Wiggles' Biocube 16 w/ Steve's 42W LED Upgrade: The Next Generation

[Cpl_Wiggles]

The two clown casualties were a little disappointing, but on the other hand it made me committed to ensuring my levels are perfect before I add in anything else. My KH is on the low side around 7 but have been adding Reef Builder twice a week to raise the levels. PH has recovered and all other parameters are good and confirmed by LFS. I plan on giving it one more week or so dosing with reef builder and trying again - probably with two clowns or firefish - whichever is hardier.

 

Any advice on drip acclimation past what's in this guide?

 

https://www.bluezooaquatics.com/acclimationguide.asp

 

I also picked up a candy cane coral which is very vibrant and doing well. 

 

Pics to come.

[Cpl_Wiggles]

Caught the urchin this morning munching on part of the calcified base of the candy cane coral - just like he was munching on my frogspawn. I really like him but I don't think any of my coral with soft calcified bases will survive his hunger. Thoughts?

 

[Lula_Mae]

17 minutes ago, Cpl_Wiggles said:

Caught the urchin this morning munching on part of the calcified base of the candy cane coral - just like he was munching on my frogspawn. I really like him but I don't think any of my coral with soft calcified bases will survive his hunger. Thoughts?

 

Eek!  Guess you might have to pick whether you want the corals or the urchin more.

[Cpl_Wiggles]

1 hour ago, Lula_Mae said:

Eek!  Guess you might have to pick whether you want the corals or the urchin more.

Think a tuxedo urchin might behave better?

[Cpl_Wiggles]

Also curious - in an effort to have crystal clear/clean water, what else should I supplement my tank with to keep parameters great for fish/coral?

 

[Lula_Mae]

5 hours ago, Cpl_Wiggles said:

Think a tuxedo urchin might behave better?

No idea, I know very little about urchins.  Sorry!

[Cpl_Wiggles]

Plan for this week: 

 

After reading some good forum posts about aquascaping I think I need to add some depth and perspective to my setup. So I moved my 'arch' further back in the tank and as far to the right as possible. I think I will add a piece of live rock with a gentle slope into the rock on the left and a smaller flat display area on the right as shown in the picture. Or something of the sort. Thoughts?

 

 

Also on list:

-Swap pencil urchin for tuxedo (blue or red) 

-Purchase replacement emerald crab to help with bubble algae

-Re-glue all broken off coral with better spacing for growth

-Purchase single fish (not a clown pair)

 

Probably going to purchase some "perfect" water from the LFS to help assist with acclimating the fish that I purchase. While I was interested in a clown pair, I think I'm going to get single simple, hearty fish to ensure my parameter and acclimation process is correct. 

 

[Simulated Fish]

I like it! I say leave the sand bed open. Plus you have room for sand loving corals and nems

 

What do you mean by "perfect" store water?

[Cpl_Wiggles]

On 6/20/2017 at 2:10 PM, Hippieheadshot said:

I like it! I say leave the sand bed open. Plus you have room for sand loving corals and nems

 

What do you mean by "perfect" store water?

Just that supermarket RO water might not be the best since kids forget to change membranes and such. Water from LFS is more trustworthy and 'clean' is all I meant. 

[Cpl_Wiggles]

I believe I have a non-stressed and fully acclimated clown added to the mix! He is eating and taking rides in the pump current. Staying pretty high in the tank, though.

 

 

Going to add a wrasse for pod cleanup as well if clown survives. More pics to come

[Simulated Fish]

Totally normal for a clowns, they earn the name 

[Cpl_Wiggles]

Update on new tank friends:

 

He really likes that deep top right corner. I think the only way to bring him out is a partner clown or an anemone? 

 

 

The scooter blenny enjoys frozen brine shrimp and seems to have sent the pods in the tank scurrying for cover.

 

 

Night tank shot. Duncan doing well. Frogspawn has taken off despite the urchin eating his base. Not sure what to do about the leather. He doesn't seem to want to be doing much. Hand feeding the Duncan and the Acan. 

 

Tuxedo Urchin bit the dust. Not sure what happened there.

[cfaye@Delaware]

Hi, stopped in for a visit, nice design for the tank, looks good. The coral grow out will look very nice I think with that design. Nice work.

[Cpl_Wiggles]

Night shot.

[gogeta]

Setups going well, did you decided what to do about wanting to add in extra filtration? 

[Cpl_Wiggles]

On 7/9/2017 at 2:56 AM, gogeta said:

Setups going well, did you decided what to do about wanting to add in extra filtration? 

 

Per advice of all the good people here, 

Live rock

Floss chamber one

Carbon chamber two

Removed all bioballs/stock sponge

 

1L water change 1x a week but going to up that to 2L

Carbon every three weeks

Calcium every three weeks

Reef for alk/pH as needed.

 

Water test every two or three weeks.

 

[Cpl_Wiggles]

Clown still chilling in back corner.

 

Scooter Blenny scootin' around.

 

 

[Cpl_Wiggles]

Crab being a crab.

 

FTS

[Cpl_Wiggles]

Not really seeing much coral growth. Colors aren't that impressive under day lights. They look great under night blue light. Definitely seeing the limitations of the Biocube hood. Or is it a diet/water issue. Perhaps I am starving them. Any suggestions for reef food?

 

Scooter blenny VERY entertaining. He somehow climbed to top corner of tank and was perched on return pump! Feeding him brine shrimp 3x a day, will also get mysis for him too to mix diet. Any other good suggestions to help him thrive?

 

Since trading pencil urchin and losing tuxedo algae started to creep up more aggressive on glass, getting hard to remove - especially at sand level. Shrimp options maybe? Try anther urchin?

 

I would like to get a GSP for some wavy flow, and instead of spreading out zoas I might make a garden out of them - initial though was zoas would be a barrier to keep larger corals from fighting.

 

Acan is doing well but I think the frag is preventing acan growth due to skeletization - that is there are dead spaces where it cannot not grow onto? How do I get it to spread?

 

Monte is not happy. Need to put him in better flow and as high up as possible for poor lighting.

 

Don't like clown in back corner. Might bite bullet and buy anemone to bring him out to front? Any experience bringing clown out of corner nest? Or smaller clown to pair?

 

I'd like a third complementary fish for the tank that adds color and activity - a real swimmer! Thoughts?

 

 

 

[cfaye@Delaware]

Hey, just popped in to see what is going on. You might want to start a new post over in Beginner's thread you might be having problems in your tank.....have you posted yet ? You have a test kit. Use that and the results you get post that and your questions above. Remember I'm very new and having problems. Fresh water and saltwater care are not the same......the way I think.....(newbie Or Noob ) For your corals, I do feed mine.....I got some what of an idea and how to care for them from this website, search around.

 

http://animal-world.com/Aquarium-Coral-Reefs   You can search lots of other things too :

 

 

Now some coral will eat different things.....I feed mine Seachem Zoo Plankton and target feed San Francisco Bay Brand Saltwater Multi-Pack it is fish food.....I chop it up in a very small food chopper. Don't feed big chunks, I read they can choke ? Also I would not buy or add anything else to your tank until you post in beginner's form with your tank water test results. Oh yes the coral food is frozen. I think something is wrong with your tank......livestock should not be like you know, like well getting new things. As for coral color, I'm having problems with that, could be anything, lights, something with water, ( use test kit and post results ) Now for fish, mine is supposed to come in Friday ( today ), so I'm getting ready for it, lots to do. In fresh water if the fish is at top, might be something wrong with tank temp or something else, if at bottom of tank and not a bottom dweller, something wrong with tank. I see your fish hanging at intake ??  Flow ??? Could be something wrong with tank. Also noticed that the urchin that passed, I'm very sorry, he was, looked like getting pale. I don't think that is supposed to happen. When things get pale something might be wrong.....I guess this is why people test on a regular bases, almost every day......salt water ain't easy at least for me......best advice head on over to beginners and start new thread and have the water test results......Just want you to know you helped me a lot......Thank you...... 

[Lula_Mae]

On 7/12/2017 at 9:54 PM, Cpl_Wiggles said:

Not really seeing much coral growth. Colors aren't that impressive under day lights. They look great under night blue light. Definitely seeing the limitations of the Biocube hood. Or is it a diet/water issue. Perhaps I am starving them. Any suggestions for reef food?

 

Scooter blenny VERY entertaining. He somehow climbed to top corner of tank and was perched on return pump! Feeding him brine shrimp 3x a day, will also get mysis for him too to mix diet. Any other good suggestions to help him thrive?

 

Since trading pencil urchin and losing tuxedo algae started to creep up more aggressive on glass, getting hard to remove - especially at sand level. Shrimp options maybe? Try anther urchin?

 

I would like to get a GSP for some wavy flow, and instead of spreading out zoas I might make a garden out of them - initial though was zoas would be a barrier to keep larger corals from fighting.

 

Acan is doing well but I think the frag is preventing acan growth due to skeletization - that is there are dead spaces where it cannot not grow onto? How do I get it to spread?

 

Monte is not happy. Need to put him in better flow and as high up as possible for poor lighting.

 

Don't like clown in back corner. Might bite bullet and buy anemone to bring him out to front? Any experience bringing clown out of corner nest? Or smaller clown to pair?

 

I'd like a third complementary fish for the tank that adds color and activity - a real swimmer! Thoughts?

 

 

 

The clown is probably hosting that back corner. Clowns won't always host nems, and if your current lights aren't great for other corals, I wouldn't try a nem yet as they usually need higher lighting.

15 hours ago, cfaye@Delaware said:

Hey, just popped in to see what is going on. You might want to start a new post over in Beginner's thread you might be having problems in your tank.....have you posted yet ? You have a test kit. Use that and the results you get post that and your questions above. Remember I'm very new and having problems. Fresh water and saltwater care are not the same......the way I think.....(newbie Or Noob ) For your corals, I do feed mine.....I got some what of an idea and how to care for them from this website, search around.

 

http://animal-world.com/Aquarium-Coral-Reefs   You can search lots of other things too :

 

 

Now some coral will eat different things.....I feed mine Seachem Zoo Plankton and target feed San Francisco Bay Brand Saltwater Multi-Pack it is fish food.....I chop it up in a very small food chopper. Don't feed big chunks, I read they can choke ? Also I would not buy or add anything else to your tank until you post in beginner's form with your tank water test results. Oh yes the coral food is frozen. I think something is wrong with your tank......livestock should not be like you know, like well getting new things. As for coral color, I'm having problems with that, could be anything, lights, something with water, ( use test kit and post results ) Now for fish, mine is supposed to come in Friday ( today ), so I'm getting ready for it, lots to do. In fresh water if the fish is at top, might be something wrong with tank temp or something else, if at bottom of tank and not a bottom dweller, something wrong with tank. I see your fish hanging at intake ??  Flow ??? Could be something wrong with tank. Also noticed that the urchin that passed, I'm very sorry, he was, looked like getting pale. I don't think that is supposed to happen. When things get pale something might be wrong.....I guess this is why people test on a regular bases, almost every day......salt water ain't easy at least for me......best advice head on over to beginners and start new thread and have the water test results......Just want you to know you helped me a lot......Thank you...... 

I haven't tested in like eight years lol.  I only test temp and salinity before water changes.

[Cpl_Wiggles]

16 hours ago, cfaye@Delaware said:

Hey, just popped in to see what is going on. You might want to start a new post over in Beginner's thread you might be having problems in your tank.....have you posted yet ? You have a test kit. Use that and the results you get post that and your questions above. Remember I'm very new and having problems. Fresh water and saltwater care are not the same......the way I think.....(newbie Or Noob ) For your corals, I do feed mine.....I got some what of an idea and how to care for them from this website, search around.

 

http://animal-world.com/Aquarium-Coral-Reefs   You can search lots of other things too :

 

 

Now some coral will eat different things.....I feed mine Seachem Zoo Plankton and target feed San Francisco Bay Brand Saltwater Multi-Pack it is fish food.....I chop it up in a very small food chopper. Don't feed big chunks, I read they can choke ? Also I would not buy or add anything else to your tank until you post in beginner's form with your tank water test results. Oh yes the coral food is frozen. I think something is wrong with your tank......livestock should not be like you know, like well getting new things. As for coral color, I'm having problems with that, could be anything, lights, something with water, ( use test kit and post results ) Now for fish, mine is supposed to come in Friday ( today ), so I'm getting ready for it, lots to do. In fresh water if the fish is at top, might be something wrong with tank temp or something else, if at bottom of tank and not a bottom dweller, something wrong with tank. I see your fish hanging at intake ??  Flow ??? Could be something wrong with tank. Also noticed that the urchin that passed, I'm very sorry, he was, looked like getting pale. I don't think that is supposed to happen. When things get pale something might be wrong.....I guess this is why people test on a regular bases, almost every day......salt water ain't easy at least for me......best advice head on over to beginners and start new thread and have the water test results......Just want you to know you helped me a lot......Thank you...... 

I test every two weeks or so. Water parameters fine, even better since I upped my water change amount. Pencil urchin pictured is actually still alive and thriving at LFS. He was plowing through all my corals looking for algae though so I had to trade him in on a blue tuxedo urchin. Tuxedo died. Clown is just hosting in top corner, just bad luck he picked a spot out of view.

 

34 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

The clown is probably hosting that back corner. Clowns won't always host nems, and if your current lights aren't great for other corals, I wouldn't try a nem yet as they usually need higher lighting.

I haven't tested in like eight years lol.  I only test temp and salinity before water changes.

Good call on lighting. 

 

Not sure I want to go the chopped food processor route yet - there look to be a lot of different methods on the forum here.

[Lula_Mae]

10 minutes ago, Cpl_Wiggles said:

I test every two weeks or so. Water parameters fine, even better since I upped my water change amount. Pencil urchin pictured is actually still alive and thriving at LFS. He was plowing through all my corals looking for algae though so I had to trade him in on a blue tuxedo urchin. Tuxedo died. Clown is just hosting in top corner, just bad luck he picked a spot out of view.

 

Good call on lighting. 

 

Not sure I want to go the chopped food processor route yet - there look to be a lot of different methods on the forum here.

There's lots of things you can do.  One thing you might try that won't really pollute the tank is live phytoplankton.  Some LFS sell it, I ordered some from Mike's Phyto on someone else's recommendation.  Tank seems to really like it!  Bigger corals and stony corals (LPS) could be target fed things like mysis.

[cfaye@Delaware]

Why hello there, just popping in to say, what's going on in your world of saltwater. The word fixation, I have not heard in years do we know each other because I'm known for that. The last time I heard that, I was fixated on horses, I love my horses. This was like a million years ago, once I get stuck on something I take it to the max. I hope things are running smooth for you. You could also look into calcium for the coral and also what Lula_Mae said. Then I'm not too sure about your tank lighting, when I upgraded mine, things got a lot better. I want to thank you again for stopping by.....PM me if you have traveled around the states or went to summer camp as a child.....I swear only a few people have linked that word with me......anyway I hope all is well with you and the tank.....have a great weekend......

[Weetabix7]

Adding another smaller Clown would likely get your current Clown out of the back corner somewhat.