Tank Journal

[pat8you]

Ok so previously i have been posting about our tank at home (at college now). I have a 12 gallon biocube that i will be setting up down here. Heres the story so far...

I went out and bought about 17 and change pounds of live rock that has been sitting in some saltwater waiting to be scrubbed and cleaned before going in the tank. 2-3lbs of that are rubble that i will be putting in the back filter portion of the tank for those of you who are familiar with the set up on the bio cubes. (i'll be posting picture tomorrow).

I took out the sponges and ceramic rings and bioballs because i have heard that replacing it with LR rubble is a better option. Still can be changed though if anyone has different opinions on that.

I put in a thin sand bed. Only about a 1/4 inch so that my cleanup crew will be able to keep it turned up and algae free. (fingers crossed). Here is what i am thinking about for a clean up crew after the tank cycles.

- 3-4x Mexican turbo snails
- 3-4x Trochus snails (yay for being able to flip themselves)
- 3x Nassarius snails (the larger super tongan ones if i can find them)
- 3x blue leg hermits

As for an eventual stock list I'm debating between a pair of clowns and a purple firefish or one clown, purple fire fish, and one blue neon goby. I would also like to stock it with some soft corals, mushrooms, polyps, and LPS corals. Not sure which specific corals i want yet but here are a few that i have my eye on.

-Tourch
-Frogspawn or hammer
-Ricordea mushrooms
-polyp of some kind (when i find a color i like)
-Pink pulsing Xenia

after that i will have see see how much room i have and what ever catches my eye.

All comments and criticisms welcome. I will take some pictures tomorrow as I'm setting things up.

-edit: just fyi the tank has two 24watt 50-50 bulbs (10,000k and blue actinic). I'm hoping the 4watt/gal will be enough for the corals i have listed.

 

[pat8you]

Ok so i finished adding the rock and water and here are the pictures. Water is still a bit cloudy.

 

[roka64]

Ohhhh.....I love the shelves!

 

[severum mama]

I agree. Nice job! That will be really fun to scape when you are ready to start adding coral.

 

[pat8you]

In my first post i was tossing around ideas for what kind of fish i want in the tank. I have ruled out the pair of clowns because i don't think i could put an anemone in there for them. and i was wondering if i could put in there one clown, purple firefish and one of these guys

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=162

not sure if that would be to many fish or if my tank would be to small for that fish. Please let me know what you think.

 

[severum mama]

From what I understand, most pseudochromis species can get pretty aggressive. I'd suggest sticking with one clown (preferably a smaller species like amphiprion ocellaris or percula) and the purple firefish.

You will have sufficient lighting for the corals you listed IMO. This is going to be a really fun project for you, I'm sure!!! Good luck.

 

[pat8you]

hmm that sucks cuz i really like that fish. We have one of these in the tank at home and he doesn't seem to bother anyone except the occasional encounter with our sand sifting goby. which i think he does more cuz he is bored... very interesting fish.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1117

they don't really fight i guess. there is rarly even a nipped fin. it almost looks like they are playing a game of tag. he will run out and bob the goby and then bolt back to the rocks and then nothing for a week. kinda funny to watch.

I was looking of some of the other pseudochomis and there seems to be a wide range of aggression between the different types. If i let the other two fish become fairly established and maybe let them grow a while before i added the pseudochromis last would that help at all? Severum please don't think i am disregarding your advice just kinda throwing around ideas. appreciate the help.

 

[pat8you]

Well after taking the aggression into account i don't really wanna risk having a pseudochromis go bad and then have to try and battle with it to get him out again.

So i've changed things yet again and i'm thinking i will still go with a small clown and the purple firefish and then one of these

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=181

It would be cool if i could put a pistol shrimp as well and have them pair but i don't know much about pistol shrimp. Do they need a bigger tank and about how deep a sand bed to keep them happy?

 

[roka64]

12 G might be pushing it. It seem the shallower the sand bed, the more they like to pile up sand in other places. I have one in my 55 and my sand bed was about 3 inches, he has moved a few pile higher than 6 inches. Austinsdad has 2 in his 155 and they didn't seem to move much sand around. Also they will make caves under every piece of rock you have. I'll get 2 for my 125 which has about a 5-6 inch sand bed and see what they do.

 

[pat8you]

Hmm i was afraid of that. Will the hi fin goby be ok with a shallow sand bed or does he need more sand to make burrows as well? In general what is probably the max number of fish i could put in this tank? would i be able to add a small 4th or would that be putting to much stress on the system?

 

[pat8you]

Well the tank is just about finished cycling and i put the clean up crew in.
ammonia = 0.0
nitrites ~ 0.5 - 1.0
nitrates = under 20
alkalinity ~ 300
pH = 7.6

Nitrites should be at 0 by tomorrow so i figure i will go out and get my first fish over the weekend. Anyone have a suggestion for total number (or inches) of fish i could keep in this tank?

Pat

 

[blazeyreef]

the ph needs to be raised to about 8.0!, and no nitrite but other than that good to go.

 

[pat8you]

Went out and got some buffer to raise the pH so as soon as thats good i should be ready to start stocking the tank. Now if i could just decide which fish i want i'll be all set. I'm open for suggestions. ever time i think i have made my mind up i decide to change it again.

 

[pat8you]

Picked up two clowns and two ricordea mushrooms. Here are some pictures

 

[pat8you]

updates. i put in pink pulsing xenia a couple days ago. Here are the pictures.

My mushrooms seem to be doing well and the clowns are very active and always hungry. My purple mushroom is in the process of splitting and i think the green one isn't far behind. it will be cool once they really start to multiply and i have more then just two or three of them.

 

[pat8you]

I've been watching my clowns and every once and a while the larger one will go over and bop the smaller one with his nose. The smaller one then turns around and looks at him and does this thing where he twitches for a second or two. Anyone know whats going on?

Also, i added a cleaner shrimp yesterday and he is kind perched under one of my rocks but the clowns don't seem to want anything to do with being cleaned by him? Does this just take time or do clowns just not like to be cleaned?

 

[pat8you]

anyone have any experience with clowns and cleaner shrimp?

 

[blazeyreef]

fish dont always need to be cleaned, usually (but not always) only if they have a parasite, which you dont want. Your shrimp should be coming out and exploring here soon.

 

[mr86mister]

That tank looks great, I can't wait to see what else you want to put in there. I think pistol shrimp with a goby paired already would be a great addition. But I may be wrong, I'm new to this.

 

[pat8you]

Do cleaner shrimp typically stay in one spot or will they move around. Mine has just been hanging out under this shelf for days. The only time he strays from his spot is when i feed the tank and he has to jump at some food floating by. He's fun to watch but he's really hard to see where he is. I'm hoping eventually he will move to somewhere that i can see him.

Mr86mister thanks. I've decided against the pistol shrimp and goby pair because a couple people have said that the shrimp likes a deeper sand bed then i have to make a burrow. I don't know if he would be able to find a happy home and my tank and i don't wanna put in an animal that won't be able to get comfortable. Have no fear though I've already got the itch to put more corals in there. I'm trying to take it slow though since I'm kinda new to corals.