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Nano Virgin


scubs

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welcome, i started my biocube a little more than a month ago, you have a nice diatom algae bloom going on, perfectly normal. when you cycle is over when you add the CUC they will make quick work of it....mine did!

i will follow...good luck

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It is looking good. Your cycle should be done in a few weeks. Dont worry about the aiptasias, after your cycle just get a few peppermint shrimp and they will eat them right up. I had a few that were getting pretty large and they ate them within 2 days of placing them in the tank.

 

Reese

 

that was my plan, a peppermint shrimp to clean them up after the cycle finishes. Do you add peppermint at the same time with the CUC or much later?

 

the tank looks great! im at about the same stage as you so i am looking forward to your progress

thanks man, i created a blog documenting my process as well. I am a noob though, so i learn along the way with the great help from the experienced nano-reefers here.

 

welcome, i started my biocube a little more than a month ago, you have a nice diatom algae bloom going on, perfectly normal. when you cycle is over when you add the CUC they will make quick work of it....mine did!

i will follow...good luck

 

awesome, i've been following your thread and getting some insights.

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Wooohoooo, I think my tank is close to finishing a cycle. According to todays water testing the ammonia and the nitrites have gone down! The Nitrates are between 10 and 20. I can’t know for sure, because it’s so hard to differentiate the colors of 10 and 20 of the Nitrates test.

 

From what I have read/learned so far, it’s time to do major water change (50% perhaps) in order to dilute/decrease the Nitrates. And than add the first batch of CUC (Clean Up Crew).

But to be sure, I will wait till saturday, that way I will let the tank stabilize better, and I will have time to go to the aquarium shop in Dublin CA and get some snails, some hermits and maybe salt water from Catalina Islands.

 

Here are the results:

 

PH………….. 8.4

 

Ammonia….0

 

Nitrites……. 0

 

Nitrates……. 10-20

 

What should be on my list for the CUC? And how many should I get at the beginning?

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Today my Hydor Koralia 1 arrived. I was so excited to put it in my 14g BioCube, but I got disappointed very quickly. That thing is HUGE! I didn't expect it will be that big and stick out like a sore thumb.

Needless to say I will be getting it out and maybe getting the Nano instead. Hopefully the Nano is not as GINARMOUS as the Korlaia 1.

 

On the positive side, the cycling is doing great.

PH 8.4

Ammonia 0

N02 0

N03 5

 

Can't wait for saturday to employ some clean up crew, the algea is growing like crazy, even on the sand bed.

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What is your blog address?

 

 

thanks man, i created a blog documenting my process as well. I am a noob though, so i learn along the way with the great help from the experienced nano-reefers here.

 

 

 

awesome, i've been following your thread and getting some insights.

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:welcome:

 

Great looking start. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

Also for a CUC I would recomend snails. Asterea and Nissarius. I also have a few scarlet hermit crabs they are good at getting the crevisis inyou LR clean. For your substrate a Cucumber is awsome. They eatup dirty substrate and "Shat" out clean substrate. Sorry for the experssion. It is really cool to watch.

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What is your blog address?

Hey Jenna, its in my signature anters.wordpress.com. I see you have a blog about your aquarium too, awesome. Just keep the cat outside of the aquarium :)

 

Like the rock work.

I'm 7 days in and I have some purple, green and pink algae on my rocks. Will be following to compare progress.

Oh I have tons of algae, i have some green with white tops and then some that look like fern almost. I'll follow your progress as well.

 

:welcome:

 

Great looking start. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

Also for a CUC I would recomend snails. Asterea and Nissarius. I also have a few scarlet hermit crabs they are good at getting the crevisis inyou LR clean. For your substrate a Cucumber is awsome. They eatup dirty substrate and "Shat" out clean substrate. Sorry for the experssion. It is really cool to watch.

 

Thanks man. Saturday I will go to the shop and see what I can get. I plan to get like variety of snails, 4 perhaps first, baby emerald crab, and maybe one scarlet hermit.

 

Snails high on my list are Ceriths, Nassarius and Nerite. I don't know about Astreas, I heard you will have to constantly flip them over or they will die. since they can't flip by themselves. So I want my hands out of the aquarium as much as possible.

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Update:

I added partial CUC this weekend:

2 Trochus,

2 Ceriths

1 Nassarius

1 Nerite (he hasn't moved whole day :( )

1 Scarlet hermit

1 emerald crab

 

The Nass immediately went under the sand. The most active are the Trochus, followed by the ceriths. The hermit is eating but very slowly and the emerald seems to be eating well. The Nerite on the other hand hasn't moved at all.

 

Also I installed the Nanotuners 3.24 light upgrade and I will post photos of the assembly step by step.

 

I wonder whether i should be adding more CUC in couple of days or more, and what should i add? I have a lot of hair algae.

Tank is BC14g with approximately 10g water

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I think you will like the trochus they are pretty good rock scrubbers, they dont seem to touch hair algae though. However the emerald crab does seem to eat just about any type of algae/organic matter. I have heard good and bad things about emeralds and made an informed purchase when I bought one for my tank. If she/he gets nasty he/she gets banished to my fuge or maybe fed to a chicken.

 

If you are looking for a CuC I have to recommend the folks at reefcleaners.org. Where else are you going to get zig zag periwinkle snails eh? Imagine this; a Trochus snail with a Dwaarf Planxis on its shell that has a ZZP on its shell, double hitch-hiker, too funny. With shipping (2 day) and handling I purchased my CuC from RC at lower cost than my lfs and received greater variety to boot. I did buy the Trochus and emerald from the lfs though.

 

I also have a BC 14 so I will keep an eye on your cube. My cube is new no pics, fish or coral yet, just growing coralline and pods atm. =)

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I think you will like the trochus they are pretty good rock scrubbers, they dont seem to touch hair algae though. However the emerald crab does seem to eat just about any type of algae/organic matter. I have heard good and bad things about emeralds and made an informed purchase when I bought one for my tank. If she/he gets nasty he/she gets banished to my fuge or maybe fed to a chicken.

 

If you are looking for a CuC I have to recommend the folks at reefcleaners.org. Where else are you going to get zig zag periwinkle snails eh? Imagine this; a Trochus snail with a Dwaarf Planxis on its shell that has a ZZP on its shell, double hitch-hiker, too funny. With shipping (2 day) and handling I purchased my CuC from RC at lower cost than my lfs and received greater variety to boot. I did buy the Trochus and emerald from the lfs though.

 

I also have a BC 14 so I will keep an eye on your cube. My cube is new no pics, fish or coral yet, just growing coralline and pods atm. =)

 

The trochus are my favorite. They move fast and they are pretty active. Great colors too.

I haven't seen any copepods in the tank yet, but i saw this wormie looking thingie, about 3/4" swiming like crazy and got sucked in the overflow.

The reason I got the emerald is because i have a LOT of the hair algae because i ran the lights during the cycle while trying to preserve a lot of life on the rocks.

Do you know whats the best CUC for the hair algae?

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First casualty: the Nerite. :rant:

He did come out for a second when he went in the tank and then never moved. So I left him for 2 days and he hasn’t moved at all. So I decided to take him out and see if he is alive.

 

He was VERY dead, so DEAD that he stank so bad, I had to close him in a bag before I put him in the trash. I am disappointed that something died in my tank just within 2 days. What puzzled me is how fast from slight movement to stinking hell the snail got. I am glad I toke him out in time. I tested the water and the water seems fine.

 

PH …………8.4

 

Ammonia..0

 

Nitrites……0

 

Nitrates……5

 

I tested the water for Calcium and KH today. The Calcium is rather low 300 and the KH is 10. So I think I will have to get some calcium supplement and see if I can bring the calcium level to 420. I thought the calcium would go up since I changed 25% water with salt water from Catalina Islands, hmmmmm?!

 

Some photos of the CUC:

ceriths.jpg

trochus.jpg

nassarius.jpg

scarlet.jpg

nerite.jpg

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cool pics of the cuc, hopefully they take out that HA problem

 

the Trochuses seem to be the most active, they haven't stopped eating LOL, the ceriths eat and sleep and the hermit is kinda shy. i hope the calcium level doesn't affect him.

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Great start.. love to see you taking you time..

howd the light mod go for you?

hard to imagine the tank without the acticins now that you have them huh?

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Great start.. love to see you taking you time..

howd the light mod go for you?

hard to imagine the tank without the acticins now that you have them huh?

 

thats what i have learned from reading the forums, to go slow :)

the lightmod was pretty straight forward. there were times when i felt my fingers were to BIG lol, but everything turned out great. The fans do run a little bit louder at 12V, but they do better job.

I opted out for the 50/50 bulb, so now I have 1 10.0000, 1 actinic and 1 50/50.

 

I set the timer for the actinic only bulb to come out 1 hour before and after the 2 other bulbs (10.000 and 50/50).

 

I toke pictures and i will make a post with step by step soon

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Ooooh, I wish I could have found some Trochus snails locally. But I think I'm going to follow your lead and put in a couple of hermits. So far your tank looks fab!

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SAN FRANCISCO!!! WOOT WOOT!

 

Now to act my age...

 

I like the rockwork you have there, best wishes on your tank!

 

Reprezent! lol Thanks man!

 

 

Ooooh, I wish I could have found some Trochus snails locally. But I think I'm going to follow your lead and put in a couple of hermits. So far your tank looks fab!

 

Get Scarlet hermit if you can, its the most peaceful hermit I read. The Trochus are the best, they are like little machines and they can right themselves up.

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Scubs,

I love your tank. I just started mine as well and will be following your thread. LOVE the lr. Im a little jealous i couldnt find anything that great looking. Good luck with the tank!

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