splitskater's 14g biocube, NEW CORALS AND CLAM!

[splitskater]

Wanna bet on that?

 

 

 

I feel your pain i scratched mine with a cleaning pad said to be safe for all tanks.I had to buy another one and swap it all out.What a pita..........

 

so...what is it glass or acrylic? i know that this has been debated before in other threads, but what was the verdict? seems like acrylic to me or a soft glass or something.

[Greenstar]

did it scrartch? than its probably acyrlic.

[splitskater]

did it scrartch? than its probably acyrlic.

 

definately scratched

[splitskater]

tank is almost 2 weeks old everything is going great, got home from work today to find copepods all over the place, this is awesome. my emerald actually came out from hiding today first time seeing him in a couple of days.

i think i may get a skunk cleaner shrimp on friday which is a steep $40 from my lfs, i would love to get a yellow clown goby but i know it is to early to add fish so i thought the shrimp would be an interesting addition to hold me over till i can get fish. i have a least 3 stomatella hitchhikers one is pretty big with a purpleish shell, tons of bristle worms i cant even count how many there are i am thinking 25+, and at least 2 peanut worms.....lots of excitenment in the tank today.

 

i plan on doing my first water change on friday too.

 

so is it to early for the shrimp?......my water params are all in check and have been consistant.

[uwwmatt]

Shrimp are pretty sensitive and usually require a bit more care when acclimating them, so keep that in mind if you get one. If I where you I would probably wait another week before adding anything. You have nothing to lose by waiting.

 

Only bad things happen fast in a Nano.

[splitskater]

Shrimp are pretty sensitive and usually require a bit more care when acclimating them, so keep that in mind if you get one. If I where you I would probably wait another week before adding anything. You have nothing to lose by waiting.

 

Only bad things happen fast in a Nano.

 

you are right.....i didnt think it would be hard to wait, i thought i could just set it up and forget about it for a month ....but the doesnt seem to be the case but i will wait another week

[plainrt]

I would hold off on shrimp for may 2-3 months when tank is real real stable.I would add after fish for sure.And clown gobies can be picky eaters.See what they are eating at lfs and ask them to feed him so can see them eat.Alot of times they get them in at store and they are stresed and dont eat or the store doesnt try different foods for them etc etc......

[splitskater]

I would hold off on shrimp for may 2-3 months when tank is real real stable.I would add after fish for sure.And clown gobies can be picky eaters.See what they are eating at lfs and ask them to feed him so can see them eat.Alot of times they get them in at store and they are stresed and dont eat or the store doesnt try different foods for them etc etc......

 

i will probably just leave the tank alone for another 2 weeks i wasnt planning on adding fish until the tank has

been established for a month

[uwwmatt]

i will probably just leave the tank alone for another 2 weeks i wasnt planning on adding fish until the tank has

been established for a month

 

As you are beginning to find out, waiting is the hardest part. Now would be the perfect time to work on any modifications you may have been planning for your biocube. I would suggest taking a look over at http://www.nanotuners.com/ that is a good resource for DIY ideas. If you haven't already you should definitely upgrade your stock pump. The MJ900 is your best option.

 

I did this modification and I am really happy with the added light and better fans.

http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php...products_id=346

[splitskater]

As you are beginning to find out, waiting is the hardest part. Now would be the perfect time to work on any modifications you may have been planning for your biocube. I would suggest taking a look over at http://www.nanotuners.com/ that is a good resource for DIY ideas. If you haven't already you should definitely upgrade your stock pump. The MJ900 is your best option.

 

I did this modification and I am really happy with the added light and better fans.

http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php...products_id=346

 

i was just on the nanotuners site checking out that lighting kit, but i think i am f=just going to stick with the stock lights for now, till i decide if i am going to get MHs.

 

as for the pump i have been planning on upgrading to the MJ900 just havent gotten around to it yet. maybe i will use the money that i was going to spend on the shrimp and just pick up the pump, i have to take out the stock sponge in the chamber also.

[uwwmatt]

The sponge is fine in there now. In fact there is nothing wrong with the sponge itself. The problem is that people forget to rinse them out and change them. Overtime they just become detritus traps. If you keep up with the regular maintenance they are actually good because they stop things from getting in your pumps.

[O-man21]

BioCubes are glass people.

 

 

I've seen a lot of this 'BioCubes are acrylic" recently and I have no idea where the idea came from. BioCubes are glass. 100% sure.

[splitskater]

The sponge is fine in there now. In fact there is nothing wrong with the sponge itself. The problem is that people forget to rinse them out and change them. Overtime they just become detritus traps. If you keep up with the regular maintenance they are actually good because they stop things from getting in your pumps.

 

so i could keep in there and wash it in the old tank water when i do water changes and that would keep my water quality up to par?

 

BioCubes are glass people.

 

 

I've seen a lot of this 'BioCubes are acrylic" recently and I have no idea where the idea came from. BioCubes are glass. 100% sure.

 

they are advertised as glass, doesnt really seem like glass to me....but this is my first tank what do i know.

i know this is a highly debated subject on this forums and others, i will continue to use scraper for acrylic to be on the safe side.

[plainrt]

BioCubes are glass people.

 

 

I've seen a lot of this 'BioCubes are acrylic" recently and I have no idea where the idea came from. BioCubes are glass. 100% sure.

 

 

no there not.prove me wrong please...........They scratch way to easy to be glass.....

[splitskater]

update

just got my first water change under my belt, did a 1.5g change. i think one of my cerith snails is dead havent seen him in 5 days and i dont even see his shell, not sure. water params are still 0s and my pH has went down a little bit to 8.0???? other than that everything seems to be goog tons of copepods all over the tank.

 

my lfs just got an awesome pair of true perculas in today but i resisted the urge suprisingly, i want to want another 2 weeks till my tank is a month old before i drop $120 on 2 fish.

 

i just seen my emerald crab though i know he is a scanvenger and eats algae i just wanna make sure and ask if he will find enough to eat around the tank to eat, or do i need to supplement his diet a little?

[splitskater]

time to update, day 17. tons of pods everywhere, still have a cerith snail missing in action, and my emeral crab is boring i dont see him much. i have a 2 head multi color frogspawn on the way, it may be a little early i didnt plan on adding anything till my tank has been up for a month, but i couldnt resist mr. coral 50% and free shipping, so its on the way. picked up a api reef master test kit, so here are my current params:

ph 8.0

ammonia 0

nitrite 0

nitrate 0

calcium 440-460

carbonate hardness 161.1

phosphate 0

temp 79.5

sg 1.025

everything looks pretty good to me, i am nervous about my first coral hopefully everything goes well!

[uwwmatt]

Frogspawn is a good choice, just remember that the sweeper tentacles, which can be very long, will sting nearby corals.

[splitskater]

Frogspawn is a good choice, just remember that the sweeper tentacles, which can be very long, will sting nearby corals.

 

yea its good that i got the FR first, i have never seen the sweeper tentacles, so i will be able to see how far they actually reach without the fear of anything getting stung

[splitskater]

just got my first corals...frogspawn, zoa, and a gonipora freebie

 

new fts

 

frogspawn....opened in minutes and looks good

 

zoa....about 10 polyps, opened a little bit but closed back up when i moved them

 

gonipora...was a freebie. have to do a lot of research, i know nothing about them except they are not recommended for a nano reef and rarely survive.

 

i will post pics of the zoa when they decide to open, not sure how long it will take

[lqdKaos]

no there not.prove me wrong please...........They scratch way to easy to be glass.....

 

How are y'all scratching these things? I scraped coraline algae off with the end of a knife and managed to not scratch the thing.

 

splitskater, the tank is looking great. Nice to see another nice looking BC14.

[splitskater]

How are y'all scratching these things? I scraped coraline algae off with the end of a knife and managed to not scratch the thing.

 

splitskater, the tank is looking great. Nice to see another nice looking BC14.

 

thanks, everything is going good, hopefully it will stay that way. mine seems to scratch easily, every time i have used my mag float even though i cleaned it thouroghly. i wont use the mag float again, i am using the scraper sponge on a stick.

[splitskater]

just got back for the LFS pick up a 2-3 headed candy cane coral and got a little freebie rock wih 2 red mushrooms on it.

 

fts

 

gonipora finally opened up i dont know much about this, as it was a freebie, i have been reading that these are hard to keep and require feeding everyday of phytoplankton, if someone who has these could elaborate that would be awsome.

 

candy cane....not sure if i like the placement not sure of where to put it

 

mushroom.....pretty small it hasnt fully opened yet. not sure how fast these grow but i hope its quick!

[splitskater]

day 27 not good, bristol worms and amphipods are eating my only zoa colony into extinction there was 4 polyps missing when i got up this morning. i have to assume its these becuase i witnessed a pod eat the whole bottom part of the skirt on one polyp yesterday and there was a few worms on where the most polyps are missing, other than that i dont know what else could be doing it. i also found what really looks like some hydroids on one of the rocks, so i have to research how to get rid of these before i get more coral.

 

day 27 not so good

[splitskater]

i got 2 ocellaris clowns from my lfs today. they have been paired up there for a while, the female is a regular and the male is black and white. since i got them they have not left each other side and have not left the front glass of the tank. my lfs also got about 10 pairs of harlequin shrimp in too, i love these guys its to bad they only eat starfish. my zoa colony has kind of stabilized i think for now i lost a bunch of polyps but the ones left look kind of decent. here are some pics of the clowns

i do have a question on feeding though i plan to vary their diet a little with brine and mysis, but for right now i got ocean nutrition Formula one marine pellets(small pellets), and my lfs staff told me to feed about 3 pellets per day to each fish...i thought you were supposed to feed them as much as they could eat in 2 minutes....so how much do i feed them?

 

and i also read that a lot of people think feeding everyday is to much, and feed every other day is this a good plan?

[PufferButt]

no there not.prove me wrong please...........They scratch way to easy to be glass.....

 

 

I am planning on getting a 14g BC soon and every time I read about them, it says "Curved Glass Front Corners" I wondered what that meant since, if it was all glass, doesn't seem like they'd emphasize that the corners were glass.

 

Looked at one earlier today at a PetSupplies Plus store. The curved corners ARE glass but the sides seemed to be acrylic. The tank was empty so I tapped it and it was a plastic, hollow sound--not like glass at all. Then I lifted it...seemed too light to be all glass. Don't know if that's possible--if they can curve glass right into acrylic and make a tank out of both materials.

 

And Splitskater...I have loved watching the progress of your tank!