JBJ Nano Cube 12 gallon DX

[TSwift]

I know its been a while. I went to thanksgiving break, telling my roommate to feed my fish a few pellets every other day, and i come back to a green tank (algae bloom). Nothing a quick 30% water change couldn't fix though! Water is crystal clear, but planning to do another water change in 3 days just in case.

 

I got my first corals! A watermelon mushroom, red mushroom, green zoa, and orange zoa.

Any recommendations on my next corals??

 

FTS:

 

Watermelon Mushroom:

 

Green Zoas:

 

Red Mushroom (before he spread out):

[rolltide21]

Looking nice!

[TSwift]

Looking nice!

 

Thank you!!

[TSwift]

Rearranged the rockscape and added 2 small pieces of cured live rock. I LOVE it!!! Mr. Clownie now sits in the middle of the tank now (I think he likes the change in the flow). The powerhead is now on the left and easy to get to instead of being underneath rock. I hope I don't get a huge spike. Going to do a water change tonight.

 

 

[TSwift]

This morning when I woke up, I saw that the red mushroom fell and was upside down near a hole. When i went to go pick it up and turn it over, it fell into a hole. A small, deep, annoying hole. Ive tried for an hour to get t out, but i cant even see it. Ive used the turkey baster and tweezers, but I cant get it . Do you think it will die and create and create a spike? It was really, really small.

 

Also, I realized that even when I moved the rock completely, I did not see the peppermint shrimp... I haven't seen him in a week. Is there a chance he died and got eaten...?

 

Not a happy Saturday morning At least I'm still really happy about the rockscape and all the other corals are doing great.

[Macron]

This morning when I woke up, I saw that the red mushroom fell and was upside down near a hole. When i went to go pick it up and turn it over, it fell into a hole. A small, deep, annoying hole. Ive tried for an hour to get t out, but i cant even see it. Ive used the turkey baster and tweezers, but I cant get it . Do you think it will die and create and create a spike? It was really, really small.

 

Also, I realized that even when I moved the rock completely, I did not see the peppermint shrimp... I haven't seen him in a week. Is there a chance he died and got eaten...?

 

Not a happy Saturday morning At least I'm still really happy about the rockscape and all the other corals are doing great.

 

It really depends on how deep the hole is. I have had many mushrooms fall into crevasses and a few weeks later they would pop out of the hole. Im some cases the mushroom can stretch itself towards light and then rearrange its foot, climbing up out of the hole until it gets enough light. I've also had shrimp disappear b/c they died - but even if the mushroom dies I do not think it will cause a significant spike in your params as long as you stick to your water changes. That goes for the shrimp too, but if you are unsure you can always test your nitrates.

 

Oh yea and just a extra piece of advice that has helped me: when you get more corals in there, try not to move your rock around unless you absolutely have to. IME your corals will appreciate the low disturbance. Good luck!

[TSwift]

It really depends on how deep the hole is. I have had many mushrooms fall into crevasses and a few weeks later they would pop out of the hole. Im some cases the mushroom can stretch itself towards light and then rearrange its foot, climbing up out of the hole until it gets enough light. I've also had shrimp disappear b/c they died - but even if the mushroom dies I do not think it will cause a significant spike in your params as long as you stick to your water changes. That goes for the shrimp too, but if you are unsure you can always test your nitrates.

 

Oh yea and just a extra piece of advice that has helped me: when you get more corals in there, try not to move your rock around unless you absolutely have to. IME your corals will appreciate the low disturbance. Good luck!

 

Wow! I would have never thought that the mushrooms could do that. The hole is about 3-4 inches deep. Its skinny and then widens towards the bottom. I hope i can see it again one day!!!

Also, I am definitely not moving my rock around anymore. I was just absolutely hating my scape and decided to change it now while i only have a few corals than later. The corals are actually growing faster than I thought. The green mushroom is 3X bigger and the Zoas have already made new babies The tank is doing better than I would have thought with the change. Thank you for the advice!

[TSwift]

Great news! The red mushroom has climbed up and is now draping over the hole. Im hesitant to move it in case i accidently push it back in there, so I'm going to wait until its all the way out. I would glue my corals, but I need to move the tank back home once summer break starts. Thinking that the next corals I get are GSP for the middle, front rock on the bottom and a Frogspawn for my clownfish

[knoxvegas]

Like the new scape.

[TSwift]

Like the new scape.

 

Thank you It made a small spike, and I have some small detrius build up, but the corals and fish are doing great and params are ok now.

[Macron]

If you have detritus build up I would recommend investing in a turkey baster - easily one of the most useful tools I have for my tank. I blast my rocks every once in a while and all the detritus blows off and gets sucked into the filter. You can also use them to spot feed corals.

[TSwift]

Yep, got the turkey baster! Detritus is gone now Sand is sparkling white and the tank is looking great.

 

Today is the day i go back home! The nice guy that I bought the tank from is willing to babysit Mr. Clownie and the shrimp for three weeks. I plan on putting them in a bag together (I kept some from the fish store) with a ton of air and wrapping them partially in a blanket on the 3 hour ride home. I think they should be fine.

[TSwift]

Well I came back from winter break and the worst that could have happened, happened. Well, i guess there could have been a fire. Anyways, this is what it looked like:

 

 

Lovely, I know. The dorm (and the whole building) was 95 degrees all 3 weeks because of a "heater problem". After 5 hours of leaving my window open, the room was 75 or so. The water itself? Over 100 degrees. The corals I had in there turned into live rock and the dead snails smelled like they came from hell. After 3 hours of driving home, this is not exactly what I wanted to come home to.

 

Anyway, after cleaning up the lumps of dirty salt on the ground and salt around the tank, I took out my 10 gallon and started up an emergency tank for my fish, shrimp, and the 5 corals I brought with me from st. louis. I went to the fish store and got 5 gallons of saltwater and a new heater since the old one cracked (it was half way out of the water). I added the extra powerhead from the main tank, the new heater, and let the water warm up. I scrubbed off the live rock and placed it all in and eventually added the fish, shrimp, and corals.

 

As with the main tank, I first took all the dead snails out, cleaned the glass, and stirred all the sand before I siphoned all the old water out. With the room smelling a little better and it being below 80 degrees, I went to bed.

 

The next morning, I went to the fish store and got new sponges, saltwater, 2 Astrea snails, and a scarlet hermit. I cleaned the main tank some more, added the water from the 10 gallon tank and topped it off with the clean saltwater. I then acclimated the fish, shrimp, corals, snails, and hermit. And Voila!!!

 

2 days later (today) everything is doing great. The corals are open and colorful and the clownfish and shrimp are behaving well. The sand has cleared up also. I will post a pic as soon as I can, its getting kind of late and the lights have been off for a while.

 

The only problem I have right now is that the pump inside the chamber is barely working. I cleaned it extensively inside and out. Sometimes when I turn it on, it will turn on full blast, but will be extremely loud. Right now, it is plugged in, but is barely doing anything and is very quiet.

 

Stock added:

1 Kenya Tree

2 Pallys

1 GSP

1 Xenia

 

Stock dead:

Everything else

 

As an added note, I have decided that when i move into my apartment next fall, I am planning on selling the tank for a parrot. My mom had an adorable parrotlet, but our house was a little too stressful for the poor thing and my mom couldn't give it the attention it needed. A caique, conure, or elcectus are the ones I'm looking at The reason for this is because with all the moving I will be doing and the many times I visit my family 3 hours away for long periods of time, this just isnt going to work out. It will be much easier to transport a parrot than a fish tank. If anyone lives in st louis and is interested in buying a 12 gallon tank around the summer time, PM me!!! I promise it will be stable and not half empty and black Honestly the tank looks better right now than before because I like my new corals a lot more.

[urbaneks]

Ouch!!! Very sorry to hear about this. Best of luck on the recovery.

[TSwift]

Thank you urbaneks

 

Well, I have spent a lot of time trying to fix up the tank so that I can sell it soon.

Heres how it looked a couple days ago:

 

And here is how it looks today. Notice all the brown now! I'm hoping to add a few more snails soon:

 

Stock added:

2 Astria snails

1 Scarlet hermit

 

Hardware changed:

Replaced the Maxi-jet 900 in the back chamber with a Maxi-jet 400. The flow is WAYYYY better- it used to be way too high before it broke.

 

I'm also getting way less traces of ammonia so I'm glad for that... it was extremely high before. Not sure how everything survived in the past week. Additionally, the leaking water that was coming out of the bottom of the tank has now stopped. Not sure why. I bought aquarium-safe sealant and was planning on stripping down the tank to reseal it, but I am now hoping the leaking is fixed... maybe it was just condensation or excess water from when i cleaned it? Lets hope so!

 

As far as the corals go, they are all healthy except for the kenya tree... it hasn't opened in days and I'm sure it has to do with the tank cycling... i hope it pulls through like the Xenia did!

 

The GSP:

 

The polyp colonies:

 

Xenia:

 

The poor Kenya tree... hope it survives the cycle!

[Rleepremier]

Hey so I just setup my nano 12 and from what I've read it looks like people swap out their old powerheads with a mj900. From what I can see in your pics it looks like you have your mj400 inside of your actual tank. I would remove my old pump out of chamber 3 and replace it with the mj. I have heard of people putting their old pumps into chamber 2 but I'm not so sure. Good luck and don't give in! Haha I know birds are cool lookin but it will get old real fast. You got a new subscriber!

 

Ps. I just ordered a mj900 for my nano. Also if you are going to sell it I wouldn't put anymore money into it and just try to fix it up how it is.

[TSwift]

Hey so I just setup my nano 12 and from what I've read it looks like people swap out their old powerheads with a mj900. From what I can see in your pics it looks like you have your mj400 inside of your actual tank. I would remove my old pump out of chamber 3 and replace it with the mj. I have heard of people putting their old pumps into chamber 2 but I'm not so sure. Good luck and don't give in! Haha I know birds are cool lookin but it will get old real fast. You got a new subscriber!

 

Ps. I just ordered a mj900 for my nano. Also if you are going to sell it I wouldn't put anymore money into it and just try to fix it up how it is.

 

The powerhead inside my actual tank that you can see is a Aquatech (or some similar name) powerhead. I have another powerhead that replaced my stock one in the back chamber with maxijet 400. I used to have a 900 in the back chamber, but it was WAYYYY too much flow and my fish hid in a corner all day and night. The maxijet 400 along with the visible aquatech in my tank is perfect amount of flow for the corals and fish.

 

Also, I used to have a parrotlet and I will admit he got a little boring, but thats because he was a dumb (but very cute) bird who couldn't talk or be taught to do tricks. Youtube a caique parrot... they are more playful than a dog! I've been visiting them at the local bird store in St. Louis. VERY intent on getting one. Or an eclectus.. or mabye a green cheek conure! Every parrot is different and it depends on which one's specific personality I like best.

 

And i agree with you on fixing up the tank to sell it. Everything is fixed and I am just waiting until I can get a good offer. And thank you for subscribing

[TSwift]

Uh oh. Found red cyno bacteria. I'm snowed in here and I cannot get access to water for a water change until the weekend. I have been physically removing it until then. I hope someone would just buy it already! haha.

Also need more snails in my clean up crew. have about 9 or so hermits and only 2 snails!! Eepp.... snow snow go away!!!