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

[djbacon]

Hi everyone,

Im a bit past 2 weeks into my cycle, LIve Rock (cured) live sand, salt water from established tanks at the LFS.

Over the weekend my readings were as expected

PH normal
Temp 80
NH/3NH/4 about 0
N03 between 25-50mg/l

My diatom algae bloom started and now last night, suddenly, my NH3/4 are back upto 1.5 ???

There has been no change to the tank. I have since cleaned the filter floss out thinking maybe decompsoition of decaying stuff was in there. I removed the deli shrimp a week ago, and the the bio balls and sponge have been gone since the start.

Any ideas? There is a thin layer of skum at the top of the water level where I got my sample - is it possible that this layer was saturated with NH3/4?

Thanks

[djbacon]

Turns out the answer was yes - to read more more about that, follow the link below

2nd amonia spike during cycle?

[InLimbo87]

Good to see another nano-reefer on here. We're being outnumbered by those big tank folks (although my new 33 may be putting me near/out of the nano range).

Looks like you're off to a great start

[djbacon]

Readings confirmed with my LFS -0

Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate hight 50+mg/l
SG 1.023
PH 8.1
Temp 80

Did my first major water change = 50% to reduce the Nitrates - now reading below 25mg/l. Will do another 20% water change after the weekend and begin adding my CUC

Plans at this point are as folllows:

1x fire shrimp
2-3 x cerith snails
2-3 x nerite snails
2-3x astrea snails or possible trochus - plan on reading more about the benefits of various snails this weekend.

Also considering a small serpent or brittle starfish and possibly an emerald crab. Thoughts? I hear a lot about the EVIL crabs on this forum :-)

BONUS - After the water change the feather duster worms are really flourishing and I have also found 3-4 very small snail looking critters that have emerged from the live rock post water change. They have 2 antennae like a garden snail and a small opaque shell (one has a darker shell but looks similar)

[prow]

hey whats up!!!!!
its starting to get fun, huh? serpant stars are great to have, IMO. very cool to watch them come out at feeding times. they can really move when they want to. i love went people that dont know about them first see them creeping out from under a rock, lol. do avoid brittle stars though, they are fish hunters, esp the green ones.

the HH snails sound like nerites, i think we need some updated pics

might want to do another 50% water change. that will bring your nitrates down from 25 to about 12. a 20% change will only bring them down from 25 to 20 at best. maybe another change after if needed. just remember all you have to take up the nitrates right now is mainly algae-at least till your anaerobics get going.

[djbacon]

yeah, having a blast and wish I was staying home this weekend to geek out on the tank rather than going to Tahoe, but it can't hurt to wait a few more days.

pics of the snail posted above !! Would love a positive ID but it's probably hard to tell. This morning I woke to a perfectly clean line through a patch of brown algae. Even these little guys are doing a good job. I'm concerned about the new CUC not having enough stuff to eat at the moment, but I imagine once I get the lights cycling this weekend that algae growth will increase substantially.

[prow]

grab one of the snails and put it on the glass to get a good pic

for now i would geuss its either a nerite or columbellid, maybe even a baby cowrie.

[djbacon]

I did some looking on google, the footprint definitely looks like that of a nerite. Pretty cool. Think I have about 4-5 now. Do these guys grow fast, or should they otherwise reduce my purchase of more snails?

[michael_cb_125]

In the pic to the right it looks like a stomatella snail to me.

[djbacon]

All right,

major water change - levels doing great

ph 8.1
Temp 78 (droppped this after more reading)
SG 1.023
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrate 12.5ish

Will do another small water change in a couple days to try and reduce nitrates a bit further. In the mean time I'd like to introduce my new cleaning crew.

Consisting of (due to supply limitations at the LFS)

3x nassarius snails

4x trochus snails (buy 3 get one free, no joke) - these guys are a bit large and I hear they can be clumsy, knock over coral etc, but for now they are cleaning away.

1 x scarlet hermit crab

1 x fire shrimp (pretty shy so far)

Enjoy the pics :-)

[Royalscott]

Good looking CUC you have going!

[djbacon]

Oh, and the award winning photograph of the reef critters contest

[leahski]

awesome start! welcome to RS! i've only been here a short time, but believe me, the people here are amazing, you'll love being a part of the community!

i want to know what you think of your fire shrimp. i think they're absolutely gorgeous, but i've heard they're more shy than other species. i'm debating about whether or not to get one when my LFS gets more in.

[djbacon]

So far he is pretty shy. I have read that because they live in deeper waters than most cleaner shrimp that they are a little more reclusive. He hangs out on the back side of the rockscape and has only ventured out a litttle here and there. He is also only on day 1 of a new home so who knows.

In my opinion though, what he lacks in personality (so far) he makes up in beauty. I'm hopeful that hew will get comfortable and a little less timid as the days go on. Check back for updates.

[lcstorc]

I love my fire shrimp but they do hide under an overhang most of the time. Brilliant coloring though so I love them. For whatever reason I cannot seem to keep a pair in the same tank. They do fine for a while but then one disappears never to be seen again. The remaining one does just fine.
Love the pics.
Good job.