Guarda's 20G Cube

[seldin]

My hopes are she makes it for the 12-18 months max captivity rate. [snip]

I did not realize the short life span of these guys in a tank. They are so pretty. One guy I had luck with, was a sand star. Not as pretty but was interesting.

As far as tank crash on the nano, for me, I believe it's similar to a larger tank. Important to keep bio load very low.

 

[guarda]

I did not realize the short life span of these guys in a tank.

Yes, however, the majority perish as a result of improper acclimation or sudden environmental changes, not starvation. Furthermore, no one knows what they eat so a tank size requirement, in my mind, is conjecture. It's sad to say this, but by the time I'll have known if I were a good parent, she will already be at the end of her life expectancy. But for the time being, she appears visibly healthy and active as well as in good tactile condition. I'll update in about 3 or 4 months.

 

[asmaa]

That's an AMAZING tank you have there!
I love Sony, SUPER cool looking!
I hope my tank looks like that one day! I just set mine up a week ago

 

[CONSTANTNE]

Very nice setup!

 

[chinatown]

careful with those asterina stars, they become a pain in the ass since they multiply exponentially.

 

[guarda]

Yeah no doubt. I plucked the 3 or 4 I saw. If they did multiply I'd need to get the linckia out to put in a harlequin. Would be a pain.

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careful with those asterina stars, they become a pain in the ass since they multiply exponentially.

 

[guarda]

Good luck! What size is it?

Sony is conceited. He just looks at the other fish then ignores them when they wanna play.

That's an AMAZING tank you have there!
I love Sony, SUPER cool looking!
I hope my tank looks like that one day! I just set mine up a week ago

 

[asmaa]

Good luck! What size is it?

Sony is conceited. He just looks at the other fish then ignores them when they wanna play.

Thanks! It's a 28 gal Nano-cube.

Haha aw that's not nice! I guess it's cause Sony knows he looks cool, so he acts cool =D

 

[anen]

Where's the tang police?

 

[pauliwalnuts]

Hey Arthor, sweet tank man. These tank are very contempoary, matches your funiture. Can't wait to see you go with that 120 like H2O has.

 

[guarda]

Thanks Portuga! I might just go with the 70. I have until spring to decide.

Just came back from a 2 week trip and my war favia has lost color and has white specks on it and on the lr it is on. Still trying to figure out what happened. Params are ok, nitrates on the high side but just did a 25% wc. Skimmer cup was half full with pretty dark water and a little scum. All other corals looks great. All my zoas are growing like crazy and my gf's dendro has two new baby heads. I attribute this to the ESV salt I started using right after the last swap but I can't believe there is so much visible growth in just 12 days.

Mandarin looks great even though only fed twice.

My autofeeder somehow got opened up more and was empty when I got home and there were two fist sized patches of green plantlike algae on the rocks. Gonna get some more snails or other cuc. Suggestions on which eat green algae?

 

[richardhmc]

Thanks Portuga! I might just go with the 70. I have until spring to decide.

Just came back from a 2 week trip and my war favia has lost color and has white specks on it and on the lr it is on. Still trying to figure out what happened. Params are ok, nitrates on the high side but just did a 25% wc. Skimmer cup was half full with pretty dark water and a little scum. All other corals looks great. All my zoas are growing like crazy and my gf's dendro has two new baby heads. I attribute this to the ESV salt I started using right after the last swap but I can't believe there is so much visible growth in just 12 days.

Mandarin looks great even though only fed twice.

My autofeeder somehow got opened up more and was empty when I got home and there were two fist sized patches of green plantlike algae on the rocks. Gonna get some more snails or other cuc. Suggestions on which eat green algae?

Mexican turbo snails, the giant ones, eat green hair algae really quickly

 

[guarda]

Cool, thanks. Gonna try and find some soon.

Mexican turbo snails, the giant ones, eat green hair algae really quickly

 

[pauliwalnuts]

Mexican turbo snails, the giant ones, eat green hair algae really quickly

Hey Arthor. As soon as they've done their job, pass them along to someone who needs them or can house them for you. They can knock down corals, rocks, and even possibly break your glass. Then pick-up 7 Astraea Snails (1 per 3 gallons) and they will keep the rest in check.
Personaly, I wouldn't even get the turbos. Somewhere in their there's phosphate. If you don't have a Media reactor, I recommend you invest in one (NextReef are very well built and afordable, believe they're around $50 and you can aslo use it on your next tank). You can buy the media from BRS (best prices around). Buy the Astraea Snails only and preforme 6-15% water changes in two weeks time. By the end of this proccedure, the Green Hair Algea should be gone.
Btw, I'm aslo a big fan of the ESV salt. I've tried most salt lines out their and ended up with ESV.

 

[guarda]

Yeah, right now my cuc consists of 1 small red legged hermit crab, 1 tiny blue legged, 2 ceriths, 5 or 6 nassarius, and a margarita. Oh yeah, and my linckia who is constantly roaming the tank. He doesn't stop! But I definitely think I don't have enough for my 25 gallons. Gonna slowly add to my cuc.

 

[richardhmc]

Yup there are many cons to turbo snails as well like Pauliwalnuts mentioned.

I've had up to 6 at one time in my tank.
-They poop A LOT, raise bioload
-Knock down plugs in the sand, and knock down weak rock formations. In the morning I would wake up to see all my frags on the sand bed knocked over, or even flipped upside down, killing them. I've had rock fall too. If the rock doesn't move for them, they will move it themselves.

The good thing about these guys is that since they are so big, they can fight off little crabs. I bought a bunch of snails - astrea, ceriths, etc. Now, my sand is littered with their tiny shells cause all the blue legged crabs killed em for their shells!

 

[guarda]

New Year's Update. Lost the baby maxima. I let my gf buy it at the swap even after telling her it would be hard to keep alive. Totally my fault. Thought I lost my war coral over a 12 day xmas getaway but it looks like it's making a comeback. Nitrates were a bit high when I got back and my autofeeder was open all the way and all the food was gone. Looks like my friend who went in to fill the ato and feed the fish accidentally nudged it wider open. Frogspawn is now at 8 heads and even bigger than when I sold a chunk last month from fear of overloading the tank. Looks like I need to pare down again. My 3 polyp rainbow acan I got from Dr. Mac at the swap now has 5 big heads and 7 baby heads. Xenias are spreading like wildfire again and even that pink chalice I picked up 2 months ago has fully encrusted and has run out of frag space. Not sure what to do with it.

Linckia is doing great. Still alive and very active. Doesn't look like it's grown much. My gbta got to about 6 or 7" and was stinging everything near it so I traded for a much smaller rbta. Sony (mandarin) is much fatter than when I first got him. I'm going to try and get some before/after pics. Toshiba (hippo) has grown a tad but is still under 1.5". Samsung (clown) looks exactly the same size as when I got him 6 months ago.

 

[noobzy]

Tank is looking fantastic, dude.

 

[pauliwalnuts]

Wow... Tank looks great and corals healthy. Nice up date bro.

 

[guarda]

Had a 10 spot burning a hole in my pocket today and saw this at my lfs so I figured I'd give it a try for my little Bryopsis issue. After drip then temp acclimation, popped him right on top of the algae and he was munching away. Probably hadn't had a good meal in a long time.

Lettuce Nudibranch.

Sony update. Might be kinda hard to tell from the pics but his side belly was totally concave when I got him. Now he is bulging everywhere, especially under his chin.

Before

Today