New member starting a salt water reef with a 29 Biocube

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Mary Carmen

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Random question of the week,

When should I add the purigen or chemipure elite to the media basket?

This is week two of cycling the 29 g and the diatom bloom is insane. I used to leave the lights on all day but now I only turn on the lights for a couple of hours a day.

Thank you for reading!
 

saltyfilmfolks

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The chemipure I belive has a binder or gfo. It’ll pull the silicates a bit. BUT. It’ll pull the phosphate out too. And Po4 limitation can be quite bad. It’s one commonality in dinoflagellate blooms.

Myself , I’d let it ride. It will I’m fact , go away in its own.
 
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Mary Carmen

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I will wait then. I know by now that patience is key. I am reading about fish and I found a nice little fish, the Mandarin Goby. I know it is not a goby, and also that it likes to hunt its dinner, but also that is a peaceful fish towards other species. Are they hard to keep in a beginner’s tank?
 

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I will wait then. I know by now that patience is key. I am reading about fish and I found a nice little fish, the Mandarin Goby. I know it is not a goby, and also that it likes to hunt its dinner, but also that is a peaceful fish towards other species. Are they hard to keep in a beginner’s tank?
They aren't challenging to keep, but they are very expensive to keep. They only reliably eat the very small critters in a tank, preferably copepods. In most systems under 75g they end up starving between 6m and 1 year. You can keep them in a much smaller system but would need to supplement by either growing copepods yourself or purchasing a bunch every month.
 

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They aren't challenging to keep, but they are very expensive to keep. They only reliably eat the very small critters in a tank, preferably copepods. In most systems under 75g they end up starving between 6m and 1 year. You can keep them in a much smaller system but would need to supplement by either growing copepods yourself or purchasing a bunch every month.
Lol. I was going to say kinda the opposite.
Very challenging to keep. Not hard once you get the system stable and develop the teqnique. Quite difficult in smaller systems for most. Some do just keep a large supply of pods in the fridge though
I actually don’t spend any more on it than my other fish as it’s the teqnique and method that needs to be developed. Don’t tell Chad, but haven’t bought pods in well over a year.
In a bio cube I would avoid this fish. Even with frozen you need to let the foods settle so they can pic , and the cubes just don’t have the filtration for it.

Green spotted Picturesque and even
Ruby Reds are much easier. But I’d encourage a red or brown scooter blenny becuse they are the easiest and really the most fun , active , interactive and sweetest personalities of all of them.

Fwiw , I had a Picturesque for a while that was an absolute terror. So mean even the clown fish noticed. Not even an inch long.
The one I have now is pretty mellow , but she does like to steal food from the acro crab at dinner time.
 
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Mary Carmen

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Hi all!
Weekly update!

I moved a couple of rocks in the tank to create more caves. Here is a picture.

IMG_0582.JPG

I cleaned the glass and dust some of the rocks and found green algae under the layer of brown algae. I got a turbo snail that also helps clean the rocks, two Margarita snails, and an Astraea snail. The Margarita snails are not moving or cleaning at all, but the Astraea has cleaned the glass and the bottom rock. I am really impressed to see so much green because it seems to have come from nowhere. Maybe it was under the brown algae all alone and I couldn't see it.

I tested the water and this is what I got:
Am- .2 ppm
Ni- 0 ppm
Nitrates-5 ppm

Here are the pictures :

IMG_0583.JPG IMG_0584.JPG IMG_0585.JPG

Is this tank cycled? It is definitely growing a lot of live inside. I can't wait until I see some coraline.

Thank you for reading,
MC
 

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Crazy!! Suck a new tank! Ya see all that light green on the rocks ? That’s the precursor to corraline.

Oh yea it’s cycled.
The ati is a bit tricky to read. But I think it’s done. A big water change and more bacteria afterwards. Test agin but I think it’s good.

Did you ghost feed? That might account for the others being high.
 
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Hi guys!

I think there is some coraline growing on the rocks and the sand.
Here is a picture of one patch on the sand. Not sure if you can see the pink patch.

IMG_0590.JPG

I got two snails: a Turbo and a Margarita. They are now busy chewing on the leftover algae, but it took them a day to move from the place I left them the first day.

Also, after reading about refugums I decided to give it a try. I used chamber 2 of the biocube to grow chaeto. I have pulled some rocks from the tank and placed them on chamber 2, bought some chaeto and reused a betta lamp to place on top of chamber 2. (I really can't tell the watts, so I am not sure if it is bright enough.;Meh) It was a cheap thing I bought in case the light on my betta tank fails. I was thinking about running that light at night and rely on the daylight from the window to help it grow. Do you think that is enough to grow chaeto?

Here is a picture of the refugum at night with the light on. (Day 1)

IMG_0596.JPG

I have another question about the chaeto. I didn't read anywhere whether these macroalgae usually is sold with some sort of copepods. (Sorry and please correct me if I am wrong. I am just starting to understand some of these ideas) When I bought the chaeto at my LFS I asked them about this and they said yes, that that is why they give me the chaeto in a bag of water. Now I want to know if this is enough to start propagating copepods in my tank? or do I need to do something else? Can they survive in a developing tank?

It seems like the more I read the more complex it gets!!!
As always, thank you for reading and for the help.
MC
 

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They are free clean up crew, and you’ll likely see a bloom very soon!

And yea. It’s very simple , and allso complex. Like having a garden.
 
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Mary Carmen

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Thank you all!

Hi Saltyfilmfolks! What bloom are you referring to? Copepods? That would be nice.

Paul and saliva911, do you have a build in refugium in any of the chambers? I am interested to know if it works.

I love the intricacy of this hobby. There are so many options... it is really fun to research and learn about them.
But you are right Paul, I should slow down and let the tank cure and grow.

Thank you for your help.
MC
 

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I did in the first chamber I don't think I worth it to smell but my no3 low po4 low I think it works better on big tank with big sump
 
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Mary Carmen

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Hi you all!!

I added a yellow watchman goby last Tuesday. I used the drip method to get him used to the water conditions in his new home. He found a cave and only comes out at feeding time. Here is a picture of him at the entrance of his new home.

IMG_0616.JPG

Will he ever swim in open water? I have not seen him step out of the cave unless it is to get some food pellets, but he darts right back in.
Maybe I will get the two clownfish to keep him company. Is it too soon to get them this weekend?

I tested the water today and these are the results. Didn't bother with pictures.
Am- .25ppm (this might be because I am feeding the goby twice a day. Should I be feeding only once a day? I can see that he doesn't eat all the food I drop in the tank.)
Ni- 0 ppm
Nitrates- 2ppm
(going down)
Should I add the PURIGEN now? Maybe it will help to get rid of the ammonia. Suggestions, please!

I also cleaned the glass a bit so I could see better inside. There were some pink circles forming in the glass and I don't want the glass stained. This is a picture of the entire tank.
IMG_0619.JPG

The rocks look more white in certain areas and there are more pink spots all over the rocks. I took a picture of some of the pocks with the spots.

IMG_0620.JPG IMG_0621.JPG

The cheato is doing well too, but I don't see the copepods. It seems that the chaeto is releasing some gas bubbles that rise to the top of the tank. Is this oxygen?
Here is a picture of the chaeto. Are the white dots copepods or just bubbles?

IMG_0622.JPG


Actually, I turned around the chaeto and found some round white thing. Does anyone know what these are? One is attached to the back of the tank. Here are more pictures.
IMG_0623.JPG
IMG_0626.JPG
IMG_0625.JPG


As always, thank you for reading and helping.
MC

IMG_0624.JPG
 

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My yasha goby didn't show himself for the first three weeks, I thought he died then all of a sudden I spotted him. He's getting a bit braver day by day but barely gets any further than 3 inches from his hideout. It's a shame because he's so beautiful.

I believe yasha are definitely on the shy side of gobies so hopefully yours becomes more personable, but it can take time that's for sure.
 

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That's a goby for you I feed one's a day and only what they can eat in 3 minutes do you have a clean up craw
 

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