1st SW/Reef Tank: 14g BioCube

[Grasspicker]

Cool,

I lived in Tampa for about a year. Down on Fletcher AVE. I never got the Gator bug though. Thankfully.

I decided the mountain of East Tennesse was the place for me. So I my tail back where it belongs.

Its getting close to that time again. I can smell those hot dawgs now.

[lcstorc]

Go Fins.
My stepson's room is all Dolphins. We go to at least one game every year and he and his father just went down for training camp. You know it is bad when you drive 4 hrs and stay in a hotel for training camp.

[astiesi]

Lynn, I used to spend 5 days a week at training camp when I was a bit younger, back in the days of Shula and Marino. In fact for my newborn son's first picture I made sure to have him in a Dolphin outfit, the force will be strong in that one...

Here are the pictures I promised. These show the state of the algae, first an FTS.



Now the same angle as I took last week.



And here are two other pics I snapped of the few pieces of coral in my tank.




Thanks for stopping by and checking it out.

[nstiesi]

geez, your tank looks so much better than mine right now....

[astiesi]

I'm beginning to get a bit discouraged with my tank. I just can't seem to get ahead of the hair algae and cyano, now I'm having a second diatom bloom. I understand the tank is young, not quite 2 months yet, and I know this is all part of a new tank, but having to look at the algae all the time sucks.

I didn't add the fire shrimp last weekend because of the algae problem, I want to get handle on the algae before adding anything else. The toadstool did come in last week and is looking very good! I'll get a picture in a few days, water change day is tomorrow.

Hopefully I'll have better news to report next week. Thanks for checking up.

[Royalscott]

You said in an earlier post that you have the heater in the third chamber. Do you not use a filter and does the water cover most of the heater?

[astiesi]

In the first chamber I have the Oceanic BioCube Skimmer, in the 2nd I have live rock rubble, carbon, phosLock, and filter floss. The filter floss is changed every week, the carbon is rinsed every week and rotated every 2 weeks, the phosLock is rinsed every week and changed every 2 weeks currently. The heater and pump are in chamber 3. The heater is fully submerged.

[tippMANn98]

drop the heater....try it without, warmer water is favorable for better algae growth, I barely have to clean mine now since my cube is cooler(top gone).

[Grasspicker]

Buy an Emerald Crab, 3 Margaretta Turbo Snails (Big Ones). Two Hermits.

The Emerald will take care of the hair. The turbos will take care of the diatom.

for them all when you put them in.

will tell.

[astiesi]

Daniel, the heater currently makes no difference to the water temperature, I've had it unplugged for a few weeks and the temp never drops below 80 at night, 82 during the day. The room temp is never more than 78.

Grasspicker, I've already got a fairly sizable CUC, I don't want it to get too large and when the algae is gone half the CUC may starve. I'm also trying to stay away from crabs as from what I've heard they are oppurtunistic hunters who have been known to kill shrimp, and getting a fire shrimp is high on my to do list - wife loves them. How have your experiences been with emerald crabs?

[Grasspicker]

Anthony,

I have a Peppermint shrimp, Pistol Shrimp. My Emerald is always working the rocks for stuff. My hermits are as well. I would recomend them both. I also have an Arrow Crab but I would not recomend them. He isnt doing anything wrong per say but he is annoying when it comes to feeding. Ive learned that I have to feed him first so his hands are full and mouth preventing him for searching for more food. That has worked well but im most likely going to be taking him out soon. I love watching him but its a matter of whats best for the rest of the tank.

I would get an Emerald Crab asap if I were you. You will see a marked difference. One of their main goals is eating the gree stuff, and dont worry about your crabs killing your shrimp. They would have to team up and ambush him which isnt going to happen.

[astiesi]

I will definately consider looking into an emerald crab. I don't recall seeing any at the LFS but I will definately look the next chance I get. I know the LFS always has blue legged hermits so they are also a possibility, from what I've read they are big on hair algae as well. I just gotta decide if I want to go the crab route.

Off to do some research...

[Grasspicker]

I would. I have a red leg, blue leg, arrow(prob going to evict), and the Emerald.

I havent done much to my tank at all since the last posting. Im letting it get some age on it before adding. I had fragged a mushroom a few weeks ago. I took out the container to check and two had attached !!!

I took one out and put it into the tank but left the other one because its very small. I was suprised how fast they are growing.

We are going on vacation next week and Im having a friend house sit. If all goes well Ill be adding some blue mushrooms when I get back. If not back to the drawing board.

For sure though time is on my side. Everything seems to be growing and doing well so I dont want to ruin the blessing thats coming my way right now.

[tippMANn98]

Yea, have to be careful with arrow crabs...they are really really good at catching fish and other things.

[astiesi]

I'm glad to hear the mushroom frags are looking good and everything is thriving. I believe that is one of the reasons I'm so upset with the algae problem I'm currently having, my corals are looking great. The tank just has to catch up.

Enjoy the vacation, I hope the tank hangs in there while you're away. Update your thread when you get back, I'll make sure to check in.