Biocube 32g stocking help?

[Dlaw]

Hi everyone. I'm fairly new to reefing and I'm looking for some suggestions. I've had my 32 gallon Biocube up and running in it's current state for about a month and a half now. I cycled it without fish, and initially intended for it to be a second tank to compliment my 45 gallon. Long story short, the 45 crashed and I moved the fish that survived, along with a single frogspawn that managed to make it as well, to the 32. Currently I have 2 ocellaris clowns, a chalk basslet, falco hawkfish, and firefish along with a few hermits and a few zombie snails in there.

My questions are: What other CUC should I be looking into, and how many? I thought about maybe a cleaner shrimp, but I'm not sure if the hawkfish will go after it or not. It doesn't go after any crabs or snails, so maybe it'd be okay?

I've got quite a bit of hair algae and my glass is covered with green algae within a couple of days of scraping it. I am seeing 'pods on the glass, but I haven't stocked any, so maybe I should start there? I know I could use some snails, but I'm unsure of the ones I should be looking for, and how many.

Next question: Am I at my limit for stocking as far as fish go? I'd like to get a blenny (probably a bi-color), and I'd like a shrimp goby/pistol shrimp pair as well, though I might go for a captive bred mandarin instead. The blenny is a definite, as long as it won't overstock the tank. Will that work? Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Edit: I forgot to mention, tests are coming back good. No ammonia, no nitrite, nitrates <20. I'm not running a skimmer yet, but I might pick up the one designed for it. I reused the filter media from the 45 gallon's canister, and I have a couple handfulls of filter floss for mechanical filtration.

 

[sfin52]

Hi everyone. I'm fairly new to reefing and I'm looking for some suggestions. I've had my 32 gallon Biocube up and running in it's current state for about a month and a half now. I cycled it without fish, and initially intended for it to be a second tank to compliment my 45 gallon. Long story short, the 45 crashed and I moved the fish that survived, along with a single frogspawn that managed to make it as well, to the 32. Currently I have 2 ocellaris clowns, a chalk basslet, falco hawkfish, and firefish along with a few hermits and a few zombie snails in there.

My questions are: What other CUC should I be looking into, and how many? I thought about maybe a cleaner shrimp, but I'm not sure if the hawkfish will go after it or not. It doesn't go after any crabs or snails, so maybe it'd be okay?

I've got quite a bit of hair algae and my glass is covered with green algae within a couple of days of scraping it. I am seeing 'pods on the glass, but I haven't stocked any, so maybe I should start there? I know I could use some snails, but I'm unsure of the ones I should be looking for, and how many.

Next question: Am I at my limit for stocking as far as fish go? I'd like to get a blenny (probably a bi-color), and I'd like a shrimp goby/pistol shrimp pair as well, though I might go for a captive bred mandarin instead. The blenny is a definite, as long as it won't overstock the tank. Will that work? Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Edit: I forgot to mention, tests are coming back good. No ammonia, no nitrite, nitrates <20. I'm not running a skimmer yet, but I might pick up the one designed for it. I reused the filter media from the 45 gallon's canister, and I have a couple handfulls of filter floss for mechanical filtration.

How old is your tank. I would look at reef cleaners and look at the 10 gal cuc

You don't want to start heavy cuc stock they will starve in a new tank.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

I like trochus. They are hardier than astrea, can right themselves, eat maybe half what a turbo does and are suitable for reef tank temps.

4 trochus
5 nassarius
5-10 cerith
5-10 hermits

Was my usual CUC in my biocube 29 when it was my main tank (currently its my QT).

 

[Dlaw]

How old is your tank. I would look at reef cleaners and look at the 10 gal cuc

You don't want to start heavy cuc stock they will starve in a new tank.

The tank, including cycling, is about 4 months old, maybe a bit older.

I like trochus. They are hardier than astrea, can right themselves, eat maybe half what a turbo does and are suitable for reef tank temps.

4 trochus
5 nassarius
5-10 cerith
5-10 hermits

Was my usual CUC in my biocube 29 when it was my main tank (currently its my QT).

I wish I could find trochus snails locally, I've never even seen one in real life. Just the fact that they can right themselves sells it for me. So this is the eventual stocking I want to end up with? Currently I have 4 hermits and 3 nassarius, so next would probably be the cerith, like 2-3 of them? Unless I could find trochus.

 

[bstodds15]

definitely add some nassarius snails to help move the sand around.

hermits I’d say add 10 more. If some die off, they die off.

As far as shrimp go with the hawk fish. If the hawk is well fed it should leave the shrimp alone.. but there’s always the risk that one day you’ll come home to a dead shrimp. Try and add a medium-large shrimp if you can.

I’d say you’d be fine adding either a blenny or a goby/shrimp pair - not both.
Skip the mandarin unless you get a Biota one that you know is eating frozen food.

 

[bstodds15]

The tank, including cycling, is about 4 months old, maybe a bit older.


I wish I could find trochus snails locally, I've never even seen one in real life. Just the fact that they can right themselves sells it for me. So this is the eventual stocking I want to end up with? Currently I have 4 hermits and 3 nassarius, so next would probably be the cerith, like 2-3 of them? Unless I could find trochus.

How old was your 40g before it “crashed”. Assuming you used that water and live rock or did you start completely fresh on the cube?

 

[Seymo44]

A smallish blenny (bicolor or tail spot) along with a few more snails will definitely help with the algae issue. I like Mexican turbos for hair algae, but they are bulldozers. Mexican turbos also can’t really get to tight places, so a variety of other snails would be a good compliment. In one of my nanos I have 1 Mexican turbo, 1 Astrea, 2 trochus, and 5 margarita snails.

Also, as mentioned above, nassarius and ceriths are great for stirring your sand.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

The tank, including cycling, is about 4 months old, maybe a bit older.


I wish I could find trochus snails locally, I've never even seen one in real life. Just the fact that they can right themselves sells it for me. So this is the eventual stocking I want to end up with? Currently I have 4 hermits and 3 nassarius, so next would probably be the cerith, like 2-3 of them? Unless I could find trochus.

You can get them from reefcleaners. I use them all the time as long as it isn't dead winter or peak summer.

 

[Dlaw]

definitely add some nassarius snails to help move the sand around.

hermits I’d say add 10 more. If some die off, they die off.

As far as shrimp go with the hawk fish. If the hawk is well fed it should leave the shrimp alone.. but there’s always the risk that one day you’ll come home to a dead shrimp. Try and add a medium-large shrimp if you can.

I’d say you’d be fine adding either a blenny or a goby/shrimp pair - not both.
Skip the mandarin unless you get a Biota one that you know is eating frozen food.

Ok, so just grab more of the CUC I have then, lol. I'm still deciding on the shrimp, but at $60 for one I just don't know. As far as the blenny/goby situation, if I can't have both, the blenny is definitely the one I'm getting. For the mandarin, my LFS gets Biota in about once every 2-3 months, and will bring one in for me if I ask. Can I do both the blenny and mandarin, or is that too much?

How old was your 40g before it “crashed”. Assuming you used that water and live rock or did you start completely fresh on the cube?

I used fresh salt water, a few of the live rocks that were in the 45 and all of the filter media from it. It was 6 months old, and I'm pretty sure what happened was one or more of the pretty big crown of thorns snails I had in there died and fouled everything. By the time I caught it, the water was already green and smelled really bad. Lost my flametail blenny and my entire CUC minus a couple of blue legged hermits that managed to hold on.

To be clear, I initially started the 32 completely fresh, and cycled it completely before any of this happened.

A smallish blenny (bicolor or tail spot) along with a few more snails will definitely help with the algae issue. I like Mexican turbos for hair algae, but they are bulldozers. Mexican turbos also can’t really get to tight places, so a variety of other snails would be a good compliment. In one of my nanos I have 1 Mexican turbo, 1 Astrea, 2 trochus, and 5 margarita snails.

Also, as mentioned above, nassarius and ceriths are great for stirring your sand.

I'd rather skip the mexican turbo if I can, they're just so big and if it dies I'm worried I'll be in a similar spot as the one I started in. How have your margaritas held up? I haven't had much luck with them.

You can get them from reefcleaners. I use them all the time as long as it isn't dead winter or peak summer.

I'll probably have to go that route, it just sucks they're $3 a pop and I'll have to pay shipping too.

 

[Seymo44]

I haven’t had any issue with my margaritas except for when I put them with larger hermits. Margaritas are supposed to be better with cooler water, but my tanks are consistently 79.5°F and haven’t seemed to be an issue. I honestly like ceriths more than margaritas, but even dwarf hermits slaughter them, despite having enough empty shells to go around.

 

[DKPminus]

I would guess that live stock limit would be a feel between water quality and stress on fish. Recently set up a 40ga for 4 clowns, yellow tang, Koran angle and file fish. On top of standard cuc with a few emerald crabs I added algea eating blenny, cleaner shrimp, arrow crab and coral pistol shrimp/ engineer goby. All seem well and happy so far.

 

[bstodds15]

I think 7 fish in a 32g will be a little much - but they all occupy different areas of the tank.
To answer your question, yes you could add the mandarin after a blenny. But depending on feeding/filtration/etc. it might start raising your levels from all the waste. Other big factor is your cuc and water changes.

I’ll let someone else chime in with their thoughts though.

 

[bstodds15]

I would guess that live stock limit would be a feel between water quality and stress on fish. Recently set up a 40ga for 4 clowns, yellow tang, Koran angle and file fish. On top of standard cuc with a few emerald crabs I added algea eating blenny, cleaner shrimp, arrow crab and coral pistol shrimp/ engineer goby. All seem well and happy so far.

Do you have a bigger tank to move the tang and Koran to down the road?

 

[DKPminus]

Do you have a bigger tank to move the tang and Koran to down the road?

My 225 is in the large build threads. These fish came out of a 125 set up I picked up cheap. They COULD go in my225 but wasn't the plan and would not get them out. If it looks rough for them before I build the 125 I will put the tang and angle in main.

 

[bstodds15]

My 225 is in the large build threads. These fish came out of a 125 set up I picked up cheap. They COULD go in my225 but wasn't the plan and would not get them out. If it looks rough for them before I build the 125 I will put the tang and angle in main.

Cool! They'll probably be fine until you get the 125 setup. I would just watch them fighting over grazing spots. Hopefully they don't act up on you though!

 

[DKPminus]

My 225 is in the large build threads. These fish came out of a 125 set up I picked up cheap. They COULD go in my225 but wasn't the plan and would not get them out. If it looks rough for them before I build the 125 I will put the tang and angle in main.

 

[Dlaw]

I think 7 fish in a 32g will be a little much - but they all occupy different areas of the tank.
To answer your question, yes you could add the mandarin after a blenny. But depending on feeding/filtration/etc. it might start raising your levels from all the waste. Other big factor is your cuc and water changes.

I’ll let someone else chime in with their thoughts though.

So I should probably just wait and see how the tank matures before going in on an expensive fish like that. I do weekly water changes, pull and replace the filter floss every other week and feed 1 cube of frozen food a day. Everyone looks fat and happy, and the tank looks great a couple hours after I scrape the glass, which I currently have to do every other day.

So for now, a blenny and some snails and crabs are the planned additions. So far it looks like:

~10 more hermits
~4 trochus
~6 more nassarius
and maybe a few cerith.

I miss my blenny dearly, and not only for his voracious appetite for algae.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Can I do both the blenny and mandarin, or is that too much?

You are already at your limit for fish. I stopped at 4 on mine and you are already at 6.

The mandarin is a hard no. A biocube cannot support a mandarin unless you set up a seperate copepod culture and add 1000s of pods daily. The biota ones do not magically make their digestive tract need to eat 500 times a day go away. They are just slightly more likely to also eat frozen which only helps like 10% of their dietary needs.

 

[Dlaw]

You are already at your limit for fish. I stopped at 4 on mine and you are already at 6.

The mandarin is a hard no. A biocube cannot support a mandarin unless you set up a seperate copepod culture and add 1000s of pods daily. The biota ones do not magically make their digestive tract need to eat 500 times a day go away. They are just slightly more likely to also eat frozen which only helps like 10% of their dietary needs.

I wondered if that was the case. That's fine though, I'd rather have captive bred anyway. I'm hoping to get a 4ft tank next year, I'm going to set it up specifically to keep a mandarin. I'll just wait until then to have one. Plus tangs. I want tangs.

Thank you everyone, now I just need to get the okay from my wife.