new to this all

[jredmon74]

I am new to sw and would like to get started i am looking at a oceanic bio cube 29 gallon tank. I have been researching on this tank so far i see to get rid of the bio balls and put LR in it. I am wanting to set-up a reef tank and have seen that the protien skimmer for that tank is not worth to much any recomadations on that? I plan on getting the tank, salt, LR, and substrate this weekend and have read how to cycle the tank with the raw shrimp. I see its a long process. Is there any process I am missing so far.

 

[iDream]

good idea on looking into an all in one tank, seems to make it easier to get into the hobby with somewhat lower maintenance and confusion of buying equipment seperately.

you shouldnt need a protein skimmer on a tank that small at all as long as you keep up with maintenance, the bioball for LR rubble swap is a good idea as well. and good for you going the fishless cycling route! its the most humane way to cycle a tank, and trust me, cycling with fish isnt any faster, if dont correctly both take ~3-4 weeks.

everything in the beginning looks good, the only thing i recommend is to get sand and not crushed coral or gravel and to put your LR in first so it sits on the actual bottom of the tank

oh and be sure to post plenty of pictures as you go along! welcome to AA!

 

[N83259]

I just rec'd my Red Sea Max 250L(65 gal) today and am no SW expert. But I did research all the others like Oceanic, JBJ & RSM. All are good IMO & according to reviews. My LFS owner says the Oceanic skimmer is OK. I saw the negative Oceanic skimmer posts too but suspect newbies who had nothing to skim or didn't adjust/observe/repeat.

Red Sea makes a 35 gallon that is excellent, but costs more. The PS is for real.

Unless you have a LR curing set up ready to go, you may want to hold off on the LR this weekend. Set everything up, observe, test & go from there.

Good luck. Hoping you post details of your adventure! N83259

 

[jredmon74]

any considerations on a type of live sand?

 

[austinsdad]

Don't do live sand. It really isn't live in a sealed bag on the shelf, believe me. Dry, aragonite sand rinsed well will do.

 

[jredmon74]

just marine sand rinsed and dried thourghly

 

[mr_X]

there aren't any good skimmers for nano tanks. just do regular water changes and save the money for corals.
add the live rock immediately, not later. you will want the live rock( surface area) in the tank when the tank is cycling.

 

[N83259]

I'm a SW newbie w/o much hands on skimmer knowlege. But I saw a mature Oceanic bio cube w/ skimmer first hand. It had some funky stuff in there so I must assume it was doing something. LFS owner said OK but not great. He advised careful, low bio loads & water changes as you (Mr X) did w/ this product. I did want a really effective PS plus a bigger tank so bought something else. But all in all, the Oceanic looked pretty good for the price. And I can't remember exactly but their PS was really inexpensive. I'm not recommending it per se just telling you what I saw & was told.

 

[mr_X]

yeah..i know..i've seen them.it's very hard to make a skimmer that functions really well and is very small( non-obtrusive). i feel you can do just as good a job without the obtrusive skimmer on a tank under 30 gallons.
no offense meant.

 

[jredmon74]

i found the oceanic skimmer online for like 20 dollars and even though it probably aint that good still has to do some good but even with it i am gonna do the water changes and keep it clean. but for the price i figured it couldnt hurt.

 

[Gti_Leo]

i believe any extra filtering is always a good thing.
i have an oceanic skimmer as well it does collect junk in the water, but it does take up some space in the top corner which is the main reason why people say not to

 

[jredmon74]

does anybody have any considerations on type of sand to get what there favorite brands are and how to rinse it?

 

[mr_X]

here's how i rinsed mine-

any dry aragonite based sand will do. i like something slightly larger than sugar sized.

 

[jredmon74]

would it hurt to mix the color like reg sand with black sand and how did u strain the water out of the bucket with out loosing most of the sand. how deep do u need for a small fish like a jaw fish that likes to burrow? thanks for all the help to far guys.

 

[mr_X]

i just kept pouring out the water when it was full until the sand almost came out. i did this over and over again till it stopped looking like a bucket of skim milk.
i then dumped what i could out and the sand i pulled out with that fish net you see in the sink.

i believe jawfish require at least 3".

it won't hurt to mix sand.

 

[N83259]

MR X, did you do the rinse w/ SW, RO water? Do you think it's OK to rinse w/ mineralized fresh water from a well? Even though it's a small amount of water , do you think it would add contaminants to a new start up tank? Thanks N83259

 

[mr_X]

na..i didn't rinse it, but then again, i was pouring it into a 200+- gallon system.
i would guess that it won't matter to rinse the sand with well water.

 

[jredmon74]

I got my sand and most of my lr in the rock had some small creatures in it a few star fish and a hermit crab and some tiny snails still alittle cloudy from the sand but so far i have 29lbs of rock in a 29gallon cube waiting to see what happens now

 

[mr_X]

cool. you are on your way.
btw, i would remove that algae from the rock. it might be one of the more invasive species and give you nothing but grief down the road.

 

[jredmon74]

the purple algea