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Cultivated Reef

XIII's Nano Cube - 28 Gallon LED


XIII

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Great thread! Love the aquascape too one of the best! Good to hear the ORA goby eats frozen. Will eventually get a mandarin but think I will try to train one to eat frozen as opposed to an ORA. Heard those ORAs can be pretty pricey $$$. Love all the corals you have added tank looks great. Any better with the snail problem?

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Great thread! Love the aquascape too one of the best! Good to hear the ORA goby eats frozen. Will eventually get a mandarin but think I will try to train one to eat frozen as opposed to an ORA. Heard those ORAs can be pretty pricey $$$. Love all the corals you have added tank looks great. Any better with the snail problem?

He was $60, which is high for a mandarin, but average compared to other fish so it wasn't a big deal.

 

The vermatids have "plateaued" for the most part; they aren't going away, put really aren't spreading any more either. I still crush as many of them as I can each water change or any other time I go into the tank for something.

 

I think I'm going to do a massive water change soon. I need to take the top of my rock structure to try to get at the smaller RBTA from the split which I want to remove from the tank, and with the hair and cyano algae growing as it has been, I know that my nitrates and phosphates are way too high. I think the bio-load for the tank is fine, but I have a pretty sure understanding that this is being caused by how I am feeding the fish (not necessarily over feeding, but they aren't always getting to it all before it settles), so I'll be changing that as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

New Pictures!

 

My new Purple Torch (3 heads) under the actinics:

6211565648_2e74e2093e.jpg

 

And my new Armor of God Palys:

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An overhead shot of the tank while feeding the fish:

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And a couple of full tank shots from the front:

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As for updates, the algae is abating, so my new feeding routine seems to be working.

 

All the fish are happy, and are becoming more and more adventuresome. I can essentially pet the clowns and I can hand feed them now, which is kind of funny. The mandarin loves hanging out in the Solomon Tree frags, and the Firefish is no longer skittish and just bobs around the tank. The pygmy hawk is also more bold along with the yellow clown goby, and both like to hang out on perches together.

 

I did lose my purple palys, which I can't figure out why, but one of my zoa colonies which had been dying back has been flourishing, along with my smashmouth micromusa, after being moved to new locations. I traded 1 of my Solomon Tree frags and a green frilly mushroom for a couple new corals, a torch and AoG paly's as seen above, and both are loving their new home.

 

I picked up a "booster pack" for my clean up crew, once again going to ReefCleaners.org. John was amazing as ever and provided me with many many new certiths, nassarius, and other snails, as well as periwinkles, hermits, and a bag of copepods to give my tank some support.

 

Tank is looking great, and the pico tank planning is almost complete.

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Great setup and excellent pics!

 

Quick question, are you running both return pumps at the same time?

I was running them at the same time when I had my chiller running this summer, but am currently running them in alternating cycles every 30 seconds to create some additional turbulence in the tank (running perpendicular to the MP10). I feel that running them both at the same time drains the rear chambers too fast.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I lost the Mandarin on Monday...just up and disappeared. Very disappointing as he had been very active and healthy during the weekend. And then on Tuesday I found my cleaner shrimp being "cleaned" by the hermit crabs....not a good start to the week. My wife is very unhappy about this. All the other fish and critters are doing fine, so not sure if these deaths were related or not.

 

On the plus side, almost all of the algae problems I was having are gone. Very minimal amounts of the red macro, green hair, or purple/red slime algae are left. I'm going to run a full panel of parameter tests this weekend.

 

In other news, I also traded for a couple more coral frags, and am now hosting a blue candy cane and a Tyree neon green toadstool. I also plan to get rid of the rock hosting my large colony of Armageddon Palys (though I will keep a frag to cultivate) and Yellow polyps, with a few Superman mushrooms as well in order to make a home for the new corals. Pictures will come soon once they get acclimated.

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Sorry to hear about your mandarin and the cleaner shrimp. It always sucks to lose stuff.

 

Glad to hear about the algae issues. It sounds like your tank is doing really well.

 

Your anemone is awesome dude. Has it ever wandered or bothered other corals? Look forward to new pics.

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Sorry to hear about your mandarin and the cleaner shrimp. It always sucks to lose stuff.

 

Glad to hear about the algae issues. It sounds like your tank is doing really well.

 

Your anemone is awesome dude. Has it ever wandered or bothered other corals? Look forward to new pics.

 

Thanks. Only positive to losing stuff is that I can get new stuff to try as well. I actually really like your Blue Flasher Wrasse and am seriously thinking about getting one myself. Either that or a Dwarf Flame Angel.

 

Yes, the RBTA has wandered a couple times (but hasn't in over 8 months now) and when it was really big before the split it threw out some long reaching tentacles and nuked my Rics and Yellow/Red Aussie zoas. It's stung a few other corals but most have been either pretty resilient to it, or I moved them before any lasting damage was done.

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Ya I'm really happy with him. I haven't been able to take any pictures of him flashing blue because he's so fast and I don't have a decent camera.

 

I've always kind of wanted to try a RBTA, but I don't think the stinging will be worth it. I like corals to stay where I put them. hah

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Pics of the new corals.

 

The Blue Candy Cane.

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And the Tyree Neon Green Toadstool Leather (which I attached to the same rock piece as my Dragon's Breath zoas).

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In other news, I picked up a new Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, but no new fish yet. I was extremely tempted to buy a gorgeous maxima clam that the LFS had, and still might depending if I'm able to sell a few frags I have available.

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My bad luck continues, as last night both the yellow Clown Goby and Red Firefish were no where to be found in the tank. The night before, they were both out and eating when I fed them, but last night neither appeared. I checked their usual hiding spots, and no trace could be found.

 

I believe that a couple of my hermit crabs are to blame, and that they are also what got my Mandarin. I believe that because I have been much better with the amount of food I was putting into the tank that that their isn't as much waste/leftovers for the hermits to eat, which in turn is what caused them to be more aggressive. I'm going to remove a few of them.

 

The odd part is that the rest of the tank is flourishing...almost no algae anywhere, the vermitid snails are drastically reduced, and the corals are growing like crazy.

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reefguyintoona

XIII,

I just read this entire thread. What an excellent tank thanksfor your time. I have a question and I may have just missed the answer, did you ever get a clam and if so how is it doing?

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XIII,

I just read this entire thread. What an excellent tank thanks for your time. I have a question and I may have just missed the answer, did you ever get a clam and if so how is it doing?

Thanks for the feedback. I have not picked up a clam yet, though I'm hoping to get one this weekend. I need to make room for it in my tank so I'm getting rid of a couple corals.

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Well, I didn't end up picking up a clam (the LFS didn't have many to choose from), but I did trade in all of the frags I had and my large Armageddon paly colony with 3 Superman mushrooms and all of my yellow polyps for credit, which I immediately applied to a large polyp yellow dendro (beautiful coral that I've been wanting for a while), another Yellow Clown Goby (just love these guys) that is monstrously huge (at least 3 times larger than normal), and a hybrid Coral Beauty Dwarf Angel (which is a gorgeous fish).

 

All seem very happy and the tank is looking better than ever. Pics coming soon.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I know...the Coral Beauty is still camera shy. It's just starting to get used to "feeding time" and coming out more and more when I'm in front of the tank.

 

Tank is doing amazing though. I've rearranged a few things which has allowed some corals to really stand out.

 

Now, if I can get my hands on a frag of Japanese Blue Cloves, an Orange Plate, a hot pink Cat's Paw Stylofora, and a teal/blue clam, my tank will be complete. I might also pick up a Pom Pom crab the next time I see one at the LFS.

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Managed to get a few shots oc the Coral Beauty today...nothing spectacular for a single shot (the fish is just too fast and still a little shy), but three shots that each show off different attributes. I will clean them up a bit and post them tomorrow.

 

I did get a great macro shot of the Yellow Dendro though, and will post that as well.

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Here are the new pictures.

 

The titan Yellow Clown Goby hanging out on the Ice Ice Favia:

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And the Coral Beauty Dwarf Angel Hybrid. As I said, this fish is gorgeous but hard to photograph. It is becoming much more social though. One in focus showing off its stripes:

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And one out of focus showing off its coloration (love the bright blue streaks):

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Also, the Highfin Perchlet was having fun under the Duncans:

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Here is the new coral, and one of the best in the tank, the large polyp Yellow Dendro:

6358495289_3e6f299479.jpg

I only have the one head so far, but it is already starting to get a little bud forming for a new head. Really can't wait to see this fully grown out.

 

And finally, here is a new FTS:

6358501721_2c439f612f.jpg

 

It will probably be a while before the next update, though I plan to have a video with that one. As always, thanks for checking in.

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very nice setup are your clowns hosting the bta?

Thanks. The clowns haven't hosted the RBTA or any of the other corals that could be potential "nest" sites. I would like the clowns to, but when I first got them, they opted to make the back upper right corner of the tank their "home" and haven't taken to anything else yet. Perhaps once the toadstool gets large enough that could be another option. The Yellow Clown Goby nests inside the Blue Solomon Tree though.

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  • 2 months later...

So, I followed your thread, also owning a 28g PRO LED, and dealing with all the "extra's" and how to run them.

So, it seems that you run your tank different when you have to run the chiller. I was surprised when I read that you first ran your chiller in a external pump, how did you prime the system with the pump having to pull water out of the sump over a utube and back down. I thought about this, I thought about making sure that the intake to the pump used a u bend tube and went ALL the way to bottom of L or R chamber 4 and adding a quick disconnect to the output side of the chiller, and then just starting a syphon and shutting the valve off once most of the water had made it to the chiller (making sure the intake water was to the pump at least). While trying to figure this out, I noticed that you then changed to the pump in sump routine, but as a 3rd pump with the OEM chamber 4 (l&r) pumps running on a alternate run cycle. And eventually you ended up doing what I did, which is remove one of the chamber 4 OEM pumps, put a mj1200 in, run up and over to the chiller and then eventually feed the output back to the original return fitting on the false wall of the tank.

 

(correct so far?) Now, like me, with this running like this, and then the other OEM pump running in chamber 4, the system CANT keep up, the overflow IS NOT fast enough, so you have to add 3/4 to 1 gallon to compensate (this WILL work, but raises the water level in the tank to the rim). So, I then removed the OEM pump from chamber 4 and replaced it with a maxi-jet utility (606 80gph-150gph) adn returned that to the other oem return side. WIth the 295 on one side, and 80 on the other, the rear chamber empty's to fast to maintain the ORIGINAL amount of water needed, but you only need to increase the water 1/4 a gallon or so, and now the tank height just barely touches the rim on the inside. All it takes is a full day of mechanical filtration on the media basket and water is flowing too fast and overflows at the top of chamber 1 into chamber 2 and 3 which flow into chamber(s)4.

 

Have you been able to do anything like I mention above? Been able to run both sides? The only way I can actually get it to work, is to shut down one side (the 80gph side) and let only the chiller side run, flow still seems to work since chamber 4 actually connects on both sides, but others on this site have warned that the off side might get stagnant, and this is why I posted a WAY TO LONG post on your thread, but since you seem to be having the same issues, just curious to what you did. Unlike you, I dont have a 3rd power head running my skimmer, but have a aquamax HOB-1 which works just like yours except my 3rd power head is in the hob and pulls water up from the original skimmer chamber (3) and returns to the 80gph sides chamber 4.

 

I get some microbubbles when both sides are on, the system really seems to work great with the ® sump 4 pump off, and I think because my skimmer PULLS water from 3 and drops it into chamber 4, this forces movement into the right side (no pump) chamber 4 and stops the stagnant issues others have warned me of, once in chamber 4, its all one chamber, and I have to assume that water is migrating from the left side to the right side of chamber 4 where the mj1200 is running.

 

Sorry to be so long winded, but just trying to make sure you follow me, so that when I ask you what you have come up with, it relates to what I am saying?

 

I've learned one thing, next tank, NOT a AIO, nothing compares to the options that a external sump provides, that is for sure. Maybe my mumbling along with your thread can help the next person tinker with this and come up with a good flow. I did put a ball valve inline on the chiller side, if I could reduce that by 80gph, I think I could run the other sides 80gph pump as this tank seems to MAX out on 300gph flow or so (which is why only one side at a time can run). I'm pretty sure a 1/15 chiller can run on 200 gph, but unlike you, this is tank has not yet been setup during a summer here. I didn't mention, I live in the inland of San Diego, and already this "winter" have had 84 degree outside temperatures, so unlike you, I cant "not" run the chiller.

 

Looking forward to your response, and what you might have tried to fix this issue on these nanos, If my tank wasn't filled, I would maybe think about breaking out one or two of the teeth in the overflow to allow it to flow faster? Anyone else tried that?

 

-John

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And eventually you ended up doing what I did, which is remove one of the chamber 4 OEM pumps, put a mj1200 in, run up and over to the chiller and then eventually feed the output back to the original return fitting on the false wall of the tank.

(correct so far?)

Correct, however I still ran it on the alternating wave cycle, so didn't really have the low water drain in the rear chambers. I also only run it during the summer, which you noted, and only if absolutely if needed. Quite honestly, I would avoid the whole chiller setup if I could, but I realize this isn't an option for you. Trying to get perfectly balanced flow with this setup is near impossible in my opinion, as there are too many minor variables that could have such major impacts on the flow rate, so I just make due with what works for me, not to mention that there are only a limited number of ideal pieces equipment that are even compatible with these tanks. I think that you are on the right track though for trying to narrow down the flow rates for your particular setup, but I wouldn't recommend breaking the teeth on the overflow, as that cannot be repaired once done. Sorry if this isn't the definitive advice you are looking for.

 

I do agree, while this system was a great starter tank and helped me learn a lot, my next tank will be a custom build, and much larger, that will have an external sump system to allow for greater customization and variability in equipment.

 

In other news, I'm currently having a major algae issue with my tank though. All of the fish, corals, and inverts are doing great, but I have massive amounts of hair algae growing everywhere (all other algae has died, and all other problems I was previously having with the tank such as the vermatid snails, have also cleared). I've been doing regular water changes, cut back on the feeding schedule and amounts, and replaced the ChemiPure and PuriGen, but after a slight die back period, the algae came back full force. I can't quite figure out what is going on and it is getting quite aggravating.

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Sorry to hear about the algae. Try a turbo snail. Those monsters are cows. Make sure your frags are mounted though!

 

I just recently picked one up for some excess diatoms. Not positive on algae ID but he seems to be helping.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The war against the algae has been waged. I broke down and bought a PhosBan Reactor from Two Little Fishes, and now have it running. I did a massive 50% water change, scrubbed the crap out of my rocks and removed a ton of algae. The tank is looking good so here's to hoping all of this will turn the tide so to speak and that the PhosBan Reactor will help to leach the nutrients that are feeding the algae.

 

I did lose my Smashmouth Micromusa though, and I might lose my Torch as 1 of the 2 heads died and the other has been receding. The RBTA is getting huge again and will probably split soon. The Yellow Large Dendro Polyp has a bud the doubled in size in the last week and just opened for the first time, so it's not all bad.

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