Assistance

[Bulldogmommy]

Hello. I am new to the saltwater world and had a few questions I was hoping someone could help me with.
I just purchased a bio cube 32 and put in the sand, rock and water tonight.
Question 1-
Is it mandatory that my tank be plugged into a GFCI outlet?
Question 2-
Should I keep the lights off to the tank or turn them on?
Question 3-
What other equipment would be suggested to maintain a good tank? Ie: skimmer, Heater etc
Thank you so much for any and all advice you can provide.

 

[Sniperhank]

Question 1-
Is it mandatory that my tank be plugged into a GFCI outlet?
No. I haven't run any of my systems through GFCI, but I always ensure that there is a droop in any cords that water could trickle down so that water doesn't get anywhere near the plugs.
Question 2-
Should I keep the lights off to the tank or turn them on?
There isn't any reason to have the lights on while cycling your tank. It only leads to algae growth that will be feeding off of the nutrients you are using to cycle your tank.
Question 3-
What other equipment would be suggested to maintain a good tank? Ie: skimmer, Heater etc
You need a heater and powerheads. YOu'll want to aim for 10-20x turnover of the water column.

 

[dylanp]

upgrading the filtration and avoiding the protein skimmer they suggest for biocube. Mainly anything using an air stone. My biocube is smaller then yours but with the very limited space biocube gives for filtration I suggest just doing more water changes and forget the skimmer unless you want an outside hanging skimmer. In that case you'll have to cut a hole in the back. The filtration I did was a 3 chamber rack I got from a site called intank. It's just an acrylic rack that allows you to add live rock and macro algae along with what ever else you're using for filtration. It's not perfect but better than what ever your tank comes with. I'm currently re doing mine and drilling the back to put a refugium underneath

 

[Elude82]

I agree with Sniperhank.