New 29G BioCube!

[nata_cheer]

I've been doing freshwater tanks for a while now and decided a saltwater tank will be a great challenge to start. I've heard great things about the hobby and how it's much better than FW so I wanted to give it a shot. I started cycling my tank yesterday, and I found two little corals (a zoa and mushroom)!! I was hoping to do a FOWLR tank but I changed my mind! Those Tini-Tiny corals really got me into the idea of corals. As my LFS doesn't really know a lot about corals, I'm relying on this, and research! I mainly made this thread to show people how my build is going, and if when I encounter problems, I get some good advice! Feel free to leave in any comments and help as this is my first saltwater tank! Here's what I have as my landscape: I am going to add rocks, so don't be afraid of my lack of rocks?


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[bstorer]

I just got my Biocube 29. Going to be setting up very soon!

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[nata_cheer]

I just got my Biocube 29. Going to be setting up very soon!

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Great!!! Mine has been cycling ever since and it's really cool to watch!


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[nanoreefz]

Welcome to the salty side!! I'm a big fan of biocubes. Great starter tanks and the mods you can do are endless to make it a great all in one tank! I love my 14!


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[nata_cheer]

Welcome to the salty side!! I'm a big fan of biocubes. Great starter tanks and the mods you can do are endless to make it a great all in one tank! I love my 14!


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Thanks nano!! I love your tank! If you were to tune into my thread and help out as I start in the hobby, it would be great. I have lots of questions coming up! I feel it haha. I won't be posting anything much this week, but next week after my finals, I will be running around town in the LFSs lol.


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[nanoreefz]

Believe me I will definitely be tuning in here and am here for advice as well! I wish I had a 29 instead of the 14 sometimes lol, so much more room!


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[chefbill]

LOL I have a Biocube 29g and am working on putting together a 40b. I do like the Biocubes though, and their customer service is amazing.

 

[nata_cheer]

LOL I have a Biocube 29g and am working on putting together a 40b. I do like the Biocubes though, and their customer service is amazing.

Looks really nice! What fish do you have in there? I'm pretty confident that my cycle is done with no spikes this past week and a half, so tomorrow I'm getting my first fish! Staying a little basic, and getting a clown.


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[nata_cheer]

How do you guys feel about scarlet hermits? I've heard some good things, but a lot of people say that you can never really trust them with a reef.


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[chefbill]

I have a pink spotted watchman, 2 clowns, a chalk basslet and a rainfordii goby. And I prefer snails to crabs in general.

 

[exmasonite]

Nata-

Congrats on the tank! I am 2 months into my biocube 29. Have been out of saltwater game for 4-5 years so it's like learning to walk again.

Only quick observation: I would get your rock in there ASAP. The whole goal of the cycle is to establish the beneficial bacteria which lives in the rock and sand. I have about 35 lbs in my biocube and cycled with the rock on board. Otherwise, you may have to re-cycle after adding rock.

Hopefully other smarter people will chime in.

I went with the InTank media basket and refugium basket along with a protein skimmer instead of the bio balls. My tank is going great... just added 4th fish. Probably have a couple months to further establish before adding any corals.

 

[nata_cheer]

Nata-

Congrats on the tank! I am 2 months into my biocube 29. Have been out of saltwater game for 4-5 years so it's like learning to walk again.

Only quick observation: I would get your rock in there ASAP. The whole goal of the cycle is to establish the beneficial bacteria which lives in the rock and sand. I have about 35 lbs in my biocube and cycled with the rock on board. Otherwise, you may have to re-cycle after adding rock.

Hopefully other smarter people will chime in.

I went with the InTank media basket and refugium basket along with a protein skimmer instead of the bio balls. My tank is going great... just added 4th fish. Probably have a couple months to further establish before adding any corals.

Don't worry about the rocks!! I added them the next day! Lol it's been only about 5 weeks but so far I've been told that my water was cycled for a while, but I'm still taking it slow. I have a clean up crew of about 5 astrea snails, Mexican turbo snail, 2 nassarius snails and 2 hermies that were hitch hikers and I plan on bringing them back to the LFS. I modified my filter with 2 eshopp sump sponges with a micro fiber sponge of top and then it goes to a mix of seachem matrix media and seachem carbon to a little pack of the seachem purigen. It's working well but I need to get rid of all of my micro bubbles. My LFS gave me a little frag of some zoas to see how they go and for about a week they have been doing really good. I might consider adding a fish soon. I have 6 fish that I have researches and am going to chose 4. My idea was a percula clown, diamond prawn goby, yellow prawn goby, Cardinal fish, royal gramma or long nose hawkfish. If you can, any insight on my selection would help a lot!!!


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[nata_cheer]

And an update to one of my warier pair on the 27 of dec., I didn't get the clown, I got my two nassarius snails.


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[bstorer]

Just waiting for the sand to clear in this picture. Took about 6 hours to clear up.

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[nata_cheer]

Pretty cool! I have some questions about water changes. I've heard by my LFS that I just need to replace my water with rodi when doing a wc but I keep hearing that I need to put a saltmix in there with it before I put it in the tank.


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[exmasonite]

Typically, you will want to top off your tank with straight RO water to compensate for evaporation (water evaporates but the salt stays in the tank). Using a refractometer to keep an eye on this is key. You can get some mild salt loss through evaporation (that white film/crust that develops on underside of lid) so occasionally you have to add salt water.

When doing water changes, you take out salt water/tank water so you need to replace it with the equivalent, salt water, to maintain your salinity, typically around 1.024-1.026

Hope that helps!!

As far as water changes... I tend to do 2.5 gallons a week. Makes it easy in that i mix up 5 gallons and that makes 2 water changes.

 

[nata_cheer]

Thanks!!! Thank god that's pretty much what I've been doing. Sometimes it's hard to tell if something is an opinion or fact. Anyways, I've seen these little greenish yellowish slug looking things over my glass. They appear and disappear, and I finally could take a picture of one. I also have loads of these little white round things with hairs sticking out of the top. Some sort of sponges? Or worm? They grow very quickly. are any of these harmful???? If so, how should I get them out.


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[nata_cheer]

Well.... Today, I got some pulsing Xenia. In the store they looked beautiful. In the bag they looked "ehh" and in the tank... They look... are they dead? dying? Or just closed??? Please help. Super nervous.


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[Sniperhank]

Looks like xenia stressed out from being moved to me. Not dead...dead will look like melted candles or pudding.

 

[nata_cheer]

Thanks. I'm so upset about it!


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