Angela_96

With another child on the way money is tight to say the least, all of our extra is going to be spent on baby stuff, and on the house.

So with the standard lighting on the biocube, pH of 8.2, salinity 1.24, calcium 420ish (cant remember exact), phosphate <1, nitrates 5-10, ammonia -0-, nitrite -0-,
What can I do to get my coraline algae to really spread? Its finally getting little spots on the glass, back wall, heater, filter stuff, powerhead, some of my rocks but no where else.
I have purple up but I do n't like to dose chemicals in such a smallish tank.

Also, I will admit to no vaccuming at all, what would be the best way to get the sand cleaned up some? I am thinking of more critters, maybe sand digging snails? A star?

Also, how often should the bioballs in the filter be rinsed? I have had the minimal is best policy and it seems to be making super progress in my tank.

Lastly, I had a round spongie/brain coral looking pink mess on one of my rocks about 7 inches around and it was what I thought a skeleton whne I bought the rock, now 9 months after set up it has tenacles like my corals? Not very big but you can tell its alive. What could it be?

Angela_96

My next chance for an upgrade of any kind in the tank will be Christmas, I might be able to pawn my husband into a new nanocustoms top with super powered lights.

Mike

Keep your ph steady and calcium and alkalinity levels up where they need to be and it will grow.


Most seastars will do more harm than good. Snails may help a little, not as much as doing a quick vacuuming over the top layer of sand. Quickest and easiest way to keep the sand clean.

Don't need bioballs if you have live rock in the tank. If no live rock, rinse weekly in discarded tank water to keep nitrates limited.

Not sure without a pic.

harpua2002

I had a Biocube 8 for a good while, and I ended up replacing my Bioballs with live rock rubble while setting up the tank. Eventually, my nitrate hit 0 and stayed there. I've heard many accounts of bioballs leading to nitrate issues and they stuck with me while I was setting mine up.