A 14g BioCube plumbed into my main tank for rearing clowns…

[Mr Cob]

A small nano (14-24gallon) plumbed into my main tank for rearing clowns…?

Your thoughts?

[aquasport24]

Very interesting , planning to do the same with diffrent type of algae. So tagging along here..

[RayAllen]

Dont see why not, you would have the stable water parameters of you main display which would be perfect for their healthy growth.

[Mr Cob]

Dont see why not, you would have the stable water parameters of you main display which would be perfect for their healthy growth.

That's what I was thinking. My only concern was possibly the over feeding for the fry...but I guess if I skim wet it should not be a big deal for a 120gal system with another 40gallons of water in the sump/refugium.

I was trying to cheat the cost of doing a whole new system. A small system for rearing clowns with daily water changes does not appeal to me.

I know I will also have to keep the flow low and the overflow screen/meshed off too to keep the tiny fry from traveling.

[Mr Cob]

Ok, so I have a 14gallon Oceanic BioCube that I obtained in a trade. I still need two ballasts and a stand for it though.

I'm still planning on plumbing this thing to my main system but it may be more difficult than I thought because the thing is like a small shelter... "nothing gets in or out".

I'm thinking of drilling/cutting the back plastic out of the BioCube canopy and placing in a "mini overflow". I will not need the room for a skimmer or any filter media because it will be plumbed into the main display so I can use that room for an hob overflow.

Anyone know of a place that sells super small HOB Overflows... say 200-300GPH? (I may have to hit Ace up for a custom built one)

Anyone see any problems with this idea???

[txav8r]

Is the tank gl***** If not, why don't you just drill it? I may have a small hole saw here if you want to borrow it.

[Mr Cob]

Is the tank gl***** If not, why don't you just drill it? I may have a small hole saw here if you want to borrow it.

I'm having a hard time figuring out how this would work drilled considering the rear of the tank is also where the return pump goes for returning the water to the BioCube's main display. If it's drilled then the pump would run dry. This is a BioCUbe not a regular tank, so it has a back holding section that water passes through to be filtered.

[greatwhite@AlamoAquatics]

sounds cool im interested to see how you do this ,ill see if i can think of something to help you out . itll probably be easier if you take off the hood and hang a light and then put the overflow on the second compartment.. i have 5 biocubes and two of them dont have hoods i have mh hanging ..but i dont know what your plans are.. well good luck

[Texreefer]

For a grow out tank, i don't see a problem.. for the first month or so you will need a seperate system
1 how will you keep the salinity lower than the main tank
2 how will you regulate water flow? they need almost none. just to keep the water moving
3 you will want the tank warmer than the main tank?

[Mr Cob]

sounds cool im interested to see how you do this ,ill see if i can think of something to help you out . itll probably be easier if you take off the hood and hang a light and then put the overflow on the second compartment.. i have 5 biocubes and two of them dont have hoods i have mh hanging ..but i dont know what your plans are.. well good luck

I do have a 150w MH kit that I was originally going to use but my cieling is like 20 foot or something...so the canopy is a must. I also have cleaners once a month (they use organic products but I don't like the idea of my tanks being exposed). So...the canopy is a MUST.

I haven't found an overflow that will fit yet, and yes, the second compartment will be perfect for this but I'll have to cut out the back plastic. I may have to have the overflow custom built, though it would be nice to find one so I can just order it. My return line will go in the last compartment that returns to the BioCube's, and I'll cut a hole in the back plastic to feed the line through.

[Mr Cob]

GreatWhite, do you have sumps or refugiums running underneath any of your nanos?

[jc]

would it be better to use a drillable tank? what about a 10 or 15 gallon tank?

[Mr Cob]

would it be better to use a drillable tank? what about a 10 or 15 gallon tank?

Yes, it would probably be better to use a drillable tank, however...

... I already have a 14gallon BioCube and a low budget.

[Mr Cob]

For a grow out tank, i don't see a problem.. for the first month or so you will need a seperate system
1 how will you keep the salinity lower than the main tank
2 how will you regulate water flow? they need almost none. just to keep the water moving
3 you will want the tank warmer than the main tank?

I missed this post.

#1: I was hoping that they will be fine at 1.024??? I haven't read anywhere that they need much lower. (I thought I was supposed to match the main display which is partly why I wanted to plumb this tank with it)

#2: Good point! I guess I could cut the BioCube's return pump off, since I won't really need it. I'll utilize the rear chamber for the overflow and return. I will just keep the water level high enough to be part of the entire loop to the main display. The BioCube's built in overflow will be meshed off too.

#3: I thought 80-83 was warm enough? My main tank ranges from 79-83. I can keep it at 80-83 though which is what I do when I have eggs.

My other concern was that the tank would have 3 sides with light coming in plus the top... and I read that the fry need light coming only from the top as to not disorientate them. Any comments on this?

Thx for your help Mike.

[Texreefer]

I missed this post.

[quote=Mr Cob;641277]#1: I was hoping that they will be fine at 1.024??? I haven't read anywhere that they need much lower. (I thought I was supposed to match the main display which is partly why I wanted to plumb this tank with it)
Initially yes, Rotifers are cultured at much lower sg and can go into osmotic shock and die if the water they are cultured in is not close enough to the tank water, generally our reefs sg is too high so it must be lowered slowly on the second day to compensate for this.


#2: Good point! I guess I could cut the BioCube's return pump off, since I won't really need it. I'll utilize the rear chamber for the overflow and return. I will just keep the water level high enough to be part of the entire loop to the main display. The BioCube's built in overflow will be meshed off too.
That may work but you will probably still need an airline to provide enough oxygen

#3: I thought 80-83 was warm enough? My main tank ranges from 79-83. I can keep it at 80-83 though which is what I do when I have eggs.
thats a good temp but you don't want it to fluctuate that much it needs to stay more constant towards the higher end

My other concern was that the tank would have 3 sides with light coming in plus the top... and I read that the fry need light coming only from the top as to not disorientate them. Any comments on this?
Yes, this is true, early on this can blind them. I will cover all sides at first with light only from the top(very low light)


Thx for your help Mike.
no problem,
If you want to borrow my book on clownfishes. it details raising clownfish fry.

[Mr Cob]

Thanks Mike. What's the name of the book you have..I'll just pick one up online. Thank you.

Salinity (this is a problem)
Temp (3 degree change; 80-83)
Flow (problem solved)
Light (problem solved)

Temp:
I can take care of the flow and light and almost the temp. My temp range is 3 degrees because of my metal halides. I do not run a chiller or any fans so I'm going to experiment over the next week with closing the gap some by adding fans. I think I can get it down to a 2 degree range by adding some fans that kick on when the MH's come on.

Salinty:
But the salinity is the biggest problem it seems. I'm assuming that rotifers are cultured at 1.019sg? Could I transfer them to 1.021 water a day or two before they are fed to the clown fry? And at the same time i transfer them to the 1.021 water I drop my reef down to 1.023? To close the gap some?

[Gseclipse02]

. My temp range is 3 degrees because of my metal halides. I do not run a chiller or any fans so I'm going to experiment over the next week with closing the gap some by adding fans. I think I can get it down to a 2 degree range by adding some fans that kick on when the MH's come on.



? about this ... should the fans be pulling cool air in or pulling out the hot air ????

[Texreefer]

Clownfishes by Joyce D. Wilkerson

[Mr Cob]

should the fans be pulling cool air in or pulling out the hot air ????


I'm going to add two fans in the back of the canopy blowing air over the surface of the water. Saw Ping do this and he had very good results. I just can't find a fan this time of the year! Go figure, Wal-Mart said it's a seasonal item!

[na1paj]

I personally don't think it will work. I agree w/ Texreefer on the points.
here's an article I wrote on clownfish raising.
it has pics and videos, and pointers that are extremely important
http://www.dfwmas.org/NewsLetter/dfwmas_newsletter2008_02.pdf

and as for lighting, no lighting at all works best for me. They get plenty enough ambient lighting from surrounding sources.

another concern for me is the 14g. that's just way to big for 1 batch of clowns. unless you get about 1000 babies. we raised ours staring w/ 1 gallon. yes it does take a lot of work w/ the water changes, but what you won't be able to do with a 14 g is to keep the food dense enough.

if you do put enough rotifers in to the 14g to feed the babies, what you'll get is rotifer overpopulation due to lack of food source for them and them not getting eaten fast enough by the babies, and they'll crash in the 14gal, and kill all the babies. then if you try to put enough phyto in the 14g to sustain the rotifers, they'll populate even faster, and it'll also pollute the water faster. It's a tough balance (tank size vs. rotifer density vs. clown fry #s)

another problem you'll have with the mesh, is that it gets clogged, especially one so fine (since you'll have to get tiny mesh to prevent rotifers from being sucked up). and when the overflow gets clogged, well, you can imagine.
you'd have to constantly be washing the mesh, and that's a pain.

the best way is to have no flow, just a bubbler, in a tiny 1~3gal container. there just isn't a short cut around it, at least for the first few weeks. Then you can transfer them to your biocube when they're big enough and you don't have to worry about them, just feed them.

[Mr Cob]

Nice article Allen. Thanks for sharing, I appreciate your time replying as well as everyone else that has taken the time to reply.

There is no substitute for experience!

Thanks for raising the caution flag on several key points.

I don't give up easily so... I'm still not giving up on the idea and will see if I can come up with some remedies.