Getting started

They tend to roam around the tank stinging and possibly killing corals and anenomes. They can also eat fish if they are allowed to get big enough. You could buy a product made to kill them such as aptasia x, you could get a peppermint shrimp which is a good cleaner anyway or you could always just take that rock out and go through the bleach process. I would go with the shrimp personally they are great little animals that are interesting to watch if you catch one out during light hours.

 

Yeah, that's why I bought my peppermint shrimp, he is not as pretty as the red cleaner shrimp but it's cool when he swims he looks like a ghost floating through the water backwards.

So I was just wondering also, did you take the bio-balls out? They are usually a good place for the bacteria to start colonizing on if your filter is small. Normally you would run a carbon cartridge in your filter, I don't think you do this through the cycling process? Maybe wrong about that...but it's better if you use 2 cartidges at the same time, then take only one out per month to exchange with a fresh one, so that one still houses the colony of bacteria. If you let the carbon cartridge go for too long without changing it the toxins will leach back out into the water.

I have bio balls and a protien skimmer...I think the balls are very benificial, but everyone has thier own opinion, and most people who do not have bioballs get thier biological filtration through other technical means. Live rock and live sand can only filter to a certain extent and if you are planning on having lots o cool fishies then I would make sure you have the right 3 types of filtration. I.E biological (surface area for benificial bacteria to grow on), chemical (carbon + conditioning liquids), and mechanical (removal of deitrus from water). But biological is most important and closely relates to the nitrogen(cycling) process.

 

I may try and skip the turbo snail because I read they're clumsy and big and knock things over but I'll for sure have some type of snail in there. I'd love to get some peppermint shrimp to eat that thing now but my cycle hasn't spiked yet. I have to wait right?

I didn't check my water yesterday, on monday it was the same as sunday but i'll check it tonight and let you know where I'm at, it hasn't even been a week yet so I'm not expecting much. I didn't want to have to start my tank off on the wrong foot with this crazy anemone, where'd it come from anyway?

I did take my bioballs out and filled the filter with live rock rubble, we also removed the carbon filter because it would take away beneficial bacteria we need to get the tank started. I didn't get a protein skimmer since a lot of people including the fish store said it's not necessary on such a small tank as long as we do regular water changes. And I have no idea what kind of filtration system is in my biocube lol maybe someone else knows.

Eventually, I've got awhile before I can really think about fish, I'd like to have some of these, probably not all of them because of space but I made a list of possibilities. I need to do more researching on them but I tried to look for the smallest reef safe fish possible.

Royal Gramma
Yellow or Pink Spotted Watchman Goby and or Yellow Clown Goby
Blue Reef Chromis
Firefish
Bangaii Cardinal[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
Harptail Blenny

 

Yeah, you have to wait, but your cleanup crew is the first thing you will add once your tank is ready. People SAY to test everyday during cycle for amm, nitri, nitra, but I would just do it every few days. You know your cycle is working when you go through all the stages. I would do some research on peppermint shrimp versus the cool-lookin red shrimp. I wish I hadn't got the peppermint shrimp, he is kinds ugly and hasn't touched my aiptasia yet and hides all day long. If I could get a cool red one then I would. Just do your research. Same goes for the fish. Calculate for every inch of fish by 4 gallons of water. I would push that rule a lil though..

If it is only 1 small aiptasia that you found, I would consider trying to take it off the rock since your cycle is brand new. This is the time if ever. But you must study about this process because you can't just rip it off. Your live rocks come with an arrray of life in them. Some rocks even have crabs or urchins in them, it's like a drawing when you buy live rocks. haha

Good move on the carbon, you should maybe look into putting a regular filter where your carbon goes. It will just give the bacteria mopre space to grow on. Then when your cycle is done you can keep that one in there and put the carbon in next to it.

I have been thinking of getting a goby too. I just want to something that will clean through my sand.

Keep us updated

 

Well we turned the tank into a huge mess tonight. My friend mentioned that it would be hard to keep clean with the rocks touching the glass so we planned on just moving the rocks around a bit and ended up completely taking everything out and redecorating minus about 5 or 6 lbs of live rock. There's more room in there now and nothing is touching the sides but it's all cloudy and sandy.

My fiance was chipping up one of the rocks to use it as rubble for the filter and inside was a big worm!!! He died, poor guy, but I got some pics I'll post tomorrow. Oh and I torched the aiptasia with a lighter since the rock was out of the tank, if it comes back we'll have the Joe's Juice ready.

 

Hello Katie this is terrible news, your fiance died becuase he was chipping rocks and found a big worm?

Steve

 

The worm! Sorry for the confusion. But I found out later that the worm was still alive so he went into a bucket of saltwater, I haven't had a chance to check on him yet this morning.

 

hehe...my husband just might die if he was chipping rocks & found a worm LOL

 

HAAHA..that's funny. So did you guys keep the rocks in water as you were re-arranging? I think the rocks can only be out of water for like 2o minutes max, or else all the beneficial bacteria starts to die off.

Don't worry about the cloudiness, it will settle. And it's a good thing that you moved the rocks away from glass, not sure if your tank is glass or acrylic but rocks, believe it or not, are heavy and can scratch or even break your glass. I know it sounds weird but it can happen. Just make sure you arranged it so that there are plenty of hiding spots. When fish have places to hide, then they won't hide as much. As long as they KNOW there is somewhere to retreat to then they will be out in plain sight more often.

Oh, and if you put the piece of LR in the filter to act as a surface for the bacteria to grow on, I would think you should have just put your bio balls back. I think the BBs have more surface area than a lil piece of LR. I have bio balls and I like em. But yeah, make sure that you still have enough room in your filter for a piece of foam(should be in there right now) to collect more bacteria, and a carbon cartridge, that you will put in there after the cycle completes.