Questions on corals in a 29g Biocube

[BriGuy]

I have a fairly new (little over 2 months old) 29g Biocube setup and so far not to many issues. I do have a question on placement of some of my coral though and hope the nano community here can shed some light. Currently have the stock setup on the tank, lights and filter system, I did have an extra power head in there, but all the coral suffered regardless of where I had it placed so it has been removed. Below is a pic of the tank as it is today, I am just wondering about my placement of my coral.

Zoanthids= top, bottom or middle
Xenia= top, bottom or middle
Branching frog sprawn, top, bottom or middle
Hairy Mushrooms (at least that is what I think they are)= top, bottom or middle
Brain Coral (at least that is what I think they are)= top, bottom or middle
Unknown (cant recall what it is)= top, bottom or middle

The ones I am not sure on are listed as unknowns in the pic's.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
B

[BriGuy]

Needed a little more space for the pics.

[BriGuy]

Also another good question, one of my unknowns (the can't recall the name) is on a reef plug. How do I remove it from the plug to glue onto a rock? I know (or have read) that mushrooms you can cut at the base and glue them almost anywhere and they will come back. But this one I am not sure of.

[BioCube14]

those are tipically easy corals you under the PC lighting you can put them anywhere You may want to test your water perameters if they dont look so good. To get corals off the plugs u can just scrape off the glue holding it on with a small screwdriver or a razor blade. Good luck on the biocube!

[greatwhite@AlamoAquatics]

those are tipically easy corals you under the PC lighting you can put them anywhere You may want to test your water perameters if they dont look so good. To get corals off the plugs u can just scrape off the glue holding it on with a small screwdriver or a razor blade. Good luck on the biocube!

yeah all those guys can pretty much go anywhere in that tank ... welcome to reefing there's no turning back lol

[zcatzmeow]

Hi BriGuy :wave:

Way back in the day (January 2008 :lauging:) I started out with a 29 BioCube so we are automatically somehow bonded :D

I need to put a disclosure on any advice or ideas I share with you. I have not followed the pack. I've researched, googled for hours, asked questions, and then formulated my own plan. If you are new to aquarium keeping in general, follow the rules, if you've had your hands wet for some time now, don't be afraid to experiment. Certainly there are obvious do's and don'ts, but the rest is fuzzy gray and good results can come from many different regimes or aquascaping techniques.

I also tend to be verbose, so sorry :)

My experiences:

Zoanthids: Placement from sand level to right up to your tallest rock will do, if you can, experiment with the different colors you see dependent on where you place them. I've noticed my blues tend to do better towards the bottom. I've rearranged them several times to check for best color display. I have my bright colors in the middle and my darker palys love being towards the top

Xenia - Xenia either loves a tank or it hates it. I have not idea why. My xenia have grown at sand level, out of caves, and even attached to climb the back wall. They enjoy moderate flow, but not so much that they are whipping around. The blue xenia has had the most dramatic results to lighting. The higher the lighting and placement, the more blue they become. I have some very blue starting a climb up the back wall and I have a huge colony growing at a crazy rate placed mid level with a moderate amount of flow.

Frog Spawn - Mine loved being at sand level, in moderate light with a low flow.

Hairy mushrooms - Hmmm....I've only had one or two and they seemed to prefer more indirect lighting.

Brain coral - No idea, never had one! :) I've seen many on the sandbeds though.

Unknown - is there a pic of this? I will go back and check.

In my experience most frags on plugs have been superglued. Take some touch shears or small wire cutters to the base of the frag and usually the superglue and frag will pop right off.

Last advice, flow is good. I usually run a koralia nano or koralia one. The trick is to keep moving it about to where you are creating a nice turbulence but not irritating the corals. I've also started moving mine around the tank every so often to bring additional flow to all areas. Usually try not to aim at corals but sorta do a bank shot of the glass.

Let's see. I tweaked all the biocube chambers. First if you like the bio ball idea, take those out and replace with live rubble, much more efficient. Use one chamber to passively run some carbon in a filter sock, knead it once daily. And when you are ready, a powerhead upgrade would be a good idea. If you are having a problem with sediment, every couple days stir up the tank a little and place some filter floss in the overflow chamber. Discard when it becomes heavy with sediment.

Okay, that's all :) It's after 11pm so I might not make any sense at all, lol.

Good luck and keep asking questions.

[littlewrentx]

I have been folowing this thread because I have 2 29g cubes as well. I have to rinse the floss in the first changer once a week.