24 gal Nano Cube Reef

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nichols_scott

New Member
Dear Mini Reefers,

Below are some pictures that I recently took of my 24 gallon JBJ nano cube reef tank. It's been setup for about one year. Some coral I've had longer then the tank. I moved it from an older 6 gallon tank that had too many lighting problems for the coral to thrive in.

Overall the 24g tank has been doing very well, until recently. I'm having a lot of problems with light green algae that is coating the tank glass and some coral. Not all coral is coated by the algae. For example the mushrooms and cabbage coral never have any external algae growth, which is a good thing.

I brought the alge problem to the attention of some reefers in the chat room and they suggested I increase my salinity to .024 from .022, and change 20% of the water one a week for one month. I have been changing 20% (5 gallon bucket from home depot) twice a month.

Here are the recent water tests (03-03-06) that I did:

03-03-06 Water Tests

PH: 8.0
Specific Gravity: .024
Calcium: 500 PPM
Phosphate: .05 ppm
Nitrate: 15 ppm
Ammonia: Undetectable
Nitrite: Undetectable

From reading my reef book, "The Simple Guide to MINI-REEF Aquariums" by Jeffrey Kurtz the PH is a little lower then it should be and the nitrate should be undetectable in a reef aquarium. Iamb guessing since this is an established aquarium that the nitrate and pH are not where they should be and that's why I am getting the bad algae growth. Also, both colonies of my button corals are dying. Other corals in tank seem to be thriving.

I am going to try changing the water 20% once a week to see if this lowers the nitrate as suggested. I don't know what to do about the low PH. Its been a stable 8.0 for a long time. Any suggestions you have will be helpful.


My tank has the following inhabitants:

Fish
One Sadle Back Clown
One Yellow Tang
One Six Lined Wrasse
One Pigmy Angel

Crabs
1/2 dozen small hermit crabs. Algae eating hermits?
2 Emerald Crabs

Snails
3 Large Mexican Turbos
12 Margaritas
1/2 dozen black turbos
3-4 Sarith Snails

All fish are doing fine. Sadle back occasional chases Pigmy. Does not bother Yellow Tang or Wrasse.

Corals
Frogspawn (doing fine. Once polyp died a few months ago.)
Plate Coral (doing great)
Cabbage (doing great)
Purple Gorgonian (aka Sea Whip) Both seem fine.
Green Montipora (SPS in a power compact tank. suprisingly doing fine)
Green star polyps (doing fine. Bought very small frag for about $10. Hoping will colonize)
Kenya Tree (doing great. Has nearly tripled it size in 3 months. Bought as very small piece)
Toad Stool (doing ok. Polys not out every day, maybe every other day. Is this normal?) It started to grow another baby toad stool near base, but it went away from some reason.


Anemones
Golden Brown Flower Anemone (Doing great)
Green Button Polyps (Dying. May remove. Smell a little like rotting food when removed from water. what do you think?)
Purple Mushrooms (Doing great. Colony is growing)

Algae
Several species of desired hard green and purple algaes.
Occasional outbreaks of cynobacteria, bubble algae, hair algae, and light green algae.


Most corals are doing great. Please let me know what you think.

Front View of Aquarium


Zoomed in View of Green Montipora. Notice the five different coral species in this picture



Thanks
Scott Nichols
 
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Jennie

New Member
For some reason the pictures are not being displayed. What sort of filtration are you using, and have you added anything new recently that could tip the bioload?
Could you have lost something that could have sent the tank into a mini cycle?
 
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nichols_scott

New Member
I've have imbedded links to two pictures now. I didn't know about the 256k limit on file size.

I am using the filtration thats built into the nano cube. This includes a large sponge filter, a bag of carbon, and bio balls. I replace the carbon once a month and rince the sponge filter out once a week. The filter is big enough to put more filter media within. I have added an additional carbon bag, and a phosphate filter bag. The phosphate bag has helped a lot with keeping phosphates down.

Because of the nano cube's hood design it would be difficult to add additional cannister or other filtration without modifying (which i think is impossible without destroying it).

I recently purchased two new pieces of coral from the LPS.
 
Dickie52

Dickie52

New Member
The bio balls will increase your nitrate......

do you use r/o water?

Looks like you have a pretty heavy bio load.....

How much and how often and what are you feeding?
 
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reefman23

New Member
Yah, plate needs to be on the sand, but it looks like there might not be enought room on the sand bed. Also, how long have you had the yellow tang and the angel in the tank? That's risky for a 24 gallon, considering the size of the tang. Has the angel been picking at the corals, it looks like one of the corals in particular has been nipped. Thirdly, biweekly, or even once weekly, water changes of only 20% with that kind of bioload is really not that much at all. I would suggest twice that, about 40%-50% weekly. That is the best way to lower your nitrates and nitrites, especially without a skimmer or a refuge.

You noted that some of the corals may be on their way out...if so, remove them, especially if they are disintegrating which will just lead to more nitrates. Is the gorgonian getting any polyp extension? Remove most of the sponge... i think that there are 3 sponge blocks...only leave one and clean it every 2-3 days, or else again that will lead to higher nitrates. you need to change the carbon more frequently than just once a month...try changing a portion of it ever week. I wouldn’t suggest adding any more livestock until you get some of these problems squared away.

If you are getting cyanobacteria, try adding a power head or two to add current to those areas that are effected by it...increasing the flow will help with cyano. Your calcium doesn’t need to be so high considering most of your corals are soft. If your pH is low, you can use a product like the Kent Marine super buffer dKH+...that will help pH and alkalinity. I would insist you use a pH buffer if you are using R/O water, which tends to be lower than is suggested for reefs.

I hope that you take these as the suggestions that they are intended to be and not as insults or offensive….I am only trying to help.

Jesse
 
aromano

aromano

New Member
Scott,

Nice tank, but not a wise idea to introcude a yellow tang to a 24 gallon tank, unless if it's something temporaty until you transfer the fish to a proper size setup. Tangs are very active and very fast swimmers and require as much room as you can provide for them. A minimum size tank should be at least 4 feet long to allow for swimming room, anything bigger then that is better.
 
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nichols_scott

New Member
The yellow tang has been in the tank since I started it about a year ago. However, I have had the fish longer then that. It was in my 10 gallon tank about year 1/2. When I bought him from the LPS over two years ago he was very small. He has grown a lot. I've compared its appearance to other tangs at the LPS. I think its more attractive then the yellow tangs sold at the store. Its doing fine. It doesn't bother any of the fish or coral. Grazes a lot on the soft (bad algae) in the tank.
 
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nichols_scott

New Member
Thanks for the suggestions on the plate coral. I'll move it to the sand bed, and monitor its health on the sand (yes there is room. front left corner). Its been living fine on the rock though. Thanks for the suggestions on increasing the water change to 40% to 50%.

I was thinking of buying a powerhead. Can I simply suction it to the back wall? I want to hide it too. There really isn't much visible in the tank that isn't natural right now.

There's two sponge filters in the tank. The largest is the height of the aquarium. I clean once a week right now. I think your right about rinsing it out every 2-3 days. I'll do that. The second sponge sits below the carbon bags in the second department. There are three departments total.

The first department sits right behind the intake. The largest sponge filter takes up the entire first compartment. The second compartment consists of a smaller sponge, and two carbon bags. The third compartment houses my heater and submersible pump that outputs the filtered water back in the main tank.

Currenty I change my water using distilled water, which should be neutral PH. I'm guessing that may be why the PH is a little low at 8.0. I'll try the Kent buffer you mention to try to get the PH up to 8.2.
 
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reefman23

New Member
yes, you can simply add a small power head by suctioning it to the rear (or where ever you like) and this would add some flow.

As far as the sponge, you stated that you are utilizing a large sponge filter...i assumed this meant the sponge that comes in the rear chamber of all nanocubes. what i meant was to reduce the amount of sponge (or remove it all together) in order to eliminate some of the nitrates that can be caused by sponges...unless they are cleaned religiously every 3 days or so.

And do try to use some buffer...that should definitely help the pH situation.

Jesse
 
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nichols_scott

New Member
Thanks reefman23,

Yes the sponge that comes with the tank. There were two sponge filters that came with the tank. If I removed it the water flow would be slightly faster too. I will buy a small power head and suction it in the rear.

The tang and pigmy angel have been in the tank since I started it. The tang was very small when I first bought him. About the size of a quarter. He's grown a lot. He was in a smaller tank of mine for about a year 1/2. I've been taking care of it for about 2 1/2 years total in two seperate tanks.

Actually, I have a 55gallon freshwater tank with fish where the fish are over six years old. One fish is about 10 years old. The fish in that tank are really big now.

Also, I have three gorgonians in the tank. One of them has grown a new branch. The individual polyps are very small white flowers along the edge of the branches.
 
aromano

aromano

New Member
nichols_scott said:
The tang and pigmy angel have been in the tank since I started it. The tang was very small when I first bought him. About the size of a quarter. He's grown a lot. He was in a smaller tank of mine for about a year 1/2. I've been taking care of it for about 2 1/2 years total in two seperate tanks.
Click to expand...
You've had this tang confined in such small systems for over two years now... By know you should had figured that your system is not even close to the basic size requirement for tangs and angels.

A full grown mature yellow Tang will not survive in these conditions. The minimum for any tang is 55 gallons, even then it is pushing the limit, as the tank would have to have ample swimming space. Seriously Scott, if you care for your fish consider upgrading the aquarium to something like a 75 gallon, or i would suggest trading/selling the Yellow tang.

It's entirely your choice and by no means I am the tang police, but you should've known better about the specimen you're keeping after two years.

P.S. Same goes for the Pigmy angel. I suggest you do some reading about the basic requirements of the fish you're trying to keep.
Don't get me wrong, you have a very nice tank, just not the right size for the fish you have in there.
 
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nichols_scott

New Member
The tang's been confined longer then that. I've had it for over two years. I had it in a 10 gallon for about a year. I bought the tang about the size of a quarter. This size of tank is all it knows. I've compared his appearance to other tangs at the local fish stores and he looks healthier then them. It has large fins with no tears, and a very healthy color. The LPS tangs seem to always have ripped fins and are discolored not being a pure yellow through out.

I read the link. Thanks. It's actually a debate from reading the thread. Some reefers think its ok, but most do not. I personally think since I got the tang so small and that it seems happy that there are no problems other then the additional bio load.

Thanks for the compliment on the tank. Some corals are doing better then others. Suprisingly the SPS and Gorgornian are doing fine, and some of the soft corals (not really corals, colonial anemones) are struggling.

(Please look at the tank pictures again and notice how healthy the tang is, besides I own a 24g tank not a 12g. JBJ makes three tanks now).
 
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nichols_scott

New Member
I was thinking of getting rid of the pigmy angel because its been nipping at my button polyps some. The pigmy angel is a native of the florida keys. Its blue yellow and only about 1 1/2 inches long. Here's a picture of it from another site: http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:D ... pygmyangel

Here's what a fish dealer says about my fish, "Pigmy Angel (centropyse argi)
This Dwarf Angel goes perfect with any reef aquarium. An easy Angel to care for; it's a must for mini reefs or large reefs alike. This Angel gets only 3" max so it leaves plenty of room for other inhabitants."
 
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