Ricks' Oceanic 14G Biocube - my first salt water tank

[djbacon]

Keep in mind, most hitchikers are harmless and likely even beneficial to a new reef system.

I had a bunch if you read through the beginning of this thread. Regarding the crabs though, the only ones I consider nano reef safe are scarlett hermits (with red legs) - even they are suspect, all others will surely demolish your snails and other clean up crew in search of up-graded housing :-)

some of your critter occassionally gangning up on a weak tankmate is kinda nature taking its course, i lost a fireshrimp to a snail gang bang a while back, sad day - but lose any crabs you are wary about.

Also dont get toooo stressed about it. - learning about what all the hitchhiklers are is FUN !

[djbacon]

PS - picked up a new firsshrimp today !! - pics to follow !!

Surprisingly he gets along fine with the other cleaner. I actually thought the cleanerr was dead but turns out he moltred and was hiding beneasth a bunch of shrooms where I could not see him. Now i have 2 shrimp Woot !

[Smoking Whisper]

ya the crabs are deff eatin my clean up crew .. i have been tryin the cup now for a few days and i just get the clean up crew and the crab is always just sitting there watching them lol .. i just want to get my fish and shrinp in there anyday now but dont want to spend money only to have them dead in 25 hours lol

[leahski]

new fire shrimp huh? i think we should meet him....
i love shrimpies.

[djbacon]

Boy am I turning to a lame irregular updater. ?!! - Been crazy busy this holiday and am struggling keeping in touch.

While away for a short weekend Snowboarding trip, our firefish dissapeared. I assume he must be dead, no carcass or anything, cannot find him in the rear of the tank, but boy am I fighting a massive green algae problem. its everywhere. Both green hair and bryopsis. It nearly impossible to scour from the rocks and grows back pretty quickly when I do. Everythign seems healthy in the tank.

Doing large 50% weekly water changes to try to minimize nutrients in the water, but man, once this stuff starts it is REALLy hard to get under control. reducing feedings to every other day and half portions at that.

Any suggestions anybody? Is there a product out there that can help? I need to get about half the mushrooms out of my tank too becuase they are starting to affect the flow!!!

[astiesi]

When I was battling a hair algae problem I had good luck adding PhosLock (similar to Phosban) to remove the phosphates and a few Red-Stripe Turbo snails. Took about a month but eventually cleared up. I have no experience with bryopsis.

Good luck with the algae problems, looking forward to more pics.

[djbacon]

OK folks, as promised, here is the latest update with current pics - coming soon, a years retrospective - but for now -



an actinic



the new shrimp

and here are some new left right and full tank pics.

Enjoy !!





and the full shot

[prow]

nice, what difference a year makes huh looking forward to your retrospective.....

[djbacon]

yeah its getting crazy in there, i have fragged out most of my xenia because it started getting stung by the acan and trumpet corals. I am seriously out of room !!!

my only real regret is that I lost the gorgonian.....sad, it was one of my favorites but i just didn't have the flow or volume of water to care for it right.

next tank......

[leahski]

wow. it's really beautiful in there! your zoas have really filled in nicely. thinking of fragging any? lol. i'm in the market for some good looking zoas.

so, when does the bigger tank arrive?

[djbacon]

well, Im off to thailand for a month - when I get back I will definitely need to do some fragging out. Especially the mushrooms too, they grow like gangbusters !!!!

I had to hire the guy from my LFS to do my water changes in my absence. Kinda crazy. And a little scary. Cross your fingers for me !!

[djbacon]

Hi everyone, I've been off travelling around Thailand for the last month or so. Did a lot of scuba diving while away - thought id share some pics and video I took of Koh Tao, Similan and Khao Lok while away.

enjoy

similan diving - a set on Flickr

Khao Lok Wreck dive - a set on Flickr

koh tao scuba - a set on Flickr

My tank underwent some changes in my absence. Most notably, the mushrooms have completely overgrown the bottom of the tank, choking out my xenia completely. My clown fish ATE my scooter blenny last night. Caught him in the act. nipped him to death. This was very sad. I think the clown fish is going to have to remain solo for awhile, or maybe I will give him to somone with a bigger tank. I am sad about scooter. He was my favorite. Anyway, I fragged out a ton of mushrooms and gave them out to local reefers here. More pics to follow. Enjooy the dive shots !! It was REALLY cool diving through that billion dollar real estate. colonies of LPS and SPS the size of football fields at times.

Awesome !!!

[leahski]

nice pictures!
i'm immensly jealous. i've never been outside of the keys!

sure is nice to see the real reef, isn't it?

[djbacon]

yea, it was really amazing. The whole trip was amazing. you can check out the details here if yer interested.

The Life O’ Reicker

cheers !!

[Phreek]

awesome tank