bio cube mods

[fonzi]

hi everybody! Just wondering if my tank cycled already, ive only had it for 3 weeks and i had the spike and leveled also had a algea bloom and that went away too, is it time to change the water yet, still looks clean and my damsels survived the cycle! how much water do i change in a 14 gallon, since there are live rocks inside does that mean i really have about 7 gallons of water? And when should i grab a clean up crew, whats the best CUC like how many snails or shrimp or star fish... also i have a biocube 14 gallon but i still have the bio balls, no carbon filter just the oc protein skimmer should i swap the bio balls? and how do i promote growth of purple and neon green algea on my rocks?

 

[thincat]

First off, Welcome to AA! Do you have a liquid test kit? Without a test kit there is no way of knowing that your tank has cycled. We prefer the "fishless" way of cycling. Well, what's done is done. Once you test your water and if the Ammonia, nitrite are both 0 then do a 20 % water change.
Tell us all about your tank so we have a good idea of what is or can go wrong or right with your tank.
Also are you going fish only with LR (FOWLR) or reef?

 

[fonzi]

Thanks Thincat, i have 11 lbs of LR and 3 damsels, 5 snails, one red crab and a shrimp, i want to put corals and grow coralline algea! eventually trade in the damsels for 2 clown fish!

 

[thincat]

Hopefully you will be able to trade the damsels in. What type of lights do you have. To raise corals lights become a very important part of the picture.

 

[fonzi]

just the actinic and 10000k tht come with the biocube

 

[iDream]

low light corals are what you can keep such as xenia, mushrooms, zoanthids etc.

for my CUC i have 6 blue leg hermits, and 6 turbos (these guys are bulldozers, clumsy, but boy did they take care of my hair algae!)

and TC i read consistently to do a 50% WC after the cycle, am i wrong?

i had two clowns in my biocube, IMO if you wanted to keep another fish in there theyd bully him until he'd hide and they just ran the tank. i have one now and he's much more calm

 

[thincat]

No you are not wrong. This may be the only chance you will have to do a massive water change. Once you add life then it becomes harder and harder to do massive water changes without killing your fish and or invertabrates.

 

[fonzi]

i went out today and found a small live rock coverd with these purple spots, also got 7 snails, one turbo, one cerith,2 turban, 2 caribbean nerites and a tiny one (i dont know what kind yet) that came with the rock, a fire shrimp, red crab and 2 red legged hermit crabs! my question is what are these little purple things on the rock and i began to leave my actic lights 1 hr before i turn on the 10000k and i leave the actnic lights for an hr before i shut it all down, ive noticed neon green and red spots of moss like stuff popped up all over the live rocks, is this good?

 

[thincat]

Nice LR, looks like coralline algae and it's hard to say what the rest is. Give it a few days and take another picture of it again to see if they open up. Might be some sort of Zoa or Palytoa....

 

[iDream]

yeah really, did you buy it? if so how much? because that looks like a bunch of zoas

 

[cabezon]

Take a toothbrush and scrub an area of the coralline. it will spread in no time.

 

[fonzi]

yea i bought em, how do i get them all to open and do i feed them anything?

 

[fonzi]

thanks for the advice peoples!!

 

[iDream]

if it was more expensive than LR its probably a zoa rock.

feeding? you can if youd like, but i never feed mine, just point them towards the lights and if its zoas theyll come out eventually

 

[fonzi]

it was 40$ but the ppl at the store didnt even kno wat it was, they went by the size of the rock, do i add anything in the water like calcium...

 

[iDream]

$40? it better have some zoas on it!!

and no, no calcium needed

 

[fonzi]

i kno right?! i noticed a couple worms and feather dusters but they are all very small!

 

[iDream]

idk how fast dusters grow, but if its bristle worms they'll grow and multiply FAST!

i pulled one out like a month or so ago that was over a foot in length, from a 14G! you'll be finding plenty of new life once you start looking around more often, especially at night, thats when those worms will really come out, feed at night

 

[fonzi]

Wow a foot long! Thats wild!! i stare every now and then, i noticed about 9 small zoa looking pods open, hope those spread, the purple looks nice!

 

[thincat]

Large bristle worms are rare in an AQ setting, but when one gets large then it's very exciting. I have seen pictures on the net of worms getting to be over 5'.