cool so the idea is dead. I saw a snow flake eel and that’s what gave me the idea. But google says they get 39inches…that’s huge. I just got a new tank so want to do something cool to the hex.
what size is your new tank?
Cool butt idea. It’s a 32 biocube with the stand. I can do like a cool neon light strip theme around the doors and a nice fuge light. Let me check if it fits. I have a mandarin so it will love it!
Just measured it. And it fits in the biocube 32 stand with the doors closed. Ima do this! Make it a five tank with hellla micro algae. Now I can add more mandarins to the 32. It’s the top fin 20 gallon hex btw. Thx broski
My only concern with a main DT that small would be whether or not the Chaeto completely chokes out the nutrients. But if that’s the case, you can resort to adding more nutrients, so it could end up being like, REQUIRED that you add more fish and livestock, otherwise you might just be totally incapable of keeping corals happy if the chaeto can zero out your nitrates and phosphates so easily.
Ok so the mandarin tank idea is dead. I’ll just keep the 1 I have. And if it chokes out nutrients then I guess it will be leaning more towards an sps dominated tank? I have 2 ai primes. I can dose and maybe set up an auto doser on the biocube kf need be. But I like the hex idea of a fuge because it gives me the option to keep my tank and use it for later when i have more room to do a hex tank again. And it does fit the the doors of the stand closed which is perfect. But will the nutrient export of the chaeto be that detrimental to the growth of a mixed reef? And if chaeto is a problem can’t I mitigate it with a macro that pulls “less”?
I’m not trying to make it difficult that’s why lol. If it does t work there’s no point in spending the mental energy. I can just save it for later when I’m ready since I’m a new reefer, I have a lot to learn. Btw what type of fish is that on your pfp?I took this pic at a local reefers house the other day, he has a multi thousand gallon setup divided between a bunch of tanks, he grows out Corals for money, but here’s where I got the idea from:
A 55 gallon drum connected to his sump that acted solely as a fuge. Obviously you can’t tell by the photo but those diagonal pipes are adding flow that keep the chaeto tumbling clockwise. Seeing a side shot of this, I get the sense would be sick.
For what it’s worth, while his sps do pretty good, he has a hard time keeping zoas their happiest given just how clean that fuge keeps his entire system.
Although, if I’m being completely honest, based on your “so that idea is dead” I get the sense you’re a very new reefer?
Sure, you might be able to pull off this fuge concept with a HOB overflow, but I’d argue that you’d be far better off with a drilled overflow, whether internal or external, and that’s not something I’d consider to be a casual experience for a beginner. It might make more sense to simply keep the hex tank on hand for when you’re ready for some new project in the future, but prioritize learning the basics within your biocube?
I’m only at about a year into the hobby and I’ve spent all 12 months of that in the same position that you’re in. Like “ok how about this idea for a tank theme? Scratch that. How about this one?”
It is obviously ridiculously fun but you’ll end up honing in on specifics instead of learning the most about the basics. I’d think you’d be better off with a theme less, normal reef in your biocube and figuring out what works and what doesn’t. I think the 2 AI primes should throw off more than enough par in an interesting spread that will allow you to accomplish one heck of a mixed reef, so pursue that instead of honing in on like, one eel, or only mandarins. I say this because my first thought was “garden eel garden” and I never followed that through. I also wanted a seagrass bed tank… never followed that either. IME you learn a lot more from following the standard progression and thus encountering the regular issues, than you do by focusing on something super uncommon or niche
It’s a red rooster Pygmy waspfish, paracentrogon zonatus. I had been reading up on them while I was away from my tank during winter break last year and when I returned to school in January, my tank (which I had set up in November and was only holding some inverts at the time) was done cycling, looking great, AND my local store had one of these in stock when I got back. I went for it pretty much instantly.
My mandarin eat like a horse. I made this for it. And I throw tigs in there occasionally. I’ve noticed some really big ones when I look closely and it’s been working for several months now.
