wenelyn Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 I set up my very first saltwater tank on 2-18-09 and am only just now getting around to putting this up. Must be the innate procrastinator in me. I love aquariums and am so inspired with the amazing tanks I’ve seen here. Up untill now I’ve had freshwater planted tanks but have always wanted to get salty. I really like the idea of a microcosm and am excited to see the tank evolve into a little piece of reef. I decided on a 29 gallon biocube and was able to get a good deal on one during a sale at my LFS. I went with a 2 to 3 inch sand bed and hardscaped with 27 lbs of live rock. When I set up my tank I used tap water but have been doing all the water changes and top offs with R.O water ever since (using phoslock to get rid of any lingering phosphates). Mods[/u] Took out the bio balls in chamber 2 Added a HYDOR FLO to the out take Maxi jet1200 (replaced the water pump) After setting up the tank in my living room I think I sat for hours just trying to watch the rock grow. The first signs of life were little spaghetti worms and an an Aptasia. After researching what aptasia was I was kinda surprised by the large amount of it in my LFS were I got the LR . I now call all aptasia KAHN after many frustrating attempts at removing them with tweezors( total waste of time). After I saw diatoms in my tank and the cycle looked complete I added a Clean up crew and one peppermint shrimp to get rid of the aptasia. CUC 15 hermit crabs 2 turbo snails (now only 1) 2 nassarius snails 1 emerald crab 1 brittle star (now deceased) Mysis shrimp Gommaris shrimp Peppermint shrimp (disappeared after 2 months) Pods Micro stars The peppermint shrimp did eat the aptasia. By far the most active members of the CUC are the hermies. They are always crawling around everywhere and getting everything. Also in the last four months I've noticed more hitchhikers like feather duster worm Since then I have added a few more things to my tank but have tried to take it very slow. Patience is usually rewarded in this hobby. So far so good. I was amazed at how expensive coral is, so that also helps keep me in check. Having a Bachelors in Fine Art and A Job in Social work does not make it easy to fill a tank, but I’m determined to persevere! Fish 2 ocellaris clownfish (Starbuck and Apollo) 1 firefish (Ifrit) Coral 3 small mushrooms (red discosoma) 1 frogspawn frag Pulsating Xenia (seemed to die but then came back to life) Green star polyps 1 leather (Toadstool?) Thanks Ian 1 Open Brain (green and pink) Thanks Marium No luck so far on the clowns hosting the frogspawn. Unfortunately they prefer the back corner of the tank by the intake. The next thing I want to add are some really cool zoanthids. The LFS I usually go to has some brown ones but I’d really like some blue in the BC somewhere. I’d appreciate any advice or feedback I can get since this is my first saltwater experience and the first topic I’ve started on NR. ALSO THANKS for all the great information and inspirations already on this site! Link to comment
clownfreak Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 First of all, Welcome Second, nice tank... I like the rock work Keep it up Link to comment
wenelyn Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 Thanks clownfreak : ) Any ideas on how to get the clownfish to host something? Link to comment
clownfreak Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Well..... my clownfish hosts a candycane coral, but I've heard you can feed them close to or push them (gently) into the thing you want them to host. However, im not entirely sure if thats correct..... HTH Link to comment
westcoastreefer84 Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Welcome to nr, I like your rock work, nice ledge with plenty of open sand bed, I love a lot of brains and zoas in the sandbed, your lobo is nice too For your aptasia, do a google, there's a lot of differant recipes to rid yourself of them As for your clowns, a lot of tank bred clowns don't take well to nems, especially ocellaris, I have only had percs, tank bred ORA ones, my perc never took to a nem until I bought a missbarred ORA clown and they hit it off, as soon as the missbarred hosted the nem my other perc followed, and she's almost 5 years old and just recently has started to host You probably know tap water is a big no no, but your doing the right thing by running a phos remover, I would highly recommend running carbon as well Link to comment
wenelyn Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 Well..... my clownfish hosts a candycane coral, but I've heard you can feed them close to or push them (gently) into the thing you want them to host. However, im not entirely sure if thats correct..... HTH [/quote I saw your cube and I think its very cool. I'm trying to stick with the stock lighting too so its nice to see that you can have a nice tank without metal halides. I'll try feeding them close to the frogspawn. Link to comment
wenelyn Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 Welcome to nr, I like your rock work, nice ledge with plenty of open sand bed, I love a lot of brains and zoas in the sandbed, your lobo is nice too For your aptasia, do a google, there's a lot of differant recipes to rid yourself of them As for your clowns, a lot of tank bred clowns don't take well to nems, especially ocellaris, I have only had percs, tank bred ORA ones, my perc never took to a nem until I bought a missbarred ORA clown and they hit it off, as soon as the missbarred hosted the nem my other perc followed, and she's almost 5 years old and just recently has started to host You probably know tap water is a big no no, but your doing the right thing by running a phos remover, I would highly recommend running carbon as well I checked out your tank pics NICE. I got ahold of some Joe's Juice from a guy at work who switched back to freshwater after the ice storm (sorry to all those people whose tanks crashed ). As far as the clowns, seems like they do learn new tricks if yours hosted after 5 years. Unfortunately I don"t think I'll be adding another clown for a while. I think Jawfish are interesting but I need a bigger sandbed. Anyone know what kinda mushies those are. I got them as a tiny frag for like $10. Still unsure if they have a name. Link to comment
clownfreak Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 I saw your cube and I think its very cool. I'm trying to stick with the stock lighting too so its nice to see that you can have a nice tank without metal halides. I'll try feeding them close to the frogspawn. Thanks!!! Anyone know what kinda mushies those are. I got them as a tiny frag for like $10. Still unsure if they have a name. red discosoma...pretty sure Link to comment
colgan10 Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 Looks like you are off to a great start! Let me know if you ever want to swap any frags! I have mostly sps corals, but i do have some zoas and stuff! Link to comment
wenelyn Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Looks like some of the posts on this are missing, including some pix I uploaded. Can't figure out what happened?? Link to comment
JLwaves Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Looks like some of the posts on this are missing, including some pix I uploaded. Can't figure out what happened?? Website crashed, data restored back to early July. It happens. Link to comment
wenelyn Posted July 18, 2009 Author Share Posted July 18, 2009 Thanks, just saw the announcement. I'll just reload the pics. Feel lucky they didn't lose everything Link to comment
wenelyn Posted July 20, 2009 Author Share Posted July 20, 2009 Tank Update-I had one of my clownfish jump into the 3rd back chamber in the cube. Fortunately I fished him out before anything terrible happened. I promptly ordered the fish saver and media rack from stevieT and have since installed both into the back of the tank. No more suicidal fish hopefully. Right now my media rack has sponge in the top, and chemipure in the middle, with phoslock in the bottom. Soon I would like to add some cheato to the back(maybe in the media rack somewhere). I went ahead and got a submersible light for that purpose. I also really want some colorful zoa's. I'd like some blue ones to start but I'd like a variety for the cube. Here is a pic of my newest edition Pepe Link to comment
wenelyn Posted August 16, 2009 Author Share Posted August 16, 2009 Just added a new inhabitant to the tankorama. I now have an Orange Tree Sponge. I placed him in a lower light part of the tank but am unsure if there is enough flow there. If he doesn't do well I will move him or add another powerhead. I'm feeding him Phytoplan phyoplankten diet 2-3 times a week (quarter teaspoon dilluted in a half liter of tank water). Hopefully this will keep him healthy and not add too much nutrient to my system. Pictures to follow and as always anyone with comments and or suggestion is encouraged to comment Link to comment
mkregs Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 Got any tank pics? I'd like to see how things are coming along. Link to comment
wenelyn Posted August 28, 2009 Author Share Posted August 28, 2009 Here are some recent pics of the cube. Everything is still doing well and the xenia and GSP seem to be growing as well as the frogspawn. Thanks for the interest mkregs. This is my tree sponge A couple other pics of the tank inhabitants My only complaints now are that hermits keep crawling on my leather so it won"t open fully and I need to add a powerhead for more flow, since I added the tree sponge. Link to comment
wenelyn Posted August 30, 2009 Author Share Posted August 30, 2009 Some FTS I took today after feeding phyto. a pic of my open brain(usually puts out feeders at night) Link to comment
wenelyn Posted September 19, 2009 Author Share Posted September 19, 2009 I got my new Koralia 1 powerhead in the mail this week. Thanks for all the advice NR. I decided to add more flow after putting in the Orange tree sponge. So far so good. Hopefully everything acclimates to the added flow. The xenia and gsp seem to like it but I'm not so sure about the toadstool. Hopefully all will adjust and love it in time. Definately less dead spots in the tank. Link to comment
got2envy Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 I love that open brain!!! very nice aquascape and the K1 is an awesome lil' pump fo' sho' Link to comment
wenelyn Posted January 2, 2010 Author Share Posted January 2, 2010 Been a while since I updated. Sadly a at the beginning of december my the power got shut off in the tank for 24 hours. When I got home from work and went to look I noticed the lights were out and then when I opened the tank I noticed the smell ( I will never forget it). Fortunately no fish died and after many water changes the tank seems to be fine. Unfortunately my open brain shortly died. It could have been worse so I am grateful in the end. Today I even added some Zoas. Happy NEW YEAR nano reef. Link to comment
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