24g nanocube pics for advice

[Deserter23]

I've had this 24g nano for a few months and havent had the results I was hoping for. For one, I have a lot of cyano and hair algae. I've increased flow with a 1200 maxijet and even stuck a 400 Rio inside the tank. Ive cut down feeding to 1 time every few days and have even cut lighting. I currently only have about 10-12 pounds of live rock in my tank. Could this be the issue? I've searched for some deals (cheaper than $9/lb at my LFS) but have come up short.

Does anyone have advice as to what is keeping my tank from thriving? Do I need more LR? I'm afraid that will just create more dead spots

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/for/218881834.html

follow this link to see pictures.

 

[Illuminati]

I went through the cyano period myself when I got a firefish, overfed the tank to make sure he was eating and skipped a water change all in the same week (Only one I've ever missed).
I cleared mine up in a week.

1. You need more live rock. At least double what you have. That will help. $9/lbs is a ripoff.

2. What do you have in the back chambers? Chemi-Pure, Purigen, Phosban?

3. Still got the sponge & Bio balls? If you do chuck it, it's a nitrate trap. Check out Dr. Foster and Smith's website, they sell filter floss, does the same thing as a sponge, you just throw it away when it's dirty (every week). A $7 bag lasts several months. I might get 10 months out of my bag.

4. I would look into phosban. It comes with a little baggie and you put some phosban in there, tie it up and drop it in a back chamber. Ideally you would have a phosphate reactor but I'm not doing all that for a cube. I have mine in chamber 1 so the first thing the water hits when it goes into the back chamber is the phosban (Then the filter floss, then chemi-pure, chamber 2 has purigen).

5. What kind of cleanup crew you got? Hermits would do wonders on the hair algae. I think Court Jester Gobys live on hair algae as well, might be something to look into.

6. Finally tell us what your levels are (Nitrates & Phosphates please).

7. I'll buy the cube for $1, can you ship

 

[Deserter23]

Colinadam thanks for the response. I'm actively looking for LR and hopefully will find a good deal soon.

In the back chambers I have charcoal, foam filters, and rubble. I used to have Phosban but ran out. Ill look into filter floss.

I'm gonna try to set up my chambers like yours. I have some hermits (i think a few died...woops). I agree with you that i need to get a bigger cleanup crew but have heard that they can actually be detrimental since they die and then increase phosphates. I bought 5 tiny nasarasius snails the other week and havent seen them since. Do all hermits feed on hair algae?

I usually go to my LFS to get my levels checked. Do you have a unit you recommend (cheap and good hopefully) that would allow me to do this from home?

Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[Illuminati]

I got my cleaner crew from Premium Aquatics. They have hermits called Baha Hermits and they did great things for my hair algae. I'd avoid the blue legged hermits if possible, they can be monsters.
My Crew:
3 Cernith snails
3 Nerite snails
15 Baha Hermits
15-20 Nassarius Snails (Great for the sandbed)
1 Margarita snail
Dozens of Stomatella snails (Will have to find a local reefer that has these, nocturnal booger looking snail that reproduces like crazy).
If you have a massive amount of snails dying at one time it can be a problem but your bigger problem would be whatever is causing them to die. You loose one here and there. I've maybe lost 4 hermits in the almost 8 months and I haven't seen my Cerniths in a while but everything else is till there.

I got my test kit from Dr. Foster & Smith, can't remember which one it is, I'll have to look when I get home. I'll let you know.

Oh yeah, how often do you do water changes? I do 5 gallons every Sunday night. When I was battling the cyano I did more frequent water changes (Approx 3 gallon change twice a week).

 

[Deserter23]

Just boosted my cleanup crew:
6 hermits
6nassarius
6 cerith

Also a 5 gallon water change. Just in time too. My peppermint shrimp died (R.i.P Shnapps) and I couldnt find him. Needless to say he went out with a bang, felt like he nuked the tank. Within 2 days a few of my xenias have died, creating a domino effect of increasing bad water quality. I also cleaned the huge black sponge in chamber two that my rock rubble and micro-algae sits on (has no light but has been doing fine for the past month).

I'll look into Phosban, Chemi-pure and Purigen after a few more water changes. Just doin one change at a time to isolate the problem.

Posted on my local reef site for some cheap live rock (about 10-12 pounds) so hopefully someone will pull through for me.

I'll post more pics when cyano and hair algae have been taken care of by my crawling garbage squad.

 

[Illuminati]

Nah, 1 peppermint didn't nuke your tank. 2 weeks ago I got 5 peppermints because of a aiptasia problem. My clown is a jerk and I have a pseudochromis and they historically have not gotten along.
So I got 5 figuring some will live long enough to put a dent in the aiptasia.
24 hours later there is 1 left, by the next morning all 5 have been killed by those stinkin fish.
Needless to say I went out and got some aiptasia solution.

 

[Illuminati]

Keep posting pics to, I liked the layout of your tank.

 

[Frankie E]

I agree with all of what colinadam has stated, question to me is why the hell did you change the pump to a rio too much flow is not a good thing, since I kept the same origonal pump and I got enough flow.

 

[Deserter23]

Colinadam: I'll try to post pics tomorrow. The water change should hopefuly help things and maybe my xenias will recover. I dont know if you saw in the pics but I have a tiny false perc. I named the curious little guy Jonas. Today, I had to unplug my pump when doing the water change so it wouldnt suck dry. When I turned it back on, it sucked a tiny piece of live rubble through the pump and tagged Jonas right in the dome. Didnt even phase him.

Frankie E: I'm surprise to hear you havent changed you pump. I got my cube used and the pump was pretty weak. Even so, I've heard of a lot of people changing out the original pumps for better flow.

Have any of you ever bought LR online?

 

[pop-i]

I've also got a 24 nano, but I drilled it and added a DIY refugium underneath. You realy need more live rock. Try Marinedepotlive.com for live rock starting at $4/lb. You'll need to cycle the rock in a seperate bucket (I usually use a big trash can) for at least three weeks or so, but its worth the trade in cost. LFS here in Tucson usually charge $8/lb and i just can't pay that much either.

 

[pop-i]

Sorry about the ebonics. I ALSO have a 24 nano. Hit me up it you'd like pics. If I can ever figure out how to post them.

 

[waterman78]

Deserter23:
IMO I think you should remove all black sponges from your back chambers (total of two - chambers one and two) and add more live rock along with a few turbo snails to handle the hair algae issue. For long term success, feed less and be very careful with your bio-load (the amount of fish in the tank)...it could cause more issues in the future if the water changes aren't kept up. However, I say continue to test your water for phosphates if your haven't already. Increase your water flow and clean up crew with sand sifting and algae eating inverts. Purigen is a great additive for filtering it can also be regenerated. Vivid Aquarium in Canoga, CA and Jeff's Exotic Fish in Gardena, CA have great deals on live rock (Tonga Branch/Fiji/Mashall Island). Have fun getting your reef started. If you can keep us all posted.

Larry

 

[All Delight]

Check out the selling section on RC, you can find LR for as cheap as $2lb up to $4lb. The hardest part is finding someone close to you so you can pickup. You're in so cal so that helps alot since there are alot of reefers around here.

 

[Deserter23]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8324704#post8324704 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by waterman78
Deserter23:
IMO I think you should remove all black sponges from your back chambers (total of two - chambers one and two) and add more live rock along with a few turbo snails to handle the hair algae issue.

Larry

The huge black sponge I have in chamber 2 seems to filter a lot and keep my LR rubble from going into chamber 1.

Do really you recommend removing every sponge from filters 1 and 2? If so, what will act as a mechanical filter?

Also much will a decent phosphate test run me?

 

[Illuminati]

Replace the black sponges with filter floss to catch debris, the sponges are to hard to clean. I can't imagine being able to get all of the gunk out of them:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1

14 oz bag will last me about 10 months with weekly replacement (at the same time I do a water change).


Phosphate test kit for $10
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1

I'd look into an all in 1 test kit though, down the road you may need to do another test for something else. I have this one.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=4452&N=2004+113074

 

[Deserter23]

Just bought some filter floss. It's the first thing the water hits in chamber 1 as it cascades over. I think I'm gonna buy the all in one test kit. Posted in the wanted section of Craiglist hoping to find someone with cheap live rock. I'm afraid that there will not be enough physical filtration if I remove the black sponge but I'll trust you guys and remove it for now.

Cant wait to get my tank under control so I can get a few inverts and corals.
Thanks for helping

 

[pop-i]

You don't really need to remove all of the spounges. I've still got most of them in place and my tank has been awesome for over a year now, even before I drilled it and added a sump/refugium. The only problem is that the spoung needs to be rinsed on at least a biweekly basis to prevent reducing the overflow (i have a JBJ overflow attatchments to clear the surface film ( http://www.aquaoverstock.com/store/product.php?productid=16172&cat=252&page=1 ) . This is a link to something similar to what I have. The other thing that I have done is to upgrade the pump and add a hyfor Flo (http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_wavemakers_filters_hydor_bioflo_bio_flo_aerobic.asp?CartId=) to increase turbid water movement. I bought these two pieces at a LFS for $25 total and they have been the best hardware investment that I have ever made. keep in mind that every tank is just as unique as its owner. What works for one may only work slightly for the next . Returning to the sponges, you can also replace them with some smaller chuncks of LR to act as your mechanical filtration. My LFS usually sells me their "scrap" LR for rock bottom prices, Ha! Ha!

 

[Deserter23]

I just bought 13 pounds of LR through OceanAquatics.com which will arrive tomorrow. It came out to about $45 for Fiji premium live rock. Should be here by the end of the week.

Pop-i can you tell me more about your success with the hydor flo? Ive considered buying one but they are $25 at my LFS. Do you think this would help some of the problems I have with cyano in dead spots of the tank, especially now that I'm going to have about 25 lbs of LR in the tank and more possible barriers for my water flow.

Sorry I havent posted new pics, I'll post when the new LR is set up!

 

[Deserter23]

OK the 13 lbs of LR have arrived. It smelled a little bit but not much. One of the pieces had some smelly pasty dirt like substance which at first i thought was purple coraline that had died and was pasty and rubbing off. I took a toothbrush and scrubbed it off. After throwing all the rock in, I noticed a very thin film on top of the water. I have a 6 line wrasse, a green chromis, and Jonas my clown fish. I dont think they're too happy by the 13lbs of LR I just put into their home. Plus I am not sure whether I should have cured this rock after their 2 day voyage from LA to me. The thing is I dont have a spare tank to use for curing so I just threw everything in my tank hoping it'd be ok. If there is some dead stuff which I'm assuming there must be, what will be the results on my tank if I do diligent water changes? Here's a link to my tank with some low quality pics of the new LR in the tank, as well as a pic of little Jonas. I havent aquascaped the new LR yet so it's all just sittin on top of everything for tonight. I'll do a waterchange and aquascape tomorrow.

https://accounts.craigslist.org/post/shwpst?pii=225958222&db=lv

 

[waterman78]

Deserter23: I hope this isn't too late to tell that you should Quarantine your live rock which arrive through shipping...this could possibly cause what is called an Ammonia Spike...which will kill all you livestock if not all...be careful and test your water. And your fish were probably giving your signals to QT the rock. Talk to them....they'll talk back. (make sure there's no one else in the room when you do this of course). Take care and keep us all posted.

Larry