Help needed to select compatble critters: shrimp, crabs, inverts, CUC.

SFKINNC · Apr 20, 2018

I’ve set up a BioCube 32 with 40 lbs of rock. Current livestock: 2 small Ocellaris Clowns; 1 small Kaudern’s Cardinal; 1 small Pajama Cardinal; 1 Snapping Shrimp; 1 Watchman Goby; 1 firefish; 4 small Xenia; 2 0ne-inch mushrooms and one unidentified small colony (on a frag plug) of soft coral that is waiting in my QT. I had about 8 or 9 turbo snails but only 3 remain alive - no idea why, there is more brown algae (not diatoms - kind of cotton-candy like) than you can shake a stick at. I have to brush the rocks every couple of days. And there is green algae that looks like fur waving in the water. I also have a few Nassarius snails which only show themselves every once in a while. There were about ten small ones to begin with, but how many remain is anyone’s guess. The corals are doing well as far as I can tell, and the Xenia recently began to reproduce. There were 3; now there are 4 and it looks like number 5 is in the cards.
I’d like to add:
1) Some inverts (shrimp, crabs, crawly things)
2) Some things to stir the sand
3) Some things to clean up the algae without starving to death once they’ve controlled the nasty stuff.
4) A few corals
5) 1 more small fish, maybe a royal gramma or a purple dottyback.
I need advice and recommendations. What’s possible? What’s compatible? Sources, ideas, experiences? HELP? And, of course, THANKS!

Tahoe61 · Apr 20, 2018

Are you sure your tank is not experiencing an outbreak of Dino?

Nassarius Snail, Fighting Conch might be good choice.

Would not put a Purple Dotty Back in with your current livestock. You have some timid type fishes, in the long term in a 32 gallon tank you did not want fish that have the real potential to become bullies. Royal Grammas are great fish, but it might clash with the Fire Fish because they have similar body shapes.

Raindog3030 · Apr 20, 2018

I concur with Tahoe, it sounds like you may have dinoflagellets and some green hair algae.

It is possible that the snails you lost died from eating the dino, as it is toxic...we went through that a little over a month ago.

Can you tell us a bit more about your reef? I.e. water parameters, how long has it been running, feeding habits, maintenance practices, etc.
If you do indeed have a case of dinoflagellets, I would advise you against adding any new livestock until you have rid yourself of it. There are several methods, I implore you to research on these and other forums. We had success with H2O2 dosing, while many have success with Vibrant (a bacterial product) and other tactics.

SFKINNC · Apr 22, 2018

Salinity: 1.024
Ca: 360 ppm
KH: 143.2 ppm
PO4: <0.25
NO2: 0
NO3: 0
Temp: 79.2
The tank has been running since November. Started with dry rock that had been soaked in freshwater and rinsed with a garden hose repeatedly for a few weeks until the smell went away. Cycled the tank with one of the name brand bacteria additives. When cycled, I began adding livestock slowly after quarantine before each addition. Used Chemipure, activated carbon, floss, and Eheim ceramic biomedia in Biocube filter rack. Had an outbreak of red cyanobacteria and got rid of it with Chemiclean following the package directions. After that the brown algae began to cover nearly everything. I recently received a UV sterilizer that seemed to take forever to arrive from e-Bay and have added it to the system, however due to the size constraints of the Biocube, it is a small unit, but every little bit helps, I suppose.

I believe you are right about the brown stuff being Dinoflagellates. I started looking into some of the material in the forums. It seems the solution is to increase phosphates and nitrates, but I have little idea of the best way to do that. Until I have a better understanding, I have removed the phosphate reducer and the ceramic media from the filter and am using only filter floss to filter the water mechanically. I have been brushing the brown stuff and the green algae every couple of days and then changing the filter floss to remove it.

Ideas?