Brand New 8 gallon bio cube

[Brew12]

OK I feel like I must admit something to you guys.
When I start an aquarium, I dump rocks and salt in the water(as wanted), 1 week after I start dosing vodka slowly raising it for a week then I ad things in there mainly the most sturdy inhabitants.
3 weeks after everything is in there and I have fish.
not a single test has been made.
In this process I do have
-skimmer
-weekly 10% water change
-food added incrementally
And I think that's pretty much it.
In my main aquarium I didnt do a water test for like 1 or 2 years except for salt and temperature....
i'm lazy , very lazy.
For me a cycle is waking up , feeding aquarium and going back to sleep.
I hope I raise many questions and people question my ways lol.
I know I should do tests and I do some for others on startup but in my overal experience ... No stress is given about those cycles, EVERY AQUARIUM will have some algaes problems , peaks in the denitrification process and the best way to deal with a problem , is to understand the SOURCE not the outcome.
here is my aquarium live
You can see the rumbles I added for my pistol shrimp to play around with, im a nice guy.

I don't see a problem with this, especially if you are using live rock and not dry rock.

You do touch on one of my other pet peeves... and that is algae. Why are reefers so against the stuff? I understand why we eradicate the stuff that we can't find critters to eat. Why worry about the rest? A healthy reef would be overrun with algae if you removed the algae eaters. Why wouldn't we want our tanks to go the same way?

I also never worry about ammonia in a tank with healthy algae. Most algaes process ammonia very efficiently.

 

[JoshH]

Vader is my favorite!

Vader is my wife's favorite too. Hmmmm

Heck I didn't know I had SO many fans!

Is that an extra bolt on tge carpet? Lol!

You noticed it too????

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I know I'm late to the party but I do want to address this. Trying to figure out if one "cycles" faster or slower is a completely wrong mindset. We use the term cycling because of the term "nitrogen cycle", it has nothing to do with something being started and then complete. It is an ongoing process. The rock maturing and reaching a chemical equilibrium is an ongoing process. Even the "ugly phase" is actually an ongoing process that we can repeat without taking precautions.

All other factors being equal, a nano will be ready for a pair of clownfish at the same time as a 180g system (unless you are relying on dilution from the 180g system to keep your fish safe).

I know all about repeating the ugly phase!!! Lol... it's easily corrected tho, at least in my case.

 

[anon9896]

I don't see a problem with this, especially if you are using live rock and not dry rock.

You do touch on one of my other pet peeves... and that is algae. Why are reefers so against the stuff? I understand why we eradicate the stuff that we can't find critters to eat. Why worry about the rest? A healthy reef would be overrun with algae if you removed the algae eaters. Why wouldn't we want our tanks to go the same way?

I also never worry about ammonia in a tank with healthy algae. Most algaes process ammonia very efficiently.

I'm 100% with you on that one , I control algaes by having some nice ones
look at this hidden large red algae ...
and this forest like side aquarium
I think it's pretty

 

[Brew12]

I know all about repeating the ugly phase!!! Lol... it's easily corrected tho, at least in my case.

Yup, easily corrected. Add H2O2, remove everything that died, reboot. ;Blackeye;Facepalm

I have come to see maintaining a reef tank as being all about balances. Figuring out what we need to balance, and how to accomplish it, is the challenge. The tanks let us know pretty quickly when we get out of wack and are much slower to let us know when we are heading the right direction.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Insert music from the Star Wars Canteen

The Empire music?

You do give off that darth vader vibe?

I'm WAY behind, but... Han shot first.

 

[Magellan]

@Brew12 thank you for exactly the detailed explanations I was looking for! I want to know “why” something happens, not just that it does.

This is my first time around the sun so to speak, but I’ve noticed at least 3 distinct “cycles” in my tank, in addition to it first completing the initial “ok ammonia is zero time for a clownfish”.

After a few months, the uglies calmed down and the algae went away (the first time!). Then I bought some reef roids. The algae came back for a while, covered my back wall completely. But died off on its own once the tank compensated and it used up the extra nutrients.

I started feeding phyto feast, same story but to a lesser degree. Took a while to settle down again.

started feeding oyster feast as well. this time around I kinda got the feeling i was feeding too much, and significantly decreased reef roids. Algae disappeared again.

if I were able to chart the amount of algae in my tank over time, it would look like a wave, and the peaks would correspond to any changes I have made in relation to nutrient import, with the troughs and ultimate flatline corresponding to balance.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Yup, easily corrected. Add H2O2, remove everything that died, reboot. ;Blackeye;Facepalm

I have come to see maintaining a reef tank as being all about balances. Figuring out what we need to balance, and how to accomplish it, is the challenge. The tanks let us know pretty quickly when we get out of wack and are much slower to let us know when we are heading the right direction.

I ignored signs of needing a water change for about 3 months. When I finally did one, the SPS was toast and my frogspawns had bailed out, but the rest of my LPS is so full and happy now. GHA that I didnt manually remove is melting and I have a little cyano to clean up in the next change but it was almost an overnight transformation.

 

[sfin52]

I'm WAY behind, but... Han shot first.

I hate the remake. Han shot before the bounty Hunter had a chance

 

[Lowell Lemon]

0145, officially done. Dash back together, coolant filled and burped, heat blowing out vents and no leaks.

Only a 13 hour job...

Now every time you shift gears the lights go out...but it is good enough for free!

 

[Magellan]

@sebaseau i like your style! Finally someone that tests even less than I do

I noticed this snail in the bottom left, does anyone have trouble keeping these alive? I added a variety of snails to my tank but this particular species has 4 deaths, and only 1 death from all other snail species combined.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I also have a sharp nose puffer. He's a sweet little guy but he likes to nip. Thinks every time hand goes in the tank there's food.

Is it just me or does your Clown need a bigger anemone?

 

[Magellan]

Is it just me or does your Clown need a bigger anemone?

LOLOLOLOL

 

[anon9896]

@sebaseau i like your style! Finally someone that tests even less than I do

I noticed this snail in the bottom left, does anyone have trouble keeping these alive? I added a variety of snails to my tank but this particular species has 4 deaths, and only 1 death from all other snail species combined.

banded trochus...
those are babys, or whats left of em anyway
I had many of em.
If you want to make them multiply, when the light goes down close the water pumps for 2-3 hours
then you will have more than plenty...
But like you said they kinda die off easyly it appears.
I think my pistol shrimp eats them , but it could also be becose of the high calcium and trace elements needed when they all started to grow up at the same time ... and the aquarium got unbalanced making them shells softer ... but one can only speculate

 

[Lowell Lemon]

If I recall correctly , it's the Nitrogen cycle wich is normally correctly used
NVM , I just read back and realized we say the same thing.
My english is only clever and unfortunately , we might never get the chance to debate in my main language lol

You must mean French! My mom's family traces back to Quebec...Lapointe or Audette...same family they just lived out on a pensula so some of the family adapted Lapointe. I barely speak or write English but it is the only language I can abuse!

 

[Magellan]

banded trochus...
those are babys, or whats left of em anyway
I had many of em.
If you want to make them multiply, when the light goes down close the water pumps for 2-3 hours
then you will have more than plenty...
But like you said they kinda die off easyly it appears.
I think my pistol shrimp eats them , but it could also be becose of the high calcium and trace elements needed when they all started to grow up at the same time ... and the aquarium got unbalanced making them shells softer ... but one can only speculate

Ahhhh that makes sense now. I recently began correcting my Ca, it had gotten way to low. I had been wondering if my boss hermit was killing them, but I’ve never seen him do anything except crawl over the top of their shells so that didn’t seem to be the reason.

 

[anon9896]

Ahhhh that makes sense now. I recently began correcting my Ca, it had gotten way to low. I had been wondering if my boss hermit was killing them, but I’ve never seen him do anything except crawl over the top of their shells so that didn’t seem to be the reason.

I dont think they fix the already done parts of their shells... and if something gets on their top ...
A hole up there makes it easyer to shot them down a little like a straw in a beer

 

[sfin52]

Is it just me or does your Clown need a bigger anemone?

It's not like the clown isn't feeding it. She's making sure it's going to get bigger

 

[Magellan]

I dont think they fix the already done parts of their shells... and if something gets on their top ...
A hole up there makes it easyer to shot them down a little like a straw in a beer

lol at that analogy!! I’ll have to remove a couple shells and examine them. If there aren’t any holes do you have any other theories? I don’t think I’m going to replace them, the other snails have grown quite large and I’m actually wondering if long term I have too much CUC.

 

[anon9896]

lol at that analogy!! I’ll have to remove a couple shells and examine them. If there aren’t any holes do you have any other theories? I don’t think I’m going to replace them, the other snails have grown quite large and I’m actually wondering if long term I have too much CUC.

I also think when there are many many snails , at one point they will regulate themselves by starving ... when an aquarium have more coraline , there are less places to have algaes... when algaes are dominant on the windows , that's where you can see those snails at night.
another thing hapenned to me as close as last week

Snail smoking ?

Ok this one is pretty explicit. 2 days ago I closed my fresh water supply pump. yesterday I come back home to a noisy skimmer pump becose water level was to low , (I think I saved the pump phew) This morning I found my water all smoked up. I can see small particules everywhere in the tank...

www.reef2reef.com

that LOL I gave a description about why I think it hapenned...
couple hours later it was all cleared out so if it hapens at night , I doubt one would notice.
I have no proof or belief that after that , that particular snail died... but again , that could be a possibility.
I know if I did that much ***/body ratio, I would be out of many nutriments and probably lose a couple 10s of pounds lol