A little help for a newbie with a 29g BioCube

[TheTodd]

I would take it back to the LFS. You can't really "keep an eye" on it. Its going to be alive one day and dead the next.

 

[TampaBC]

Todd, I think I'm with you on that .. What would you recommend I get that would be good for cleaning the sand? I have heard different ideas on this.. Thanks

 

[mr_X]

You really don't need anything to clean the sand once the "new tank uglies" are over. Just keep flow high enough that uneaten fish food and poop is suspended in the water column until it's been eaten or removed by your filtration.

 

[Crystal A]

Yup agree with Mr X on this one nothing really needed for the sand bed. It will grow its own micro fauna and become live over time. I added nassarius snails to stir the sand bed and keep it airated but they done actually clean it. They are carnivorus. I did have hundreds of them for a while till I added my pistol shrimp and goby pair. Now the pistol bulldozes his way around the tank and eats the snails in the process, and believe me when I say bulldoze I mean bulldoze! The pistols should come with their own back up beep for goodness sakes. I just tend to leave my sand alone and clean up any dead spots if needed with a vacuum during PWC but only if it needed.

 

[totalEnVy]

Good news and bad news for me. My marble star fish has died but I've finally trained my mandarin to eat brine shrimp. And my corals are looking fantastic!