ReefWreak's 29g SPS Biocube Adventure!

I guess I didn't post this, but for reference, this is the current list of inhabitants:
1x Dwarf Flame Angel (Centropygae Loricula)
2 x Amphiprion percula clownfishes (pretty small, do the mating dance, haven't found eggs yet)
1 x male pseudocheilinus mccoskeri (flasher wrasse)

I could stop there, these guys are small though, and I'm not too worried about overcrowding. Dunno, could play it safe. I think 2 more small fishes wouldn't be the end of the world though. Maybe I don't need the helfrichi. We'll see.

Move along Tang Police, nothing to see here :p
 
I have 5 in my tank between the 2 black ice clowns, six line wrasse, tail spot blenny, and court jester goby (and he is far from humerous...)
 
Do you feel like you're at your tank's limit, or there's room to expand? You have smaller fishes too though which is good.
 
Probably at a self imposed limit. The tank can handle another fish with all of my extra filter capacity but I dont want that to cause issues. Probably done with this tank in terms of fish unless something perishes.

If I did not have my current wrasse I could see adding another fish or two but I have to remember that the clowns are still growing and as such will need their space. They like to surf in the gyre flow and I wouldnt want other fish to impede that
 
Yea, I hear you. So it's more about space and aggression than biological capacity.

Since none of my fishes are particularly dominant, I guess that's why I'm feeling okay.

The clowns nip at each other more than they do at the other fishes (but they're definitely paired). They leave the other fishes alone, including when the other fishes are near their nesting area. The only thing they really aggressively nip at in the tank is me when I'm working in the tank :(

My wife now has the job of chasing the male clown away with my ghetto two-glued-together-chopsticks extra long probe while I'm gluing things down or rearranging things.

After you brought up the tank size for the wrasses I had a mini crisis over whether it's reasonable that I have one, let alone potentially 3 fairy wrasses in my tank. I still think they have a great time, and will likely not outgrow the tank. And I hate to say "by the time they outgrow it, I'll have a bigger tank" because that's what everyone says, but A. it's probably true, and B. I don't think they'll out grow it either.
 
my clowns are model citizens and leave me alone no matter what I am doing in the tank. The one will almost let me cradle it in my hand as he surfs in the water.
 
Interesting thread on flasher/fairy wrasses and firefish living in harmony.

The commonality, which I know to be true in general, for success with the mix, is that the firefish be established first. I'll hold off on the helfrichi for now.

I may pull the male mccosker when doing the tank transfer QTing of the two other wrases to make sure they're all reintroduced together. We'll see how it goes.
 
Ooops, just ordered some KNO3 (Potassium nitrate) for FW planted aquariums to increase my nitrates and potassium levels (1:2 K:NO3).

Maybe I should start by removing the macroalgae from the fuge first though...
 
Yeah, if/when I start dosing, it'll be small small small. I found a helpful calculator here and emailed it to myself with potential dosage amounts. Everything good happens slowly, so add or remove things slowly.

I think I'll go with siphoning out my refugium algae first and leaving the fuge light off for a while and seeing how that goes. I probably feed pretty lightly for this size tank, bioload, and skimmer (about a light pinch or two per day), so I'm probably not adding much nitrates, but nanos are just so finnicky you have to be so careful.

Thanks for the heads up though :)
 
ha I overfeed to keep some nitrates in my system for my corals. I add in no pox daily but at a light level. If and when I start to pick up dinos I increase my nopox dose to combat it.

This weekend I will discontinue my GFO as the tank is stable enough algae wise for me. I never like things completly gone as that is a sign something else is probably amiss...
 
Yea, I'm starting to feel like my tank is in the groove...

I'm not sure how I got so lucky having a good solid start on my tank, never having much algae issues, and getting very good color with pretty decent growth on SPS, but I'll take it.

I think the real keys to getting started on the right foot in this hobby is aggressive skimming, light feeding, and plenty of liverock all from the getgo. I guess people overfeed in the beginning?

I remember when I started my 24g, I used to thaw a frozen mysis block and feed half at a time and freeze the other half, and I still got nuisance algae. But I also didn't have a skimmer, all I did were water changes. I also did heavy nutrient export with copious xenia growth, and I had one small rock that had GHA on it that absolutely wouldn't go away, but there wasn't any algae anywhere else in the tank. I guess I ironed out a lot of problems early back then, and I think equipment has come a long way since then as well.
 
I guess I didn't share these before, but this was my old 24g nanocube. Remember, it originally came with 13 fishes, including a yellow tang. I have the craigslist posting picture somewhere on my desktop at home.

This tank was in the groove, and was doing well for a few years in my dorm room:
DSCF0161.JPG


But I think I got overzealous. I think that it was when I upgraded to that effing halide, the bulb was too yellow, and nothing but algae grew, and grew like crazy. Ended up selling it for a pittance to just get it out of the way so I could focus on my 120g. Gotta start somewhere. This was my humble pie.
DSC_0376.JPG
 
I overfeed and as such need to dose some nopox or I run into trouble. Though overfeeding also allows me to not have to spot feed all my acan heads as well which is cumbersome.
 
Yeah, to my knowledge peroxide dosing wasn't a thing in 2007-2008? I had skimmer (AquaC Remora Pro HOB), GFO, and frequently water changes, and constant pruning. It outcompeted the xenia for nutrients, starved everything else out, and I really fed the bare amount I could to keep the clown healthy and happy (though he was a jerk, and that's why he was in the time out cube instead of the 120g reef).

I definitely understand the noobrage of being beaten out of the hobby by GHA/bryopsis. It's nice that there are a lot more options now.

Hopefully people will see though that the same person can learn lessons the hard way (though damnit, I didn't know what else I could do! except now I know peroxide and a new bulb) and still become a better (successful) reefer in the long run.
 
Hell I cant even count the thousands I have sunk into my planted tanks over the years with a couple failures costing easily 500+ to get going again with my 125 gallon. All learning experiences and now have a self sustaining tank that I merely need to prune and feed the fish. Water changes are almost optional at this point save for the minerals they replace as the plants handle all of the waste and nitrates...
 
Sorry, I need to go to my happy place after seeing those last few pictures. Sorry for the interruption. I have nicer pics, but I'm hesitant to share them on the web without watermarking them first.

DSCN5007.JPG

Diving in Eilat, Israel, on the Red Sea
 
soulpatch said:
Hell I cant even count the thousands I have sunk into my planted tanks over the years with a couple failures costing easily 500+ to get going again with my 125 gallon. All learning experiences and now have a self sustaining tank that I merely need to prune and feed the fish. Water changes are almost optional at this point save for the minerals they replace as the plants handle all of the waste and nitrates...
Click to expand...

Yea, that's always a good place to be. That's where I try to be with my aquariums. The less you have to fuss with tanks, the better.

One of the best acronyms that I have picked up in the hobby:
SPS - Stability Promotes Success
 
Very nice little nano tank! Colours in the SPS are really nice too :beer: Can you tell me which brand of two part you are dosing? I see Acropower in one of the photos; how often do you dose that? How do you rate acropower for SPS colour? Do you dose any other supplements?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Old Newbie
What size? What tank?
Replies
2
Views
197
griss
griss
E
Need some help with two clowns swimming unusually as I’m doing a fish cycle.
2
Replies
24
Views
544
kfisc
kfisc
M
Another Reefer back from a 13 year Hiatus
Replies
5
Views
127
mike1962
M
M
How everything change and keeps changing
Replies
19
Views
415
MCReef1420
M
K
Mandarin acting strange
Replies
3
Views
79
leebca
L
Back
Top