Jeff's 29g Oceanic

[zambavi]

Hello... Just joined BAR today but have been pokin around here for a little while. Just moved to the the South Bay Area first of February. As crazy as the move was we started a 29g Oceanic Bio Cube Reef our very first week here in CA. We had a 75 Gallon, a 55 Gallon and a 20 Gallon while living in NC and it was most painful to break those down and frag them out before our move. So... it was top priority to get something set up as soon as we got here. The tank has been running for over eight months now. I'm not completely happy with the set up as it now sits with some coral wars occuring. Thought I'd start a tank journal here to log my efforts and get feedback from the BAR member crew on this tank. Also about 3 weeks into a new tank build that is currently a 75g but looking to upgrade the tank to a 120g in the next couple of weeks. Will start a seperate thread on that tank build too.

Will start with some pics...

 

[zambavi]

The Specs...

29 Gallon Oceanic Bio Cube
Stripped out all the bioballs, filters, etc.
Running the standard Oceanic Protein Skimmer in the first rear chamber
Running the Large SR3 Oceanic Protein Skimmer in the second chamber
Standard Return Pump
Standard Hood Lighting 36wActinic/36w10,000k with 3 blue LED and dual fans
Upgraded Icecap LED's x 2 for intense blue night lighting (the corals love it!)
50 pounds of Tongan Branch Live Rock large Rubble
3" Live Sand Bed
2 Clowns
1 Six Line Wrasse
1 Neon Goby
Loads of critters!
Mostly softies, mushrooms, zoos and two LPS
Make my own RO/DI with a 4 stage
Use Tropic Marin Pro Salt and Two Little Fishies Part A and B about once a week
Do 1 gallon water changes every 1-2 days (got it down to less than 5 minute process)
I believe that's about it...

 

[zambavi]

Did some testing last night.

Salinity 1.025
Temp is staying between 79 and 81
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia -0
Nitrate - Trace (between 2-5)
Calcium - 380
Ph - 8.1

The Starpolyps in the tank are spreading like crazy. They took to the hard body of my Christmas tree worm a few weeks back and have now completely covered it. They have completely surrounded the opening of the christmas tree worm so that the worm is only coming out partially a few times a day. Trying to decide how to handle that. It seems as though I need to try and peel the starpolyps from the christmas tree worm shell completely but do not know if that is possible. Any thoughts? In the future I will better isolate the starpolyps so they can't spread too far. It looks like they are about to try and take out one of my leathers at this point too. If left alone it would not suprise me if it took out every coral in my tank.

 

[LeviT]

I use Aiptasia Control from Blue Life to keep them from spreading where I don't want them in my tank. The porite I have is super resiliant so I say move or remove the GSP and it'll bounce back. I have my GSP in an isolated area and in a small tank tank that can be hard so maybe removing would be a better option. hth

 

[zambavi]

I really like the GSP but like you I need to get it to an isolated area. I'm pretty sure I'm goint to just remove it from the CTW this weekend and attach it to a large flat rock I have to spread out on. I'm wondering how easy it is to remove GSP from a smooth service like the shell of a CTW???

 

[zambavi]

An update on this tank... Had some flatworms appear in October. Added a six line to the tank hoping he would take to them and he did! We haven't seen a flatworm anywhere in almost 2 months now. Actually went out and purchased some Flatworm exit but haven't had to use it. He started picking them off the glass and rocks the first day I put him in.

Right now my corals are growing like crazy. I have a 20g that I'm thinking about looping into my 120g system as a frag tank. I need to relieve some of the pressure in this 29g tank. I have a toadstool that has grown to almost 14" across that needs fragging badly. Another Bright yellow Leather than has grown from a 2" frag to a beautiful 8" coral. I have Bright Green and Orange Zoas as well as GSP that has run out of places to spread. My Green Finger Leather either needs fragging or a bigger tank, half a dozen tiny kenya trees have grown to 6-8" versions that need fragging or a new tank and I have bright green, Lavender (hairy) and a few other less striking types of mushrooms that i could stand to cut back by 2-10 heads each.

Since I plan on keeping my 120g as SPS with a few LPS exceptions I've got to go ahead and start fragging these guys ASAP and getting them into a frag tank. I'm also going to probably decrease the amount of LR in this tank to make room for a little more diversity. I will likely have at least 20-30 frags to contribute to the DBTC program and frag swap in February. I know most of these guys are pretty common but hopefully someone can use them. The Green finger leather is actually something I don't see very often so I'm sure it will get grabbed up quickly. Will put all the details in the correct forum once we get closer to the fragswap date.

 

[zambavi]

A few pictures taken today.

 

[zambavi]

This is my favorite critter I like to keep in my softy tanks; a Decorator Crab. We had two in our mixed reef in NC for years and picked up the first one we came accross once we moved here to Cali from Aquatic-Gallary. TONS of personality. We hand feed in live or dried algae every day. If it the decorator crab sees us in the room he comes down to the glass and begs. Very funny. He also likes to pluck and replant zoos on himself and elsewhere throughout the tank.

 

[zambavi]

While I leave my 120 alone for a little while to settle I'm bringing my attention back to this guy. I've not liked my aquascaping, coral selection or the really DSB in this tank so yesterday I took everything apart. I stripped it all down and started over. The tank now has a 1-2" sand bed from the 4-6" that was in there before. I changed my pile of rocks to a U shaped Aquascaping with some small caves and arch ways; left plenty of open space. I took every coral out and moved over to my frag tank for now.

 

[Lyn]

Can't wait to see the new and improved version. BTW, I like your old version too.

Do you really keep a banded coral, blood, and cleaner shrimp together in that little tank? I thought they would kill each other. I really like the shrimps, but have run out of places to put them in their separate tanks. How are yours getting along and how long have you had them together like that?

 

[Vento]

Curious myself about the 3 shrimp. My friend who has a 28gal cube has fire, coral banded and scarlet, and his scarlet just died.

BTW what are the life spans of these shrimp?

 

[Euphyllia]

I'm pretty sure the life span is 2-3 years...

 

[zambavi]

I've had a coral banded, fire and cleaner in the tank together for about 11 months now. I've never seen them go at each other. For this rebuild though I moved the Cleaner into my frag tank. With the decrease in LR in this tank I didn't want them running into each other too frequently. So the coral banded and fire will have the tank to themselfs now.

And yes... 2-3 years is common place for life expectancy but there are many who have large stable systems that have kept them for longer. The coral banded I had in NC was well over three years old... he was huge as well... with his wiskers he measured a solid foot accross.... very cool.

 

[zambavi]

A few pics of what I've got so far on this rebuild. The pics don't really do it justice but you can get the general idea. The sand is cluttered right now with about 30 frags of leathers, xenia and mushrooms... they'll all be gone after the frag swap

 

[zambavi]

So this is interesting. This is the decorator crab I've been keeping in this nano. Over the past month he has been showing us this funkyness.... Have kept these for years and have never seen this. It's like a kangaroo pouch/tail he is opening up to reveal this little compartment... fine layers of white filament inside with these orange bb size little things all in it. He has been coming up to the tank wall and opening it up while seemingly grooming the inside of this area. Anybody "KNOW" what it is... my first thought is that it has something to do with it's reproductive system. Perhaps this is the first female I've ever had... if it's the females that do this.... could be the males.... in which this would be the first male I've had.... I don't know.... anybody?

 

[Lyn]

Looks like eggs to me. The females keep them in their flap (sorry, don't know the technical term right off hand). The males have thinner triangular flaps, and the females have wider ones. That's how you can tell them apart.

The females clean and oxygenate the eggs. That is why she fans them open. It is similar to what shrimp will do while carrying eggs. You have had shrimp with eggs before, right? If not I suggest you get a couple hermaphroditic types. Really fun to watch, and the new shrimp babies/plankton make great food for the tankmates.

BTW, I'm pretty sure the crab larvae will be planktonic and not sessile (sink to the bottom), but you never know. Perhaps someone out there knows more about decorator crabs and can give you better info.

Good luck future crab dad, and have fun!

 

[zambavi]

very interesting.... thanks for them comments Lyn.

**Edit**

I have broken this tank down... Clowns went into the 120... Coral Banded went to Phong... Fire Shrimp went into Frag Tank... Fire Fish and Blue Goby went into 120... Six Line went to Frag Tank... corals were cut up and given away at frag swap and through DBTC for the most part... Decorator Crab is now in my Fuge...

Wanted to focus on my 200g system and this one was a distraction.