BlueSallymander's 16 gallon cube

[BlueSallymandr]

Hi all, I was going to start a tank journal earlier, when I noticed a leak in my tank! I had to move all of my creatures into a new tank, which I did last weekend (and ugh my back still hurts). I’m happy to say that all of the creatures survived the move, and I didn’t get any ammonia spike later.

The new tank is a CoralLife BioCube 16, and I haven’t done any customization yet beyond adding the bioballs from the old tank to the wet/dry chamber of the new tank’s filter. The original tank was about three months old. I’m running it with natural seawater. Originally I was more interested in the fish and shrimp, but I’m becoming more and more enamoured with corals. My goal for this tank is to grow softies/mushrooms, with a few beginner LPS corals.

Fish/inverts:
Yasha goby / Randall’s pistol shrimp
Firefish
Royal gramma
Rainford’s goby
Tuxedo urchin
3 trochus snails
Nassarius snail

Corals:
Blue discosoma mushrooms
Rhodactis mushrooms
Nepthea tree
Toadstool (it was sold to me as a weeping willow but I don’t think it’s a true one)
Finger leather
Firework clove polyps
Cabbage leather
Candy cane coral

 

[BlueSallymandr]

My current project is getting the Randall's pistol shrimp to bond with the Yasha goby and build a burrow together. I think it will just require patience. Right now I'm pretty sure that the shrimp is still hiding in the rock where he was when I got him - I put the rock up front directly where I am hoping that the shrimp will build a burrow. It would be nice to see them regularly as a pair - that was the idea that originally got me into starting a saltwater aquarium.

 

[BlueSallymandr]

Sooo I've been terrible about updating this! I do now have a paired Randall's pistol shrimp and Yasha goby that are doing really well together. They are so fun to watch, and I can hear the shrimp snapping away sometimes.

But I've been having some bad luck lately. I have a terrible infestation of what I now think is bryopsis. I've been plucking it out by hand, but it grows back so fast. It's so strongly attached to the various substrates that I've pulled out some of my glued down frag plugs trying to pull the algae. None of my cleaning crew will touch the stuff, which I originally had thought was green hair algae. I've never resorted to using chemicals for algae before in my freshwater tanks, but this thing has defeated me. I put in a dose of fluconazole (Flux RX) last night and I'm waiting to see if it does anything to the algae. So far my creatures all seem to be fine, which is the main thing I'm worried about.

Here's a picture from last night, before I pulled a bunch of algae out and dosed the fluconazole. Wish me luck!

 

[Srt4eric]

Sooo I've been terrible about updating this! I do now have a paired Randall's pistol shrimp and Yasha goby that are doing really well together. They are so fun to watch, and I can hear the shrimp snapping away sometimes.

But I've been having some bad luck lately. I have a terrible infestation of what I now think is bryopsis. I've been plucking it out by hand, but it grows back so fast. It's so strongly attached to the various substrates that I've pulled out some of my glued down frag plugs trying to pull the algae. None of my cleaning crew will touch the stuff, which I originally had thought was green hair algae. I've never resorted to using chemicals for algae before in my freshwater tanks, but this thing has defeated me. I put in a dose of fluconazole (Flux RX) last night and I'm waiting to see if it does anything to the algae. So far my creatures all seem to be fine, which is the main thing I'm worried about.

Here's a picture from last night, before I pulled a bunch of algae out and dosed the fluconazole. Wish me luck!

Reefflux has worked wonders for me with bryopsis.

 

[BlueSallymandr]

Oh that's great to hear! The Flux RX I'm using is the same drug/active ingredient, just a different brand. But if it doesn't work, I'll give the Reefflux a try.

 

[BlueSallymandr]

Please meet Roan, my firefish. I thought she was dead for over a week, before I found her in the pump compartment of my tank (yes, I had already checked there, but I guess she was UNDER the pump itself when I checked). Yes, I have the 3D printed barrier that's supposed to stop them from doing this. No, I have no idea how she got there. She's skinny now so I'm going to do a few bonus feedings. This was my first saltwater fish so I'm very glad to find her alive.

In other news, my bryopsis is melting away and I'm absolutely delighted. I'll post a pic later when the lights come on.

PS. the toadstool coral behind her isn't dead, it just does that when I cut off the pump and mess around with the tank.

 

[BlueSallymandr]

My tank after the Bryopsis melted away! I'm on day 13 of fluconazole and it's nearly all gone. Back to dosing phosphate I guess since it's still at undetectable levels. I need to glue a few of these frags back onto the rocks - they got ripped off during manual removal of the algae and I didn't want to reglue until the algae was gone.

I tried to get a better photo of my shrimp and goby pair, but my phone keeps focusing in on only one or the other. Here's the best I could do:

 

[BlueSallymandr]

I apologize for the image quality, but I noticed today that my Rainford goby is missing the webbing of one of its pectoral fins. The other side is normal, and I don't see any inflammation. It's eating normally. Is there anything I should do beyond keeping an eye on it? The most aggressive fish that I have is my royal gramma - I worry that it took a bite out of this fish's fin. But I've never seen the gramma cause harm to another fish, just chase them a bit.

 

[BlueSallymandr]

This tank was taken down while upgrading to a 40 gallon tank, and I moved over all the contents.

 

[Fish Boss]

This tank was taken down while upgrading to a 40 gallon tank, and I moved over all the contents.

40 gallon breeder? Thats one of my favorite tanks

 

[BlueSallymandr]

It's a IM 40 gallon, so it's a lot more cube-like than a 40 gallon breeder. I have one of those for freshwater fish, though