Highball Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 I decided to start this post as a way to document my second attempt to successfully run a mixed reef in my biocube 29. My first attempt was in January 2013 and I kept things up for a couple of years and then, well, life stuff happened and I let my tank go 🙄 (my dad had a brain tumour removed, I quit my job, moved and did a full house reno, started a new small business etc) So now I have my tank cycling with a some live rock taken from my original set up, new sand and some rock that had been out of the tank for over a year. I just replaced the stock pump with a maxi-jet 1200. I also have a hydor wavemaker and steve’s led lights. My stocking plans include a firefish (either red or purple), a goby and shrimp combo and a pink streaked wrasse (if I can find one locally). My original tank had a skunk clown and an orchid dottyback that terrorized anything that I tried to add, so this time around I’m going for a peaceful ecosystem 🤞 Here’s my current water box: 4 Quote Link to comment
Seadragon Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 11 minutes ago, Race14girl said: so this time around I’m going for a peaceful ecosystem 🤞 Welcome back! I love peaceful ecosystems. 🙂 What corals do you think you'll be adding eventually? 1 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 1 minute ago, Seadragon said: Welcome back! I love peaceful ecosystems. 🙂 What corals do you think you'll be adding eventually? Thanks! I’m wanting to have mostly lps corals. I absolutely loved my duncan and candy cane corals! I’ll probably be wanting to add a clam as well, but will wait for at least a year before adding it. I’m determined to go slow this time around... 1 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 Apparently I have ammonia and nitrates but no nitrites!? Not sure if this is normal? Guess I’ll wait it out and see if anything changes over the next couple of days..... Quote Link to comment
Seadragon Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 I would test the water that you are using for your tank (not the water in your tank, but the water that is to be added) just to confirm the starting water parameters. I believe some water may have nitrates to begin with depending on the source. If that is the case with yours, then it would make sense + it would show that you're at the start of the Nitrogen cycle. 1 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 On 1/3/2020 at 11:15 AM, Seadragon said: I would test the water that you are using for your tank (not the water in your tank, but the water that is to be added) just to confirm the starting water parameters. I believe some water may have nitrates to begin with depending on the source. If that is the case with yours, then it would make sense + it would show that you're at the start of the Nitrogen cycle. Thanks for the advice! 👍 I’m using bottled distilled water and tested it for nitrates. The test kit shows 0 A quick google search is showing that some people who have used live rock from existing tanks have experienced this too 🤷♀️ I won’t be adding anything til my ammonia goes down to 0, so I get to sit and watch my water box and rocks for a while longer....😴 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 7, 2020 Author Share Posted January 7, 2020 Super excited for some movement on the ammonia front! 😬 ....and now I go back to watching my rocks....🙄 3 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 Since I can’t add anything yet, I’ve been playing around with future coral placement. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far (I won’t add the clam til the tank has been running for at least a year) I also want to add ricordea, pipe organ, and a hammer or frogspawn and maybe a chili coral under the overhang.... Any and all suggestions are most welcome! 2 Quote Link to comment
llebcire Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 We're having the same issue with cycle - positive for ammonia (declining) and nitrates (rising) with nitrites missing. Have you done any water changes yet? I filled my tank with fresh RO water/Instant Ocean) on 12/26 (Thursday), did a WC on Wednesday 1/1, and another WC on Sunday 1/5. You mention similar experiences when people use established LR - some of my LR was established and sat out of the tank (wrapped in newspaper) from Mon - Wednesday where it was hosed off then left outside overnight before starting the tank on Thursday the 26th. I did add 20 pounds of Carib-Sea Arag Alive although I think opinions vary on whether it actually helps with the cycle. I do plan on testing tonight and will perform another WC this weekend - my plan is to replace filter floss and change 5 gallons every Sunday as I don't want to use a skimmer and any filtration beyond flow and LR. I'm using a tracking app (used to used Excel - SMH) and it does a great job graphing changes. -Eric 1 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 Just now, llebcire said: We're having the same issue with cycle - positive for ammonia (declining) and nitrates (rising) with nitrites missing. Have you done any water changes yet? I filled my tank with fresh RO water/Instant Ocean) on 12/26 (Thursday), did a WC on Wednesday 1/1, and another WC on Sunday 1/5. You mention similar experiences when people use established LR - some of my LR was established and sat out of the tank (wrapped in newspaper) from Mon - Wednesday where it was hosed off then left outside overnight before starting the tank on Thursday the 26th. I did add 20 pounds of Carib-Sea Arag Alive although I think opinions vary on whether it actually helps with the cycle. I do plan on testing tonight and will perform another WC this weekend - my plan is to replace filter floss and change 5 gallons every Sunday as I don't want to use a skimmer and any filtration beyond flow and LR. I'm using a tracking app (used to used Excel - SMH) and it does a great job graphing changes. -Eric I haven’t done any water changes yet. I’m waiting for the ammonia to level out at 0 before doing that. I have changed the filter floss though. What tracking app are you using? I’ve been using the free version of AquaticLog and like it so far! Quote Link to comment
llebcire Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Using Aquarium Note for Android. -Eric 1 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 9, 2020 Author Share Posted January 9, 2020 Just finished putting together this new storage cabinet for all my ‘tank essentials’ ....the biocube stand just isn’t big enough for everything 😬 2 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 12, 2020 Author Share Posted January 12, 2020 Got my first coral! It’s just a couple of mushrooms, but the rock they’re on is covered in coraline, so I want to scape some off to seed the tank. I just couldn’t leave the tank empty now that it’s cycled 🙃 Also did my first water change, but didn’t clean the glass. Now I’m off for a quick vacay. The spouse man is going to ghost feed the tank on Tuesday for me. My plan is to add a firefish as soon as I get back. But I’m still undecided if it will be a red (love the high fin!) or a purple (love the colouring) one.... 2 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 17, 2020 Author Share Posted January 17, 2020 So my plan to add a firefish first didn’t happen..... I had a $10 off coupon for big al’s and they had shrimp and goby pairs for $45, so I ended up picking out a wheelers goby and pistol shrimp Meet Freddie & Andersen (Toronto Maple Leaf fans will get the name) 😉 Their acclimation didn’t go as planned either, as they both managed to swim out of their bags after about 30 minutes. I had tested the salinity and it was the same as my water (1.025), so hopefully they both survive.... 3 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 19, 2020 Author Share Posted January 19, 2020 I now have alage, so I picked up 2 trochus and 2 cerith snails 🐌 I also couldn’t leave the last yuma at my lfs. As a ‘bonus’ the frag plug had a couple of zoas on it, so I took the yuma off the plug and separated them. The yuma is currently in a shaded, low flow area and I wedged the frag disc between two rocks at the bottom on tank. Freddie & Andersen have settled in well and Andersen is constantly building more tunnels, while Freddie keeps watch. I’ve yet to get a good picture of them though! Here’s today’s fts along with my parameters 3 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 22, 2020 Author Share Posted January 22, 2020 Taking things slow is hard! I keep resisting the everyday urges to add more stuff in my tank 🙄 I’m also rethinking getting a tail spot blenny because Freddie and Andersen like to be right out in the middle of the tank, so I’m worried that a blenny might bully them to just one spot. Plus, I definitely want a firefish, so will that be too many fish that all look somewhat alike? .......I’m probably just overthinking things though! I also moved my yuma just a bit so it can get more light. The back half of it looked like it was reaching forward before the move today. It may just be wishful thinking on my part, but it also looks like it might be getting a bit of purple colouring 🤞 3 Quote Link to comment
llebcire Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 Looks good! Hard to take it slow - I'm in the same place with adding corals. -Eric 2 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 24, 2020 Author Share Posted January 24, 2020 32 minutes ago, llebcire said: Looks good! Hard to take it slow - I'm in the same place with adding corals. -Eric The struggle is real! 😉 2 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 24, 2020 Author Share Posted January 24, 2020 After doing a water change last night, I headed up to Mississauga today and stopped by three different fish stores. Picked up a neon frogspawn frag and also a new appreciation for my local fish store. I stopped there on my way home and picked up a firefish! She’s acclimating now and I’ve named her Hayley Wickenheiser. For those of you who have never heard of her, here’s a link to her wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayley_Wickenheiser 2 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 25, 2020 Author Share Posted January 25, 2020 Freddie was not pleased to meet his new tank mate! Everything I’ve read about firefish says that their timid and shy. The Wicken seems to be the exception to this rule! Right after this video, Freddie bolted into his cave and she followed him right in! I was worried they would have a royal rumble under the rocks, but both came out a few minutes later with no visible signs of injury. Stay out of my crease! 1 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 My firefish (Hayley Wickenheiser) has settled right in to her new home! I guess she decided that Freddie and Andersen’s cave wasn’t the most welcoming place to be, so she’s moved into another rock that has a couple of different entrances to her hidey-hole. She’s also not shy at all! She stays out when I’m feeding the corals and even came out while I had my hand in the tank yesterday! My duncan is doing really well too. I absolutely love watching it feed! And I have my first baby coral! It showed up on the frag plug that my yuma was originally on. I found it yesterday when I moved the plug to a different spot to try and get the zoa that hitchhiked on it to open up. On a side note: Rosco isn’t thrilled with all the time I spend staring at my tank! 😉 2 Quote Link to comment
Elizabeth94 Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Beautiful photo of your firefish, stunning! 1 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 2 hours ago, Elizabeth94 said: Beautiful photo of your firefish, stunning! Thank you! (It only took around 80 shots to get it 🤣) 1 2 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 29, 2020 Author Share Posted January 29, 2020 Ugh....my return pump didn’t want to turn back on after feeding the tank tonight! It finally kicked on after a couple of minutes (while I was checking if everything was properly plugged in and running) but I doubt this will be the only time that happens, so I’ll be returning it to amazon and finding a replacement asap. My spouse wants something quieter, since the tank is only a few feet away from the couch, so I’m thinking that the tunze silence 1073.020 would be a good choice? A quick internet search for the cobalt mj1200 through Canadian sites shows its on backorder or unavailable on every site I checked.... Today’s favourite pic: 1 Quote Link to comment
Highball Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 So I ordered the tunze return pump online, but got an email today saying that my shipment will be delayed because the supplier is waiting on its shipment from Germany. 🤞that the maxi-jet pos lasts til then.... I picked up a fluorescent green tipped hammer frag with three heads yesterday for $30! I thought I scored a pretty sweet deal on it. No pics of it today because: .....my original stocking plan has been squashed by a DaVinci clown! Saw the little guy yesterday at Big Al’s and went back today to snatch him up. 🥰 He was labeled as a b grade, but I think since his two back white stripes are fused, he may be an a grade? It really doesn’t matter though, as he’s cute as hell! Named him Pekka Finne (after Pekka Rinne) Now I need to put on the brakes for a while and let the tank adjust to its bioload. It’s starting the fugly stage.... 1 Quote Link to comment
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