Rebirth of the 29 Gallon Bio-Cube

[Ellylove]

The package from coralmorphologic got here at 11 and the coral is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ricordia are WICKED AMAZING, and the zoas are SWEEEEEETTTT! Colin even threw in an extra zoa frag, which got kinda pummeled in shipping. I don't mind though, because I glued the broken pieces onto frag plugs and now I have 7 free frags instead of 1. :dance: I'm waiting to see what they look like when opened before I glue a big frag to the rock work. The mowhawks and daytrippers are still closed (not too tightly, and one of the mohawks was even open when it got here), but the skirts of the mohawks are neon pink! I pulled the original small frag of mowhawks off of the big frag plug and glued the little one to the rockwork. There are lots of heads left on the big plug in about 5 separate groups, so as soon as I can get something that will cut through a frag plug, I'm chopping it up and mounting it so they can grow-out and be sold. Somethings Fishy, you're number 1 on the list for a frag since you called "dibs". I can't wait to see these things all opened up! I will DEFINITELY be running a coralmorphologic group buy at some point. EXCELLENT customer service, CRAZY AWESOME coral, and good prices. I need to go buy some frag plugs....

I'll post pics when everything opens up.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm SOOOO glad Myteemouse told me to ALWAYS dip coral before adding it to my tank. There were several reddish-pink worms on the frags that I watched die a horrible, well-deserved death. Yuck! Definitely shows that they were wild collected!

 

[Ellylove]

I'm not sure if I already posted some of these pics, but I just entered my tank in the PSAS Oct TOTM contest, since no one else had entered yet. That means I have to win, if no one enters, right?

Tank shot:

Ricordia, RBTA, Clownfish, montis, and Wild Mohawks:

Daytrippers waiting to be placed:

Rainbow monti:

Pokerstar monti (center), Sunset monti (bottom right), Ziggy Stardust monti (upper left), Setosa (upper right), and Supernatural monti (lower left):

Better pic of the Ziggy:

Setosa (left), Purple Tip Acro (middle), Ponape Birdsnest (right), and Pink Sand-Dollar monti (bottom right):

Mohawks:

(Same frag, better camera and lighting):

Tangerines:

Sps rock with 6 line wrasse:

Both mandarins:

 

[Rothany]

Freakin sweet!! Looks good

 

[Ellylove]

Thanks! I popped off one of the lockline arms to get more flow to the sps since they are towards the back. The skimmer is actually collecting skimmate now so hopefully the micro bubbles will disappear soon. I found out that if I have more water in the tank, the skimmer works better. I also discovered today that the actinic bulb isn't that bright anymore. I think it's time for a bulb change. HOPEFULLY I get an LED Stunner strip for my birthday to add to the tank too.

 

[Rothany]

Make sure to get the power supply,as it doesnt come with one. The power supply can run up to 4 stuner strips..

 

[Ellylove]

Yup!

 

[Ellylove]

So, I have some AWESOME, AMAZING, FANTASTIC news.

Are you ready for it?

I just fed the tank, aaaannnndddd:

BOTH MANDARINS ATE FROZEN FOOD!!!!! :dance: :dance: :dance:

I was worried about the 29 gallon being able to support them both with enough copepods (even with the fuge in the back), but if they are eating frozen (keep in mind they've only been in the tank 6 days and they pick at the rock all the time; they aren't starving), I don't need to worry so much. They both ate big pieces too. I saw the male do it yesterday, but today they were side by side, both eating frozen mysid shrimp. SWEET! The male follows the female around the whole tank while they pick at the rock. I think he's smitten. I wonder what the outcome would be of a psychedelic and spot mandarin mating... I'm REALLY curious.

 

[tike]

SWEET!

 

[jill]

Hey Elly that is great news!

I had a psychedelic mandarin in my nano for about 6 months and he was doing great and eating well but one day he jumped out. I was sick when I found him dried out on the floor. I have an Elos nano with no lid and didn't think that he would be a jumper. It was weird. So I don't know if it was just a fluke but I would have some kind of a cover on the tank if I was to try it again.

Good luck with the little guys! They are soooo sweet.

 

[Ellylove]

Hey Elly that is great news!

I had a psychedelic mandarin in my nano for about 6 months and he was doing great and eating well but one day he jumped out. I was sick when I found him dried out on the floor. I have an Elos nano with no lid and didn't think that he would be a jumper. It was weird. So I don't know if it was just a fluke but I would have some kind of a cover on the tank if I was to try it again.

Good luck with the little guys! They are soooo sweet.

I LOVE my mandarins. They were definitely on the top of my fish list (them and a yellow headed pearly jawfish). My husband is actually the one that picked out the spotted; I think they're ok, but I'm more into the psychedelic ones. I'm glad he found something in this hobby that he enjoys though. She is pretty cute. You can see from the pictures in page 1 (and even more so in my first tank thread) how skinny the first mandarin I got was. He was in a 20 gallon flat display tank with NO live rock and he was SUPER skinny. He readily ate frozen food and I got him plumped up pretty good in the 7-9 months that I had him. He went to a home with TONS of live rock and a huge fuge. They have a special place in my heart thanks to Herbie, and I'm SOOOOO glad these ones eat frozen too so I don't have to worry about them starving.
A lid/hood was a must for me with a firefish and a jawfish on my list. Both are known jumpers. I have a fish saver from inTank separating the back chambers from the display too. My first jawfish that I had in the non-covered 46 gallon decided to go carpet surfing one night.

 

[Ellylove]

Good news, everyone! (PLEASE tell me someone on here watches Futurama... ) My mom got me a Stunner Strip for my birthday! Yay!!! It's a 12,000K White/445nm Blue combo. I just ordered the transformer and reflector so I'll put pics up when they get here. Micro-bubbles are pretty much gone now that the skimmer is broken in and I figured out it needed just a bit more water in the back chamber. I got a second skunk cleaner shrimp a couple weeks ago and it and my other one have paired up. They hang out together all day and cruise around the tank together at night. I'm definitely looking forward to all the baby shrimps that will be coming my way sometime {hopefully} soon (my last mandarin and 6 line loved the midnight snacks). All my sps are doing great and have growth on them, especially my setosa (YAY!!!) and the ponape birdsnest. I have a little bit of brown algae on the sand as of right now. I'm doing a water change tomorrow and will try to suck some of it up, but I've found it's best to let it do it's think than to constantly fight it. My husband got me a small sandsifting starfish for my birthday and it's been sifting all day so hopefully that helps too. All I need now are for my purple firefish and yellow-headed pearly jawfish to come in and the tank will be complete. I look forward to getting to sit back and just watch everything grow. I found out that the clownfish is addicted (as in: a crack head for) flake food. I fed frozen the first 2 weeks everyone was in the tank, and the clown never strayed from his anemone. Ever since I fed it flake food, it hangs out in the middle of the tank until I feed it. It literally begs when I walk past the tank. It even eats flake straight from my fingers. The female mandarin has taken to chasing down pieces of flake as they float buy and occasionally eats some. There are also lots of nerite snail clutches in the tank so hopefully there will be some baby snails roaming around soon. I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks next Friday and my mom is watching the tank. I'm hoping it will be ok with just top offs for that long and that she doesn't over feed while I'm gone. I'll try to get pics of all the corals up tomorrow.

 

[Somethings Fishy]

sounds like everything is doing well in the tank!!

 

[Rothany]

Good news, everyone! (PLEASE tell me someone on here watches Futurama... ) My mom got me a Stunner Strip for my birthday! Yay!!! It's a 12,000K White/445nm Blue combo. I just ordered the transformer and reflector so I'll put pics up when they get here. Micro-bubbles are pretty much gone now that the skimmer is broken in and I figured out it needed just a bit more water in the back chamber. I got a second skunk cleaner shrimp a couple weeks ago and it and my other one have paired up. They hang out together all day and cruise around the tank together at night. I'm definitely looking forward to all the baby shrimps that will be coming my way sometime {hopefully} soon (my last mandarin and 6 line loved the midnight snacks). All my sps are doing great and have growth on them, especially my setosa (YAY!!!) and the ponape birdsnest. I have a little bit of brown algae on the sand as of right now. I'm doing a water change tomorrow and will try to suck some of it up, but I've found it's best to let it do it's think than to constantly fight it. My husband got me a small sandsifting starfish for my birthday and it's been sifting all day so hopefully that helps too. All I need now are for my purple firefish and yellow-headed pearly jawfish to come in and the tank will be complete. I look forward to getting to sit back and just watch everything grow. I found out that the clownfish is addicted (as in: a crack head for) flake food. I fed frozen the first 2 weeks everyone was in the tank, and the clown never strayed from his anemone. Ever since I fed it flake food, it hangs out in the middle of the tank until I feed it. It literally begs when I walk past the tank. It even eats flake straight from my fingers. The female mandarin has taken to chasing down pieces of flake as they float buy and occasionally eats some. There are also lots of nerite snail clutches in the tank so hopefully there will be some baby snails roaming around soon. I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks next Friday and my mom is watching the tank. I'm hoping it will be ok with just top offs for that long and that she doesn't over feed while I'm gone. I'll try to get pics of all the corals up tomorrow.

Lol I love Futurama, SOunds like the tank coming along nicley =)

 

[noobaquariumust]

i know youre enjoying vacation and all, but we want pictures

 

[Ellylove]

i know youre enjoying vacation and all, but we want pictures

I'd take some, but I'm in AZ and then NC for the next 2 weeks and the tank is in WA.
The firefish is VERY well adjusted to it's new home and is always out and about. The jawfish on the other hand is still in hide mode. The first spot it picked for it's home wasn't very good, so I filled in the backdoor with sand to encourage him to move after the first couple days. Hopefully when I get back it will have relocated somewhere better. My mom is feeding and topping off the tank for me and the first thing I'll do when I get back is a water change. Then I'll take pics. Promise!!

 

[Krish]

Not sure how I missed those updated pics, but the tank looks really nice! Actually looks very clean and sterile!

 

[Ellylove]

Not sure how I missed those updated pics, but the tank looks really nice! Actually looks very clean and sterile!

Thanks! I've been very diligent with doing a water change once a week, and it had a little brown algae on the sand, but I let it run its course instead of trying to fight it (and I got a sandsifting starfish) and it's all gone now. All the frags are growing like crazy (except the 3 sps from fragalot which ALL died ) I think I have some pics on my phone which I'll try to get up tonight if I get a chance.

 

[Somethings Fishy]

update..........................!....................!.................!...........

 

[noobaquariumust]

^^ agreed

 

[Somethings Fishy]

! ya, how your zoas doing?