well last year i got me a biocube and am now doing a thread on my successes and failures and so on. so i will be frequently posting updates and asking questions. the specs on the tank is this : coral life 10,000k bulb and actinic bulb, koralia nano powerhead, adjustable heater, nano skimmer, chamber 2 being used as refugeum, chamber 3 powerhead with sponge filter and carbon filter, live rock from florida, large semi photosynthetic gorgonian, green star polyps (not doing so well) , blue chromis, male mandarin fish, some snails, 1 hermit crab, 2 brittle starfish, tiny hydromedusa jellyfish and many feather duster worms. i plan on getting pygmy seahorses and my tank is being over run by hair algae i dont know what to do about that so if you have any ideas let me know thats all for now.
Hi Elazarto TR. What are your water params? How often are you doing water changes? How often do you change/clean the sponge? They can become a nitrate factory in very little time. The best way to battle hair algae is to figure out what is feeding it and eliminate it. And as much of a pain in the but it is....some manual removal doesn't hurt either.
well today i removed some by hand. the tank is crystal clear.
What is the source of your water? What kind of test kit are you using? Without knowing what your Ammonia,nitrate,nitrite,phosphate levels are and where the water is coming from it will be hard to help.
i try to remove hair alge from my 14, but the clowns draw blood. very protective.
we are all on the long road to our dream tanks, im going slow and enjoying the journey!
my tank is fine in terms of tests and i use purified spring water soon im going to use ro di filtered water
Hi Elazar and
Algae is common in new tanks. The spring water could be fueling the algae and I highly recommend using RO/DI or distilled water. And, like already mentioned, the sponges can become great breeding grounds for nitrifing bacteria and then nitrate builds up in the tank and acts as fertilizer for the HA. Manual removal will help but until you find the source of nutrients you will probably battle algae.
On another subject, a nano is not a suitable tank for a mandarin. They are almost always obligate pod eaters and will starve to death unless you are constantly stocking pods. They need at least a 55 gallon tank that is well stocked with live rock. A 55 will support one mandarin.
Carmie
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thanks for the advice ill check my water and start using ro/di water. as for the mandarin i stocked my second chamber of my cube (which is a refugeum) with tiger pods and i also bred pods in the main part of the tank if you looked closly at the glass you could see millions of them and i also feed my tank zooplankton and all the inhabitants love it and on tope of that i feed them live baby brine shrimp and the mandarin does very well so im not realy worried about him but thank you for your advice.
well im back srry i haven't posted aneything in a while, i have been super busy with school and work but now im back and have more freetime to post. updates: i got rid of all the hair algae with 2 mangrove plants and im going to upgrade my tank with a sump soon. my mandarin died the chromis ate all of the plankton, pods, and brine shrimp before my mandarin got to it. my chromis also died he was old he was not sick i checked my serpent stars cleaned him up super fast so no decay. i have i lawnmower blenny he really loves algae and is super cute and very healthy. my gorgonian is good it hasn't grown much but thats ok. i got a frogspawn coral, chalice coral and green star polyps they like the tank too i got some LR yesterday it had a little hitchhiking anemone and some sorta stony coral that does not look healthy. the new rock caused a slight hair algae bloom but it will go away soon so no worries and thats all for now ill probably post a pic later tonight thats all for now.
Welcome back. Sorry to hear about the fish. Would love to see some pics of your new additions. Hitchhiking anemones are usually pest nems like aiptasia or majano. If it's close to the coral that looks unhealthy it may be stinging it. Dont be a stranger and pop in more often.
i will try to post more often from now on. as for the nem i haven't the slightest clue on what it is but i know for sure it aint aptasia cuz aptasia is clear or light brown and i definitely know it is not a majano but ill keep tabs on it just incase.
pic of the tank (the camera is really bad so sorry bout that).[IMG][/IMG]
frogspawn and green star polyps
note: you can see the little yellow nem on the rock to the left in the second picture
well yesterday i got myself a little seahorse he is so cute and today was my birthday but i was sick oh well. now the lawnmower blenny is coming out more so thats good. i plan on upgrading the tank so im excited bout that. i want to make my greenstars grow like wild fire aneyone know how? all comments and help are apreciated thanks.
You know that seahorses are lower temp around 70 degrees right? The rest of your reef is around 80 degrees... Great pics thanks for sharing! I love the large branching coral in the background! That frogspawn looks great!
I'm glad you popped in. Your tank looks great! You are right the little hitchhiker doesn't look like an aiptasia or a mojano but I'm not sure what it is.
I think you are getting bad advice from from your LFS. Like Corey, said seahorses need cool tanks (and should be kept in a species tank) and Mandarins need to be kept in at least a 55 that is mature and has plenty of LR.
Carmie
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well now im mad, i had to cut up a fish net to put on the powerhead so the seahorse wouldnt get chopped up and it messed up the flow and now there is hardly any flow and detritus is all over everything (except the chalice and gorgonian) and there is algae growing back like hair algae. i fixed the hair algae by adding a new mangrove with the old ones (my brother got it for me from gumbo limbo in FL) but there is still lite green algae and the detritus. also there are lots of flatworms on the back of the tank and some on the glass and heater how do i kill it (its not rust flatworms). on the upside i am getting a new tank with 2 built in powerheads in the back of the tank and better lighting plus a built in refugium sump thingy that has space for lighting or u can use it with this filter tray thing that has space for 3 filter materials. should i use it as a sump or refugium?
Yeah, seahorses have special needs. Low flow, lower temps, and you need a whole medicine kit to keep them healthy. With the low flow you need you will just have to siphon it frequently, maybe doing a gallon water change each day. As far as the flatworms go I'd siphon them out with a piece of rigid tubing connected to airline tubing for precise control.
Carmie
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well the algae got out of control so i got someone to remove as much as possible. he also did 2 water changes siphoned out the gunk on the bottom, and re arranged the rocks so they make a kinda cave thing i will post pictures. my gorgonian and my seahorse did not make it but i did get new corals a ricordia and zoanthid. i replaced my bulbs and added a phosphate remover i also got a porcelain crab it likes the tank and so do the corals the water looks nice and the water quality is good i might add some xenia but i will wait a bit. more pictures coming soon
a small news update still having algae someone is coming to fix up my tank tomorrow i also got 2 fish (and they will be my last) one i dont remember what its called and the second is a firefish i also got XENIA wooohooo!!! i love xenia so much its like greenish blueish its not true blue xenia but thats what the people at barrier reef called it i tried epoxying it to the back and that was an epic fail the epoxy doesn't stick its aqua stick or sumthin anyway i hope the algae does not kill it. ok thats all for now by. (ps i desire more feedback lol)
Just curious, what did the person who came to fix your tank do?
This video http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/po...sode-29-a.html should help you with with securing the xenia.
Carmie
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well the person who came to fix my tank 1 removed as much algae as possible and 2 did 2 water changes he came back again on thursday and did the same thing except he did 1 water change and epoxied my xenia which is actually blue green xenia (looked it up) and epoxied my zoas and my ricordia (he loves the new spot so much) the first fish i got was some kind of hawk fish he is really sweet and gentile but my fire fish is a big scardy cat every time i go near the tank he hides in a crevice behind my brittle star also the xenia are doing real well i see spreading already happening and thats about it.....for now
That is pretty much the nature of firefish. Any time there is movement near them they hide.
Carmie
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how would i make a refugeum for my biocube?
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