Water quality/lighting/bioload in biocube 14

[sharuq1]

I don't know where to put this question, so mods move it at your discretion. I have a small saltwater tank with frags:zoos, xenia & frogspawn, 2 clownfish, 3 astrea, 4 hermits and some other tiny things that came in on the LR such as tube worms. Clownfish are eating NLS without refusal so far, I think the frogspawn looks ok.

It is quite new, so have been doing weekly water changes (5g/change on a biocube 14--Is that an appropriate amount of water to be changing for this bioload?) and I am very worried about water quality as I would like to keep these new additions alive and healthy. Using prime to condition water changes, cycle, and also using some brine shrimp and some coralife invertebrate gumbo once a week into the clean water at change time.

Just bought the pom xenia/frogspawn/zoos yesterday and the green zoo is most definitely looking a whole lot less green. The xenia I am worried about as well. On a side track note-is clenching and unclenching a normal thing for xenia to be doing at night?

I am unsure of whether this is a true loss of color on their part (bleaching) or whether they just don't look as colorful in my tank due to lighting differences. Keeping a close eye on them to see if they look any different on a day to day basis. I am unsure whether this is due to the upset of moving them which would make sense-or the more worrisome issue of water quality. Tests look alright so far though.

Locals--Does anyone know if the red deer water quality is good enough for these things to thrive? I have been using the tap water. Keep in mind I have a very tight budget and I cannot at this time buy an RO/DI unit at the moment. (will consider for the future)
----->If the water is not good enough can you recommend the best place to buy water from in Red Deer?


**Lighting----have been hearing differing advice from people. With the type of lighting in the biocube 14 how long should actinics and 10k be on per day. I followed the advice of a LFS and they said 14 hours for actinic and 6-8 for 10k. Suggestions for types of corals that do well in this tank would also be appreciated.

**Bioload---Been hearing varying advice as to how much for this tank. LFS said it was alright to have quite a few corals and 4 fish?? My other half really wants a royal gramma and a tiny goby of some sort. I would like to accomodate him. (What is a small goby that has a good chance of living in this tank?) LFS said as long as I change water enough this would be possible--recommended a 50% change per week. I must say I am tempted.

[Doug]

Hi,
I will move this to the reef forum a for better response. I would suggest using ro water from the supermarket if an ro is not in the budget. I purchase mine here from the Co-op and its pretty good, although I think its just ro and not DI.

Hopefully someone local will suggest someplace local.

[sharuq1]

Hey mods could you please move this to the nano section?

[crusty1]

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74703
This seems like a good fish guide.
I would say that 5g a week may be a bit much of a waterchange at once. I am doing 3-4 water changes a week, each of a 2 liter bottle on my biocube 14. Not a big deal as I always have 70g of SW mixed up for my wifes 180g reef. I may increase the volume changes as I increase the bioload. I feel that doing smaller changes more frequently will keep the system more stable.
I am new to the nano-reefs and learning myself. Maybe someone else will chime up? What I have read so far is that it is very easy to overfeed a nano reef so I am being conservative on the feeding and watching for changes in the corals and water conditions.
Chris

[crusty1]

Another thing, if you read that fish guide link I sent you, it shows that Royal Grammas can be quite territorial, and best when kept in a smaller tank, to be on its own.
Chris

[krish]

Using prime to condition water changes, Cycle, and also using some brine shrimp and some coralife invertebrate gumbo once a week into the clean water at change time.
...On a side track note-is clenching and unclenching a normal thing for xenia to be doing at night?


I'm pretty sure most people (other than those at a lps) would say the cycle is unnecessary.

I would suggest feeding brine shrimp and gumbo before water changes, that way you're cleaning up any mess they create, i.e. left-overs.

Yes, the xenia should be pulsing - that's what makes them so cool!

I have the BC 29 and I think my frogspawn, placed near the top, is doing fine. I also have some mushrooms, green star polyps, xenia, and candy-canes that are doing really well. I just keep all the lights on for 10 - 12 hrs a day, but I think you're right in saying the actinics should be on longer than the 10k.

As for livestock, whatever you decide, be sure to add fish very slowly, e.g. one every few weeks.