Jump to content
Cultivated Reef

Nick's new 14g biocube


nwin

Recommended Posts

May 13, 2012

OlLzn.jpg?1

 

Well today my blue legged hermit crab, "hermie", passed away. All the parameters are good and the other inverts/fish/coral seem to be doing well, so I'm really not sure what happened. We did drop in some shells about a week ago and he climbed into the biggest one...probably about 4-5 times the size of the shell he had been in. He looked like he was having a bit of difficulty with it, but he was still able to climb up to the tallest rock without much problem.

 

I saw him today at the highest point of the rock and he looked like he always had. Then I came back maybe 30 minutes later and he was completely out of his shell! Thinking maybe he fell out since it was so huge, I grabbed him and the shell, along with a smaller shell, and put them all in a separate bowl...hoping he was just playing dead. No dice, though...he had passed on. That sucks, he was a pretty cool little guy. I don't get why he died.

 

GHA had been increasing a bit the last few days, so I did a blackout for a day, which seemed to bring it down a bit. I also decreased my feeding IMMENSELY (thanks Banshee for the tip of dropping pellets one by one!) and decreased my lighting schedule as well. I'm going to hopefully get a jawfish sometime this year...and maybe later this week if params stay zeroed out I will go and grab another hermit crab or two...

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...
  • Replies 61
  • Created
  • Last Reply

May 27, 2012

 

a0sBj.jpg

 

So I finally got my pearly jawfish in at the LFS this week! He was hiding in their tank for about a week before the store owner finally saw him and called me up, so I went down that day to get him. He's doing well so far, just started a burrow the other day and we haven't seen him too much, though he has been coming out a bit more today...hopefully he starts more burrows because his current one is in the back of the tank!

 

Other than that, everything is the same so far.

 

Next upgrade will be LED's from either ecoxotic or rapidled...gotta save for that one though!

 

Here's a pic of the jawfish:

 

YdqMh.jpg

Link to comment

Well, after about a month of the Hydor Flo Deflector working properly, I woke up yesterday morning to see it among the rocks, having fallen off once again. So, I'm leaving it off for now, with the original nozzle on there.

 

Also, no more chaeto effective today! There's lots of threads that go either way on the chaeto/purigen thing, but I got sick of having it clutter up my tank with little strands everywhere. Also, within the last few days, it seems like it shrunk considerably...and that's after increasing the light period from 12-18 hours. So I threw it out and tossed some purigen in the media basket instead. If it still looks good a week from now, I'll throw up my nano-glo JBJ led fuge light for sale.

 

I'm also listing my emerald crab as permanently deceased. I think it's been about 2 weeks almost since I saw him last, and I look for him all the time, so he must be a goner...maybe he'll surprise me someday, but I'm not betting on it.

 

The jawfish is MUCH more active now. He jumps out of his burrow in a quick quest for food before diving in again. Also, he takes pellet food, so I'm psyched about that.

 

I'm starting a hardcore budget to work out some debt issues now, so there probably won't be too much changing in this tank anytime soon. The next upgrade will be LED's, and I'm shooting to have those by September.

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

July 14, 2012

 

XF5HV.jpg

 

A lots changed! Unfortunately the jawfish passed away. I had a thread posted about him, but it just didn't work out. Some gravel fell on him because a snail trapped him in his burrow, we tried to dig him out because he seemed stuck, then he had some tattered fins. A few days later he seemed recovered and his fins were doing better, but then all of a sudden one of his side fins was jacked up and he couldn't swim as well...he died shortly later. It sucks, but it's all part of this hobby. Now to decide what I want to do next for fish. Since I already have the sandbed for it, another pearly is definitely in my thoughts...I'm just gonna kick that trochus snail out before I do it! If not a pearly, it's either a fire fish or a wrasse...my wife wants the fire fish, I want the wrasse...a six line, though some people tell me it will be find and others say I will regret it forever...I've got some time to deal with it though.

 

I still don't have an RO/DI in my house...with us moving all the time being in the military, it's not worth it to me yet. If I grab a bigger tank in the future I think I will make the move for my own RO/DI...but for now, I have a 7g and 5g container that I grab RO water for and add my own salt. I *did* try and buy premixed from a really nice LFS around here (Fish Gallery in Houston), and they said they mix at 1.025, but using my own calibrated refractometer, it only came out to 1.023...so no thanks. I have some SeaChem reef salt being shipped to me right now! I'm switching over from Red Sea Coral Pro Salt, so we'll see how the tank adjusts.

 

I've also been doing a lot of reading on chemipure...I was running chemipure and purigen, but the chemipure was due for a change. Unfortunately it's not in the budget this month (Had to buy the salt), so I think next month I'll buy bulk GFO and carbon and put that in along with the purigen. I took the chemipure out because it's been in for 2-3 months and it's probably doing more harm than good right now.

 

The only other thing is MACROS!!! I bought the blue ochtode from a local reefer and he threw in dragon's breath, purple fuchsia, and red grape for free! Just small frags of each, but I think they'll be good. I'm trying to resurrect the fuchsia, so we'll see.

 

Also, rapidled is coming out with their new solderless kit this week supposedly, so I might be making the jump on that since I've been saving for it! Can't freaking wait!

Link to comment

Sorry for the adventures with tank losses, but you seem to be handling it well. The tank looks great! The rocks don't take up the whole tank and the frogspawn looks great. I love your blenny! I'd like to get another barnacle blenny one day.

 

I've also read that a 14 is just too small for a six-line once they get bigger. It wants more length to swim, and apparently, the lack of room means they get aggressive. I wish there were a magic spy glass that would tell the buyer more about the personality of an individual fish, since there is a lot of variation, but I spent several weeks reading up on the six line b/c they are so cool looking and the majority seemed to think it wasn't a good idea for a 14. Firefish are lovely, but very different feel from a wrasse. Maybe one of the smaller ones?

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

New FTS, taken18AUG12:

FTS with lighting @ 60%

59SZJ.jpg

 

That's right, I got LED's! I went to stevesleds.com as he had just come out with a 14g retrofit kit. Unfortunately when it arrived, I found out it was built for the new coralife biocube, so I had to do some engineering of my own to get it to work, but all in all it was worth it! You can see my review of them that I posted here: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=308280

 

Here's some pictures!

 

Ricordea, both lights about 60% capacity:

iV5em.jpg

 

Frogspawn, neutral/royal blue @ 60%:

1WsoF.jpg

 

Ricordea, blue ochtodes, and the frogspawn with lighting at 60%

qgmNA.jpg

 

I bought the ricordea just last weekend, and I love it! You can also see I rearranged the rocks since last time. There was so much dead zone in the cavern that there was a lot of detritus building up. This setup allows for much more flow everywhere it seems. I'm really happy with the dragon's breath, as that looks just great and I like the placement of it. I'm at a loss for the red grape though...It's growing like poison ivy but I can't seem to find a good place for it. The frogspawn I originally bought with 3 smaller heads and it's growing amazing under these LED's. One of the heads it starting to split into two, so that's cool.

 

I also talked to my LFS and they are on the lookout for another pearly jawfish for me! I tried to find other fish that I would want, but nothing is really jumping out at me. I was thinking a watchman goby/pistol shrimp combo, but ehh...they seem REALLY into doing absolutely nothing from my experience. So the waiting game begins again!

Link to comment

Your tank looks great.

Sorry about your jawfish.

I also ordered the Steve's LEDs and my tanks an oceanic. When I bought them the site did not say they where for coralife only. I see it does now. So I guess I need to make some phone calls and emails.

I only tested them and put them up ,I was going to wait till my tank was more mature before adding the LEDs.

Was it easy to line up and redrill heatsink?

Do you also get an even light spread since its for the Coralife?

Link to comment
Your tank looks great.

Sorry about your jawfish.

I also ordered the Steve's LEDs and my tanks an oceanic. When I bought them the site did not say they where for coralife only. I see it does now. So I guess I need to make some phone calls and emails.

I only tested them and put them up ,I was going to wait till my tank was more mature before adding the LEDs.

Was it easy to line up and redrill heatsink?

Do you also get an even light spread since its for the Coralife?

 

His site said the same thing when I bought it. :( I was the one that told him he needed to change it. Durin an email conversation I sent him some photos of my completed tank so he might have those still. He really is very good to talk with and he responded quickly.

 

I would email him and explain the situation. Like I said, last I talked to him, he was trying to source an oceanic hood so he could make a kit for that, so maybe hell take yours back of you ask him and send you out the one for your tank?

 

If not, no worries. I just made a template out of paper on which holes I could use. I ended up using one the existing holes in the heatsink and I needed to drill two others as well as use some different screws for that, but it really wasn't bad. Maybe an hour extra time because I was working through all the new stuff.

 

The directions on his website were crap though. I emailed him some changes I recommended so hopefully that will fix it.

 

The lights do have full coverage in my tank. The coralife and oceanic are the same dimensions pretty much, just the layout of the hood is a bit different because the led strips. The heatsink still mounts in just about the same place though.

Link to comment

Looks great -- I am so curious to see what difference LEDs might make. I have rics that have been alive and flourishing for nearly a year, but haven't split, despite having multiple mouths. Maybe the LEDs will be the ticket.

 

I am waiting on fish, too. I was going to trade my ocellaris for a pair of picassos yesterday, but the picassos, which had been sitting there for a month, just got sold. Sigh. I'll wait until after the labor day weekend. Some other ideas for you might be nano gobies, like the trimmas. First, you can get two and they'll be okay together, especially if you can get a M/F pair. There was a pair at the lfs a while back that hovered in the water together, like little red striped torpedoes, waiting for food -- it was really cool to watch.

Link to comment

So excited, my LFS got in some pearly jawfish the other day so I picked one up!

 

This one's a bit bigger and was hiding all day yesterday, but is starting to make a burrow now. Still completely shy of us but she'll come around sooner or later.

 

Her name 'Zha Zha (like Jaw jaw)...I know, I'm lame with the names...

Link to comment
  • 2 months later...

My hydor rotator kept falling off too when I first got it. put small piece of electrical tape on the end of it and shoved it back in. Never comes out unless I pull it off. Try.

Link to comment

Archived

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

  • Recommended Discussions


×
×
  • Create New...