Muhli's 28G Nano-Cube

[Enderturtle]

Diatoms and cyano are just part of the cycle I think. Should go away with time. 2 small clownfish in a 28 gallon. Shouldnt be a problem.

 

[muhli]

Bioload actually consists of 2 clownfishes and 3 blue/green chromis

But I was able to keep coral growth in check and parameters pretty stable in the 12 gallon. The 28 should be a lot easier, but it wont mean I'm going to skip on maintenance.

 

[Enderturtle]

Oh you actually like the chromis? Or are they there for desired fish poop?

 

[muhli]

I got it because they school together; to add movement to the tank. But now they are just hiding together

Would have preferred some anthias, but current tank at the time was too small for it.

In other news, I found a way to help cut down the sunlight on the tank. A money tree plant!

 

[Enderturtle]

Ahhh yeah im sure they will come out in time.

Fish watch each other. My blue tang was sooo scared the first couple days but since she saw the clowns swimming around shes now swimming with them.

 

[muhli]

Finished transferring the rest of my livestock and the Kessil over couple days ago, but didn't have time to take pics until today.

Fishes are no longer scared and are coming out from hiding. All the corals seem happy, I just have to rearrange some around and find a new place for my zoas and grandis paly. Not really sure where I should put them as I dont want them climbing all over my rocks. Maybe I'll just have a separate rock for them to grow on. In other news, the flaming zebra zoa from the contest seems to be growing a baby head

Just need to practice a bit on my photography skill on camera now..

 

[Enderturtle]

Oh good your zoa is alive and happy it seems.

Tank looks good too

 

[muhli]

Not much new with the tank the past few days. Ordered a Kessil 90° adapter to allow more room for me when I would stick my hand in the water. I had to increase the intensity from around 30% to 80%.

I'm on week 2 of vodka dosing and everything seems to be going well. Nitrates have been consistent at 0 and phosphates are at 0.25ppm or 0 (I can't tell from the API test kits). I don't see much or any algae growth. However, I do have to to clean the glass once a day. Probably because the tank is in direct sunlight and I got some nutrients hanging in the water. The only algae growth I see is some reddish purple algae (coralline?) on my rocks that my snails don't seem to eat. It may not be coralline algae I think because its not really encrusting or plating like it normally does. Maybe someone can chime in on this?

The flaming zebra has now officially grown a head and I think there are 2 baby ones on the way, but I cant really make it out.

Sorry for the iPhone pics. I don't really know what setting or how to take it without it being so blue. Tried using some brown sunglasses as a filter and it seems to help out a small bit.

 

[muhli]

Week 3 of vodka dosing has started to increase my skimmate production. Its a lot darker now and has lots
of bubbles now. I'm pretty satisfied the way things are going right now.

Added in a Indo gold torch from Aquatic Collections the other day to add some movement to my tank. Going to change up the the positioning of my corals later today just in case the sweeper tentacles from the torch decide to attack everything

 

[Enderturtle]

The tyree toadstool I got from you is doing great! It looks as big as yours! Thanks

 

[muhli]

Couple of new additions I got recently from the last update. A torch coral, two anemones from the group buy, and a cleaner shrimp

Skimmate has now become a lot darker and this is only two weeks worth it. When cleaning, there seems to be massive amounts of sludge buildup inside the neck. Going to try and empty once a week now.

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the skimmate I'm getting right now. Not too bad for a HOB skimmer

 

[muhli]

Not sure... but is my anemone splitting? (Do they even split?)

 

[Klems]

From what I have read, Rock Flower Anemone do not split. They "give birth" to small baby Anemone.

 

[Enderturtle]

I dont think they can.

But keep an eye on it Muhli! It's a small possibility I think.

 

[Vhuang168]

That 2nd pic sure looks like 2 nems!

 

[muhli]

Not much happened since the last update.

Picked up a Midas blenny a month ago and it has such a cool personality. It's usually swimming around the water column with no disturbances from my other fishes. Sometimes it'll even chill on a rock or something and just stare at you. Has it's own established cave right in front of the tank. Just where I wanted it to be. So I'm pretty happy about that.

Been battling a cyano outbreak for a couple of months now. Because of that, I stopped vodka dosing although it made no impact on it. So I got some chemiclean to help my situation. Cyano reduced about 95% after that with no ill effects so I'm pretty satisfied with it. Now I'm battling the rest of it using nopox. Its been day 3 so far and the results look promising. I went from 0.5ppm phosphates to 0.00 (not sure, API test kits are so hard to read) in that time span. Bought some phosguard as well to try out, but looks like I won't be needing it. Fingers crossed.

No new coral additions. Unless you count the tiny green pocilloporas popping out everywhere on my rocks.
Which leads me to want to get rid of it. Looking to trade for a frag of anything really. Just not interested in any softies except zoas or palys.

If you don't got anything to trade, that's fine. I'm willing to give it away to anyone who is a beginner or someone who needs a frag of something to bring to the upcoming swap.

 

[Ahruk]

So whatever happened with the rock flower nem? Did it split? Also I love midas blennys. Good choice It's the fish I most want atm. If/when I upgrade I'll definitely be getting one.

 

[xcaret]

Looks like a clown-fish tripped and fell on its face !

 

[muhli]

@Ahruk turns out it was just doing some back stretch exercises .

Yep the midas is super cool fish. Peaceful too. Color changed from when I first got it. Was completely pale, then started to become pink in the head and yellow in the tail, then blue in the head, pink in middle, and yellow in the tail. And now its all yellow.

@xcaret haha I never noticed that in the pic

 

[650-IS350]

nice little build.