Baileyfox's 7gallon cube

[Bailyfox]

Day 1 - Tank has cleared up and is looking good, I've seen some neat creatures as well as my first aiptasia anemone on my rock work.

full tank shot

one of my lovely hitchhiker mushies

my hitchhiker bumblebee snail

Adorable micro brittle star, I'm so happy to see a few. Hopefully I'll have some feather dusters hiding somewhere as well.

 

I'm thinking of killing the aiptasia by frying it with a lighter and then putting a glob of super glue over it, is this a bad idea?

[WV Reefer]

9 minutes ago, Bailyfox said:

Finally picking up my live rock tonight after 2 years of careful consideration and planning! Pictures coming soon!

Yay! 😀

[sadie]

congrats!

[Bailyfox]

The tank is up! The light is on so I can stare for a bit then I'll shut it off. I have some hitchhiker mushrooms, a snail, bristleworms, pods, and an asterina starfish. I love all of them!

[Bailyfox]

got this neat pic of one of my micro brittle stars. Did a water test last night, ph is something like 7.8 or 8.0, salinity 1.025, and ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite looked to be at zero for now.

[sadie]

cool pic.

[Xdub4314]

Aquascape looks nice and it is also interesting which can be harder to do in a small tank. I think live rock is a great way to make a nano tank more stable. There are more small organisms creating an ecosystem instead of a sterile environment.

[Bailyfox]

1 hour ago, Xdub4314 said:

Aquascape looks nice and it is also interesting which can be harder to do in a small tank. I think live rock is a great way to make a nano tank more stable. There are more small organisms creating an ecosystem instead of a sterile environment.

Thanks, I went with liverock because it would help cycle faster and keep things more stable.

[Bailyfox]

Test results today are-

• Ammonia .25ppm
• Nitrite-0
• Nitrate-5.0
• Salinity- 1.024
• Ph-8.0

Temperature is 77 degrees 

The tank with indirect natural light

A lovely example of an asterina starfish

Mushrooms on the move

 

[Bailyfox]

Could anyone tell me what this dude might be? I thought he was one of my mushrooms at first but he looks different. And what is the tiny white branching stuff next to it?

[Wonderboy]

Branching stuff is hydra - that might be a blasto??? Really can't tell though - can you get some more shots of it?

[Bailyfox]

 

25 minutes ago, Wonderboy said:

Branching stuff is hydra - that might be a blasto??? Really can't tell though - can you get some more shots of it?

Thats a lot of hydra then! Will they be trouble or can I ignore them? I thought it looked sort of like a blasto too (fingers crossed!) but I will get better pics shortly!

[Bailyfox]

More pics of the strange dude

 

 

[Wonderboy]

I would ignore them for now - they usually go away on their own. That mystery polyp is so interesting - still looks a little like a blasto, but still hard to confirm

[Bailyfox]

2 hours ago, Wonderboy said:

I would ignore them for now - they usually go away on their own. That mystery polyp is so interesting - still looks a little like a blasto, but still hard to confirm

So far we're thinking it could either be a blasto or a trumpet coral.

[Bailyfox]

11/26/2019 water test results-

Ph- 8.0

Ammonia- 0.25

Nitrite- 0

Nitrate- 5-10 (hard to tell which)

Salinity- 1.024

Mushroom lookin big and happy

Mushrooms on the other side looking happier after they moved

One more full tank shot until I return Sunday.

[Bailyfox]

This asterina waved his suction cup thingies at me, I've also noticed lots of pods on my glass which is great!

[Bailyfox]

 

12/01/2019 test results 

Ph 8.4 (higher than last tests)

Ammonia- 0.25

Nitrite- Still zero

Nitrate-10

Salinity- 1.024

 

Diotomes are a'bloomin. I was seeing mixed results when double checking whether or not to have a light on for hitch hiker coral so i decided to temperarily move my timer from my kingsnake cage to here until i returned to be safe.

Is it strange to not see Nitrite come and go yet? Should I leave the diatoms on the sand bed alone or to a small water change to manually remove them? I'm assuming since my cycle isn't over yet I should wait on the water change.

[Xdub4314]

From what I understand diatoms are food sources for bacteria. I would leave it and they will go away on their own if your chemistry is proper and your system is balanced.

[Bailyfox]

6 minutes ago, Xdub4314 said:

From what I understand diatoms are food sources for bacteria. I would leave it and they will go away on their own if your chemistry is proper and your system is balanced.

I figured Its best to leave them be. Do my test results indicate proper levels for a young tank thus far in your opinion?

[Bailyfox]

I've decided to try and keep a detailed log of water tests, algae/diatome status, livestock etc. We'll see how long I can keep it up (I tend to get lazy), but so far so good!

[Xdub4314]

19 hours ago, Bailyfox said:

I figured Its best to leave them be. Do my test results indicate proper levels for a young tank thus far in your opinion?

It’s not something I would be too concerned about. Just make sure you are feeding the tank and look for signs of a cycled tank. Algae, diatoms, 0 ammonia, things like that. What test kits are you using? It could be possible that your tank is filtering everything but your test kits are inaccurate.

Edited December 2, 2019 by Xdub4314

[Bailyfox]

7 hours ago, Xdub4314 said:

It’s not something I would be too concerned about. Just make sure you are feeding the tank and look for signs of a cycled tank. Algae, diatoms, 0 ammonia, things like that. What test kits are you using? It could be possible that your tank is filtering everything but your test kits are inaccurate.

I'm using the API test kit which I know isn't the most accurate, I'm planning on bringing a sample to my lfs in order to cross-check the results this weekend.

 

I've started with livesand and 10ibs of liverock,  and diatomes are showing. It is possible the test results are inaccurate.

[Ratvan]

14 hours ago, Bailyfox said:

I'm using the API test kit which I know isn't the most accurate, I'm planning on bringing a sample to my lfs in order to cross-check the results this weekend.

 

I've started with livesand and 10ibs of liverock,  and diatomes are showing. It is possible the test results are inaccurate.

Check what kits your LFS use as well, I know mine use eh API test kits

[Bailyfox]

Found a mystery paly hiding behind one of my rocks, not half bad looking!

Also, Besides not being able to scrape the glass completely clean are there any downsides to pushing my rocks closer to the back? I want to maximize the open space in the tank if possible.