I need informed answers please

Hello and thanks for any help you can give me in advance. ;D

I have a 29g biocube and would love to get a Mandarine. I have read a lot about the fish and know he will eat a lot(I mean a lot of pods) and some have even trained theirs to eat prepared foods, which is cool, but I would only want to do that as a supplement and rather be able to keep up a great pod population.

So here is my dilema, right now I have nitrates at 40ppm and know I need to get them down to almost zero if possible. I have been doing a lot of reading and I think the bioballs are basically creating a nitrate factory in the second chamber, so I am going to remove them(YES SLOWLY) because I do not want a nitrite or ammonia spike. The main reason I want to do this is to put a CPR SR3 or Tunze skimmer in that chamber, the biocube skimmer is so small and not doing a very good job imo. I want to also have a refugium to keep the pods population high, but I do not want to have to modify the biocube in any way shape or form if possible. Any suggestions? I was thinking I could put some LR in the second chamber with the skimmer but will the pods even make it through the skimmer and then the return pump?

I have no sump and never have as the second chamber is really the sump for a biocube. From reading a lot everywhere everyone has a sump and has modified their cubes with all sorts of drilling and plumbing and they all do fine but I want little to no mods. What should I do?

Right now I have a neon velvet damsel, maroon clown, and a coral beauty who have all been doing great. I have always wanted to get some corals and LFS told me I would have no problem with the original lighting set up from the biocube with soft corals, IS THIS TRUE?

All help is greatly appreciated, I have been on all over the internet and read a lot about these issues and think this site and it's members will be the most informed and honest to what I am asking. Thanks again, still a newb really.

 

Well first, you can probably start the pod population right in the tank. You just have to add the pods in late at night when everybody is sleeping. The coral beauty might eat the coral. What is the lighting of the biocube?.

 

First, K+ for doing your research.

Second, you are probably at your max stocking right now. Another thing is that maroon clown will get pretty aggressive as it gets bigger(5-6").

Lastly, come people suggest a mandarin in a tank of no less than 125g due to their demand for pods. I would suggest at least a 20g refugium(fuge, no sump, just fuge) and have a gravity return to the tank if possible. Having your fuge above your tank allows you to put a pump a chamber and pump water to it and then have it run back down an overflow to the next chamber. This will allow you to add a fuge with no mods to the tank itself.

I know it's probably not what you wanted to hear, but these little guys are a bear to take care of and will decimate a pod population quickly.

Good luck

 

I am still a n00bie but have been reefing for about 2 years. I have a 24g nano. Had a Clown a damsel and wanted a goby. got a mandarin. They are awesome to look at and fit well in my tank. I tried to get it to eat something other than Copods. I failed. I would dose the tank with copods and it got to be very expensive I bought them. My set up is pretty simple. My Mandarin lived for about 11 months in my tank. I think he would have lived longer but had an issue with my tank.. Just know that they are expensive to feed if you want to buy the copods... Good luck

RIP

 

Yeah, you definitely need a fuge if you want to attempt one. I have a BC29 as well and just added a fuge to my tank with no drilling or mods at all. I got the CPR overflow box which is sitting on the back wall getting water from the second chamber and the return line is plumbed into it's original location.

 

You can always build a pod farm. 5 gallon bucket, air pump, big sponge, food.

 

if your set on getting a mandarin first i would make a pod pile in your tank which is a small pile of rocks that fish cant swim into. pods will naturally go their to seek refuge in it. you can also put some food on top of the pile for the pods to feed on at night. next add pods to your tank at night. then add a refugium around 20g with some lr and chaeto. have it be gravity fed to the tank so you need to situate it up higher than your dt. then after you put more pods in the fuge wait 3-4 months and you can try a small mandarin. try training onto some sort of prepated using a light of some sort in one spot and pods will go to it. add some live baby brine or other small live food. you can also do this with a petri dish and add pods with a turkey baster. get the pods from buying them. spray them into the petri dish then once the mandarin knows that theres food there start mixing in other food. you can try baby brine, fish eggs (little orange ones on sushi work well) mysis, bloodworms

 

based on your input, I would buy a bigger tank get the store to drill it and a sump with a fuge.

 

Thanks for all the great replies so far. What about the nitrate issue and removing the bioballs? If so how many at a time? Is this the right thing to be doing to put one of the aboved mentioned skimmers in the second chamber?

 

you cant put a skimmer in a filter chamber its its own seperate thing that acts like a filter. you can get rid of the filter and just use the skimmer or you can use both but only use the filter for carbon and let the skimmer do the rest