New reef set up 29gal. bio cube

[bromsn18]

Hi everyone
I want to thank you in advance for your advice and help with this – want to do the best I can from the start and am a little OCD….so there will be many more questions to come.
I have a 29 gallon biocube – about five years old, it does not have the new fancy top I have seen – Hqi maybe? Anyways…
I do not have the tank here with me yet so bear with me if I ask some weird questions – will have it here next week to set up. First of all – do you suggest putting anything on the carpet under the tank stand? I have the black stand that was made for the tank. It is going on carpet in the basement, so concrete under that. Just wondering if I should put something there to protect the carpet and if so what or if I should just put it straight on. Do I need to worry about getting the tank level? If so how? Or will it weigh enough to take care of that?
It was prepped for storage by a professional aquarium service so it should be ready to fill, correct? Has been sitting dry for about four years.
Will have to see what supplies I have with it (heater, etc.). Will have so many more questions – if anyone has experience with this system please let me know. Am looking to do a reef set up.
Thank you!
Xposted at: 3reef, reefcentral, aquariumadvice, thereeftank (wasn’t sure which would be best to use)

 

[Animal-Chin]

Its important to have your biocube level because of the fitration system in the back. If it's not level you won't get enough flow going through the chambers in the back. Having the stand on carpet should be fine but it will dimple where the feet are. It should be ok to fill as long as it looks clean. Rinse it out well for sure and check the back, are the bioballs in there? If so they could have dead algae from 4 years ago, if you just fill it this will be in the water. Best to clean it anyway but don't use soap. If there is dead coraline algae on the back wall or glass (if it was a reef before) vinegar will disolve it in 24 hours. Just dump a bunch in and dilute it by filling up the cube. Turn the pump on and like the vinegar water circulate until the algae falls off.

 

[bromsn18]

Thank you I will be sure to get it as level as possible. What ratio of vinegar:water should I use? White vinegar? I will for sure let it run a day or two to get the tank really clean and to check for leaks at the same time. Will draining it, filling with fresh water and then draining again be good enough to then add salt water? I am not sure if any of the bio media is still with the tank...I planned on buying new anyway, just to start fresh. A little afraid to get into that....seems that so many people do big modifications to the filtration....is it true that the biocube filters are no good? I think it used to have that and then a bag of carbon and a bag of ceramic pieces and the sponge that comes with it....should I expect to need to change all of this? I do want to add a skimmer eventually.

 

[Krocky12]

There skimmers aren't to expensive mabey 50 dollars at the store and like 15 on eBay. They got a lot of good stuff on there for tanks