Dirty tank!!

saltyfilmfolks · Jan 6, 2017

aythatguy26 said:
Only food I have is mysis. Do they eat that? And do they look like there dying?

yes they do, and no they dont look happy in that pic.

aythatguy26 · Jan 6, 2017

So I need to spot feed them with a turkey baster with mysis if they open?

skim · Jan 6, 2017

WOW you call that a dirty tank! A little Cyano. You know what the hardest thing is in Reef Keeping? Patients, Patients, Patients, a tank being 1 to 2 years old is still considered a baby or new. Some do get lucky and in a year have a good looking tank, and some just take longer. To me your tank is looking good, as for things not opening or taking off could be many things as simple as too much current blowing on Zoas. You need to get a Phosphate test kit ( Hanna Phosphorus ) would be a good choice. You should also get a Calcium kit but if your doing consistent water changes you may be OK for now. What do you use to measure your Salinity? What is your water Salinity?

aythatguy26 · Jan 6, 2017

I use a refractometer and it runs between 1.025-1.026. I do 25% water change every two weeks. All I really want is a nice sandbed. :/ and the zoas aren't in direct flow. I have my stock pump which is around 240gph I think and also a koralia nano powerhead. I've had some issues dealing with flow and dead spots.

My Xenia went about a week without opening. Now it's open and my Kenya tree and zoas aren't opening up.

aythatguy26 · Jan 6, 2017

Kenya tree has opened

Zoas have not

Xenia is open

aythatguy26 · Jan 6, 2017

skim · Jan 6, 2017

So things are looking up. Looks good, a lot of potential.

aythatguy26 · Jan 6, 2017

Thank you! I'm hoping to get a larger tank within the next year. I prefer the rectangle to the cube. And moving all of them into it.

skim · Jan 6, 2017

Should have never got rid of the 125 I believe it was. If and when you do get a 2 ft depth tank ( front to back ) makes such a difference.

aythatguy26 · Jan 6, 2017

I agree! However I purchased the 125 brand new with Stand from petsmart for about $550 on sale. I just couldn't see spending that much on getting that size going. Even though I will eventually buy a used one that size if not bigger because I absolutely love tangs. Really bums me out I can't have a small yellow tang in my cube :/. I would never want any animal I have to not be happy.

After returning that tank and stand and purchasing this cube since it was a aio setup. I have doubled that $550 plus more on this 29 gallon cube. Also this 29 gallon only holds 20 gallons after adding rocks, skimmer, heater, powerhead, sand, and media rack with floss on top, chemipure elite in middle, and purigen on bottom.

And I think my lfs is a bit pricey due to the area it's in. I paid $22 a piece for my clowns. $26 for my Bangaii, $26 for my skunk cleaner shrimp, $10 for my 10 blue legged hermets, $5 for my 5 snails, $26 for my Xenia (it was bigger then a frag), $5 for my fire and ice zoas, $5 for my Kenya tree frag, also paid $5 for some gsp but my old velvet blue damsel killed which he cost me $12 and kept him for 3 weeks and had to surrender him to the lfs since they wouldn't give me any kind of store credit for him.

Honestly didn't realize exactly how much it would all add up to. My past saltwater tanks were a 29 gallon rectangle and a 10 gallon bowfront that were both fowlr tanks with a few damsels only. Hob filters on both. Both were pretty cheap to get going. A few hundred and was good to go.

But I wanted to do this one up and do it right. But only thing I'm missing is a better test kit. And Room!!!! I hate how small this cube is!!!!

aythatguy26 · Jan 6, 2017

I have this box of extra dry rock. Probably 10lbs. Should I add it to the tank? There's about 20 lbs in there now. 1lb per gallon of water. Would it benefit me to add some?

saltyfilmfolks · Jan 6, 2017

aythatguy26 said:
I have this box of extra dry rock. Probably 10lbs. Should I add it to the tank? There's about 20 lbs in there now. 1lb per gallon of water. Would it benefit me to add some?

no imo. feed more. buy a lux meter borrow a par and see how much light you have.
oh test Po.

then you know what you can grow.

skim · Jan 6, 2017

Cubes can be fascinating. You may have to focus on certain things , more like creating a Biotope say 1 Large Anemone and a couple of clowns with different Inverts, 1 or 2 SPS and say 5 or 6 Blue Chromis. You can add little character by taking an old wine bottle, wash and remove all the labels, take a marble or small rock put it into the bottle and crack a hole in the side, you can modify it after. Little sanding on edges and then place it in the sand and leaning up against your rocks in front , so its on an angle looks quite nice when the Coralline Algae starts to grow over it . Put a Gorgonian on it maybe a couple of Mushrooms or Rock Anemone's. If you want something that has character and just all and all fun to watch Star Eyed Blenny is a good choice. I have wondered many times if I should have just gone with a few smaller tanks and created different Biotopes.

saltyfilmfolks · Jan 6, 2017

skim said:
Biotopes.

folks forget that this is what a reef tank is. Some seem to think is's a fern or a couch.

skim · Jan 6, 2017

If I was to add any it would be just 1 pc. The long branch, may look good with a bunch of bright Zoa's all over it standing up tilted to one of the corners. You would have to season it and get any Phosphate out of it.