh. Probably the best option, sadly, but I don't even know right now! Hoping I get some good advice on the Disease & Pest thread I started.

 

Sorry to hear about your dad's tank. :( I can't even imagine having to treat 500 gallons...

 

Well it resulted in us paying some people to tear it down since he was sick. We sold the 500G but kept the 180 and 75. They're sittin in the garage collectin dust right now LOL! :P I cant believe you got ahold of those, I thought they were somewhat of a rarity. My dad got them from slowly adding different live rock to the 500, since he couldnt afford to get a 500g tanks worth of live rock at once. Seems like you got it right off the bat!

 

I hope you get some info and can at least save your sand! Ill keep taggin along, but youre gonna have to keep me updated!!!! ^___________^

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meganistkrieg
Well it resulted in us paying some people to tear it down since he was sick. We sold the 500G but kept the 180 and 75. They're sittin in the garage collectin dust right now LOL! :P I cant believe you got ahold of those, I thought they were somewhat of a rarity. My dad got them from slowly adding different live rock to the 500, since he couldnt afford to get a 500g tanks worth of live rock at once. Seems like you got it right off the bat!

 

I hope you get some info and can at least save your sand! Ill keep taggin along, but youre gonna have to keep me updated!!!! ^___________^

 

Updating, updating! I cut my losses and am starting over with SeaLife Inc. rock which will be here Monday. As they said in my other thread, it seems like there were two mistakes on my part: first was that I didn't fully research sources of liverock (if I had, I'd have ordered SeaLife straightaway rather than going with my LFS, since I want the whole uncured grab-bag experience) and second was overreacting to the pesky hitchhikers I had and tossing the rock. Feeling pretty guilty about it this morning, but trying to move onward and upward... maybe with a drink firmly in hand this time... :P

 

Sorry your dad was sick, and sorry too about breaking down a 500 gallon tank. I can't even imagine! That's great that you still have two big tanks, though - post pics of them in your thread!! :D

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meganistkrieg

I'm back!

 

After my last failure with live rock (no one's fault but my own, on a few counts, no less...!) I managed to salvage about half of it from the bin and I'm cooking it for later use. Not that I'm planning another tank or anything...

 

Luckily for me, yesterday I received a shipment of absolutely stunning live rock from Sea Life Inc. about whom I'd heard so many good things. THIS was the live rock experience I was waiting for! I hadn't even gotten the rocks into the tank before I was seeing a ridiculous amount of flora and fauna. There's sponges, some coral patches, lots of coralline algae, halimeda, plenty of worms (including a good number of feather dusters), a pencil urchin, and earlier today, while I was re-aquascaping a bit, I scared the hell out of a crab who scared the hell out of me when he shot from underneath one rock to the other. Seabros who didn't survive the ride include a rock crab and a mini-brittle star, both of whom I gave a chance to revive before I realized it wasn't going to happen. And this is all in the first DAY!

 

Now that the dust has cleared (er, literally) I'm ecstatic to be able to show off some pics. Current parameters posted beneath the pics.

 

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the unwrappening!

 

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newspaper!

 

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fuzzy stuff!

 

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behold the power of rock

 

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FTS yay

 

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right side

 

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left side

 

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another picture of the neat fuzzy stuff

 

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getting a turkey baster tomorrow to clear off that sand...

 

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some whiteness

 

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an encrusting coral? a sea squirt? I have no idea!

 

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I see you...

 

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little feather duster (one of four that I've seen on this rock alone)

 

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bigger feather duster!

 

Couldn't get a picture of the crab - little bastard is fast. Probably another rock crab from the fuzzy-grey look of him but I'll keep an eye out and ID for sure before doing anything. I'd like to kill as little as possible, if I can help it... :lol:

 

DAY ONE

 

TEMPERATURE: 79.8-80.4

SG: 1.025

pH: 8.2

AMMONIA: 1.0

NITRITES: did not test

NITRATES: did not test

 

Planning on doing a small water change either tonight or tomorrow, to try and stave off the ammonia burn on all my lovely new sea life. Couldn't be happier!

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meganistkrieg
your rock>my rock

 

hands down LOL! :bowdown:

 

Sea Life Inc!! I am amazed at the rock they sent. I had high expectations, and even so, they've been completely blown away. Every time I look into the tank there's something new! Today the little honeycomb-looking patch of encrusting coral had opened up its tiny polyps, waving them in the breeze... so cute!

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meganistkrieg

More pics will be here tomorrow or the next day, as soon as it stops snowing long enough to let me run to the LFS on my lunch break. The inside of my glass is a mess of smudges and I need to take a Mag-Float to it before anyone else sees it. :P

 

I'm ramping up into the second stage of the cycle! After four days of the ammonia being frighteningly dark at 4.0, today it's suddenly dropped off to a much lovelier shade of pale green, returning to a blessedly lower 1.0. Meanwhile, nitrites are increasing over the last two days (0.25 to 1.0), which is terribly exciting as it means that things are progressing accordingly! I'm also getting much better at reading the colors on my test kit! :lol: Current parameters are as follows:

 

TEMP: 80.4

SG: 1.024

pH: 8.2 (dropped off to 7.8 when the ammonia was high, now back to normal)

AMMONIA: 1.0

NO2: 1.0

NO3: 0

 

The hitchhikers that came in on my rock are fascinating. I got a better look at the crab, and he's definitely a rock crab, which means Operation: Crabtrap goes into effect tomorrow - just need to wash out my salsa jar and grab a shred of shrimp to bait him in. I'm keeping the little pencil urchin for now - he pretty much sticks to one area, and I'm quite fond of him anyway. I've seen at least seven feather dusters, of three different varieties, and they continue to be a highlight for me (and a reason that the crab needs to go before he discovers them!). A patch of tall, milky-clear tubular tunicates have set up base on top of one of the rocks, and the white honeycomb-style patch from an earlier picture has now been discovered to be a beautiful orange (mini-)field of encrusting porites. I've also found two spaghetti worm "dens" crusted under some rocky overhangs, and it's a delight to watch them stick out their long feelers and pull stuff back in. :happy:

 

Had a minor near-catastrophe today, though! :o My boyfriend forgot to turn off the actinics before he left for work, which means the tank had a full day's worth of extra light. The formaniferans closest to the top have lost all their pretty red and are now brownish-yellow, and the coralline closest to the top of the tank is much, much darker than it was before. The temperature was also a little high (only a degree, but still...) and I noticed much more miniature algae patches than I had before. It could have been worse, but I'm hoping nothing else has suffered too greatly. Time to get a more reliable light timer, I guess. :P

 

This is all tl;dr but PICS SOON! I promise!!

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meganistkrieg

As promised, new pictures!!

 

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Obligatory FTS!

 

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Closer...

 

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...closer still!

 

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Deliciously diatomous sand.

 

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Right side

 

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Left side

 

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Sponge Rock

 

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Would love to know if those clear tubes at the top are tunicates - they look longer than the ones I've seen pictures of, but they're not tentacles of anything and they have an open top, like a long skinny vase. Anyway, very cool, and there's one or two others growing at odd spots on that rock.

 

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Feather Duster Rock

 

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Encrusting porites (I think!) with its polyps out - really beautiful macaroni-orange color. Mind the algae... :angry:

 

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My sadly deceased foraminiferan colony, which was once a vibrant shade of red... will they spring back? I hope so... :mellow:

 

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And the star of the show, my BFD - big feather duster! He has a brother, too, but he doesn't come out too often...

 

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Another angle.

 

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And of course, my slate pencil urchin in his hidey hole down at the bottom...

 

As you can see, it's a bit of an algae-fest in there right now! I'm reluctant to add any clean-up crew yet since the tank is still very much in the middle of cycling (nitrites spiking as I type...). I also haven't gotten that rock crab out of the back yet! But I'll probably order my Media Rack this week or the next so it's ready to go in just before I start adding my snails.

 

An emerald crab and a few hermits might be in order as well, once the snails have had a go, in part to tidy up (I can only imagine how the algae is going to look after three more weeks of this...) and in part just because I like them. :P

 

I'm also looking into light-timers because it's a bit of a bind to have to be home (or awake...) in time to turn them on or off. If anyone has any recommendations (or tips in general!!) please let me know! I love feedback! :lol:

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meganistkrieg
thats it. i hate you LOL!!! Gosh darnit I want your rocks! ROFL

 

Sea Life Inc. was definitely the right way to go for me, but your rock is beautiful! Mine has crazy hitchhikers, yours has amazing shapes - we both win, I think. :D

 

Really psyched to get some clean-up crew dudes in there in a few weeks - it'll be nice to have some new things to watch! My LR came with a few little ceriths (very teeny-tiny) but I'm not sure where they've gone, probably around but they're easy to lose in all the hubbub!

 

Also YAY for my Mag-Float. The glass was just embarrassing before I cleaned it up today. :blink:

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Good luck with your tank. I used to live in Astoria before I move to Florida. I miss NY. But I love warm weather B)

 

My Bio Cube is over nine months and very stable. Just take your time and let it cycle.

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