Rehabbing stale Biocube 14

[Chris Atkinson]

Hey all,

This is my first post in a while on here.

About 9 years ago ( maybe I can search my old post history after I make this post by clicking on my username) I was running a 75 gal diy reef tank. I had a home- made sumo with a nice protein skimmer and giant, ridiculously huge metal halide lights that ran Off of ballast that were the size of concrete blocks.

Life got in the way and I sold off everything but my pair of maroon clowns and kept them in a 14 biocube. The biocube was rough. Fuzzy live rock, ancient T5s. Infrequent water changes with tap water. (RO DI system stayed with former home. ). I did manage to keep a few button coral polyps alive.

I just replaced my oceanic T5 lights with new LEDs mounted in the hood. I got the Pro LED Supply 45 watt kit. I'm going to do some more frequent water changes with good RO DI water.

I'll go ahead and buy another test kit and start trying to get some water quality to the point where I can keep those two clowns with maybe a small cleanup crew and some lower maintenance soft corals.

My clowns are quite large now. They are proof that fish can survive just fine on flake and pellet feedings.

My biggest fear is that by putting some more time and resources into this and getting the water quality improved, my starter clowns finally decide to die of old age!

Life is certainly a journey. We sure don't have control over a lot. I am pretty excited To get my little bio cube looking a decent again.

 

[mcgyvr]

Nice...The amount of effort,etc...for this hobby is greatly variable....
It really doesn't take much to have something you can just enjoy...

 

[Chris Atkinson]

Yes thanks. Right now I’m using my old PMs and post history to network around Decatur, IL to see where to find some local frags.

 

[dtapke]

whoa. TWO maroons in a 14?

I've been going through the same thing with my nanocube 24g, I ditched the hood and went with a kessil a160we over the top. LOVE IT. best decision i ever made.

I'm originally from Bloomington/normal IL area, and come down frequently. Perhaps the next time I'm that way we can meet up and i can get you a frag of a kenya tree and a few other odds and ends out of my tank if you're interested.

 

[Chris Atkinson]

Hi dtapke

Please let’s communicate when you may be headed to central IL. I’ve made a couple leads on potential frag sources but nothing actually obtained yet.

I posted this today of these two clowns in the 14.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=25491894&postcount=6

When I bought these, the seller (you may know him. He used to own a reef store in the area) had them labeled as “mocha clowns”. I think they’re a maroon variant, but I’m no fish breeding expert.

I take it you’re surprised I have more than one of these?

They do pretty much spend all day pushing each other around and jockeying for position. They also don’t like any other fish, nor shrimp in their tank.

I’m a retriever guy, so I consider these guys like the old matriarchs of the pack. They’ve kind of earned their spot in the tank. And they’ve seen me through some challenging times. So they get to stay and we’ll try to make their cube a little nicer with some scenery.