My 29 gallon Biocube (pics)

[2ndThief]

This is my new 29 gallon biocube. Its been cycling for about two and a half weeks now and I was hoping for some feedback, tips, suggestions, advice, anything.

Plans:

1 (or 2) gold stripe clowns
1-3 sexy shrimp

rest of verterbrates and invertebrates unknown

I want to put in two more types of vertebrates but I dont know which kind, and I would love some suggestions (already a no to royal grammas or damsels).

current inhabitants:

a clean up crew
green star polyps, red mushroom, and a candy cane trumpet.

My current levels are:

0 nitrate
0 nitrite
8.1 pH
180 alkalinity
410 calcium

Pics:

front of the tank

left side of the tank

right side of the tank

green star polyps

candy cane

red mushroom

-----

here's what I would like,

any advice that you can give me for keeping this tank. What you thought on first glance, is there anything that immediately strikes you and says "he needs this right now!"? Fish suggestions would be wonderful. I am extremely open to advice, because I accept that I know next to nothing, and I dont want to waste money, and I want a healthy aquarium. Thanks and God bless.

 

[siren]

fish for a nano...I'd stick with small stuff like gobys and blenny's, possibly a small clown. The sexy shrimp, I think, would make a great addition to a nano. I'd say no to the maroon clowns though. They usually come into the stores at 1 1/2 - 2" and they get HUGE as far as clowns go. Perhaps a smaller species such as tomatos or something. AS far as inverts go, there are lots of other shrimps and crabs you can get that would make a stunning addition to any tank.

Other than that, just make sure that your chems are in check at all times, and good luck!

 

[Illuminati]

Before fish I'd add some more cured Live Rock. It should be the main filtration for your tank.

Fish wise I agree with Siren. Maybe a small goby (Watchman Goby or a goby that is paired up with a pistol shrimp), firefish are nice and add color to your tank. Also Assesors are nice, I have a blue one but wish I got a yellow assesor, very peaceful.

I'd pass on the maroon clown idea unless you really want one. They are so aggressive it will limit the number and type of fish you can keep in the future.
Gotta pick, 1 or 2 aggressive fish or 4-5 peaceful fish.

I would also say a pseudo but you want to keep shrimp so that isn't a good idea. I have a blue bar pseudochromis and he has gone through 6 peppermint shrimps, I finally got some Aiptasia killer since I couldn't keep a peppermint alive enough to make a dent.


If you go with the peaceful tank idea flasher wrasse's look great as well.

Check out www.marinecenter.com, I have gotten most of my fish from them and will get any future fish from them. You can see pictures & info of most of the fish I talk about there.

 

[2ndThief]

thank you for the replies

If you could please explain this to me. Difference between LR and base rock, I think I understand difference between cured and uncured. Uncured is when the tank will have to cycle it uncured you can go ahead and add fish. Correct? Is base rock the uncured rock you put in to begin the cycle? Thanks

 

[Illuminati]

Base rock can either be cured or uncured when you buy it but is usually uncured.

Base rock is just "ugly & shapeless" rock that would make a great base but gets covered up by nicer looking pieces.

Since base rock is cheaper than live rock (usually because it's uncured and uncured live rock is cheaper) people with huge tanks use mostly base rock and use nice show pieces of live rock on top of it when they aquascape.

 

[2ndThief]

I took your advice colinadam and added ten more pounds of live rock

 

[2ndThief]

alrighty here is the new look:

front

right side

left side

(if you look closely at this last one you can see the new mushroom and green star location)

tell me what you think of the aquascape or if there is anything you would change if it was your tank. Thanks!

 

[Illuminati]

Looks great. As long as it's stable and no rock is against the glass your off to a good start.
Rock slides are not a good thing

 

[2ndThief]

i gave them a couple firm pats and they didn't budge, and nothing is against the glass

 

[Me No Nemo]

Looks great. Be careful with the green star polyps...I usually suggest they go on a rock NOT attached to your general rock work. They can spread very quickly and overtake other corals and become a general nuisance in no time at all. You did great on your rockwork. Make sure you have lots of openings to allow good flow throughout the tank so as to avoid "dead" spots as these could trap food and detritious that can cause phosphate problems down the road.

I love sexy shrimp and an LFS with a good eye should be able to pick you a male and female pair. They do very well together. Another nice addition is a pom-pom crab. Red fire shrimp and cleaner shrimp are fun to watch when they climb on board the fish and clean them up. I especially get a kick out ot the shrimp climbing in the fish's mouth to clean there.

I also agree that Maroon clowns, and Tomatoes, are pretty aggressive choices, especially in a tank that small. How about some Naked clowns from ORA or their black and white oscellaris. Really different but still affordable. A nice pair of True Percs with lots of black are also really nice.

I would avoid some wrasses as they do best with a refugium to provide ample live food to keep them healthy. They like to hunt and peck and can clean out a tank's pods pretty quick.

Purple or red firefish are nice as are Starry Blennies, the goby/shrimp combos are fun to watch and, can't tell by the pics, but if you have a decent sand bed Pearl jawfish are lots of fun to watch as they move little rocks and shells around their "front doors." GL and have fun. Congrats on being an informed hobbyist and taking the time to research your livestock well. Doing so will save you lots of money and the creatures you may have inadvertently added to your tank in error from suffering and in many cases a very early demise. Marcye

 

[2ndThief]

Thank you so much for your reply me no nemo, I actually was thinking about getting a fire shrimp and the fish suggestions are well noted.

 

[2ndThief]

well I just went to see how my mushrom was doing and saw the greatest thing ever.

aiptasia

I've read that a way to get rid of them is with vinegar. Explain please and tell me how you have been successful in eliminating this pest. Much appreciated

 

[2ndThief]

Hey!

Well I added a gorgeous clown. He's got white stripes and blue thin lines outlining the white with black trimmed fins. Also added two different types of zoo's (one green and one orange) and a yellow polyp coral

 

[2ndThief]

UPDATE--new pictures 8-24-06

UPDATE--new pictures 8-24-06

quick updates:

I saw an aiptasia so I purchased a peppermint shrimp to hopefully take care of it, and the shrimp molted during the first night of being in my tank so I was wondering what I should do with the exoskeleton or will it take care of itself?

Here are some pics of the updated tank:

The candy cane looking less stressed

My new clownfish

Here are the yellow polyps

Orange zoanthids

Green zoanthids

Question:

here is the red mushroom I've had for about a week and a half, and he is still not opening all the way, is there something I can do to help him or should I just be more patient, and what is the average wait time for him to open? (you'll have to look close for him, sorry about bad quality picture)

 

[2ndThief]

help please?

help please?

I was observing my green zoas and found this growth on beside them on the same rock that came with them from the LFS. If you know what this is please tell me, I would appreciate it.

Also, if anyone knows how to coax my red mushroom to open I would love the help, he seems to have closed up even more.

 

[2ndThief]

bump

 

[fnicklaus]

Those are beautiful,but they look like maroon clowns.Be advised that they get large and very territorial.Peppermint shrimp are pretty hardy and they feed on aptasia.I noticed that you have yellow polyps-they also feed on these,so Beware.The corals that you are chosing are nice beginning corals.Get rid of the aptasia immediately as it will populate like crazy and sting your corals.

 

[fnicklaus]

Just saw your post.I see you got the peppermint shrimp already.Watch it around the yellow polyps.Remove the exoskeleton if you can without disturbing anything.

 

[fnicklaus]

mushrooms like low flow and low light generally.

 

[2ndThief]

thank you for the replies.

It is one maroon, I understand (and understood before I got him) the aggressiveness. I will add only one or two other vertebrates that will be compatibale with him (maybe a six line wrasse). Anyways, now that I've moved the mushroom coral towards the back bottom where he wont be disturbed I've been thinking about moving my green star polyps to his old position, tell me what you think (yellow circle is where he is now red circle is where he could be) do you think I should move him closer to the edge? Maybe that could help keep growth under control if it gets crazy?