Newbie with biocube, unknown organism during cycle and set up

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exmasonite

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 22, 2014
Messages
22
Location
Ann Arbor, MI
Hey all. This is my first post here. Was hoping to be able to lurk for a few weeks but had a more pressing question.

Just purchased a used Oceanic Biocube 29. Goal is to set it up as a reef tank. Have had 3 FW tanks in past and ran a 30gal reef tank for 2 years but have been out of game for about 5-6 years with grad school.

Here's what I have/have done so far:

-Set up tank, have 2+" base of non-live sand (willing to wait 2-3 weeks for cycle and wanted to shave a little cost). 21 lbs of live rock and am adding stable 1 capful every day.
Chamber 1: filter floss
Chamber 2: bag of BioMax and a few bio balls (while other stuff en route- see below)
Chamber 3: Stock 243 gph pump
100w Aqueon heater in corner of tank

Set up the tank 48 hrs ago. Temp is at 78. Salinity/spec grab at 1.021. PH today was 7.8 and ammonia at 0.25

My big question is I saw the small maroon red organism that looks sorta like a soft coral attached to my liverock today. Just wondering what it is and whether it's something I need to remove/be concerned about. If it's something "good", is there anything I can do to support it during the cycle?


Btw, here are upcoming mods/plans:
- InTank Media basket, fuge, and fish saver (ordered)
- Aquatic Life 115 mini skimmer (ordered- I know I will have to mod the air line to quiet it down)
- New 36W 10K daylight bulb and 36W Actinic (ordered)
- 1W LED for fuge (ordered)
- Hydor 565 gph powerhead

Goal will be to have 2-3 fish (unsure what... probably clown, maybe a goby or gramma, very prelim) and some soft corals. If I can upgrade to LEDs in future, may get into stony corals and other challenging things.

I am planning on being extremely patient... not in any hurry. If i get fish in by christmas, great.

One follow up question: when should I stock chaeto into the refuge? During cycle or only once there's some livestock to produce waste/nutrients for it?

Thanks in advance. I am sure I will have more questions in the future. I appreciate the help in advance.
 

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Possibly a macroalgae?

redbushgood.jpg
 
Hey silly... thanks for reply. I am trying to figure out how to attach image. It's resized to 256 KB... is that still too big?
 
another pic of the little bugger...

and figured i'd attach a quick shot of the tank for posterity's sake and for any advice on set up.

Thanks.
 

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I am slightly concerned it is a Aiptasia/glass anemone which sounds like could be problematic. It's red/brown-maroon and rather transparent in case that isn't clear.
 
That is definitely what it is. I had one when I set up mine and was advised to dispatch it


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Advice on best way to do that? Tank is only 2 days old and cycling so maybe have more aggressive options available since tank isn't stocked?
 
What I did was take a syringe with lemon juice and squirt it directly into the mouth of it.. The mouth is going to be in the center of the frilly part on top


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I would remove the rock it's on and chip a small piece of it off, where the anemone is attached. No reason to treat it inside the tank if you don't have to. If you don't kill it there is a chance it will spread around. Not a big deal really. I get a few here and there from time to time and kill them off every so often. If you are going to be importing corals from other people's tanks and stores, your bound to see another at some point.
 
Thanks for the advice. I am wondering if I get the appropriate cleaner shrimp if it would provide a more natural solution to the problem. I don't see any corals going in the tank for a few months until tank is well established.
Then again, I don't want to let it go too long and become a more serious problem. To be honest, the wife was thrilled that there is already something growing in the tank. :lol:
 
Thanks for the advice. I am wondering if I get the appropriate cleaner shrimp if it would provide a more natural solution to the problem. I don't see any corals going in the tank for a few months until tank is well established.
Then again, I don't want to let it go too long and become a more serious problem. To be honest, the wife was thrilled that there is already something growing in the tank. :lol:
Peppermint shrimp are iffy. Just lemon juice it.
 
+1 of what MR. X said about aptasia, just take it out.

For your chaeto question, I would wait till cycles over. That little amount in these small tanks isn't going to do much IMO.

I also would loose the bio balls / max now if your going to do it later anyway, I maybe wrong, but I would think the bacteria (stable?) your adding will cling onto those, might not be much, but you'll loose all that bacteria that attached when you remove them.

I personally did not have any filtration during cycling my tanks, except floss when needed for sand etc.

Salinity a little low?


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Thanks for the info Paul. That makes sense... Should dump the bio balls now. Any thoughts on keeping biomax in media basket with chemipure and purigen? Will all the beneficial bacteria be in the tank/ROCk/sand and no artificial surface area?

Also.... Thanks for heads up on salinity. LFS guy said 1.018- 1.023 and I forgot to double check. Sounds like I need to shoot for 1.025. He was a nice guy and was really helpful for a relative rookie but I should have done my homework.
 
Sure.
I don't know what bio max is, so cant help ya there.

I just set up a nuvo 40, only added purigen & carbon (or chemipure) when i added my first fish.

Here is my media basket setup,
(after the tank cycled).
Right: Top-bottom: floss, purigen, carbon.
Left: i cut the basket & only run some floss as I have my probes in that chamber below the "mini" basket.

I do run gfo in a reactor as I don't think chaeto does much in such a small amount, My opinion.
(Only because my dry rock leaching a bit of phos).






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