just got a 14 gallon biocube

[klok95330]

title says it so far everything is stock. gonna try the bio balls for a few months and see how it goes. might just turn it into a fuge. not too sure yet. so far its stock. added 20 pounds live sand so far, and about 8 pounds of crushed coral argonite. getting live rock in about 2 weeks. ass my check went to getting this and setting it up and more live rock for my 29 gallon tank.

any ideas as far as fish are concerned? was thinking maybe clown, 6 line wrasse, or just a couple small sized gobys. only 2 small fish max. but im not sure. anyone have any ideas? and also corals. as i want to add corals first, then clean up crew, then fish. so tryin to get some input while the water is clearing up from sand

 

[StevieT]

Don't even bother with the bioballs. It is a huge risk with no gain. They are for fish only systems. Set up chamber two with chemical media, filter floss and or a fuge. Do not use the stock filter cartridge.

NO crushed coral

6 Line needs much more space. 2-3 small fish max

Add your CUC first. Then after perams are perfect you can choose between fish and corals first. I like to add fish first, most aggressive last.

 

[klok95330]

ok so i got my tank up and running. right now it is stock. which i will be changing later. not sure yet as far as what exactly im going to do with it. should almost be done cycling. getting brown algae coving everything. and getting some green growth starting on rock. also i got very very strong growths of feather dusters/various worms that i am unable to identify. but its a 14 gallon bio cube. i also seen that i got a few hitch hikers. (gorilla crabs) this little bastards are very hard for me to get rid of. took me 7 months to get them out of my 29 gallon. after loosing about 6 fish which was over 100 dollars. so im goin very very slow on this one. they are really small about 1/4 to 1/2 inch gonna wait for them to get a little bigger so i can kill em. but i need an idea for what kinda clean up crew im gonna use for this tank. I dont want crabs (unless its blue leg hermits/scarlet hermits) period. no emeralds, porcelain, sallys nothing. fine with anything else. any ideas?

 

[FishNerd]

OK, I would recommend removing the bio balls before you go any further. Replace them with LR rubble. I had three gorilla crabs myself two I found dead one ate many of my fish. I killed mine after a long and stressful hunt using a skewer. I would recommend using a glass baby food jar with a little piece of shrimp in the bottom. Lean it up against the rock you see the crab in he will crawl in and not be able to come out. In my opinion two goby's in that small tank are very bad idea. One clown and one goby would be a safe bet. I have about 8 red and blue leg hermits, 3 cerith snails, 3 turbo snails and 2nassarius snails. Here are some pics:

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv246/smokeynato/Picture001-2.jpg
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv246/smokeynato/Picture003-1.jpg

 

[klok95330]

ok so i got rid of the gorilla crabs. the ones i could kill myself. then i seen one that i found dead. wonder if something killed it? i got no clue. also 1 sand sifting snail died. also i seen what looked to be a very very very tiny piece of shedded skin. looks like a clear/white shrimp/mantis shrimp shell? im not too sure. also i seen something that looks like a little bug with antennae runnin in the rocks its all white/clear and about 1/4 - 3/8 inch long. looks like the skin came from it. but it looks too small to be a regular shrimp i.e. cleaner/coral banded/ etc. no long arms and they move very very fast and looks like it just runs on the floor bottom. it does not swim and i only got a glimpse of it. i also seen a few bristle worms in my tank as well. seen one that is red/white and another that is black/red <-- wife seen that one not me. i mean i would like a mantis shrimp but if its a baby how do i know. ive tried lifting the rock to see if it would run away or anything but then it just hides in the rock. how do i know for sure if i got one? cause it could be a baby or very small kind of bug or pod maybe? any ideas? i cant get a pic of it cause ive never seen it for more than a second

 

[klok95330]

so it turns out that i have 2 baby mantis shrimp in my 14 gal bio cube. they are about 3/8-1/2 an inch long. they are extremely quick and even at that size they can click extremely loud. already i have a blue leg hermit and a few astrea snails missin lol. and i found a few dead baby gorilla crabs as well. i think im just going to let them have this tank. i got tons and tons of feather dusters and a few other kinds of worms in it as well. i also found a few bristle worms. its moving right along. its already starting to grow purple coraline algae on the power head and back wall. but the mantis shrimp are a light brown in color and does anyone know if they will change color? i was hoping they would be peacock mantis shrimp but im not sure they are or if they will even change color? does anyone know of a way to tell?