My diary of a Biocube 8

[Kimberly63]

Floss can definitely be better than sponges. I'll be tearing down my 10g tank this week and setting up a brand new custom AIO tank I got. I won't say anymore than that about it, so keep your eyes peeled. My 10g is quickly going downhill as was evident when this past thursday night after I got home from work, I discovered my new adopted picasso lifeless on the bottom of the tank, and my other clownfish I had for a year and a half now had tried to escape (?) by jumping out. Not sure if he jumped before or after the picasso took it's last breath. I also this past week got a nice little blue spotted jawfish for my 30g tank which is doing great so far.

 

I'm so sorry you lost your picasso! They are so beautiful too. Did you catch your other clown in time or did you lose him too?

 

I'm lookin forward to seeing your new custom tank though! I bet you're excited!

 

Looking good. Glad you liked the swap, it was really crowded, wasn't it? Just wanted to let you know that your torch's behavior is perfectly normal.

 

Thanks! Oh I absolutely loved the swap but at times I felt like I had to swim through all the people! I didn't really even see a lot of the frag tanks there because there were too many people crowded around each one.

[Phixion]

I'm so sorry you lost your picasso! They are so beautiful too. Did you catch your other clown in time or did you lose him too?

 

I'm lookin forward to seeing your new custom tank though! I bet you're excited!

 

Thanks! I should be hopefully setting up in a day or two! Unfortunately the other clown didn't make it. It had probably been laying on the carpet for a good 6+ hours before I discovered it after getting home from work.

[gavilaso]

Hey!!!! looking really good!!!!

[Kimberly63]

Well 3 days ago I did some more mods to my tank by taking out the sponge in the back chamber and widening the the grate between chamber 1 and chamber 2 for a little more flow. Since then, all of my cyano is gone! Yay!

 

My clown is irritating me because he's been sleeping right above the torch and not ever really touching it. I get all excited when he goes right up to it then just hovers over it. Every once in awhile he'll touch a tenticle so he might be getting used to the stings first?? Who knows...

 

Oh, and I was watching my tank last night and all of a sudden a pod and a piece of chaeto comes flying out of my hydor flo and this pod was about an inch long! I couldn't believe it and my fish is going nuts trying to chase it around and eat it but it was too big for him!

[Kimberly63]

Okay I went to a PMASI meeting on Saturday and we had a discussion about making a refugium work harder. I got a lot of useful tips to share so I figured I would record them here (hopefully it might help someone out). I know a lot of people on this site have all-in-one tanks (including myself) but the some of this information helps out those with hang-on or in-sump refugiums.

 

**This information was given from a fellow club member - not an expert, but someone who has a lot of experience with refugiums. Some of the info is taken from some research, books and opinions of others***

 

First the refugium is a place for macros and pods or any other detritivores to reproduce without depletion by predatory organisms. Also a place to put frags and other things if wanted out of the display.

 

Macros:

There are some algaes that are better than others. Chaetomorpha algae is the top pick for a few reasons. It's a fast grower, doesn't need a lot of light to grow, a heavier weight algae, and doesn't take root - which is great so it doesn't become a nuisance. It's also said that if you remove too much macro at once out of the refugium, you have a high-crash risk for your tank. Chaeto is a very low crash-risk algae. Caulerpa (looks like feathers) isn't so great a choice for a refugium. It's fast growing and crash-prone. It's very hard to get rid of if it gets into the display and takes root. Algaes should also be lightly pruned with water changes because it promotes growth. Caulerpa is single-celled so once cut it dies-which also makes it not so good in a refugium. There are other macros available but top choice would be the chaeto. Care for any macro would be sufficient water flow, warm color cheap lighting (no, you don't need MH), reverse daylight schedule (releases CO2 into water and will also fluctuate pH levels) and regular light pruning.

 

Substrates:

The best would be a deep fine substrate which favors burrowing worms, it's a powerful detrinator and the detritus stays on the top for easier cleaning. Along with the substrate, some live rock rubble should be included because it is favored by amphipods, copepods, bristle worms and brittle starfish which eat detritus. There is some controversy about LR rubble in the fuge, but there are some tricks for getting around detritus build-up that I'll get to later.

 

Engineering:

The refugium is usually a separate vessel (sometimes in-sump) and usually sized about 20% of the display. It can be used for quarantine and can be easily removed if there are water-quality problems. It should have adequate water flow with no post filtration. It also works best if the substrates are compartmented. This can be done with cheap tupperware containers. This was suggested because the substrates can be easily removed if there is a problem with any of them. One container that has LR rubble can house pods and this is useful if there is a lot of flow because the pods can live and reproduce in the rubble without being blown away by the water flow. If any detritus gets in the LR rubble container, it will be quickly feasted on by the housed pods. It was suggested to have some snails in the fuge to keep the walls clean and he personally had a piece of thick coarse filter pad in it because brittle starfish love to live in it and it collects detritus from the water and keeps them fed. He either clips it on the side of the fuge or just lets it float. The use of Miracle Mud was also discussed. It was tested out by someone and they discovered that it is actually made up of a high-iron enriched soil/clay mixed with an argonite-type substrate. It works best if it's layered along the bottom and has a layer of regular substrate on top because the flow of the water will break it down and get caught in the filtration. The high-iron level helps with the growth of macros and is slowly released. If wanted, only a small layer should be used.

 

 

Well that's all the info I have. I tried to take down as much info as I could so I could share . I know that some of this information won't work for some all-in-ones but it would probably be beneficial if I could create some sort of housing that some pods could reproduce in and not be blown away by the water flow - especially because most of us upgrade our pumps to get the best water flow.

 

If anyone has any opinions about this information - by all means post it. I'd like to hear what other people think. Most of this information is already known by the majority of you but maybe it'll help some others out

[Kimberly63]

Thought I'd update again today because I'm bored.

 

My torch coral stung one of my armor of god zoas the other day so I had to build a rock wall to block the zoas. Luckily, the zoa is okay - just has a white spot on the outer edge.

 

My pods in my tank have dwindled down to nothing. My fish ate every one he could find and I can't see any in my tank at all. I wanted to build something for my 2nd chamber so any pods can go inside and live and reproduce without getting blown away by the current but I'm not sure what would work.

 

My clown started to host the torch coral and was in it all evening the one night last week. Now he won't go near it. Don't know what's wrong with him.

 

The stalk is long on my hammer coral and it's tucked down behind some rocks for support. Well the one day I was looking behind the rocks and near bottom of the stalk is a beautiful feather duster or might even be a coco worm. Would there be any way to remove it so I can have it out from the back? or will it eventually move location?

[Phixion]

Maybe the clown saw what the torch did to the AoG zoa, lol! Nah, clowns are tough fish, so a torch won't phase it, especially if an anemone won't. Pod populations will come and go, just give it some time for more to come around.

[tynee]

Do you have a pic of the refugium area with the light? Have you been happy with the Chaeto growth from the submersible LED?

 

Thanks.