Jax's BioCube16 - First Reef Tank!

[Jax04GT]

6 minutes ago, Jackal227 said:

 The snails don't need light they will be fine.  

 

Try this for identifying: 

Without microscope

 

Ok good. I will give that a go tomorrow and see if I can identify it.

[Jax04GT]

Hey Guys,

 

Sorry for the delay life has been crazy. I did not confirm if I had dino or not. It got pretty bad so I got proactive. I cleaned out as much as I could from the rocks and sand. I started blasting the rocks daily and also replacing the filter floss. I dosed vibrant and added copepods to the tank from algae barn. So far so good. If anyone has any more tips I am all ears.

 

Also got a few corals. They seem to be doing well.

 

[MSunkin23]

Looks really good dude, that Euphyllia looks great.

 

Also, I am big fan of vibrant regardless, since I started using it my algae growth has been minimal to the point where I have 3 snails and 3 hermits in my tanks as a total CUC (+ 1 cleaner shrimp).

 

Good luck,

[Jax04GT]

On 9/21/2018 at 6:26 PM, MSunkin23 said:

Looks really good dude, that Euphyllia looks great.

 

Also, I am big fan of vibrant regardless, since I started using it my algae growth has been minimal to the point where I have 3 snails and 3 hermits in my tanks as a total CUC (+ 1 cleaner shrimp).

 

Good luck,

Thanks! Still trying to figure out where to position everything. I would like to transplant my zoas and mushrooms to my rock but I do not know what would be involved. 

 

I am a believer now, just fed phyto to my tank and there is almost no algae on the sand compared to be before. I have only dosed it twice and cant believe how well it worked. My CUC is currently 5 astrea's and 3 cerith's. My only concern is they will run out of food! I do plan on getting fish in about a month but at this point there isn't much going on besides the phyto. Should I do something in the meantime or just see how it goes?

[Jax04GT]

I also did a water change Friday after skipping the previous week out of fear it would make the dino/whatever worse.

[MSunkin23]

Any update Jax?

 

I also wanted to correct myself on my hermit experience. I had one troublesome hermit which was a zebra hermit. He was the most active of the 3 hermits I have and apparently was not only the one killing the nassarius and cerith snails, but also knocking over my corals.

 

I returned him to the LFHS for a replacement scarlet hermit. Since then, no snail deaths and all quiet in the system.

 

In summary, I can't recommend zebra hermit.

[Jax04GT]

On 10/18/2018 at 12:05 AM, MSunkin23 said:

Any update Jax?

 

I also wanted to correct myself on my hermit experience. I had one troublesome hermit which was a zebra hermit. He was the most active of the 3 hermits I have and apparently was not only the one killing the nassarius and cerith snails, but also knocking over my corals.

 

I returned him to the LFHS for a replacement scarlet hermit. Since then, no snail deaths and all quiet in the system.

 

In summary, I can't recommend zebra hermit.

I am still around and the tank is running strong. Haven't had time to take pics and keep updated. I will take some when I get home. I am going to finally purchase fish either this week or the next. 

 

No problem still just have the 7 snails and they are all doing great. Haven't lost a single creature yet! I did have some aiptasia pop up on one of the astrea's shells. I pulled him out and blasted the entire shell with aiptasia x and it seemed to do the trick (Also seemed to bleach the poor guys shell, he stuck out big time for a week or 2).

[Jax04GT]

Pics as promised. 

 

 

 

Any idea what these guys are growing on my snails?

 

 

Branching Frogspawn

 

Mushroom

 

Is this a small mushroom???

[Jax04GT]

For anyone who is interested. I have two heaters and the temp probe in chamber 1, media basket in chamber 2, and the float switch and uv sterilizer in the third chamber.

[Jackal227]

33 minutes ago, Jax04GT said:

Pics as promised. 

 

 

 

Any idea what these guys are growing on my snails?

 

 

Branching Frogspawn

 

Mushroom

 

Is this a small mushroom???

That Frogspawn looks great.  On your snail it looks like it may be an algae called mermaids wine glass.  You can Google it to see if it matches.  They are very unique looking. 

[Jax04GT]

12 minutes ago, Jackal227 said:

That Frogspawn looks great.  On your snail it looks like it may be an algae called mermaids wine glass.  You can Google it to see if it matches.  They are very unique looking. 

Thanks! It does seem to be this. Should i remove it from the snails or will it be fine? 

[Jackal227]

12 hours ago, Jax04GT said:

Thanks! It does seem to be this. Should i remove it from the snails or will it be fine? 

 

I haven't had any experience with it but I do see it pop up in the ID threads from time to time.  

 

It always stood out to me because I liked the look of it.  From what I've seen in those threads it has the potential to become invasive if it starts growing on the main rock. 

 

If you like it then I would just monitor it and make sure that it doesn't spread.  If not then you can try to remove the snail and scrub the shell to remove it.

[banasophia]

Looking good, Jax, thanks for the update! 🙂

[Jax04GT]

Hey Guys,

 

Just checking in, I am still around the the tank is still going strong. I still do not have any fish. I have been travelling a lot and the stars haven't seemed to align for me yet. I continue to do regular maintenance on the tank. Still haven't lost a snail and it seems the cerith's have actually had lots and lots of babies. I am assuming they are ceriths anyway, they are extremely small and shaped exactly like them. I did lose my polyp colony but that was due to the masses of bubble algae that started growing on its rock only. I tried picking them but it was a losing battle so I removed the rock from the tank. I have two aiptasia growing on my dry rock not sure how they got it but I will be attempting to remove them with a peppermint shrimp. Coralline algae is starting to develop on the rocks so I believe I am heading in the right direction. Still working on coral placement and trying to decide what I want to go where.