(New To Fishkeeping)New Biocube 29g

[Katy410]

Hi! I apologize for my multiple past posts on this topic, but for Christmas, I finally got my very first tank! First of all, it is a Coralife Biocube 29 gallon which will be saltwater. This is my first tank, and if I can't maintain the saltwater setup, it will become fresh. Anyway, no offense to the freshies, but personally, if I am going to take part in the Fishkeeping hobby, I'm going to pay an extra couple of bucks(metaphorically. I am aware saltwater aquariums cost a lot more to maintain) and do it right. Today, I decided to do some research on aquarium maintaining, I realized that there is so much I don't know! The sumps, skimmers, filters, it's mind boggling! My first request is a review of saltwater reef maintenance, primarily for the Coralife 29G BioCube. Also, for this tank, would I need a heater? I was told that I would not, because the lights are VERY strong, but I would like some feedback.

Next, stocking fish! My current plan is possibly a yellow banded possum wrasse, two Ocellaris clowns, a hippo tang, and (possibly) a sort of Pygmy angelfish? I'm pretty sure that's way too overstocked, but the angel is give-or-take. I am pretty sure that everything is reef safe and compatible, but I was planning on doing most of my life stock research over the cycling period.

 

[All_fish]

Do not get a hippo/blue tang. They can get to be 1'3" and needs a 90 gallon aquarium or larger. I would look out because the "tang police" are coming. Otherwise the angel could work. Maybe a coral beauty.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

How much water is in the display of those? I thought it was 20 gals so I wouldn't do much more than a pair of small clowns and a small goby or blenny or something else that will stay away from the clowns b/c those little buggers are mean

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

You'll want to loo into getting about 20 lbs of live sand and live rock, pretty pricy but well worth it.

After the cycling period look into a coralife bio cube skimmer, pretty cheap on amazon for $25. Do not get it from your local fish store. they will make you pay double.

I had one of these for my first tank. They are awesome tanks for beginners. For The chambers in the back look at gettin a media rack with some algae, carbon, and other stuff.

And like the others, do not go with a hippo tang, save yourself the hassle from others! Good luck my friend!

 

[Mebbid]

Do not get a hippo/blue tang. They can get to be 1'3" and needs a 90 gallon aquarium or larger. I would look out because the "tang police" are coming. Otherwise the angel could work. Maybe a coral beauty.

Hippos need more like 125g I probably wouldn't do an angel either as they are fairly aggressive. A blenny or goby would be an excellent addition. There are a ton of varieties that would work well in that tank.

You'll want to loo into getting about 20 lbs of live sand and live rock, pretty pricy but well worth it.

After the cycling period look into a coralife bio cube skimmer, pretty cheap on amazon for $25. Do not get it from your local fish store. they will make you pay double.

I had one of these for my first tank. They are awesome tanks for beginners. For The chambers in the back look at gettin a media rack with some algae, carbon, and other stuff.

And like the others, do not go with a hippo tang, save yourself the hassle from others! Good luck my friend!

You don't need to buy live rock. You can buy dry and save yourself some money. It will become live after your cycle and you won't have to worry about unwanted hitch hikers.

 

[Justin144]

I just set up my coral life biocube this fall and I bout 25 pounds of dry rock and 5 pounds of live to seed the dry rock ? It will speed up your cycle allittle but you still need to leave it for a couple months just to get everything set up . And I did a heater also just in case .

 

[Katy410]

I finally got my first livestock. Two occellaris clowns, an emerald crab, and 6 turbo snails. What's next? And when can I add corals?

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Now you wait 3-4 weeks and let your bio filter catch up. Corals can be added when your params are stable ( if your new to fish I would wait a month or 2 until you get the hang of keeping your params steady and doing your wc's ) I don't add any coral to my tanks until I can keep my nitrates below 5-7ppm ( softies and lps)

 

[Katy410]

Now you wait 3-4 weeks and let your bio filter catch up. Corals can be added when your params are stable ( if your new to fish I would wait a month or 2 until you get the hang of keeping your params steady and doing your wc's ) I don't add any coral to my tanks until I can keep my nitrates below 5-7ppm ( softies and lps)

Actually, my parameters are very stable, at least the ammonia, ph, nitrate, nitrite, and temp. It jumped around a bit, because of my lights. They heated up the water to 80, but I fixed that. The KH says either 120 or 140 ppm, but I think that hat translates to 6.7 degrees or 7.8 degrees. I think that that's good? Nt exactly sure. I haven't checked any other water levels besides those, and I'm getting a "reef master test kit" from API as soon as I get a coral or two. The tank is cycled, and my ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate have been 0 since before and after I put my livestock in. The PH is 8.0. Is that too low? I have some sort of marine buffer ph raiser product from instant ocean that raised it to there. I assume that this is good, but I still think it's too low, and the directions on the product say only 1 capful per gallon, half a capful per half a gallon. I used 3, and since this raises all of the levels to a nice level, Imm afraid to add more. What do you think? Sorry about the late reply.