Tank updates. 55g corner and 24g biocube.

WJC02

New member
Since the beginning my 55 has been doing great, I've had little to no problems concerning corals, but I've had to tear my tank apart a few times due to aggressive fish. I currently have: 2 perculas, 1 hippo Tang, 1 Kole Tang, 1 Domino damsel, 1 sand sifting goby, 1 firefish, 1 green Mandarin, 1 Midas blenny, 1 cleaner wrasse, 1 six line wrasse, 2 clown gobies (yellow and green), 1 pistol shrimp, and 1 golden banded coral shrimp. For corals, I have some acans, zoas, Xenia, trees, and mushrooms. I'll see if I can get a picture up.

My Mom's 24g biocube on the other hand, has been a COMPLETE disaster. The tank has had many fish die in it (too many to count) we've found them chopped in half, floating around with missing fins, jumpers, or just die with no obvious cause. The tank's inverts may be to blame. We have a banded coral shrimp, peppermint shrimp, emerald crabs, a Decorator crab, and a few large hermits. On top of that, the tank has extremely high ammonia which is surely coming under control, and is usually covered with brown algae. It's currently stocked with the inverts above and 2 perculas, a bangaii Cardinal, and a yellow clown goby.

If you've read through this entire thing, Thanks, and I would appreciate any advice.
 
Both tanks are over stocked. The 55g has a really poor selection of fish for that size tank and the ammonia is probably killing the fish in the 24g and the cleanup crew is chopping them up at night.

For the 55g I would rehome the tangs.

The 24g I would slow the feeding to almost nothing. Do some massive water changes, get a media basket and throw something like chemipure in it with filter floss. Make sure to change the flow almost daily. You can buy a bag of pillow stuffing at the craft store that would work and it will cost you like $10 for a year supply. Personally I would pull some inverts and throw them in your 55g for now.

Good luck!
 
Ammonia should not occur in a tank that was properly cycled. You need to remove everything and start over, slowly imo.

Also, not judging here, but why would you put a hippo tang in a 55? You're going to have to tear the thing down again to remove that thing when it gets bigger.
 
Thanks for the feedback, I didn't realize that I was overstocked. Both of my tangs are babies and are going to be moved into a larger tank that I am currently setting up when they are bigger(along with a few other fish from my 55). I've had no problems with this amount of fish, but if anything begins to change I'll get rid of some of them.
 
Seriously?

Sounds like you're having a few as we speak

I meant that I have not had any problems due to the amount of fish, but I have had problems with certain naturally aggressive fish(which were my fault for adding), and my lighting. I am currently upgrading my lighting
 
For the 25g...
Are you testing for ammonia? What is the value? Deal with that first.

I'd start with a dose of Prime to neutralize the ammonia then do lots of water changes. Maybe 25% every day for several days to get the ammonia down. Blast rocks with a turkey baster just before the WC to remove as much crap as possible. Vac the sand if you have it.

If I read it correctly you only have four small fish in the tank. That doesn't seem overloaded. Did the tank cycle? How much and what are you feeding?

I don't advocate no feedings. The fish need to eat. Make sure you are feeding only what they can consume in a few minutes. Even better - divide that amount in half and feed twice several hours apart. In the wild fish eat continuously but usually very small amounts each time. The closer you can come to that, the better. Fish ALWAYS look hungry. Is mom feeding every time she walks by the tank?

Try not to do too much at once. You need to get ammonia under control. It should be zero. If fish die, don't replace them yet. Let the tank get stable before you add any more life to it.
 
Thanks John, the ammonia has changed extremely. It's reduced by almost 75%. We only feed what they can eat in a minute. The tank was cycled but went through a huge ammonia spike. Right now the value is lower than .25 looks like it's around .10-.05 based on color.
 
Thanks John, the ammonia has changed extremely. It's reduced by almost 75%. We only feed what they can eat in a minute. The tank was cycled but went through a huge ammonia spike. Right now the value is lower than .25 looks like it's around .10-.05 based on color.

There is something fundamentally not right, cause if the tank cycled and your only feeding what the fish consume, there wouldn't be ammonia.
 
There is something fundamentally not right, cause if the tank cycled and your only feeding what the fish consume, there wouldn't be ammonia.

Agreed. Even if you over feed, such as myself, in a cycled tank there wont be ammonia either.
 
So you jumped on the MH from mike? Good call. If I could afford the power bill and my tank wasn't in my garage I think I would run MH with some reefbrite strips.
 
You should be fine. Just limit your photoperiod. You shouldn't need anymore than 7 hours. Based on your tank now I would say 4-5hrs starting.
 
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