BioCube 16: Schitt’s Reef

[ZzyzxRiver]

Full tank shot! The pink zoas still need a home, but otherwise everything is secured where I plan on keeping it. I’ve done a lot of damage to most of the zoas, mans handling them and dropping them when trying to attach them, and they all look the worse for wear because of it. Hopefully they recover in the weeks to come!

Blue hypnea looks like crap, but I’m curious to see what happens. All other macros are doing great and showing visible growth.

I’m dosing too much phyto, it’s collecting on the glass a couple times a day. Time to pare that back.

Will I manage to go through the weekend without buying something? (No)

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Rebranding my build thread to reflect that everything in it is named after Schitt's Creek characters!

Named Residents
Clownfish: Johnny and Moira
Red Blenny: Stevie
Peppermint Shrimp: Twyla
Sexy Shrimp: Alexis (planning on getting two more of these, David and Patrick!)
Tiger Sand Conch: Roland
All the snails (2 cerith, 1 nassarius, 1 trochus): The Jazzagals

Unnamed Residents
Copepods
Medusa Worm (this weirdo deserves a name, though)
Asterina Star
A couple brittle stars
A cleaner shrimp that we don't like and are going to trade in at the LFS when we get a chance

Corals List
Zoa garden: AOI, Bambams, Mandarin Orange, Pink Zipper, Bella Donna, and one plug with two types I haven't managed to identify.
Pipe Organ
Green Star Polyp (Branching)
Blasto merletti
Duncan
Toadstool Leather
Neon green Rhodactis
Angular Sea Whip
Xenia

Macroalgae
Red Hex
String of Pearls
Blue Hypnea
Cactus Halimeda
Red Fern

Recent Updates and Photos
Today's testing parameters (I only have these test kits, will get more eventually!):
Tank Age: 61 days
Nitrates: 4.2
Specific Gravity: 1.025
Salinity: 33

We were aiming to make this tank a soft coral only tank, since we're beginners. Well, the universe/unscrupulous vendors at a local coral show nixed that idea! I asked for soft corals, and they sold me two LPS. They've acclimated quickly and I'm not particularly worried except for the fact that I'm awfully new to this hobby to be taking on corals at this difficulty level already.

FTS from right now:


Assorted other photos. Some things were moved around since I took them, but everything in the FTS above is the actual final location (we hope) for everything present.



Since the last update:
- I had a minor phyto bloom that has mostly worked itself out. I have corrected the amount that I'm going to dose going forward. We have also started growing hair algae, but every patch that I see disappears within a couple days, so I won't add to my CUC unless they aren't keeping up with it. I did adjust my brightest lighting schedule down an hour to slow down the growth until I'm sure it's under control.
- We managed to catch and kill a zoa-eating nudibranch, thankfully. A medusa worm took up residence and has been very interesting. We saw a spionid worm for a few days but it's disappeared. There are also several of what I think are digitate hydroids around, but I'm going to let that work itself out, they aren't out of control.
- I spotted our scooter blenny eating frozen mysis shrimp, which is a relief! It's been pecking at our rock nonstop, which is great that it's finding copepods, but I'm not sure they're going to be able to reproduce in enough quantity to feed the fish.
- My macro algae are growing SO WELL, especially the string of pearls and cactus halimeda. The red fern and red hex are growing ever so slowly, but they are clearly growing. The blue hypnea has been a bit fussy but I think we're back on the upswing. I credit them with my fantastic nitrate reading!
- I have lied and lied and lied every time I said "I'm not going to touch or change anything for a while to let things settle into place" so I'm not going to promise anything! I want two more sexy shrimp and I don't think I can resist ordering them for long.

Cheers and thanks to everyone who's following along!

 

[aztoza]

Why don’t you like the cleaner shrimp?

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Why don’t you like the cleaner shrimp?

You’ll think I’m crazy, but honestly I just don’t like his vibe. My tank is super relaxing for me to watch but the cleaner shrimp scurries around like a maniac and is always bugging my peppermint shrimp and trampling my zoas! So he’s gotta go- and my neighbor offered to take it for his tank at the office.

I added two more sexy shrimp yesterday so I could have a trio. THOSE shrimp have the vibe I’m after, haha.

Also added two more ceriths, an astraea, and a bumblebee snail. The ceriths knocked over a plug that I didn’t do a good job gluing down and the bumblebee is currently crawling all over the zoas which I take to mean they’re goners. Hopefully by the time I get in for repairs later today it’s not too late.

ALSO added a yellow watchman goby- the final fish I intend to have in the tank. Happy to report all the fish are getting along great!

My focus for the coming weeks:
1) Managing algae- I have hair algae and bryopsis popping up everywhere but the CUC is keeping it down successfully. Gonna continue to monitor that and make sure it doesn’t get out of control.
2) Copepods- I can’t see a single one but I see my scooter blenny poking at the rocks all day so they must be there? Anyway, I’m planning to restock after my macroalgae (especially the hypnea) have gotten big enough to provide good hiding spots.
3) Keep everyone alive.
4) Don’t buy anything (LOL yeah right).

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Just a little update for my own records today:
I have one spot in my tank where the algae has gotten long enough that I’m concerned the CUC might not get it. It’s around my pipe organs, and I’m worried they might get smothered. I do not have a steady enough hand to tear it out without spreading it throughout the tank, so I’m just gonna sit on it for now- the rest of the tank is managed.

I was finally able to make a direct observation of the copepods in my tank- all over my glass when I shone my phone flashlight on it! Super exciting to see that even with my blenny pecking at the rocks all day, I’ve managed to keep a reproducing population. I’ve also continued to see the anthopods on the GSP island.

I installed a rotating return to see if that helps get rid of my dead spots. Bonus perk of getting great surface agitation as well.

I may keep the cleaner shrimp- I still don’t care for it’s insane energy and habit of bothering my zoas, but it’s basically impossible for me to over feed mysis shrimp at this point- NOTHING gets left over with him around. If my zoas continue to grow new polyps (only one is at the moment, but maybe more soon?) he’ll get a pardon.

Spionid worms have popped up everywhere. Mostly visible on the back wall but if I look closely they are on the rock too. I kind of like them? It’s nice to have more diversity too. I’ll change what I’m doing if there’s a population explosion, but for now I’ll keep on.

Just noticed one of my rocks looks like it moved overnight somehow- pipe organ may have lost a new polyp or two . I’ll have to go feel it out, if the new position is more stable, then that’s fine. If not, I’ll try using putty.

Snails moved the plug my GSP was on- I thought it was secure in a little cavity on its island, but I guess not. On the plus side, the purple goo stuff (gotta look the word for that) is definitely in direct contact with the rock now, so hopefully I’ll see it spreading soon!

Macros are all doing well, but I need to get a paintbrush or something to dust off the ones in the substrate.

Pics later when the lights are on!

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Just realized why I had a rockslide! THIS guy dug himself a little burrow:

Ironically, the rock fell into a position where it fits like a puzzle piece against both rocks it touches, AND it wedged down onto the barely-secure pebble that the pipe organ is attached to. I think I may have lost one or two of the new polyps that it was growing, but there are others.

My gratitude to you, David the YWG! Schitt’s Reef is a safer place thanks to your work.

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Full tank shot from today! Made a few minor changes, like relocating the red hex algae (and taking a snip of it for a second location) to clear up room for whatever coral I decide to put where it used to be. I also added a spinstream return to create a more random flow pattern.

Had to pluck off some hair algae from the rock my pipe organs were on, and I rotated it and wedged it in a bit better- it was still a bit loose. It had three polyps when I got it, but 5 more little ones have popped out and I see even more budding. Feels like success!

A branch of my halimeda was fading for the last few days, and finally tumbled to the ground, leaving behind a little skeletal rubble. I figured I'd leave it there, I'd rather the calcium stay in the tank then be exported, and it'll eventually just turn over into the substrate. Adds character, anyway.

Not sharing a pic of it, but I caught my rhodactis pooping. Even though I know they're animals, it still surprises me when corals poop.

I realized that since nothing is stacked on top of it, there's no reason the rock I'm keeping my GSP on needs to be sunk deep into the substrate. I gained quite a bit of real estate this way. The string of pearls was blocking the snail path to the back corner of the tank. Within a couple minutes of me mucking about in the substrate and moving things around to open up space, the conch dug itself up from where it's been under the surface for two days, did a couple laps around the back of the tank, and returned to the front. So clearly that was a good idea! I gave some of the cuttings I took to my neighbor. It's cool to grow enough of something that you can share it around! It has also developed holdfasts onto the pebble it's tied to! Only took a few weeks.

Still not the world's biggest cleaner shrimp fan-- I don't like that he hogs the mysis shrimp as soon as I drop it in. But I realized that if I distract him with a piece of algae wafer before feeding, he's full by the time the mysis comes around. I'm still on the fence about keeping him, but he's truly doing a good job of keeping any meat laying around in the tank.

I haven't seen all three sexy shrimp at once in a few days. If they molt every 2-3 weeks, and they hide for a few days after molting, I'm probably always going to be having one in seclusion. I should get an understudy so there are 3 hanging out at all times, haha. I love these things!

I was having some trouble with one of the heads on the duncan--it was way shrunken and dark compared to the others, but it seemed to shake off whatever it was dealing with. The rest of the duncan looks super happy.

The angular sea whip has shed twice now. Not sure if this is a good sign or a bad sign? Otherwise the polyps are usually out.

Not a ton happening with the zoas. The pink zipper has produced two new polyps and one more is budding out right now. The bambams are maybe looking better since making flow changes, but I'm not sure. No new growth, just the same 8 heads I bought it with. The big colony frag with the tiny heads has recovered from the nudibranch attack/me accidentally gluing down half of them/it falling from the rock a dozen times. They are almost all open all the time. They might be placed too low-they are stretching out slightly-but not extremely. The AOIs have better color but they aren't anything like as good looking as I've seen in other people's pictures.

The blasto hasn't done a dang thing, but it hasn't died so that's a win? Same with the toadstool leather.

Oh! Almost forgot: had a big copepod boom, one day the water was super cloudy and I saw a jillion pods crawling all over the glass. I'm super happy that I've managed to keep them reproducing.

Till next time!

[note to self from later in the day today:
Salinity 35%, SP 1.026, nitrates 9]

 

[aztoza]

Full tank shot from today! Made a few minor changes, like relocating the red hex algae (and taking a snip of it for a second location) to clear up room for whatever coral I decide to put where it used to be. I also added a spinstream return to create a more random flow pattern.

Had to pluck off some hair algae from the rock my pipe organs were on, and I rotated it and wedged it in a bit better- it was still a bit loose. It had three polyps when I got it, but 5 more little ones have popped out and I see even more budding. Feels like success!

A branch of my halimeda was fading for the last few days, and finally tumbled to the ground, leaving behind a little skeletal rubble. I figured I'd leave it there, I'd rather the calcium stay in the tank then be exported, and it'll eventually just turn over into the substrate. Adds character, anyway.

Not sharing a pic of it, but I caught my rhodactis pooping. Even though I know they're animals, it still surprises me when corals poop.

I realized that since nothing is stacked on top of it, there's no reason the rock I'm keeping my GSP on needs to be sunk deep into the substrate. I gained quite a bit of real estate this way. The string of pearls was blocking the snail path to the back corner of the tank. Within a couple minutes of me mucking about in the substrate and moving things around to open up space, the conch dug itself up from where it's been under the surface for two days, did a couple laps around the back of the tank, and returned to the front. So clearly that was a good idea! I gave some of the cuttings I took to my neighbor. It's cool to grow enough of something that you can share it around! It has also developed holdfasts onto the pebble it's tied to! Only took a few weeks.

Still not the world's biggest cleaner shrimp fan-- I don't like that he hogs the mysis shrimp as soon as I drop it in. But I realized that if I distract him with a piece of algae wafer before feeding, he's full by the time the mysis comes around. I'm still on the fence about keeping him, but he's truly doing a good job of keeping any meat laying around in the tank.

I haven't seen all three sexy shrimp at once in a few days. If they molt every 2-3 weeks, and they hide for a few days after molting, I'm probably always going to be having one in seclusion. I should get an understudy so there are 3 hanging out at all times, haha. I love these things!

I was having some trouble with one of the heads on the duncan--it was way shrunken and dark compared to the others, but it seemed to shake off whatever it was dealing with. The rest of the duncan looks super happy.

The angular sea whip has shed twice now. Not sure if this is a good sign or a bad sign? Otherwise the polyps are usually out.

Not a ton happening with the zoas. The pink zipper has produced two new polyps and one more is budding out right now. The bambams are maybe looking better since making flow changes, but I'm not sure. No new growth, just the same 8 heads I bought it with. The big colony frag with the tiny heads has recovered from the nudibranch attack/me accidentally gluing down half of them/it falling from the rock a dozen times. They are almost all open all the time. They might be placed too low-they are stretching out slightly-but not extremely. The AOIs have better color but they aren't anything like as good looking as I've seen in other people's pictures.

The blasto hasn't done a dang thing, but it hasn't died so that's a win? Same with the toadstool leather.

Oh! Almost forgot: had a big copepod boom, one day the water was super cloudy and I saw a jillion pods crawling all over the glass. I'm super happy that I've managed to keep them reproducing.

Till next time!

I’ll bet the scooter was happy with that pod bloom! I think the rock actually looks great with a little algae on it—not dirty looking just alive looking.

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

I’ll bet the scooter was happy with that pod bloom! I think the rock actually looks great with a little algae on it—not dirty looking just alive looking.

Alexis the scooter has very visibly fattened up since she joined the team- she’s pecking at the rock alllllll day long. Even the clowns were eating up the pods on the glass. Super satisfying to see.

Yeah, the nuisance algae isn’t too much of a nuisance. The astraea snail is absolutely earning its keep on the back wall and glass. The cerith and trochus don’t get every last hair of the hair algae, but I would still categorize it as under control. The sand is super clean- enough that I worry about the conch and the nassarius snail a little. Probably don’t need any more cleanup crew until the fish get bigger!

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Perhaps the most eventful day this tank has ever experienced.

I woke up to find a cerith snail had knocked over a zoa frag that I thought I had glued down. Annoying. In the process of looking it over, I see this:



Bubble algae! Noooooooo. And then I see this:



Sea lettuce I didn't ask for! Nooooo. And then I see this:



A bambam polyp looks like it's going to split in two! Not how I thought it worked! AND THEN:


This dummy cerith snail has to lay its eggs SO CLOSE to these zoas that one of them actually detaches from the frag plate. We relocated the snail mid-laying to prevent any further damage (and the zoa reattached pretty quickly somehow?) I'm curious if any of those eggs will make it through all the intermediary stages before becoming baby snails! Will report back on what happens with these eggs and any others that may be coming.

Back to bubbles: the advice I got was to just pull it out, but I am incredibly clumsy and would absolutely pop the bubbles and/or damage a coral somehow, so I made a quick run to the LFS to get an emerald crab.



She immediately heads to my halimeda and starts picking at it. WRONG ALGAE, friend (Named her Ronnie). After scaring it towards the rock with tweezers, though, I realized that she might be eating the algae that's growing on top of the halimeda, not the halimeda itself. But! Go to the dang bubble algae, that's what we hired you for!

But, happy ending:


Alexis and David were hanging out next to each other for quite a while! Just perched side by side, probably judging the idiot on the other side of the glass.

The drama continues!

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

I think is the longest stretch I’ve gone without buying anything!

Today’s FTS:


Nitrates are at 12.5 after I stirred things while cleaning scum off the glass at the sand line, and also blew detritus off the rocks. The interior crevices collect a LOT of snail poo somehow? So the water got pumped full of particulate matter and everyone seemed mad for a couple hours.

The emerald crab has moved so little that the only way I’m still sure it’s alive is that it moves its little tongue around. I don’t know how long I should wait before taking it back to the LFS and asking for a different one.

My blasto was looking extremely puffy, which indicated to me it had too much light. I moved it to where the Rhodactis frag was and it looks normal now. Not sure where to put the mushroom now, though.

I continue to have hair algae, but the rate of increase is incredibly slow- I’m not sure my manual intervention is called for at this point. After 5 days my bubble algae count has increased from 2 to 3 (worthless crab). I will try to manually remove during the next water change since I can’t count on this crab to do it.

Snail poop in such quantities I can’t believe it. At least I have evidence that they’re doing something.

Assorted additional shots:

 

[shcrimps]

crazy how macro in the display or as the display itself is a foreign concept to a lot of people here
i really thought it was more common???
i do it all the time

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

crazy how macro in the display or as the display itself is a foreign concept to a lot of people here
i really thought it was more common???
i do it all the time

It’s come with its own issues—I’m still in the early days so some of my nuisance algae has been growing on top of my macros, but on the flip side I think I have had SO MUCH LESS nuisance algae because of the competition from the macros. A week after first adding them my nitrates went down by 20.

And they’re beautiful! And the copepods like them! I totally agree that I think people are missing out when they don’t include them in their tanks. At the very least do red hex, it looks so much like a coral on its own.

 

[NeedAReef]

stick some rubble in the first back chamber, little tiny pieces, the pods will grow there away from your scooter and eventually wind up in the tank

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

stick some rubble in the first back chamber, little tiny pieces, the pods will grow there away from your scooter and eventually wind up in the tank

I’ve had a few times now where I’ve seen them reproducing, so I think I have enough safe spots for them in the DT, but not a bad idea since there’s nothing else going on back there anyway (and I have a little baggie of rubble doing nothing in my fish supply Tupperware)! My scooter is getting FAT, I see it pecking away all day and growing faster than my other three fish.

 

[lil sumpin]

I dont think the copepods will be able to ever produce a substantial enough population to feed that scooter dragonet in your tank. There are 3 other fish that'll indirectly compete for and consume them. If you're planning on keeping the red scooter dragonet long term you should probably buy copepods every week or culture them. Those fish are better suited in established tanks with a lot of rock work with lots of copepods in every nook. Dragonets are voracious and need to be able to graze on pods all the time

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

I dont think the copepods will be able to ever produce a substantial enough population to feed that scooter dragonet in your tank. There are 3 other fish that'll indirectly compete for and consume them. If you're planning on keeping the red scooter dragonet long term you should probably buy copepods every week or culture them. Those fish are better suited in established tanks with a lot of rock work with lots of copepods in every nook. Dragonets are voracious and need to be able to graze on pods all the time

Maybe the reason it’s working out is because he’s also eating frozen mysis? I turn off the pumps when I feed and anything that floats down by wherever he is he gobbles up before continuing the copepod hunt.

 

[aztoza]

I think is the longest stretch I’ve gone without buying anything!

Today’s FTS:


Nitrates are at 12.5 after I stirred things while cleaning scum off the glass at the sand line, and also blew detritus off the rocks. The interior crevices collect a LOT of snail poo somehow? So the water got pumped full of particulate matter and everyone seemed mad for a couple hours.

The emerald crab has moved so little that the only way I’m still sure it’s alive is that it moves its little tongue around. I don’t know how long I should wait before taking it back to the LFS and asking for a different one.

My blasto was looking extremely puffy, which indicated to me it had too much light. I moved it to where the Rhodactis frag was and it looks normal now. Not sure where to put the mushroom now, though.

I continue to have hair algae, but the rate of increase is incredibly slow- I’m not sure my manual intervention is called for at this point. After 5 days my bubble algae count has increased from 2 to 3 (worthless crab). I will try to manually remove during the next water change since I can’t count on this crab to do it.

Snail poop in such quantities I can’t believe it. At least I have evidence that they’re doing something.

Assorted additional shots:

Looks amazing! Glad the scooter is so happy, it’s such a relief to see fish like that eating well and eating frozen! Should probably get more pods for mine too, I don’t see any in there and he is not fat…Maybe the emerald has such a good food source it doesn’t need to move? Super frustrating tho. Is the shrimp growing on you at all?

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Looks amazing! Glad the scooter is so happy, it’s such a relief to see fish like that eating well and eating frozen! Should probably get more pods for mine too, I don’t see any in there and he is not fat…Maybe the emerald has such a good food source it doesn’t need to move? Super frustrating tho. Is the shrimp growing on you at all?

The emerald crab did finally move: onto its back and then into the trash can. I have had very bad results with livestock at the LFS I got it from, so I’m not going there anymore.


The cleaner shrimp has grown on me. After a couple weeks in the tank it stopped being so manic and antagonizing everything. More importantly, it’s one of my son’s favorite critters to watch (along with the conch)—so now it’s one of mine!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

The emerald crab did finally move: onto its back and then into the trash can. I have had very bad results with livestock at the LFS I got it from, so I’m not going there anymore.


The cleaner shrimp has grown on me. After a couple weeks in the tank it stopped being so manic and antagonizing everything. More importantly, it’s one of my son’s favorite critters to watch (along with the conch)—so now it’s one of mine!

Similar situation with my LFS! Few months back I bought three snails from them and only 1 of them lived past a day in my tank. One was doa, and the other died the following day of me putting it in my tank.