14 G Biocube questions

[shadowfox1198]

Hey guys, (this is my first post here )

Anyways, I currently have a 14g Biocube aquarium that I have had for almost a yr and a half. I started of this tank with 15lbs of LR and 20lbs of LS. Anyways here is a bit of history as to what has happened with my tank
2008
-October- Bought tank... started Nit. cycle
2009
-January- Added clean up crew (4 snails 2 hermits)
-February- bought some soft coral, anemone, clown
-September- Went on vacation, asked roommate to put 2 cups of salt water... he put 2 cups of salt!!! :*(. Anemone, clown, and just about everything else died...
-October- Everything is now clean and I'm just running the tank.
-Nov. Dec.- Get clean up crew and such
2010
-February- having lots of red and green algae problems clean sand and do more frequant water changes
-April- Algae comes back in large amounts, local fish store recommends green algae killer chem. (mistake 1)
-add it to tank, kills everything (including 100's of bristle worms who I had never seen before)

Tank is now clean and my polyps seem to be coming back to life and hanging tight. Anyways my question is, what is the best cleaning crew for a tank that has been through this, and I am starting to see a bit of green algae again, this time growing on top of the polyps. I do water changes once a week and have the lights on for 8hrs a day (no window in direct contact).
Readings-
-pH- 8.0
-Nitrate, Nitrite- 0
-Calcium water hardness- 160-180
-General water hardness- 140-160
-SG- .025~
-Temp- 76-78 deg. F

Also I have small pink circles that seem to populate the back wall of the tank, they do not scrape off easily, should I worry about them.

Other than the provided readings is there anyway to know for sure if my tank is ready for more life again after that stupid algae chem was siphoned out?

Anyways, sorry for the long post! Let me know if you want me to post pic's for a better perspective!

-Scott

 

[Mitchell0605]

First off, welcome Scott!
You seem to have had a rough trot (excuse the aussie expression ).
For your CUC I recommend:
1 Emerald Crab (Algae and debris eater)
10 Trochus Snails (Wall and rock algae eaters)
10 Nassarius Snails (Sand detrius eater plus sand stirrer)
1 Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (Fish cleaner! Plus a hand cleaner when it's in there. )

Those pink circles sound like coralline, a kind of algae that is kind of like an encrusting coral. It uses calcium to grow to watch your Ca levels. It's a good thing to have.

 

[shadowfox1198]

Hey Mitch,
Thanks for the reply,
I am going to head out to get clean up crew today... I will post some pictures soon, cannot find camera cord!!

Readings-
pH-8.0
No3- 0
No2- 0
Temp- 78.1
Spec. G- 1.023
KH- 180

Also, are the emerald crabs really tempermental?

 

[shadowfox1198]

Also I do have a couple other questions,

The back wall of the tank (inside) has a lot of different red, green, white, etc circles and clumps which almost take up the whole black plastic backing, is it nessisary to scrape them off, b/c I have found that very hard to do.

I have just noticed that they make something called a media basket which would go into the back area of the tank BioCube 14 - inTank, LLC
are these worth it? currently I have 4lbs of live rock in the center chamber and a carbon back on top of them with a sponge filter just before the pump.

Thanks again.

 

[mandarinlove]

Hopefully on the back of the wall what you are having trouble scraping off is coralline algae.

Does it look like this?

How to Grow Coralline Algae

If it is, then leave it alone and don't scrape it off.

I've seen Green, Pink, Dark Pink and Purple coralline algae.

 

[melosu58]

The only wall of my tank I keep clean is the front glass. It allows my tangs to pick at it and keep it clean.

 

[shadowfox1198]

Yeah, it does look like that, so coralline eh? OK then that's good.

Just added 2 Hermit crabs, one of which is on the grate, where the water gets sucked in, cleaning the algae off, I don't know how he got up there lol!

 

[Mitchell0605]

They'll make you laugh. BTW if you want specific CUC animals order from liveaquaria.com or similar. They have good stuff and you can order exactly what you want this way.

 

[Jimbo7]

Welcome Scott! Way to stick with it. It sounds like your tank is going through all the normal, "new tank" procedures. You will be astounded by all the life that randomly pops out of no where and is growing and living in your tank. Find that cord and get some pics up!