Hey RC. My name's Keith and I've been in and out of the "Hobby" since 1970, when i lived in Norfolk, VA with the Navy. Back then we knew NOTHING about cycling. I set up a 20 gal with a freshwater box filter, walked to the Bay too many times to count, hauling buckets of (live) sand (shudder) and Bay water (double shudder), went out and captured some siversides, a baby horseshoe crab, 2 or 3 glass shrimp and 3 Atlantic Spadefish babies and off we went. Every week I'd do a 50% water change and I never lost a creature. They all went back in the Bay when I left in '71. Since then in and out of the hobby, and now it's time for "back in". But I'm confused a little. Technology has come a long way since my last tank 12 years ago. So, for starters: I love the simplicity and compactness of the Biocube nano's, not to mention the price. Can't decide between a 14 or a 29, and beside cost as a consideration, I also like the compactness of the 14. I also know how quickly one out-grows the "first" tank. It will be a fish only tank, for right now, with live rock and sand with some snails, hermits as clean up. Any recommendations, pro's/con's, feedback about the Biocubes (yes, I've watched ALL the videos) is greatly appreciated, as well as any other considerations I may need. And I'll be asking stupid questions like: should I cycle the tank with live rock and sand, or use an artificial kit to speed the process up? What's "seeder" rock do? How does "dry rock" benefit the tank?
We used to use Black Mollies to cycle, way back, once we understood the process. Just pour em outta the freshwater and straight into the salt. That always kind of unsettled me as we would lose a percentage (some times most) of them to the ammonia, if not the transition shock alone. Couldn't do that now, with any conscience.
Well, thanks in advance for your help, everyone. This is gonna be FUN!
Best regards, Keith
For this I've sourced a second hand Red Sea Max 250, which was in quite bad condition, so I'm trying to revive it
