VORTEIL'S NANO-CUBE 6

[Vorteil]

Let me start by saying this forum has been very informative and useful. I've been reading on all the post as much as possible. I've been through the ups & downs in setting a tank up and maintaining it. Had I known about this forum when I started I would not have made some of the mistakes I made. It took approximately 5 months or so till the tank was stabilized. By this I mean the hair and brown slime algae was under control.
When I first introduced the Opae I released around 100 into the tank. Almost all had decided to retreat to the rear of the tank where the filtration is located. Because of this if I had to start all over I would not choose a tank like this. I would go with an open tank. Some days there all out and some days they aren't.

Started December 20th 2016
Tank: Nano Cube 6 Gallons/23L. The back of the cube is gutted and replaced with lava rock and a small sponge filter.
Salinity 1.013
Temperature: Varies 76F-86F The tank is housed in the garage. In the summer when it's hot the temperature reaches 86. Fall & winter should be stable at 76 with a heater.
Diet: Supplemental feedings of pure Hawaiian spirulina every week at most. Used to be more but I've cut down.
Dried guava leaves
Population. Approximately 200 Opae Ula
Cleaning Crew: (8) Nerite + Trumpet Snails. Not sure how many as the population seems to have exploded. I see a lot of baby snails throughout the tank.
Filtration: Sponge filter in the rear of the tank. I originally started with two. Took the front one out and left the air tubing in the front. Very low air.

Supershrimp Macroalgae. I only use this one from Mustafa. I originally bought some in the early stages which did well and then got rid of it. Decided that I wanted it again and didn't realize that not all Chaetomorpha sp. can survive in brackish water. The one I used the second time around did not survive and died off in less then a week. It was meant for salt water. So I went back to Mustafa and purchased his again. It's growing very well. I truly believe that this has help with keeping the hair algae in check. I also had a brown slimy algae that would grow fast & would have to pull it out of the tank every few days.

Real Ocean salt mix + distilled water. I mix it myself. I used to buy the salt water from my LFS and mix it with drinking water but I believe I had issue with the water quality by doing this.

Berried females spotted May 21, 2017.

Jan 12, 2017

Feb 27, 2017
Algae was getting out of control. Very thick and was pulling it out by hand every week.

April 12, 2017
Lots of hair algae. If you look close you can see the brown algae especially on the bottom right.

May 31, 2017

June 26, 2017

July 4, 2017

July 18, 2017

I now feel the tank is very stable. I had also started a 3 gallon back in May. I post that one up too. For that tank I basically just set it and let it runs it's course. It's turned out better so far with no green hair algae or brown slime. Like Mustafa says just set it up, be patient and let the tank run its course.

[Vorteil]

[Varanus]

I'm glad your tank has stabilized, but I'd bet it would stabilize even more if you spread out the feedings to every three weeks or even once a month. Once a week just seems way too often and may have contributed to your problems. Arguably as long as you have visible algae growing on the sides of the tank you shouldn't need to feed at all.

[Vorteil]

I agree 100%. I have a 3 gallon that I started in May. No filter and only fed on the start up. I spotted 2 berried females on July 3rd. I only went off information I found from Fuku Bonsai in the beginning up to a couple of months ago. Now I have more information/knowledge. Also Fuku Bonsai also fed a small amount as well. This is a company I believe that started it all.

Per Fuku Bonsai
"Although the powder spirulina is not easily soluble, if excessive amounts are given, it will pollute the water and the system will crash. Keep a "no-food" day after each feeding day. Feed only the amount that can be eaten in one to two hours. If not fully eaten, consider skipping an extra day, and at the next feeding, feed less. This will assure high water quality and happy, healthy Micro-Lobsters! If you are going on vacation for two to three weeks, it is not necessary to have someone feed them while you're gone as there is sufficient seeded algae and edible bacteria within the tank.

After extensive research and trials, we recommend and make available 100% pure chill-dried spirulina microalgae powder. This is a premium item and not to be confused with "Spirulina Flake Fish Food" which actually contains only a tiny percentage of spirulina. This is full-sun high-nutrient microalgae that has a lot more energy than the algae that grows on the Micro-Lobster tanks which are usually kept indoors in lower light".

[Vorteil]

Let me also mention that I believe that the original spirulina I used had the following in it which contributed to the poor water quality and excess nutrients.

Ingredients: Fish Meal, Shrimp Meal, Kelp, Spirulina, Krill, Pea Flour, Fish Oil

What I use now is 100% pure chill-dried spirulina microalgae powder

[Mustafa]

Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your experiences and pictures!

Just two things to add for now...I would remove all the leaves from the tank. As opposed to freshwater shrimp tanks leaves really don't help with anything at all and can actually be detrimental as Supershrimp don't like things like tannins and other organics in the water. That's just my personal experience from one of my trials.

Also, don't worry about feeding spirulina..pure or not. They don't need it. Any kind of quality fish food will do. What's most important is to not feed too much. What caused your algae problem was probably a combination of feeding too much/too often and using what appears to be live rock (which comes with lots of organics in it that release nutrients into the water). If I were you I would simply stop feeding until you see a significant reduction in algae. And yes, the macroalgae definitely contributes towards fighting hair algae! In your pics it basically tripled in size in less than a month!

[Vorteil]

Ok so i'll remove the leaves. In order to avoid the tannins I boiled for a long time. I thought it would help but I will go by your advice.

I would be more than happy not to feed if I don't have to. If there's enough algae in this tank that will support the Opae then I won't feed. One thing that I forgot to mention that I figured out after reading the forums here was the Caribe Sea Live Sand. No idea how old it was and all the live bacteria was probably dead and decaying. The live rock should have been cured and it seemed like everything was dead on it.When I set up my 3 gallon Cuby I had thoroughly washed the sand & have not had the excess algae in it.

I feel the macroalgae is a must have. It's grown tremendously since I received it. This has been a learning experience. All the info & input from everyone on this forum helps.

[Vorteil]

I took out the leaves as Mustafa suggested. I have also stopped feeding the tank.

[AnotherKevin]

I like that wall of rocks. Looks like a perfect habitat for them.

[Vorteil]

Thank you. Here's some additional pics of the live rock that the opae are always grazing on.

[Mustafa]

Thanks for the pics again! How's the tank now? Still not feeding?

[Vorteil]

I feel there's enough in there so I'm not feeding. It's getting better.

[MrsT]

Beautiful tank Vorteil. Is that a blue shrimp or light reflection?

[Vorteil]

Thanks. Just the light reflection. Wish the shrimp was blue. The tank's doing great. The cheato is staring to get to be a little too much. I'll trim it down soon. I probably have a dozen or so baby opae floating around at this time.

[MrsT]

Thanks. Just the light reflection. Wish the shrimp was blue. The tank's doing great. The cheato is staring to get to be a little too much. I'll trim it down soon. I probably have a dozen or so baby opae floating around at this time.

I see. I thought oh wow a beautiful blue haha. You might want to be careful trimming chaeto, there might be babies hiding in there