Banasophia’s Biocube 32 - Return of the DragonReef 🐉

[banasophia]

So far so good with the medication for the fish!

 

 

Trying to think of ways to make this tank more enjoyable... I seldom see the fish and I’m not thrilled with the corals.
 

I was thinking last night that I need to frag the monti cap and maybe I could use one of the Caribsea Liferock arches I have in a box in my garage to add an arch for fish to swim around and to add more corals.
 

Then I saw @TheKleinReef’s YouTube video this morning showing his fish swimming through the arches in his scape and now I’m even more convinced this could be a good idea. 
 

[TheKleinReef]

100% add the arch. Having three distinct types of scapes back to back to back (two islands, one bonsai, and the current with 2 big arches) showed me just how differently fish behave with different types of scape. 
 

the amount of over head coverage now makes them more confident and fun to watch as they zip in and around the arches. 

[banasophia]

3 hours ago, TheKleinReef said:

100% add the arch. Having three distinct types of scapes back to back to back (two islands, one bonsai, and the current with 2 big arches) showed me just how differently fish behave with different types of scape. 
 

the amount of over head coverage now makes them more confident and fun to watch as they zip in and around the arches. 

Okay, I’ll try it! I often think of breaking down this tank, but my daughter always says no, so it will be good to see if I can fix it up a bit. 

[TheKleinReef]

i wouldn't, it looks great!

[Lebowski_]

Don't do it 😞

[banasophia]

31 minutes ago, Lebowski_ said:

Don't do it 😞

That’s what the kiddo says too… this tank just bums me out because the clownfish pair is so pretty but they stay behind the scape 95% of the time. I’m definitely a fish person and like to see the fishes. 
 

Plus I really don’t like the encrusting coral up at the top of the scape… I’m hoping now that the bubblegum and forestfire montipora digitatas have recently started to take off maybe they will grow up around the encrusted peak and distract my eye. 

[Lebowski_]

Frag everything out and turn into an anemone tank?

[banasophia]

8 minutes ago, Lebowski_ said:

Frag everything out and turn into an anemone tank?

 

Interesting option, but I didn’t have much luck with a BTA under the stock Biocube lights when I first started reefing… if I redid it I would probably just go for soft corals, LPS, and rock flowers. But I’m hoping just adding an arch will give it a nice boost to keep it simple without too much extra planning, work, and expense. 
 

I’ll have to check out the Liferock pieces I have on hand… it’s actually a really nice nano tree set that I had picked up before I knew Reef Casa would be sending me some rock along with the Studio 12 tank. 

[banasophia]

Well I did my water change (RSCP), fragged about a third of the monti cap, and added two pieces from the Caribsea Liferock nano tree kit I had in my garage to form an arch of sorts.
 

With the pieces on hand it didn’t come out quite like I had originally envisioned, but I’ll still probably go with it… I already forked out $89 for this rock set so it will be nice to make use of it.
 

And although it doesn’t look quite as “archy” from the front, it does from my spot on the couch, and it does have additional swim throughs for the fish… plus it has a really nice flat area where I can add lots of new corals. It’s not glued so I can change it after I’ve had more time to consider it. 
 

 

 

 

[banasophia]

I had to search my photos for this pic of this little Lifegard Aquatics photo from my LFS from right before the pandemic. I think it would look so cool to do something like this on the new arch, or maybe an acan garden if button scolys are cost prohibitive or won’t do well in this tank. What do you guys think? I’m just starting to research this idea. Any other ideas for what to put on the arch? 

 

[A.m.P]

Anything less expensive XD Maybe something nice and flowy/vertical? 

[banasophia]

6 minutes ago, A.m.P said:

Anything less expensive XD Maybe something nice and flowy/vertical? 

Haha… right? Probably sensible to keep the cost down, especially since I’m getting laid off soon… I looked up button scolys and they were like $100 a piece. 🤑

[banasophia]

Today is the 2 week point for the medicated food treatment for intestinal parasites for my fish in this tank. I’ve been following Humblefish’s recipe from the post below, using General Cure and Seachem Focus, added to a mix of pellets and frozen food, plus the Epsom salt… soak 30 minutes before feeding to the tank… I hope I’m doing it right.
 

I’ll probably keep up the treatment for another week or until I run out of Focus, but the dartfish seems to be feeling much better… it seems he may be filling back out a bit and he has been staying out most of the day rather than hiding in a crevice. He has been swimming around playing in the currents which he hadn’t done for a long time… it’s very cute! I wish I had thought to treat him sooner, but I just thought he had gotten more shy.

 

 

[banasophia]

And I decided I should see if I can color up my goldenrod anacropora… I love this coral when it’s looking like it should… it was my favorite coral in the 450 gallon tank of a local reefer, it was so vivid… and I got the frag from him.
 

I’m starting with target feeding some Brightwell Restor since that’s what I have on hand. Hoping to color it up and grow it out enough to get a frag of it for my Studio 12. 

 

[banasophia]

Ah I realized I posted about this in my Studio 12 thread but not here last night… my aquaman encrusting montipora started losing its flesh last night. I think most likely because the mint pavona below and acropora above have both spread to touch it. 
 

[banasophia]

Introducing our new lil dude, Stanley, the Midas blenny:

 

[banasophia]

And this was interesting in this tank tonight… my sixline was swiping bites of nori from one of my emerald crabs:

 

 

[debbeach13]

Hi Stanley!

Love the new blenny.

[banasophia]

4 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Hi Stanley!

Love the new blenny.

Thanks! 👋 We love him, but he is a jumper… he jumped in the back chamber the first day we had him. I got an intank fish guard to block the gap but I have to figure out how to adapt it over the weekend to fit around my dosing hoses. 

[A.m.P]

I love fangblennies, supposedly the midas can be a bit more pushy with other fish than the smiths, komohara, or the other smaller ones.

Absolutely beautiful though

[banasophia]

6 hours ago, A.m.P said:

I love fangblennies, supposedly the midas can be a bit more pushy with other fish than the smiths, komohara, or the other smaller ones.

Absolutely beautiful though

Thank you. Stanley doesn’t seem to be pushy at all… just swims around the surface or hangs out between the layers of the monti cap, bobbing his head… and not just in the current, he also bobs his head when the flow is off like a lil bobble head fish… may need to change his name to Bob. 😆😆😆 Is that a known thing they do? 

[A.m.P]

Honestly, sounds like a blenny thing to me lol, my starry loves to bob around; current or otherwise.
That and swim up to the glass and show me his belly, apparently that means he's hungry XD

[banasophia]

On 5/30/2023 at 2:53 PM, A.m.P said:

Honestly, sounds like a blenny thing to me lol, my starry loves to bob around; current or otherwise.
That and swim up to the glass and show me his belly, apparently that means he's hungry XD

Haha how’d I miss this, especially about your blenny’s belly… love it! 😆

[banasophia]

So… I made a decision today… I’m going to redo this tank. I just don’t like the look of it. I haven’t been happy with it for a long time, mainly because of the the big blob of an encrusting coral at the top of the scape which visually ruins the whole look for me and there’s nothing I can do about it because of the location and type of coral. 
 

I really learned my lesson here to be careful with encrusters.
 

I plan to keep my emeralds, peppermints, and fish… I’ll keep the encrusting cyphastrea and GSP on the back wall and sides, I’ll keep a frag of the red monti cap and two digitatas, maybe move the anacropora to the Studio 12… I’ll get some new Caribsea Liferock and basically start over… because what’s the point of running a tank you don’t really enjoy? 
 

I do have the rest of the Nano Liferock Tree which I used two pieces from to make my little arch. The set also includes a base rock, a rod, and one more branch, but I think it will be too small for this 32 gallon tank… I feel like it’s a better size for the 16. So I’ll probably just get some other pieces and save the Nano Tree for the future if I decide to run the Biocube 16 again. 
 

I’ll check out the bins of cured rock at my LFS to see if I can get some good pieces of Liferock there that are already live, but that can be hit or miss. So if I can’t find any good live pieces I’ll go for dry. 
 

Gotta hold off on these changes until next month since we’ll be taking a trip soon, but I’ll start planning now. Time to start perusing the TOTM articles for ideas!

[Woodini]

🤘🏿 Do what needs doing.