rO.oster's 29G Biocube Experience ©

[rO.oster]

Tank is looking good and so are my frags!

 

Thanks! The GSP is already starting to creep and put out new polyps, and the toady stool waves this way and that. Very nice colors!

[rO.oster]

Life continues on inside of the reef, it never stays the same for too long. My MP10 mysteriously coughed up a entire side of the impeller, so the guys at Ecotech are being very nice in warranting me this time. The flow is definitely lacking and the cyano has sprouted everywhere. I continue to try and feed so everything is consumed with no waste, and I returned my refugium light back to 14hrs on since the weather has finally cooled off. Tanks averaging 79.

 

After feedings I can sit and see just whats going on in my tank. There's some serious coercing going on by the female, and luckily the male is big enough to stand his ground. So it a attention getting game, and surprise surprise, the male perks up when she slinky dinks around the bed (frogspawn). He comes over and she leaves, and he's a bit frustrated but no big deal. Over and over, she continues to sting herself, acclimating her body to the tenticles. I can't wait for the day they get all cozied up in there. So far they have this nook they sleep in, its really cool to see them both pressed up still and sleeping like they do.

 

Yeah seen Randall once, but that dude is

 

Since I switched to 2x 10k 1 x Acitinic, everythigns growing crazy, but I only get pop during sunet when I'm home to see it I cut down my hrs to alieve the cyano problem, and when my pump arrives im gonna get er stirred up again.

[Coraline Kati]

Those clownies are something. She knows whats she's doing no doubt. It sure would be neat to have some lil'clownies swimming around. The macros look great too, let's see some pictures of that!

[rO.oster]

Those clownies are something. She knows whats she's doing no doubt. It sure would be neat to have some lil'clownies swimming around. The macros look great too, let's see some pictures of that!

 

this reply is ripe with hidden innuendos

[sublunary]

Love your scape. Every part of it is interesting, I like that.

 

Tank looks really good. Hope you get the cyano taken care of, it's annoying as hell. Any sign of the goby meeting the shrimp yet?

[rO.oster]

[rO.oster]

Love your scape. Every part of it is interesting, I like that.

 

Tank looks really good. Hope you get the cyano taken care of, it's annoying as hell. Any sign of the goby meeting the shrimp yet?

 

thank you kindly I have been really enjoying it so far, everything is very vibrant. the red cyano continues to persist, even though I have my fuge light running for 12 hrs. I purchased a Aquatic Life 115 internal mini skimmer and so far its been running for 2 days. After tonight's feeding it has finally starting to produce foam. I hope it helps bring any trace levels down, as everything always tests 0 across the board.

 

Will I need to dose with stuff now that I have a skimmer?

 

Unfortunately, the goby's built a house and the shrimp has as well, and its house divided. I heard Randall clicking when I fed, so time will tell. I am very close to just grabbing another Randall or possibly a Tiger shrimp at the LFS since I have the ample sandbed and all.

 

any recommendations for the cyano?

 

FTS:

[rO.oster]

Much to my delight, my YWG and Randalls shrimp have bumped into one another. It is an awkward stage, both fish and shrimp more relaxed then I have ever seen them. Goby seems inclined to go back to his cave up front, but just can not leave the new feeling of antenna rubbing against his belly.

 

 

The addition of the skimmer has produced an even more content feeling across the reef as my water quality continues to improve. My other peppermint shrimp has disappeared completely after acting stunned for a few days, I imagine lost to the snails after dieing in the rock work. My first committed suicide and I found him in my frogspawn tentacles, but was also acting weirdly stunned like they do before they molt. I hope I don't have a baby mantis killing my shrimp (seen a small molt, coulda been a huge pod, but looked mantisy) but now that randall is out I can see just who is clicking at feeding time.

 

Youtube video:

 

your comments please

[rO.oster]

I just seen some craziness. Randy shrimp build a nice hole Goby is now relaxing in. When Randy comes to the opening, Goby literally lays on his side like shielding the hole from my view. Goby flairs his gill open the more Randy tries to get past, and next thing I know Randy is like half in his gills cleaning him up.

 

I think they hit it off

[sublunary]

wow, never knew those shrimp would "clean" their fish. huh.

 

Love your use of the music in the video btw.

[Coraline Kati]

You've done a really nice job customizing it and the Pico. All the creatures seem happy I bet Turbo the tiger shrimp has already reconstructed his treasure trove!

[rO.oster]

wow, never knew those shrimp would "clean" their fish. huh.

 

Love your use of the music in the video btw.

 

Thanks! As you can tell from the video, he is still not quite sure how aggresive he can be with the Clowns, but he certainly defends his mate.

 

You've done a really nice job customizing it and the Pico. All the creatures seem happy I bet Turbo the tiger shrimp has already reconstructed his treasure trove!

 

Thank you! We gotta get some pictures up of it, show off that macro thats finally looking stellar! Ol Turbo is digging up a storm I bet.

 

 

 

We got some new additions to the quarantine, a Randalls Goby, and a Tiger shrimp. Great combo!

[rO.oster]

A quick update; everything continues to thrive and grow. My 2 heads of frogspawn are now 4 heads, each split in two. There are calcium shoot growing off of the base of the frogspawn, more branching shoots I imagine. The GSP is phenominal, it grows about 0.25" a day in new encrusting matt. My red/green zoas have tripled in size, while my eagle eyes have a lot more polyps too, but slower going. The toadstool is great, the base stems fattens up and the disc is slowly getting larger. The clowns fully host the frogspawn, as well as the toadstool. The randal/goby are doing ok, randal is a finiky tunnel builder and unfortunetly doesnt make a hole big enough for my YWG. But he hangs outside of the entrances hole(s) guarding vigilantly. At night, randal takes a empty shell and closes up shop hehe. My 2 clown fish turn out to be Ocelaris clowns, the fish store I bought them from ripped me off (I ordered 2 true perculas). I will be writing them an email soon to try and see if they are interested in making it up to me. I have fragged my ricordias and some more xenia, and now I have double of each. I need to start fragging out some of the zoas. Hopefully some overtime at work will result in some more corals.

[JByer323]

Just read through this whole thread, it was a fun read, and you write well.

 

Keep us updated.

[rO.oster]

Just read through this whole thread, it was a fun read, and you write well.

 

Keep us updated.

 

Thank you kindly I'll update with some pics soon

[sidefunk]

Just read through this whole thread, it was a fun read, and you write well.

 

Keep us updated.

 

+1

 

Really enjoyed this thread.

[rO.oster]

time for those pics u reefer addicts.....

 

 

I've recently made it a point to start putting my hands in the tank, and cut / do something. I cut and glued the pink eyes zoas around the base layers of rock

 

 

Macro fun, I put these where they can't spread, and I got lucky with my GSP, its creeping down to the sandbed.

 

FTS 5.5 Months Old

 

A new LFS opened up in my town, and I got some great prices on a few small frags of mushrooms, zoas, monti, candycane, and 2 peppermints again. also some rods. Ill get pics up after everything settles in, I really hate trying to get mushrooms/ricordias to glue down and stay, they slime up and break the bond if they don't like the spot/situation. need to buy some bridal veil and wrap them against the rock where i want them in the display for a few days..

[rO.oster]

Some pics of our "quarantine" that houses a Randals Goby and Tiger shrimp. He has built himself a colosseum underneath the rocks, and covered it in sand to construct the hill. He even prunes the macro and plants them as needed.

 

 

The new additions continue to settle. I really hacked apart some zoas to spread the color around, and they loved it. I need to do more cutting, they grow much faster when you slice off a polyp or two and re-glue it. I also got 3 featherdusters; a green, brown, and Hawaiian, but the evil peppermints tore up the greenie straightaway, the brown came out fine, but we still have not seen the Hawaiian in 1 week. Time will tell. The greenie is now recovering in the quarantine. Evil shrimp:

 

 

pics once I get around to cleaning the glass

[Deano]

Just read through your thread, you got to be glad to get past the GHA. Love your Goby and Shrimp stories. Just started a 20l with a HI Fin and Candy Stripe. I am liking the Goby and Shrimp seen, alot of fun and I thought the BTA and Clown relationship was cool, but I think this Goby Shrimp deal is even cooler.

[rO.oster]

but I think this Goby Shrimp deal is even cooler.

 

i hear you! there's something about the way they actively coexist that makes it awesome. Plus the shrimps are like the ants in the mason jar I used to keep as a kid, it lets you spy on their tunneling activity! I gotta see if I can grab some video when they are tucked into the visible corner on the right. They've got like 4 exit holes they switch around on. It's always changing, that's why I definitely think now, that a Tiger shrimp is NOT recommended for your display tank, unless you don't mind soot and debris always flying around. Randalls shrimp are much more docile (at least mine is) and wont take ownership of a BC29 sandbed.

 

[rO.oster]

Finally, an update. Everything continues to grow quite well, with the exception of two more peppermint shrimp dieing on me. They act drunk for a few days, and end up on my MP10 sponge. Parameters are great, water changes are 10-20% every 1.5 weeks. I can't say why the peppermints don't survive for me, though they are evil, and since the aiptasia are gone, I'm not too concerned.

 

I took some readings the other day, because my chaeto stopped growing in my fuge, and I couldn't figure out why. It just stays in this gnarled tight nappy ball, even when I pull the stands apart it grows all bunched up. No response in the macro thread other than to say that perhaps I have a phosphate imbalance. Maybe this means I can support the bioload of another fish! Parameters are as follows:

 

pH: 8.3

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 0

Phosphate: 0.0-0.1

Calcium: 440

Carbonate Hardness: 7.5

 

And now some pics of those new additions, I am dealing with somewhat of a cyano issue, which is weird because I have no nitrates, and only slight phosphates.

 

 

I got both the monti and trumpet frags for $5 a piece, as well as 2 green mushrooms for $5 a piece, nice deals! I feed the green trumpet rods food when the lights go out.

 

 

I'm really diggin the feather dusters, I have another brown one which is camera shy, and a green one in the macro quarantine. Kents microfilter food for these guys.

 

FTS January 30, 2011

 

I have a order with reefs2go arriving in a few days, more to come soon, so stay tuned!

[Oriontool]

Very nice!

[Edelmango]

Looks very nice.

 

I notice you are using "30lbs Caribsea Seaflor Special Grade [1-2mm]"....do you like it?? I am thinking about changing out my substrate for this stuff. I am tired of seeing my sand blow around and end up all over my live rock. Does it clean up well or do you think it traps detritus?

 

BTW.....I gave in and used Chemiclean on some cyano with no problems. I figured if it was good enough for StevieT...it was good enough for me. Don't tell anyone

[rO.oster]

Very nice!

 

Thanks! It's finally coming together, and having a more full look.

 

Looks very nice.

 

I notice you are using "30lbs Caribsea Seaflor Special Grade [1-2mm]"....do you like it?? I am thinking about changing out my substrate for this stuff. I am tired of seeing my sand blow around and end up all over my live rock. Does it clean up well or do you think it traps detritus?

 

BTW.....I gave in and used Chemiclean on some cyano with no problems. I figured if it was good enough for StevieT...it was good enough for me. Don't tell anyone

 

Thanks! I do like the sand, except for the cyano issue, which seems to be limited to the sand. Originally, I wanted to mix the Seaflor special grade with some more fine sand like Figi Pink, but I didnt want to incur the cost of both bags. I went with the special grade because I wanted a more rocky substrate to support the Goby/shrimp pair without any cave-ins, and I think I have accomplished this. Over the course of settling in, the finer substrate has sifted down, leaving the more coarse stuff up top. But I don't think its trapping any detritus. All the Ceriths, and nassarius burrow around in it easily. I do not manually stir up my sand bed at all, I don't know if this should be apart of a cleaning regiment. No sand is stirred up by the flow either.

 

Thanks for the Chemiclean tip, I went ahead and ordered a Hydor Flo rotating powerhead and some Chemiclean, so now i should have very awesome random flow and zero cyano issues. The MP10 can be overpowering for the softies and featherdusters, so I am trying to balance good flow without blasting them.

[rO.oster]

Today was a snow day so I took the opportunity to do a lot of tank maintenance. I received my order from Marine Depot on Monday and was very disappointed with how much the Hydor Flo rotating flow deflector reduced my flow. So I decided to remove it, and instead just perfect which way I point my nozzle from the fuge return. I dosed the Chemiclean per the instructions, and hooked up a bubble wand to ensure plenty of aeration took place. By today, 90% of the cyano has disappeared. What a huge difference it is seeing your sand clean and white again!! I then replaced all of my PC bulbs with new ones, replaced both my Chemipure elite and Purigen with fresh bags, and replaced my 13w fuge light with a new one. All my bulbs were about 8 months old, no wonder I was having cyano issues! I performed a 20% water change, and already everything seems to be breathing much better. I even got the chance to feed the brown feather duster, who I haven't seen out in a few days.

 

Last weekend I picked up a 6 line wrasse and a sweet purple/green monti frag as my Valentines Day gift. Tonight I finally received my shipment notification from my reefs2go order, so that should be in hopefully Friday. I'll get some pics up when everything from the order gets settled.

 

I plan on starting a Vodka Dosing regiment to further contain my Nitrate and Phosphate levels. I look forward to seeing some good results and improved water clarity and parameters!