My Biocube 14 (Coralife Edition)

[LongDoggy]

That Zoa wall is going to look really cool when it grows out

 

Thanks! Thats the idea! I actually recently attached two Duncans to the base of that tower. I did not like the way they looked in the back of the tank. They were getting lost and were causing me to lose perspective and depth in the overall tank view.

Ill throw some pics up once the Duncans open up. They got pretty mad at me.

[Cdog580]

Thanks Alex, I hope to have good progression from which to share with the community on this site. After all, what we are all doing on here with our respective tanks is creating our own little science experiment. I can safely say that most all of us on here have had a passion for the sciences.

We each read, and read, and read learning as much as we can; and after all that we do still continue to learn each day. I have been keeping fish for some sort on and off for greater than 20 years now. Of course, I did get my start when I won several gold fish at a carnival (not my proudest moment), but I kept them until I could not keep them any longer and let them live out their lives in a nice quiet pond. I kept many variations of freshwater fish over the years (and I still do to this day).. Although I must admit that I would like less tanks than my present three, each one does bring a different bit of charm to our home. Fortunately I do have a wife who is supportive of my hobby. The tropical fresh water and the FOWLR puffer tank are down in the man cave and bring a good deal of warmth, serenity and life to the room. The nano reef (my first attempt at reefing) is upstairs in the entrance to our home near the dining room. The requirement was that it could not be too large and had to be a good clean look. The Coralife Biocube 14 fit the bill here. I have been interested into taking the fore into corrals, and I have to admit it is a lot of fun.

Current corral stock is:

Frogspawn (added one head in early June, presently has two heads and has more than doubled in size)

Two paly frags (at least I think they are palys They seem to have mouths and also appear to have sand in the stalks) added in June (the green frag grew about three times in size and actually fragged itself for me by splitting off. I have since glued the 8 or so head hands off frag to a rock and placed it elsewhere in the tank). The other red frag also added in June has tripled in size and is looking great. The two main larger frags have maybe about 30+ heads each.

I added a fluorescent green candy cane coral in early August. It has not done much at all but look pretty and bright colored. It is very eye catching but also very slow to grow.

Recently added in late September:

Ricordera, trying to get the thing to stay where I want it is proving to be a challenge. Last night I found it sucked itself into a crevasse of one of the rocks.

Also added the purple torch coral. Its only been two days and its nicely extended.

 

Fish are still my true perc clown fish (who is nasty, he bites my arm whenever I go in the tank) and the psychedelic mandarin. The mandarin is doing well, and I did not go for the blue mandarin because they are bigger and I have heard they are more difficult to keep. So I am hoping I am providing an adequate environment for which he can live. So far it is doing great! Not looking skinny at all, taking prepped food and nibbling at stuff all day.

 

Overall, I would say the tank is very healthy. The GHA is staying suppressed so far after a good pruning and WC. The recent addition of cheato I hope will also help keep levels in check.

Measurements are all perfect and have never swung in a bad direction.

I do suspect the GHA was from over feeding the corals. I have cut back feeding drastically in the past few weeks so as to not fuel the GHA growth any further.

 

The tank was first cycled the second week of March (current tank age 6 ½ months). I am being patient and it seems to be paying off. Everything is bright, growing within reason and appears to be a very healthy reef.

wow. I always just thought my clown was extra phychotic lol. It's suprising how much it hurts. Everything looks amazing! Love the scape and the corals have a great shine!

[LongDoggy]

wow. I always just thought my clown was extra phychotic lol. It's suprising how much it hurts. Everything looks amazing! Love the scape and the corals have a great shine!

 

Haha I know. Sometimes he gives a good pinch!

And thank you!!!

 

Today I added two new corals.

One head of orange torch I've had my eye on for a while.

One frag of bright Orange zoas which were added to my zoa tower.

 

The Duncan was a little happier today but still not yet 100%.

Again once things settle I'll post up a new photo. Probably not till the weekend though.

[dpoltsdsu]

Thanks! Thats the idea! I actually recently attached two Duncans to the base of that tower. I did not like the way they looked in the back of the tank. They were getting lost and were causing me to lose perspective and depth in the overall tank view.

Ill throw some pics up once the Duncans open up. They got pretty mad at me.

I ran into the same problem in my tank. It was a Duncan coral colony as well. I did the same as you and Im happy with what I did. I think you made a good move.

 

 

You can see the colony in the background of this side shot

[LongDoggy]

I ran into the same problem in my tank. It was a Duncan coral colony as well. I did the same as you and Im happy with what I did. I think you made a good move.

 

 

You can see the colony in the background of this side shot

 

Nice tank! Looks very healthy!!

 

My Duncan opened a good bit today but not 100% yet. I definitely like the move though. I have a pathway now where I can see all the way back in the middle and I like it as it makes the tank look deeper.

I actually have two Duncan's. Before they were on one rock. Now I put them on opposite sides of the tower.

I can't wait to see my new Orange coral additions open up. Orange was a color I needed in there!

[dpoltsdsu]

Awesome, I love Duncans. The orange is going to look really nice in there

[LongDoggy]

Awesome, I love Duncans. The orange is going to look really nice in there

 

I think it will. Should give some nice contrast! I noticed this morning the torch inflated nicely. Should look real good once if gets some of the daylight!

The Zoas were still closed, but as expected since it was still nighttime in the tank.

[LongDoggy]

Few new updates and new FTS. I added two new corals, an orange torch coral. I saw the original colony and fell in love with it. I managed to get the last frag at the LFS which I had to do some waiting for. But well worth it and looking forward to seeing this thing grow. I just hope I can keep it healthy and let it thrive.

Also added a new orange zoa frag to the frag tower.

Last, adding some new photos of a few of the corals in the tank for my followers!

 

FTS as of 1/13/15:

 

New Orange Torch coral frag (with a pretty nice shot of my rainbow Acan in the background):

 

Orange Zoa frag:

 

 

Green and Purple Hammer Frag:

 

War Coral (This coral I picked up for only $8 bucks as it was recovering from a nearby coral sting, it is doing real well in my tank. I have another piece of it that I fragged off and have it growing on a piece of rock rubble):

[LongDoggy]

Hating my emerald crab right now.

My GSP have been closed up for the last 3 days because he has been cleaning around the GSP. At least that's what I hope he is doing!

I watched him closely and it looked like he was going in between them and not tearing the flesh up. But he has made himself cozy in that area.

I really hope he moves on and goes back to the cave and algae where he belongs! And he was doing so well!! Thought I had a good one.

[NISMO703]

Nice tank! Love the rock work, very natural looking.

[LongDoggy]

Nice tank! Love the rock work, very natural looking.

 

Thanks! I made a few adjustments but nothing major. I moved the clam to the middle as it seemed to not like being near the glass when I did cleaning. Also moved my Duncans to the back, and added some new zoas I picked up. I moved the gold torch over and the rainbow Acans were shifted over a bit. I have this vision of an Acan garden. I will be picking up some awesome green/blue Acans soon once they are ready (just fragged), and probably another Acan frag to brighten up my Acan garden.

 

I was also eyeing up a blue birds nest, I think I may just do Birds-nests up top. I like the way they look and the one I picked up is doing well. I thought about going with some Acros, but I am not totally sold on them yet.

 

I will be posting up some new photos later on.

[LongDoggy]

Got some new photos. I made some scape changes. I had to remove a shelf I built in which you were able to see in the middle of the tank. I removed this for a few reasons. First, it received basically no light. Second, it created a massive shadow. Third, it restricted my options for stocking in that middle back section which I felt I could use to create some good perspective. My first move to that area were my two duncan colonies.

 

Once I removed it, I relocated my chalice and encrusting monti to under a shelf towards the front of the tank. Not my favorite corals, so these are kind of fillers at this point.

 

I cleared up some sand space, I moved my torch to the front left. I am going for a euphylia garden over on that side with there currently being the two types of hammer and one gold torch. I think one or two more choice small frogspawn or hammers should do well there.

 

Above that area, I moved my rainbow acan. This was moved from the sandbed rock to up on the lower rock shelf. I liked this because it created an area that I can work with. I am awaiting a fresh frag to be ready for sale at my LFS. It was a beautiful green/blue acan colony. I will probably pick up some other color acans and make an acan garden there.

 

Last, I moved the clam to the middle back area with the new space I created. I thought it looked better there and was away from my glass. When cleaning with the magnet I felt like I was disturbing it. So, I gave him a new home!

 

Here is the most recent FTS:

 

This is the new area I created. I call it the clam channel:

 

 

These are really neat. I picked up this frag last week and added it to my frag garden wall:

 

 

 

The last change I made was to relocate my maxi jet power head. I previously had it in chamber 3 and returning above the middle. I was not liking this because it was an eyesore above the top of the structure and felt the flow/direction was not the best. Also, it was creating a lot of pull through the filtration. I moved it to chamber 1 under the skimmer. This way, it is creating an undertow in the tank as this and the Koralia are both pulling water in that direction and pumping it in two different directions. It seems this is creating a really good random strong current in the tank while remaining gentle. I notice the skimmer working a little better too.

 

[LongDoggy]

I made my way through the freezing cold to my LFS and picked up a few new corals.

No pictures just yet and they are still working on opening up. But so far all looks great!

I added three new types of Acans to my Acan garden. A neon green Acan head, a Red and Blue Acan, and a very colorful green and red Acan colony. The last Acan colony was a rescue. Looks like it may have been receding from a stinging or something of the sort. But it showed signs of bouncing back and it was only $8 bucks. Hopefully it recovers in my tank. The colors on it were beautiful.

I did buy another rescue like this a while back. My War Coral. It was also a sting victim, but I am happy to report it has colored up beautifully! I fragged a piece (by accident), and both are growing very nicely!

 

The last coral I picked up was a head of a bright neon green tipped torch. Now, I have my Torch garden growing with my Aussie Gold and Neon Green tip. Looks great.

 

On a sadder note, my emerald crab died. . I don't know why. I have been dosing my dkh to raise my low Alk numbers, but no reason why this would have killed my emerald. It was probably random. The shrimps, hermit crab and snails are all fine. Corals are beautiful and fish great as always. Maybe it was his time.

To make up for his place in the tank, I added three tiny blue legged hermit crabs to keep up on the algae munching!

 

I will add some pictures of the latest FTS and new coral additions in the next few days!

[HIppieRose]

Sorry about your crab. Can't wait to see updated pictures.

[LongDoggy]

Sorry about your crab. Can't wait to see updated pictures.

 

Thanks. It was really random. I was getting worried about him though because I observed him picking around my green start polyps a little too closely. They still have not opened 100% in the past several weeks since he started hanging in there. Not sure if he ate them, but he was getting a little too aggressive with them for my liking.

[NISMO703]

Tank looks really good, love the coral placement and variety. I like the layout and think I might have to change up my rockscape and copy yours lol. How did you create your pillars? Epoxy?

[LongDoggy]

Thank you! I am just waiting for a few corals to open up before I get some pics up here.

I did some rearranging and gluing as well as introduced new corals. All is looking well. But not yet where I'd want to make photos public.

 

I made my structures with a few methods.

The left structure I made with pieces of plastic clothes hanger which I had broken up. Drilled holes into rock with a drill, stuck them together, wedged in some two part epoxy and let dry. Used super glue also to hold in place.

 

The right structure is about 10 small pieces of LR affixed together with super glue. Works like a charm!

 

At least for nano tanks it does.

 

Tank looks really good, love the coral placement and variety. I like the layout and think I might have to change up my rockscape and copy yours lol. How did you create your pillars? Epoxy?

[LongDoggy]

Finally got a few photos. Now, I am not totally pleased with the polyp extension yet and these were taken after my much needed water change today! But I wanted to get a few photos and updates posted before the start of the week.

 

First, here is my latest FTS taken today:

 

I made some rock scape changes to the Acan garden up front to make things fit nicely and give some good areas to grow in over.

I also started to form a torch garden with my existing Aussie Gold torch and the new neon green tip torch. These two are major eye catchers in person.

 

Here is a photo of the development of the Acan garden. I added three new Acans this week. A single head of green Acan, three heads of green and blue Acan, and last a four headed red and blue Acan.

 

 

 

Last, here are a few photos of the newly developing torch garden. I love this part of the tank, when they extend and wave it creates such a relaxing scene.

 

 

 

That is all for now. Will keep updates coming as things grow out and settle in!

[Matthewdvm]

Looking terrific. I love torches, hammers and frogspawn, but in a 6 gallon tank, I worry about their aggressiveness - no way to isolate them from other, more benign corals.

[LongDoggy]

Few new FTS photos. Think I am getting better with my exposure settings. Not great, but improving.

 

 

 

[LongDoggy]

FTS from March 25th:

 

[dpoltsdsu]

Looks great!

[LongDoggy]

Looks great!

Thanks! Its coming along quite well!

[LongDoggy]

Some updates, pictures to follow once everything settles.

 

DIED:

- Male clown fish. Found the poor little guy in my filter floss one day. I think he disliked his female mate. She was a bitch.

- Clam. He was doing well but one day closed up and next day being devoured by my CUC.

 

TRADED IN:

- One Female Clown Fish. I had her for almost four years. She has been a terror. Always biting my hand when I have to do maintenance, picking on other fish, not hosting. It was time for her to go.

 

NEW FISH:

- One Hectors Goby

- One Yellow Line Goby

- One Bicolor Blenny

- One Zebra Banded Dartfish

 

CHANGES:

- New aquascape. My old 'bonsai' style was getting a little unstable so I modified things a bit. I also wanted to make more caves since I am going with a slightly different fish-style. Less open water swimmers and all cave dwellers. All of the new fish have found themselves their little homes.

 

NEW EQUIPMENT:

- JEBAO RW-4. In the mail. I wanted to create more wavelike effect and more current in the tank. I also wanted to get rid of the small pump I have in the rear chamber 1.

- InTank Media Basket for chamber 2.

- New Chemipure Elite

- New Purigen

- New more powerful air pump for the Biocube skimmer. I've heard this helps with better skim pulling. Also bought a better metal air-valve for controlling air pressure to the airstone.

 

UPDATES:

- All corals are doing really well. The birds nest is taking off. I fragged it twice and propogated around the upper area of the tank. Same with Montipora. Might need to trim back Xenia soon. All Euphylia is doing great.

[LongDoggy]

Managed to get a few photos yesterday. Here is a photo of the new 'scape, I think it came out pretty well. Lots of caves and hiding places for the new fish.

 

Photo of the new Bicolor Blenny:

 

Photo of the Yellow Line Goby: