Just cycled 14 biocube need advice!

[Scribmanda]

Hey guys,

My girlfriend and I have just set up my Christmas present (I know, it's a bit late) and had a few questions. We just took the water to get tested by pros and we were completely cycled through (ya!). In addition to our great stuff already growing off the live rock that we purchased there are a few questionable items: 1) what the heck are these brown disks and 2) what are these pink tubes? --see picture--

And finally, we are looking to aquire some fish over the next few months and wanted to go about it the right way and not over crowd. How many fish do you think (in your professional opinion) could this tank hold? We want happy and healthy tank mates so feel free to let us know what are hardy, get along, are well mannered (unlike one of our little hermit crabs lil shawn, ha ha).

 

[jessicasmarine]

he pink could very well be FORAMINIFERANS and the discs are mushrooms both are very good, so you made out

 

[jessicasmarine]

On second look that green stuff is hair algae and in my experience it spreads fast and is a pain to get rid of

 

[Scribmanda]

Thanks jessicasmarine! Quite helpful

 

[panza]

yes get rid of tha hair algae ASAP!!! one or two turbo snailz will do the job. i had that prolome in the beginning as well.. as far as fish go i aswell have the 14 gallon biocube i currently only have 1 fish a small damsel.. in your beginning days id suggest to start with just one. a hearty fish. a couple good starters is the clown fish or i like the royal gramma.. as far as future goes you can more then likely get a fish in there depending on size. just a rule of thumb my LFS told me # of gallons in water = # of inches of fish.. but be careful cause you do have a 14 gallon tank but with all the live rock you probly only have 10 gallons of water so id say 7-9 inches of fish is good! also look at gobies1! >>> salt water gobies - Google Images

 

[severum mama]

Inches of fish per gallon is even less useful for marine tanks than FW IMO. I'd suggest one clown and maybe one small goby. The tank is too small for a royal gramma.

 

[panza]

Inches of fish per gallon is even less useful for marine tanks than FW IMO. I'd suggest one clown and maybe one small goby. The tank is too small for a royal gramma.

if that rule is useless and the royal gramma is to big.... then my LFS scam me pretty dam often.

 

[HN1]

Apparently they do. I totally agree that inch per gallon is totally worthless. Even more so in SW.

 

[severum mama]

if that rule is useless and the royal gramma is to big.... then my LFS scam me pretty dam often.

I guess they do. LFS's stand to make more money that way.

 

[panza]

=/ ok well good to know.. anyway lets get this thread back to where it was.. more advice on his tank xD

 

[Scribmanda]

Thanks everyone..
The hair alge is gone...snails took care of that! And good point about live rock distorting the actual amount of water in there...didn't think of that. I'm going on vacation in a couple weeks so I'll probably wait to get fish untill after I return. Looks like 2 fish is the limit?

 

[thominil]

Sounds about right to me. I'd get the traditional pair of clowns as they have a unique personality and are fun to watch.

 

[panza]

Yes clowns are fun but there a pain in the butt in the bio cube. I had a clown and they tend to jump. (like nemo!) every day i would find him in the back left slot cartridge and dook about 1 hour to fish him out so i returned him to the LFS. So if you do plan to get a clown fish i strongly suggest some kind of net or something to make sure he doesnt jump back in to the filter