Noob with a cube

[FishPolice275]

Two Maine Mocha clowns ordered from Cultivated Reef are in today!  They look good so far. Dealing with Cultivated Reef was great, quick responses and everything got to Texas from Maine in great shape. I would definitely order from them again. We are so excited to have life in the tank. 

 

[debbeach13]

When the time comes that you need a CUC I would order the 10 gallon package from reef cleaners or pick up a few snails and a couple blue leg hermits at the local fish store.

[banasophia]

I have a different approach to cleanup crew and algae than others that have chimed in here I guess... I believe prevention is better than cure and I prefer to avoid a full blown case of the uglies... I like to order a custom cleanup crew from ReefCleaners as soon as the diatoms start to appear. I recommend following their guidance and starting with a snail only cleanup crew... they have lots of good info on their website, see link below. 
 

Also, when you get your chaeto, I suggest rinsing it in some saltwater before adding... I didn’t do that and there turned out to be tons of bristleworms in the clump I added. Bristleworms are fine but I was discouraged that I had added so many in the beginning the way I did. 
 

https://www.reefcleaners.org/when-to-add-a-clean-up-crew

[FishPolice275]

Well Fudge

Ich already... Now how to treat it? 

I know copper is great at treating ich but isn't good for corals and other invertebrates, so it's not an option for a reef tank. However, my tank is so new it doesn't have anything but my 2 clowns. If I treated the tank with copper for a couple weeks, would the copper disappear quickly or would it take just a huge water change? 

 

I really don't have room for a qt tank, and I just spent a load of cash on this set up, so qt tank isn't the best option for me. I have seen a lot of people just living with ich and letting the healthy fish fight it off naturally. Maybe do nothing but a water change would be a good option too. 

 

I have some snails and chaeto on order from reef cleaners shipping on Monday(thanks for the responses by the way), so maybe I will delay that if I end up wanting to treat with copper. 

 

[FishPolice275]

Looks like cuprisorb is an option to take out the copper.... I really didn't want to deal with this with my first two fish... 

[Tired]

Copper doesn't come out. It gets into your rock, into everything. 

 

You really shouldn't try to live with ich. Maybe it won't kill them, but it can't be comfortable for them, and it can flare up and actually kill them if they're under stress for some other reason.

 

A quarantine tank can literally just be any fish-safe thing that holds water, has an airstone, and gets frequent water changes. You could put them in a bucket. 

[banasophia]

Are you sure it’s ich... want to post a pic? 

[FishPolice275]

Pictures are from last night, a couple more dots today. Both clowns had been exploring the tank fir a few days, since last night they have pretty much stuck to the back corner. They are swimming sideways, almost level with the top of the water. I only see one with ich, but they are sticking together and still eating. 

 

[FishPolice275]

So I first noticed the spots Friday and now Sunday morning, I don't see them anymore. Does ich move that fast? 

[Saltnfresh94]

Hey mate any updates ,cheers.

[FishPolice275]

On 8/11/2020 at 12:01 AM, Saltnfresh94 said:

Hey mate any updates ,cheers.

Here you go!  I'm finally on my computer to write an update, I tried a few times on my cell but I would get close to finished writing an update and it would all disappear somehow...

[FishPolice275]

About 3 weeks ago I added a clean up crew of snails from Reef Cleaners, one of the smallest package they offer, plus a Mexican turbo snail that really works hard.  I may get a few more snails in the future, mainly stuff that will clean my sand, so a conch may be on the next order. I was starting to get some brown hair algae but since adding the cuc I haven't seen any of that.  I do have some light brown and green algae growing on the rock and glass but nothing is out of control and I guess its just part of the process.  I also added some chaeto and some apocalypse pods.

 

I had green and a couple different shades of purple coraline growing before the snails came in, now I also have pink, blue, and even a little orange growing in randomly on the rock.  I can't wait for more coraline to start covering the rocks.

 

On 8/14 I made a trip through San Antonio and got to stop in Elegant Reef LFS for the first time.  They had a good selection of fish and coral so I ended up bringing home a YWG and Tiger Pistol shrimp that have paired nicely, as well as my first coral - a GSP attached to some live rock.  I dipped the rock (not the part with gsp on it) part in freshwater for a couple minutes and saw some tiny starfish fall out along with some other little things.  Then I dipped the rock and coral with Seachem's coral dip, but nothing else fell off I could identify.  The GSP slightly opened back up after just a few hours of being in my tank, which was faster than I expected.  the next morning it was completely open and looking healthy.  This morning the GSP didn't open up in the morning like normal, so I ran all my tests and everything came back normal.  About the time I finished the tests it opened up and looks fine again, so I'm not sure what that was about.  Either way, I will be doing another 10% water change today. 

 

Today I also noticed a tiny orange thing attached to the rock that came in with my GSP.  It has a bunch of tiny fingers and a somewhat round shape, so I am really hoping its a feather duster.  Its very small and hard to take a picture of, but I'll try to attach the best picture I can get. 

 

My Clowns are getting bigger and I am not sure if that one had ich or if it was something else, but to be safe I am going through a cycle of Ruby Reef kick ich, which is reef safe.  I had to turn off my skimmer and take out all my media (except the filter floss) for the Kick Ich, so I did notice an increase in algae when I did that.  My guess is the clown didn't have ich, I think it might have just been a scrape or something from swimming into the wave maker;s current and getting pushed into the rock a bit.  I do have a 10G hospital tank set up now if it ends up looking like ich. 

 

The new YWG and Tiger pistol are getting settled in nicely.  They have dug out lots of sand from underneath the rocks and seem to have created a large tunnel system under there.  They spend most of their time under the rocks or just peeking out a bit, I hope they come out more once they get more familiar with the tank.  Early this morning when everything was still dark at 6am (I had to get up early to put a brisket on the BBQ), I saw the YWG swimming all over the tank and not looking afraid of anything, but once the lights came on he went back in the cave.  The only time I see the shrimp is when he is pushing sand out, with the YWG right beside him.  I did see him come out once when I was feeding and got excited he was going to eat with the rest of the fish, but he ended up grabbing one of the tiny snails off a rock and flying back inside his cave with it.  I guess I may eventually need to get more snails if he keeps that up. 

 

My calcium is at 360, which I guess is a bit low, so I am trying to figure out the best way of raising it.  I also need to get a Magnesium tests kit.  Any easy solutions for raising calcium?

KH is 8, Phosphates 0, pH 8.15, salinity 1.025, and temp is 79.5.

 

Pics will follow.

[FishPolice275]

 

 

 

Feather Duster? 

[Tired]

That doesn't really look like a feather duster to me, but it does look sort of like some type of coral. Wait and see if it grows. 

[nanowavenic]

I love goby and pistol shrimp pairs!

 

As for the calcium levels, I’d first look into why they are so low because your tank shouldn’t be depleting it yet. Check your salt levels first - it’s good to run a test on each new batch of salt to know what your working with before having to start supplementing!

[FishPolice275]

38 minutes ago, Tired said:

That doesn't really look like a feather duster to me, but it does look sort of like some type of coral. Wait and see if it grows. 

I guess it could be coral, but it looks like little orange hairs sticking out. I've seen a piece of debris float into it and it retracted, then a few minutes later it was out again. It's just so small it's hard to tell at this point. 

[FishPolice275]

On 8/20/2020 at 6:07 PM, nanowavenic said:

I love goby and pistol shrimp pairs!

 

As for the calcium levels, I’d first look into why they are so low because your tank shouldn’t be depleting it yet. Check your salt levels first - it’s good to run a test on each new batch of salt to know what your working with before having to start supplementing!

I tested my salt mix (instant ocean bags) and it's 400 hardness and 9 carbonate. So I retested my tank and got the same results as the salt mix. Maybe I messed something up the other morning, I was in a hurry. I have 2 more bags of instant ocean left, which will probably last a couple months, then I'll be switching to something better. 

[FishPolice275]

Swapped out my original pump for a sicce 1.5 and also added the UV light.  I have a bucket of red sea coral pro, I will be switching over from IO. I'll be slowly changing, just through my regular water changes (every one to two weeks 5-10g) . I'm hoping for a cleaner salt with higher calcium, magnesium, etc. so I don't have to worry about dosing so much. 

 

Today I added 3 new corals: Duncan, favia, and micromussa. I'll probably move the Duncan somewhere else and leave the other two on the bottom rock. 

 

Still trying to figure out what my next fish will be. Considering 3 blue reef chromis, or an azure damselfish and royal gramma. I will also add a fire shrimp as well. The chromis have great color, but they are on the spendy side for chromis at $25 a pop and I hear they end up killing each other over time anyways. I really want the damsel and royal but I'm worried about aggression. I may give it a try anyway though. 

 

[Tired]

Azure damselfish aren't too aggressive. An azure and a gramma sounds good. Nice color, shouldn't be a fighting problem. Just make sure there are plenty of caves, not yet occupied by the clownfish, for everything to inhabit. Fire shrimp, damselfish, and grammas all pick out a cave each to defend and live in.

 

Don't go with chromis. Aside from the aggression issue, they can carry uronemia, which is an incurable disease that, IIRC, is impossible to fully eliminate from an aquarium once it gets in. If you aren't quarantining, you should never get chromis. 

(You should be quarantining, though.)

[banasophia]

16 minutes ago, Tired said:

Azure damselfish aren't too aggressive. An azure and a gramma sounds good. Nice color, shouldn't be a fighting problem. Just make sure there are plenty of caves, not yet occupied by the clownfish, for everything to inhabit. Fire shrimp, damselfish, and grammas all pick out a cave each to defend and live in.

 

Don't go with chromis. Aside from the aggression issue, they can carry uronemia, which is an incurable disease that, IIRC, is impossible to fully eliminate from an aquarium once it gets in. If you aren't quarantining, you should never get chromis. 

(You should be quarantining, though.)

Agree 100%, was about to say the same.

 

I really wanted chromis too, and always get chromis envy when I see people with them, but it’s a huge risk since uronema is so common in them now, can affect other fish, and can’t be eradicated from the tank once it’s introduced. 
 

Tank’s looking really good @FishPolice275, nice additions!

[FishPolice275]

My shrimp left something behind last night! 

 

Also, my Duncan came with two heads, one has been open and looking great, eating shrimp from the beginning. The other head has looked kind of half open, looking almost like it was going to split in half, but I know they don't split to reproduce. My only guess is it was to close to my favia on the first night and maybe it got stung? I do remember seeing some sweeper tenticles out the first morning.  I will probably try and remove the plug base and glue these corals down soon. 

 

Another side note, I'm starting to get annoyed by all these snail eggs pooping up all over my rocks... 

[FishPolice275]

Tank update

 

Things seem to be doing very well, I'm pretty happy with how this cube is evolving. I've been adding coral every few weeks and as far as I can tell, it's all happy. Even with the stock light.  I also have some SPS growing at the top, yellow birds nest and birds of paradise birds nest have been in a few weeks now.  They both look happy and are growing faster than expected. I just put in a torch, hammer, and an acan today, along with a fire red shrimp. The royal Gramma and azure damsel were added weeks ago and are fitting in just fine. I'm done stocking fish and inverts now, but I may add a bit more coral. 

 

In other Big news, I took advantage of Blue Friday and ordered a Waterbox 220.6. I can't wait to get moving on that, I have already been playing around with the scape, but I'll probably start a build thread in reef2reef on that one.