Kessil

Phoebe's 14 gal BioCube

Rick778

Rick778

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Started this tank with my daughter 20 December 2008. It is a standard 14 gallon BioCube. CUC: 5 Nerite Snails, 5 Nassarius Snails, 7 Astrea Turbo Snails, 6 Blue Leg Hermits, 2 Camel Shrimp & Skunk Cleaner Shrimp. Only fish so far is a goby. Was having a terrible hair algae problem so added a Sea Hare (Bunny). Coral: Xenia, Purple Mushroom, Neon GSP, Daisy, Green Button Zoo, Green Clove Polyp & Orange Ricordea. Removed carbon from filter cartridge and faced with filter floss. Added Kent Power-Phos to 2nd Chamber thinking phosphates were causing the algae.For maintenance we clean the glass, rinse out the sponge filter, change the filter floss, gently blow out the live rock with turkey baster and do a 1.5 gal water change every week. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Phoebes14GBioCube3-2-09Rev.jpg


NeonGSPGreenClovePolyp3-2-09.jpg


Daisy3-2-09.jpg
 
Sounds like your tank is still going through cycling since you only started it 2 months ago. I would hold off adding anymore life to it until your conditions stabilize. It's a nice little tank though. :)

Eventually, your sea hare will run out of food and need to be rehoused. Looks like you have larger tanks, so that shouldn't be a problem. :) Oops, I just saw your other tanks are not marine... :( You may want to prepare for it to be housed in another home soon. They are bulldozers when it comes to algae. Perhaps someone else has a suggestion as to how you could keep it, but I don't know if it will eat dried seaweed or anything else.

Is Phoebe enjoying her little tank? I wish my kids would take a greater interest. They like to look, but don't want to clean. ;D
 
Upon further reading, I see you have a sponge filter. They are phosphate machines. You may want to modify your tank a bit. There are many people who have modified their Nanos, myself included. Before I modified, I had terrible algae problems too. I took out all of the stuff it came with and replaced it with rubble, a skimmer, and extra flow. You are welcome to read my tank thread and others. Good luck. :)

http://www.bareefers.org/discussion/index.php?topic=5202.0
 
[quote author=Lyn link=topic=6696.msg86513#msg86513 date=1236239444]
Eventually, your sea hare will run out of food and need to be rehoused.

Is Phoebe enjoying her little tank? I wish my kids would take a greater interest. They like to look, but don't want to clean. ;D
[/quote]

The sea hare is gone. I knew when we got it we would have to find it a new home.

My daughter loves the tank and helps maintain it. She initially got interested when I would drag her a long to SFBAAPS meets.
 
[quote author=A_Lee link=topic=6696.msg86884#msg86884 date=1236444614]
Keep an eye on that pulsing xenia -don't want it to take over your rocks!
[/quote]

It has already stated colonizing the rocks :eek:
They are cool though! Love to watch them.
 
Tank parameters:
Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 2.5 ppm, Phosphate 0, pH 8.5, KH 7, Calcium 480, Salinity 1.024

The LFS recommended I add:
ESV B-Ionic Calcium Buffer System & Eco System Reef Solution.

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
First mods;
1. Removed the divider on the overflow between chambers #1 and #2: This greatly increased the water flow from chamber to chamber.
2. Added a Koralia #1 pump for additional circulation: Hope this isn't too much. I debated on this or the Nano version.
 
A little red algae on the sand. Popped up now that the sea slug is gone. Thinking this might still be part of the cycling process.
 
Cyanobacteria, aka, Red Slime can be quite a nuiance. They like high nutrients and low flow. Watch it, as it can grow on your corals too, as well as everywhere else. Nothing will eat it very well, in my experience at least. I finally got tired of it being in my nano, so used Red Slime Remover. Worked great and I have never seen it since. :D
 
I also had that while cycling my 14g biocube. All you need to do is siphon that off the sand with a small hose and then tread it with Chemiclean Red Slime Remover which I got at All About Fish in Pleasant Hill but I'm sure other LFS will have it too. It works great.
 
[quote author=Lyn link=topic=6696.msg89009#msg89009 date=1237185662]
Cyanobacteria, aka, Red Slime can be quite a nuiance. They like high nutrients and low flow.
[/quote]

With the pump I added for circulation, I hope it is not a low flow issue. Maybe I need to direct the flow better, but there seems to be a good current down on the sand. I am having a nitrate issue, 5+ ppm. Last night I added a bag of carbon. Hopefully this ill help with the nitrates.
 
I've heard to siphon a this layer of sand off the sand bed so that you get off small/unable to see cyanobacteria. Did you do a water change after it disappeared?
 
Euphyllia said:
I've heard to siphon a this layer of sand off the sand bed so that you get off small/unable to see cyanobacteria. Did you do a water change after it disappeared?
Click to expand...

No siphoning off the sand. Did the first water change after it disappeared yesterday. It must be magic!
 
When I got cyanobacteria in my 14g, I covered the entire sand bed so I was forced to siphon it off. I siphoned the entire top layer of sand so that I got rid of the red slime. Then I treated the tank with Chemiclean Red Slime remover and it worked like magic too. Now, which is about 6 months later, I have all my rocks and coral smothered in hair algae and can't stop it for some reason. If I had a bigger tank a lawnmower blenny would be my solution. This is why I hate my small tanks.
 
Latest update:
Soon after I added the carbon the red algae cleared up. Not sure if it was a coincidence, because when I tested my water yesterday before the water change I still have nitrates at 5+ ppm. 4 days ago I noticed one of my lights not coming on. After some troubleshooting discovered one of the ballasts had failed. Called Oceanic customer service and have free new ballast on the way. While I had them on the phone I mentioned how the fans were very noisy on first starting up. He believed there were two possible causes: 1) If the setup is older it is most likely due to a poor seal on the light cover allowing in moisture which causes corrosion on the fan bearings; 2) On a new system it is most likely the fan mounting. It can usually be fixed by adjusting the tightness on the fan mounting screws or adding felt washers to the screws (vibration dampeners).
 
Received the replacement light ballast so back to 100%. Not sure what I am doing incorrectly, but most of the purple mushrooms have shriveled up, the zoa hasn't opened in a while and seems to be slowly disappearing, and the Daisy's seemed to have disappeared. Any help / suggestions would be appreciated. On the positive side the Xenia is going crazy, the GSP is fine, the Clove Polyp has added a second polyp, and the Ricordea has increased by 50%.

Had a SFBAAPS meet at Aquarium Showroom today and couldn't help myself.

Attached files /attachments/sites/default/files/Australian War Coral 3-28-09.JPG
 
Arrrgggg!!!!! This morning when I checked the tank the new Zoa I purchased yesterday was completely gone. Just the plug and glue remains. It had about 9 small polyps.
Did some research and it seems the villain is one of these:
- Sundial Snail
- Asterina Star Fish
- Nudibranch
- Spider
I do have some small Asterina in the tank, but wasn't worried because most of what I read claimed they were generally reef safe. Now I am thinking I need to eradicate them!!!
Additionally, I am thinking of getting a Six Line Wrasse (today).
Any thoughts?


Attached files /attachments/sites/default/files/Star Fish 3-09.JPG
 
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