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BC8...fish jumped, new direction


ihatesears18

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ihatesears18

July 2013 FTS

 

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Edit: Updated FTS and some other pics. The liverock has been adjusted slightly, and I installed a Koralia Nano. Got it at my LFS for $10 used. I also picked up a feather duster worm and a small zoo polyp frag. I thought it was different than the ones I already have, but unfortunately when I got home and compared them they are the same! This instantly made me want to drive to my other LFS and check out their products. I quickly walked out with one Ricordia Florida and a neat looking new zooanthid frag. There are a couple of different kinds on the frag, some orange and some a dull green :) I wish my camera didn't suck so bad, or that I knew how to use all of the features. Oh well, here are the pics.

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Well, here is my first attempt at a nano-reef. I decided to start with a Biocube 8 because it fit my budget and the space I have left (I already have a 55gal freshwater, a 30gal freshwater, geckos, scorpions, hamsters, and a few cats and dogs). I got it from my LFS for $179+tax. I immediately bought a 20lb bag of Caribsea live sand, Salt, a specific gravity meter, a water test kit, and a Koralia 1. I had a 50w heater leftover from another tank so I put it in the 1st chamber of the filtration system. I also removed the bioballs and carbon filter media before setting up the tank. I wanted to look around for a good deal on live rock as I think it's retarded to have to pay $7 a pound at the LFS. I found a guy on Craig's list selling live rock for $4 a pound so I jumped on it. I bought 20 lbs (of which I actually used about 16 lbs between the display and makeshift fuge in the back) and although it's not the most spectacular looking rock it has grown on me. I figure that after a while it will all be covered in Coraline and coral so what's the difference. I've rearranged it about 100 times since initially putting it in, and think i'm finally satisfied. I am however open to suggestions.

Here is the livestock that I currently have in it:

2 peppermint shrimp (had an anemone problem on a couple of the rocks)
1 firefish
2 snails (no idea what kind....any help?)
1 large colony of zooanthids from the LFS (the piece was $35, not bad)

When i brought the zoos home I noticed that on both ends were two clusters of polyps that were kind of just dangling, so I fragged them off and put them into a couple of crevices around the tank. Since doing this the two pieces have thrived and are looking great. The shrimp like to bother the main colony quite a bit but aren't doing any real harm.

So here's a few pictures of my setup

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RIP Sparky, fish are stupid.

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Reef Lobster

It's looking good! I actually like the rock - I like the cavework going on and the crevices. As far as lighting are you going to keep stock or possibly upgrade? I'm thinking up setting up an AIO but I've gotten mixed reviews as far as changing/keeping lighting.

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looks good.

 

I would suggest moving the rock off the glass, as cleaning the glass in that area will be a pita

 

snail looks like a turbo snail. They get big really quickly & become "bull dozers"

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ihatesears18
It's looking good! I actually like the rock - I like the cavework going on and the crevices. As far as lighting are you going to keep stock or possibly upgrade? I'm thinking up setting up an AIO but I've gotten mixed reviews as far as changing/keeping lighting.

 

I eventually would like to upgrade the lighting and am open to any suggestions. For now the lighting is ok, and is actually a lot brighter than the pictures let on. The moon LEDs are a nice effect at night. I'll keep this post updated as to whether or not the Biocube was worth it. Stay tuned!

 

looks good.

 

I would suggest moving the rock off the glass, as cleaning the glass in that area will be a pita

 

snail looks like a turbo snail. They get big really quickly & become "bull dozers"

 

 

Yeah that's the one aspect that I'm not happy with right now about the rock arrangement. I'll try to see if i can squeeze a little more space between the rock on the left and the glass. As for the snails, when I got the LR the guy that I bought it from threw in a BUNCH of snails. I'm talkin a whole handful. They were causing my nitrates to go up to 20ppm so I had to take all but two of them out. I did a 15% water change and will do the same again this weekend.

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ihatesears18
Lookin good! Why the anti-sears sentiment?

 

:welcome:

 

 

Well, to make a long story short I worked there as a teenager and well....didn't get along with management ;)

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ihatesears18

Update: Got finished early with a test tonight and while I was waiting for the results I ended up at my LFS. Well wouldn't you know I walked out with a small piece of rock with 4 mushroom heads on it. They're pretty neat looking and fluoresce a great deal under the actinic light. The stupid fan in my hood is now whirring out of control, i'll be calling customer service tomorrow. Until I get a new one I might just disconnect the damn thing and prop the hood open. I have a fan in the room constantly blowing on the cube to make sure overheating is never a problem. Also I don't need a chiller as the room where the tank is located is a bonus room with separate heating/cooling from the rest of the house so the room stays the temp that I want it to stay at. Also solar curtains are a beautiful thing when it comes to keeping algae under control. I'll be making a fuge light using some of the designs on this site tomorrow, and the guy at the LFS said that he would give me some cheato for free. So things are shaping up and I'll be posting more pics as soon as i finish the fuge.

 

:D

 

Also one more thing. Can peppermint shrimp be harmful to polyps? They seem awfully interested in EVERYTHING in the tank. I can't tell if they're being too much of a pain or not. Whenever they walk over the zoos and pick at them they all close up until the coast is clear. I honestly don't think they're being too much of a pest but you never know. Any advice?

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Also one more thing. Can peppermint shrimp be harmful to polyps? They seem awfully interested in EVERYTHING in the tank. I can't tell if they're being too much of a pain or not. Whenever they walk over the zoos and pick at them they all close up until the coast is clear. I honestly don't think they're being too much of a pest but you never know. Any advice?

 

As my favorite LFS says, "strange things happen in small tanks" ... I also have a peppermint shrimp in my BC8 - and since I've added him, several zoa clusters are either irritated or disappearing. If I can catch him, he's going back to the store. :)

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ihatesears18

Well the problem of the peppermint shrimp was cut in half tonight. Shortly after lights out I looked over to see one of the shrimp, either Beavis or Butthead i'm not sure which, was tugging around his tank mate. It was dead and went down the drain. Does anyone recommend any peaceful shrimp to replace the peppermint? I don't want any trouble makers in this tank, I don't have the room!

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Well the problem of the peppermint shrimp was cut in half tonight. Shortly after lights out I looked over to see one of the shrimp, either Beavis or Butthead i'm not sure which, was tugging around his tank mate. It was dead and went down the drain. Does anyone recommend any peaceful shrimp to replace the peppermint? I don't want any trouble makers in this tank, I don't have the room!

 

Are you sure it wasn't a molt?

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ihatesears18
Are you sure it wasn't a molt?

 

Yeah they've both molted a couple of times and this was definitely a dead shrimp. It was weird because he was up and moving around just fine hours before....

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ihatesears18

Well the mushrooms that I put in last night surprised the heck out of me. Last night they were quite small, and when I came home today they were HUGE! The largest one is almost 2 inches across. I'll post some pictures here in a little while after the ol camera charges...

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Yeah Shrooms are cool corals man, they can change sizes amazingly quick. Fire or skunk cleaner shrimp would be cool, or one of my personal favorites, SEXY SHRIMP!!! A couple of those would have a lot of fun in an 8. They'll host shrooms and ricordeas.

 

Oh yeah, the peps can definitely bother any corallimorphs. They eat aptaisia, usually with gusto. So it's not a big stretch that they would munch on zoas or anything similar. The previous pair I had in my 75 would inspect every new piece of LR I added to the tank, looking for aptaisia, which was a nice benefit, they never really bothered my zoas though. Kinda like dwarf angels, depends on the individual animal.

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ihatesears18

While trying to take pictures of the new shrooms (battery died) I noticed a single zoo polyp kind of swirling around the bottom of the tank. It went under a rock and into a cave before I could scoop it up. I wonder what caused that....

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ihatesears18

Update: Got instructions on how to build a small fuge light for the 2nd chamber from nano-reef (too lazy to say who's directions they were, i'm sure you guys recognize it though). The build was super easy. The hardest part was scraping the black crap off the back of a running tank. My LFS said that he would give me some cheato so i'll be going to pick it up tomorrow.

 

Quick question: How much is too much liverock rubble to remove all at once, and does anyone have any ideas on how to get more water into the 2nd chamber? Although the tank is topped off the level in the 2nd chamber is about halfway up.

 

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ihatesears18

Here's a few pictures of the new shrooms. The camera doesn't really do them justice as they are extremely fluorescent.

 

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Frag that is flourishing

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Hope you guys enjoy!

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ihatesears18

Got some monti today, not branching. It's a little dull colored right now but the mother colony was a brilliant green. Hopefully it'll color up soon. I added cheato to the rear chamber, and took out about 1/2 lb of live rock to make room. I also got two scarlet hermit crabs, and they look great! They're being really shy right now, but when they get comfortable and the monti colors up i'll snap some more pics :)

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ihatesears18

Hello again! I just got home on my lunch break and was admiring the tank when I noticed my first copepods! I only saw one at first but when I looked closer there were TONS of them on the glass near my powerhead. They are so neat to watch, and definitely a good sign! I wonder if the firefish will eat them....

 

The hermits are doing well, still very shy and getting accustomed to their environment. Will post pics as soon as nano-reef.com quits rejecting my links to photobucket. Anyone else have this problem?

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ihatesears18

Hermit died, came home from work and the shrimp was munching on him. I had to take down every f'ing rock to wrestle the dead body away from the shrimp. I did a 2gal water change just in case something in the tank caused the death. Did a water test and everything was fine, nitrates were a bit high but it's only been a few days since I removed the snails. Hopefully things will get better. Maybe I didn't acclimate the hermits properly....

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Yay! Another BioCube 8! :D I love mine. I had the same problem with the fans and they gave me great customer service.

 

I have one peppermint shrimp in my tank, and after it ate all the aiptasia I've been feeding it fish pellets. He hasn't picked on any of my corals. Maybe that'll help.

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ihatesears18

The other hermit is now toast. I think the LFS got a bad batch or something. Did a water test and nothing in my tank should have killed them. Luckily this time I noticed that he was dead before my shrimp had time to pull him out of his shell. I tossed in a couple of snails to help with the cleanup duty. That makes 6 total snails (2 are very small). Oh well, I'm going to wait to do another water change before I put anything else in the tank. The montipora is doing great though! Also my largest mushroom has grown another head at it's base, neato!

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ihatesears18

Ok so quick question: This morning I found 2 zoa polypys just kind of sitting on the sand in an area where I cannot get to them. The question or questions are, will they survive, and if they don't will two polyps rotting in the tank raise the ammonia levels significantly? There is now way I can get to them without removing most of the rocks in my tank. I really don't want to do that again!

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if they are open, i wouldnt worry to much. But if they are closed, this could be a problem. Try to get creative with a coat hanger. idk

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