Adding to my Nano Cube

[sNEIRBO]

At this point, I just put my LS and LR in my Nano Cube last night to further the cycling process. I realize I'm still 1 - 2 weeks away from putting fish and/or corals in my tank. I want to start planning for what I should put in the tank, in what order, and the timeframe. Here's what I know for sure that I want to put in my tank -

 

Fish

1 or 2 Percula Clownfish (required by my 4 year old daughter)

1 Black and White Percula Clownfish

1 Purple Firefish Goby

POSSIBLY 1 Maroon Gold Stripe Clownfish as well

 

Corals

Colored Zoo Coral

Frogspawn Coral

Red or Pink Open Brain Coral

 

Cleaning Crew

5 Scarlet Hermit Crabs

5 Blueleg Hermit Crabs

10 Turbo Snails

5 Nassarius Snails

1 Fighting Conch

1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

1 Fire Shrimp

 

So, here's the questions -

 

1) Does anyone think that's too much to be putting in a 24 Gallon Nano Cube?

2) What order should these be added? I was thinking Cleaners, Fish, Corals.

3) I don't want to overload the tank. Is it ok to add the entire cleaning crew at one time? Or should I space adding them in over a period of time?

4) Say I add the cleaners first - how long should I wait until I add fish or corals? Then how long should I wait until I add more?

5) When I add fish, is it too much to add 3 or 4 fish at one time, or should they be spaced out? Ideally I'd like to get all the Clownfish in the tank at the same time.

6) I've seen some coral "Nano Packs" offered at various websites - are these worth it? Some of them seem like a nice mix of corals at a good price. Sea Crops for instance has 6 corals for $40 - that's almost too good to pass up.

7) Any recommendations or corrections to my "wish list"?

8) My local LFS has some really small Blue Tangs in his tank with his Perculas. When my 4 year old saw them, she of course now wants a "Dory" to go with her "Nemo". The LFS guy said based on the size of the Tangs it would be ok in a 24 G Nano for about a year. Once it gets too big he would buy the Tang back from me and I could buy another small Tang to replace him. Good idea? Or REALLY bad idea?

 

Any help / info would be greatly appreciated!

 

Cheers -

sNEIRBO

 

================================

A "newbie-ism" I thought of last night after I added my LS -

 

"A watched Nano Cube never clears."

[burtbollinger]

First off, I'm reef noobish...but I have done FOWLR for 5 years...

 

If you went with that list as you have above, you'd be overstocking IMO.

 

First off, you should forget about the Maroon Clownfish...he'll get too big and agressive. You should not mix clown species, so I've heard. Don't do the blue tang thing either. BAD idea. Not to be a punk, but man, its not about duplicating some cartoon bro...I'm sure you know that though

 

yeah...cleaners, wait a week or so, add a fish, wait a week, another fish, then wait a month, add some corals. When I get my corals, Imma order one of those nano packs methinks.

 

I added crabs and stuff, then added the snails a day or so later...

 

Then add the TWO percs at the same time. I would not have 3 percs in my tank...only TWO... then I'd personally wait another week, then add the firefish or whatever.

[embryoguy]

i agree w/ burt. 2 clownfish would be max in the 24gallon nc. i have 3 nanocubes of all sizes. consider getting a pair at same time as mentioned also. and goby would be ok also.

 

good luck

[sNEIRBO]

Thanks for the help so far. Sounds like I should drop the Fish list down to 2 Percs and 1 Firefish. Did the Cleaning Crew sound too big? Any suggestions from anyone about what the perfect Cleaning Crew compliment would be for a 24 G Cube?

[xoshagsox]

For the clean up crew, I think your fine other than the turbo snails. They are large and tend to be bulldozers. You might want to keep one and go with some astrea snails. They eat algae off the glass too.

[sNEIRBO]

Scratch the Turbos Snails - add 5 Astreas instead?

[Nano-Cube Nut]

I have a 24G DX Cube. IMO you need more LR (this will help with the larger bio load you want). I have 20 lbs. LS and 30 lbs. LR from LR.com (they were cheaper including shipping than LFS and WOW it's totally covered with coralline, I got the Keys type). You really should have at least 1 lb. per gallon of LR, but 1 1/2 per gal. is better, the LR from LR.com is cured, might get very small ammonia spike if there's some sponges that die off, remove them if you see them and don't add the hitchhiker orange rock crabs if you get any.

I also think your clean up crew is alittle too much. I started with 11 SMALL blueleg hermits and they cleaned up the algae bloom that covered my rocks during the cycle in a week, then seemed to be starved, so I returned 8 of them. My total clean up crew now is 3 small blueleg hermits, 4 nassarius snails, 2 Astrea snails, 1 turbo (if you mean the true good sized turbo snails 10 is WAY TOO many for a 24G nano cube, they knock things over, I'd do no more than 2, but 1 is enough for me), 3 hitchhiker rock crabs (I want to remove), 3 small hitchhiker brittle stars. After the algae bloom during cycle was cleaned up, I have NO algae to speak of. Don't wait too long to add the clean up crew, as soon as you see algae starting to cover rocks and back wall get them!

I also agree with the others, don't mix clown species. Get a pair at the same time (same species with one alittle larger than the other). Wait 2 weeks after adding the pair, then add 1 fish at a time at least 1 week apart. IMO you can have 4 SMALL fish, maybe five, nothing that gets bigger than 4" full grown. Don't buy fish small to have to catch them later when they out grow the tank--you'll have to tear your tank apart to catch them!

Add the clean up crew first, yes all at once if you have more LR and go with fewer clean up crew like I have. Then add one invert or fish at a time and test for ammonia & nitrate if okay wait at least a week before adding another (the pair at the same time is okay cause you should add them together). Corals don't add to the bio load so you can add them when you want, just don't over fed them, that's what messes your system up! If you want to see all I have in my tank look at my profile, I set the tank up on 3-29-05 with the LR and LS, then added the clean up crew on 4-7-05 cause my cycle was done (it's real quick with LR.com).

Hope this helps!

[sNEIRBO]

I only went with 18 lbs of LR figuring as I add Corals, I'd be adding LR with them. My LFS said to figure about 1/2 lb LR with each Coral. If I put in 6 Corals, that's closing in on 20 lbs of LR total. I could probably use a couple more small pieces to fill in with. Maybe I'll go grab another 5 lbs of LR tonight to fill in with.

[steelhealr]

Sneirbo...agree with the above. I think you are light on the LR. I think ten turbos will blow all your corals over. Too big and too strong. I would lean towards the astrea and maybe margarita snails. I don't think adding the entire cleanup crew at once is bad, but, you might want not to dump a whole crew in and have die off (although probably unlikely). Fish should be added slowly, IMO, with the least aggressive first and most aggressive last. In general, two of the same species, unless a paired male and female, is not a good idea. GO SLOW. Beauty comes slowly, disaster comes quickly. Welcome aboard. SH

[sNEIRBO]

I added 5 more pounds of LR last night. Got some really nice softball sized rocks to use as fill in. Lots more color on the little stuff it really adds to the look of the tank. How long will it take before I see signs of algae on the LR?

 

This morning my readings in the tank were -

 

Ammonia - 0.5 PPM

Nitrites - 0

Nitrates - 0

Ph - 8

Water Temp - floating between 78.8 and 80.1 F

 

Based on some feedback from yesterday I'm altering my "Fish Lists" accordingly. Here's what I'm thinking now -

 

Cleaning crew (Hopefully will add by this weekend I want to give the LR at least a couple of days to cycle)

2 Scarlet Hermit Crabs

2 Blueleg Hermit Crabs

2 Astrea Snails

3 Nassarius Snails

1 Fighting Conch

1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

1 Fire Shrimp

 

Fish

2 Percs (First in the tank about a week after the Crew)

1 Purple Firefish (or 1 Common Damsel instead) [To be added 1 month after the Percs)

Max Fish Population 3

 

Corals (To start - will gradually add more. Will probably add at least 1 coral 2 weeks after the Percs. Then another 2 weeks after the other fish.)

Colored Zoo Coral

Frogspawn Coral

Red or Pink Open Brain Coral

 

Am I heading in the right direction?

 

Thanks for the help!

 

Cheers -

sNEIRBO

[nanojake]

Nut,

 

I'm looking for some LR for a new tank I'm planning. When I go to LR.com - I'm getting somthing not reef related. What's the URL?

[sNEIRBO]

Here's a good site for Nano Cube sized LR -

 

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di...cfm?pCatId=1949