cvcdrk's 29g Mini Reef

Ok so it's all done. I fed him first to make sure he ate today. What I am now doing is taking about an eighth of a cube of bloodworms and an eighth of a cube of mysis and chopping them up and mixing together. I turned off the equipment and put it in and he ate a whole bunch. It's still too much food so I need to work on that part but he ate....It's easy to see him eat the bloodworms because they're red but the mysis blend with the sand. He was definitely picking shit off the sand I couldn't see, though, so I think he got some of them too!

He's stressing now because rocks got moved and the skimmer is now on the tank and running. I snapped the stupid plastic connector thing for my cheapo 250gph powerhead so now a new Hydor is on my list for my next purchase online.

I made a huge mess but its all cleaned up. The skimmer is loud as all hell right now but I'm sure it will quiet down in a day or two.

Pics to follow when the water settles down and you guys can see the new rockwork.
 
Ok so here's a pic of the new aquascape and the addition of the AquaC Remora on the right side of the tank.
It came with the prefilter box too but I elected not to use it yet. I really wanted to put the skimmer right where it is on the far right side of the tank so that I could keep the tank as close to the wall as possible. If I add the box on the light fixture will only have barely enough room to fit and only be at the front of the tank. With my new aquascape placing most rocks towards the back of the tank I'm not really worried about that but I'd like to make sure my light penetrates everywhere it needs to.

The micro bubbles are still in haywire mode and I'm not getting any skimmate but that's to be expected, I won't start to worry for a couple weeks. I know the prefilter box will cut down on them, let me use a filter media like purigen (which I really want to try) and promote surface skimming to eliminate waste which reaches the surface. It also houses the ugly maxijet pump...but this all comes at the cost of the size of the box and the position of the lights.

Anyway, here's the pics:

scape.jpg
 
Thanks guys!

The whiter rocks all came as dry rock from marcorocks.com. Was easy to deal with and didnt require anythinf but a simple acid wash before putting them in the tank. :-)

i still feel like i need a bigger CUC. I am thinking of getting more variety when it comes to snails. I definitely want something that will keep the glass clean...mahbe a turbo and some more scavengers for the uneaten food.
Does anyone have any experience keeping a porcelin anemone crab with an emerald crab? Its a fair sized tank for the two of them and they eat different things but i dont know how they would react to each other. I would very much like the voracious apetite of an emerald crab in the tank though.
 
Many tanks have them together and they just ignore each other.

For the snails, none will ever keep the glass totally clean, so you will need to by some sort of scraper. But having a variety of different snails is best for keeping the rocks and sand looking tidy. Each snail will tend to target a different area and type of algae. I suggest looking at reefcleaners.org to see all the different types of snails out there.
 
I tried their design my CUC thing and specifically asked for no hermits and they came back with a recommendation for like 3 red-legged and 3 blue-legged. I wasn't pleased. Besides, petco has a variety of snails (turbo, astrea, narsissus, margharita, and cerith) and I don't have to pay a bunch of shipping and all of them are under $2 each.

I can see purchasing fish online because they're typically cheaper but I see no reason to buy CUC online.
 
I wouldnt recommend purchasing a CUC online either because they usually send you way more than the tank can support, I just like to get an idea of what I need and what types are out there. It much better to buy your CUC locally as needed
 
I bought my whole CUC from a local guy. He has just about anything I need. I agree with little fish on the online CUC. They send you a package and most don't live long after they get in your tank. I don't blame you on not liking hermits..The blue legged ones seems to target your snails for the shells. You start spending money on shells and they still go after the snails. I have had better luck with the red legged hermits not going after the snails and keeping the sand bed clean. So would suggest red over the blue ones any day.
 
The feeding routine I'm working on for the Scooter is going incredibly well!

I started mixing 1/8th of a cube of bloodworms (which he gobbles up like crazy) with 1/8th of a cube of mysis (which he didn't seem to be interested in at first). He eats both now. I shut off all the equipment in the tank when feeding him and already on the third day he seems to get this....when the flow stops he goes right to the little corner I like to feed him in.

He eats slowly so it takes about 10 minutes to feed him. When he eats all of what I put in I put more in. When the snails come over he gets mad but together they clean up everything. Only when he starts swimming away (more than 6 inches from the feeding spot) do I stop feeding. I figure as long as he is eating there i no point in stopping...I'm going to get this little guy as plump as possible!

I feed him everyday. I'm wondering how this will play out when there are two additional fish in the tank....will they want to eat everyday? Should they? I will be feeding them Omega one flakes and some mysis/bloodworm combo too but I don't know if they can eat everyday or not.
 
That is awesome he eating so well and so well trained!!! Excellent Job!

And I like to feed my fish every day, but if you are having algae issues they can go a little hungry. But if train them to eat from the dropper too, there is little waste going to feed the algae.
 
Yes, I'm very pleased that he is eating well. He is getting a little more plump, as well....but it will take time to see whether he can truly acclimate to aquarium life. I'm doing everything I can and he seems happy and healthy.

Other notes:
-Picked up a turbo snail today and a large emerald crab. Got them acclimated and everything. The crab (who is missing his left claw...not worried, though...it will grow back next moult) is doing really well. He's been all around the tank finding hiding places and rocks with lots of algae to graze on. The turbo, however, is being a pain in the ass. I had the worst time getting him out of the acclimation bowl....his foot is strong and I didn't want to rip him off. Then the first thing he does is start eating glass stuff so I was like awesome....10 mins later he's at the top of the tank and he's been there for three hours now. Doesn't want to move it seems like. Hope he's ok and he comes down/moves soon.

-My water parameters have been pristine now for two days since I did a large water change: 0;0;10. After two more 5-gallon water changes tomorrow and Sunday I plan to stop by the store on Monday and see what they've got as far as clownfish go.

-The skimmer is working fairly well. It's still loud, which is annoying, but I'm confident it will quiet down and if not I have some ideas on how to mod it to make it quieter. It isn't pulling a lot of skimmate yet, but there really isn't a huge bioload yet either and it's only been on the tank for 24 hours. So we will give it a couple weeks to figure itself out.

-I'm strongly considering getting a new heater. The 100w I have does a nice job of maintaining a constant temperature but it is always 76.4 degrees. I am not thrilled with this. I would like to be able to bump it up to about 78....which is where I'd like it to stay permanently. I may get a 150 watt heater with an adjustable temperature setting instead and just use this heater to heat my water change water as it rests.
 
Just a clarification, pristine water conditions are when everything reads zero.

Not sure about the skimmer, but its always a good idea to two have a back up heater. They are the most common thing to break in this hobby, so I would get a bigger one but keep the smaller one for backup.
 
Yeah I use my backup heater to heat the water that I use for water changes. It's a similar 100-watt model.

UPDATES:

Ok so things were 0;0;10 for awhile and my girlfriend took it upon herself to get a clownfish and bring him home. She said she was at Petco for dog food and just loved this one.

So now I have a little Occellaris Clown in here. He is a weird little guy so far. He mostly hovers in one corner under the Hydor powerhead. Occasionally he goes exploring. This morning he was hovering on the opposite corner of the tank at the top of the water...the very top!

Very weird guy. I'm closely monitoring the tank parameters though to be sure the tank can handle him. I've done two complete tests for per day for two days since she brought him home and I've been 0;010 and just got 0;0;>5 after a 10-gallon water change.

He has been eating. He gobbled up of my Scooter's blood worms and mysis...he won't pick food off the substrate though...he will only eat it if it's in the water column. He is very small...under an inch. She said that he was listed as a tank-raised specimen so I'm glad for that.
He's been eating some of that and a very tiny amount of flakes at each feeding (he seems to be fine eating once a day...although nothing stops him from eating when I feed the Scooter for a second time.

Also a new development: Green stuff! It's a very beautiful vibrant color of lime green....I'm hoping it is green coraline algae forming and leaving it alone for now but I took two pics and you guys may be able to identify better:

green_stuff1.jpg

green_stuff2-1.jpg


Here's a pic of my Scooter:
bernard4.jpg


Here's the porcelain anemone crab riding my Maxi-Jet 1200 like a rocket ship. Seriously.
He likes the powerhead a lot. I've seen him on or near it a lot....but he moves about the tank too....
crab.jpg


And, obviously: the obligatory FTS:
fts.jpg


I haven't gotten a good pic of the clown yet. :-( He's honestly acting weird. He seems healthy. Is the current too strong? I thought that wasn't possible.....Will try to get pics tonight!
 
Thanks. Yeah I'm really happy with it so far. I will be going away for this week and am worried about the tank. It will be going dark for 5 days and my friend will be stopping in to feed/top off water.
I'm slightly worried about a few things overall....one is those white spots you can see on the front glass in the FTS. I think they're egg sacks or something but can't find any info on them and am worried about what they could be.
Also, I'm still not 100% on the algae being green coraline vs. the beginning of green hair algae. If I come back to a tank full of algae I will be upset.
 
If the white spots are kinda sharp, it may be a type of worm, kinda like a feather duster but tiny and in a spiraled tube. Im not sure if they are a worm but if you have a magnet scrubber they will come right off. I think they are just harmless filter feeders.

And the green just looks like yellowish coraline. The purple will come. Then the purple will be the bane of your existance, when you have to scrape it off the front glass lol.
 
Ok so I was on vacation for a week and had a friend feed my fish for me and do top-offs. I got back last night but was wayyy too tired to do the water change. I just did it. 4 gallons. I'm waiting a couple hours to test the parameters and depending what they say I may do another tomorrow as necessary.

Overall it went well, he said the scooter ate everyday and the clown stuck to just the flakes (which he's been doing for me, too). I try to get him to eat some of the mysis/bloodworm blend I make for the scooter but he's just not interested. He darts for the flakes as soon as they're in the tank. They're the Omega One flakes with garlic.

Everything else seemed good. I did loose a little narcissus snail somehow. His shell was just sitting on the sand when I got home....but I'm not worried. The others seem active and happy, the other inverts (crabs) seem good and the fish seem fine.

I put the overflow box in the tank for the skimmer. I couldn't handle looking at that hideous maxijet anymore.

Nothing else to report. Once I have the water completely under control I plan to add a couple of hardy zoas or mushrooms (or both).

Some pics...nothing super exciting here:

Porcelin Anemone Crab:
por_crab2.jpg

por_crab.jpg


Scooter today:
bernard5.jpg
 

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