24g Nano Cube "Grungy" Set Up

[Annahra]

I have a few posts around but I thought I'd start a build thread because I'm having so much fun with this tank and I'd love to record my progress! I'll try and keep this first post updated regularly with current stock list/water parameters. The goal for this tank is to have as much variety of life as possible and to keep filter feeders, sponges, and soft corals that enjoy some organics in their water. The goal is not to be algae-free or have 0 nitrates.

24g Nano Cube

Equipment:
2x36 watt 50/50 PCs
290gph pump
160gph powerhead
Custom LED lights for refugium in back chamber (reverse light cycle)
40 lbs. of bagged "live" sand
10 lbs. of "live" rock from LFS
20 lbs. of live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater
10 lbs. of live sand from TBS

Fish:
Tank-bred Neon Dottyback
Mandarin Dragonette
Stippled Clingfish

Frags:
Mushroom
Xenia
Star polyps
Kenya tree (maybe--it's still pretty ticked from being moved)

Inverts:
Large brittle star
10-12 1/4" blue-legged hermits
10-12 1/4" white hermits (came in live sand and live there)
12 assorted snails (turbo, nassarius, limpet)
Spider decorator crab (probably soon to be removed)
Tuxedo urchin
Florida sea cucumber
Two huge olive snails (going to remove one)
Peppermint shrimp (I think--I only see it once a week or so)
Red tree sponge
Orange ruffled sponge
Various feather dusters, sponges, tunicates, barnacles, small urchins, baby brittle stars, small anemones (hence the peppermint shrimp), etc. that came on live rock

Algae:
A lot!
Various types and flavors--currently just keeping the front glass clean and letting the tank balance itself out. I have chaeto and dead man's fingers in the back refugium and a little caulerpa in the main tank that I'm watching. My pods are happy.

Feeding:
Once daily, tiny bit of frozen Mysis and Reef One for crabs and Dottyback
Twice daily, blended mix of Coral Frenzy and frozen Mysis and Reef One with bottled Phytoplankton (targeted towards inverts with main pump off but powerhead on)
Still playing with the right dosing, but I'm also going to be adding pod cultures on occasion to support the Mandarin

 

[crystalseatexas]

Nice!! Looking forward to seeing your natural system grow

 

[Annahra]

Tank when I first set it up May 11th with just the bagged sand and local "live" rock. It cycled in a couple of days (used a cocktail shrimp) with ammonia and nitrites only going up to about .25ppm each. I added the dottyback after a week and started feeding (no spikes)

 

[Annahra]

When I first added my fabulous care package from Tampa Bay Saltwater! They sent me tons of cool stuff, including my clingfish, the decorator crab, a flame scallop, the cucumber, peppermint shrimp, hermits, snails, sponges, dead man's fingers macro, etc. All of this went into the tank on May 20th. I saw another mini cycle of about .25ppm ammo/nitrite and started seeing really measurable nitrate for the first time (peaked at 20ppm) so I started heavy water changes (15% a couple of times a week if nitrates were over 10ppm). Started target feeding filter feeders in hopes of keeping alive some of these difficult critters.

 

[Annahra]

I keep discovering new critters in my live rock! For example, I have two hairy crabs that are about 1/2" that I'll have to trap at some point.

Lost my flame scallop after about two weeks. I know the odds were not in my favor but I had hopes. I also had to give up on the large orange sponge and one of the smaller ones. Again, no surprise, but still I hate losing livestock. Of course will not be replacing (again these were freebies with my live rock shipment).

On a positive note I have crazy amounts of pods from the culture I added from Algae Barn. I bought my skinny Mandarin on 6/1 and will be watching pod population and restocking as needed (provided the little guy isn't too far gone).

 

[Annahra]

Water parameters have been consistent (0 ammo/nitrite, 10ppm nitrate, pH 7.8AM/8.1PM, calcium 450ppm, alk 13, 1.025sg, 80°) so I added my first few frags and a tuxedo urchin on 6/2.

Star polyps and mushrooms are super happy after a couple of days (have opened up more since pics). I was pretty sure my Kenya tree was dead (completely shriveled up and melting) but I left it alone and now it looks like it's trying to stand back up. The xenia is still a little grouchy also but they fragged it for me from a display the day I bought it so I'm sure that will extend its time to settle in.

I finished the lighting for my DIY refugium in the middle back chamber on 6/3. Moved my dead man's fingers back there with the chaeto as it's been losing a fight with some hairy algae in the main tank.

 

[Annahra]

Took the white hermits, the decorator crab, and one of the olive snails to the LFS on Tuesday and picked up a ricordea frag and another mushroom frag as well as a beautiful replacement for the Kenya tree that croaked (free, woohoo).

I also got a gorgeous feather duster and another peppermint shrimp. My dottyback has been sharing a cave with the original peppermint shrimp for weeks but with the addition of the new one has now decided they are fun to harass so we'll see if they both just end up eaten at some point.

The hair algae is starting to die back with the help of some manual removal. Water has a lot of suspended debris--I'm thinking about adding some kind of particulate filtration. Mandarin continues to stay in the back so I can't really tell if he's starting to put on weight or not (I have pods EVERYWHERE). I would feel better if I saw him picking a little bit more.

I have about four dime-sized curlycue anemones and I'm trying to decide if it's worth getting rid of yet. I had a couple of little aiptasia but haven't seen them recently so I think the shrimp ate them.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

If I can make a recommendation, nutrimar Ova, for the mandy, and frozen brine if your not already. The Ova will also be eaten by the filter feeders. For the sponges, a low dose carbon source, like vitamin c.

the old school method on wild LR was the concern with some of the wild sponges dying off. Perhaps keep changing the carbon out. I lost some sponges in my sump and , yea, BIG problems. Most all of the commercially available ones are not the toxic type.

 

[Mike N]

That, my friends, is a DSB
Love the pictures, keep the updates coming!

 

[Annahra]

That, my friends, is a DSB
Love the pictures, keep the updates coming!

Thanks Mike!!

 

[Annahra]

If I can make a recommendation, nutrimar Ova, for the mandy, and frozen brine if your not already. The Ova will also be eaten by the filter feeders. For the sponges, a low dose carbon source, like vitamin c.

the old school method on wild LR was the concern with some of the wild sponges dying off. Perhaps keep changing the carbon out. I lost some sponges in my sump and , yea, BIG problems. Most all of the commercially available ones are not the toxic type.

I saw that recommendation on your other post! Will look into getting something ordered. Right now I feed mysis, Reef One, and cyclops (I chip off a tiny corner of each and thaw under running water) each AM and then I put a cube of each of those with a small scoop of Coral Frenzy through a blender with tank water and I target feed that and live phyto to all the inverts with the filter off but powerhead on twice daily. I also added a culture of a few thousand tisbe and tig pods a couple of weeks ago and they're just everywhere.

Yeah I watch the larger sponges pretty closely which is why I removed the two I did (they started to look "off" and I didn't want to risk them breaking down). The two remaining are pretty common aquarium specimens and seem in good condition. I am running Chemi-Pure Blue and will be changing it out every few months. I also do water changes once or twice a week since I do feed pretty heavily.

 

[Annahra]

I had to blow up this pic of my a**hole fish mean mugging me while I was taking a pic of the new Kenya tree. When I try to take pics of him they're always blurry and then this happens!

 

[Annahra]

Finally got a good look at the Mandarin for the first time since I added him about ten days ago! Believe it or not I think he actually looks better, if that tells you anything about his condition when I got him (his belly was so sunken underneath it just had a dark line). Still have pods everywhere but I'm going to order some more next week (and possibly some live brine as well).

Male, right?

 

[Annahra]

Ugh I spoke too soon... the little guy didn't make it. :-( I'm so glad I was home so I could get him out before the brittle star dragged him even further under the rocks (as it was I had a bit of an adventure). So frustrating! I know I had a wonderful system for him (hundreds of pods, shrimp and snails spawning). I just think he was too far gone when I got him--didn't see how bad his little belly was until I netted him to get him in the tank. These are my absolute favorite fish but the fact that they arrive in such poor condition kills me. I don't think I'll try again until I can see one feeding or order captive-bred. I feel awful for contributing to his death with my purchase--I just thought I could give him a chance (let the shaming begin--it's deserved).

On a less depressing note, caught a hitchhiker crab and with forum help IDed him as a Mithraculus forceps so I was able to add him back to the tank and didn't have to kill the little guy (until he gets bigger and ends up being a terror because that's my luck).

 

[Katrina71]

Sorry for your loss

 

[TikiBird]

Aw I'm sorry.

 

[Annahra]

So I've been experiencing a ton of particulate matter in the water column. Some of it is from critters in the live rock spitting stuff out on the regular, but that doesn't explain all of it. I just looked really closely and I think a lot of it is copepods! I didn't know you could have so many that they're actually visible loose in the water. No wonder the dang dottyback is so fat.

I added a mesh filter bag over the powerhead to pull out some of the excess particles, but I hate to think I might be rinsing pods down the drain, lol.

 

[Annahra]

I can even tell you the amount of hair algae my tuxedo urchin has consumed off of this one rock in a few days. It's amazing. He's carrying a little nest of it around on his head though lol.

 

[Annahra]

I rearranged a couple of rocks that weren't as stable as I'd like and I think I'm finally happy with where everything is. I also exposed a little more of the beautiful big pieces of rock that I had to use at the very base of my aquascape due to size. Cleared up some more detritus from live rock die off that I believe is contributing to my nitrates hovering between 10-20ppm.

So then I took this picture of the final product. Pulled it back up later when I got to work, and spotted something on my sponge. Zoomed in and sure enough it's the little crab I caught on Fri and pulled out for an ID! He apparently survived the ordeal just fine. I swear every time I take a picture it's like Where's Waldo.

 

[Annahra]

Welp, today my GSP is angry. They've been consistently open since a few hours after I got them. Last night my urchin knocked some mushrooms over on top of them so they closed up, but they opened right back up for feeding after I uncovered them. Now I'm just getting home from work and they're completely closed up, not even peeking, for the first time. They also look like they're shedding some.

Did some panicked water testing but ammo/nitrite are 0, pH 8.2, nitrate 10-20ppm. I didn't test calcium or alk but they were at 410ppm and 9dKH yesterday afternoon after a water change. Everything else looks super happy. I've read a couple of places that soft corals sometimes do this with the skin flaking so I'm talking myself out of panic mode. Hopefully they'll be back to normal tomorrow!