My New Bio Cube 29

C

cjscott

Member
So my wife got me this bio cube almost 2 years ago for our wedding but due to lots of reasons I haven't been able to set it up. Finally last Friday I set up my tank with help from my brother in law. We got the following
10 lbs of live sand
16 lbs of live rock
5 hermit crabs
2 nassarius snails
2 astria snails
1 turbo snail
1 emerald crab
A shrimp

I have stock everything in the tank and am using RO water. At first I had my temperature set at 72 but bumped it up to 78 the other day. I have my lights on timers for a 12 hour cycle.

After about 3 days I wanted to add some damsels to my tank to help the cycling. So I went to the Petco which is about 11 freeway miles away and they didn't have anything. In fact it was one of the worst saltwater selections I have ever seen. I tried a different Petco and they didn't have any damsels either although they did have far more of a saltwater selection. I was so frustrated I bought a false perc clownfish. He was struggling for a day or two but now seems to be doing fine.

One piece of advice that I would like to give to any new tank owners is figure out reliable LFS before you start this hobby. It is incredible addictive! Sorry about the rant but this means that I will have to drive at least 30 minutes to where I bought my supplies for setup.

I have tried to post some pics from day 2 and will try and post some tonight from today. Btw I am going to the reliable fish store today. I think I am going to pick up some sand and maybe some more snails. Any suggestions on how to add the sand to the tank?
 
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Re: My New Bio Cube 29

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12095928#post12095928 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cjscott

So I went to the Petco which is about 11 freeway miles away and they didn't have anything. In fact it was one of the worst saltwater selections I have ever seen.

I will have to drive at least 30 minutes to where I bought my supplies for setup.

Click to expand...

First of all...IMO... Petco should rethink selling saltwater fish..I have never gone to a petco & have anyone there know what they are doing......They should stick to cats & dogs :thumbsup:

As far as LFS.....I have 2 about 2 min from & 4 more with in 10 min from me.........I drive about 1 hour to my new LFS.......They really know this hobby & have great livestock and rock....to me its worth the drive. :dance: :dance: :dance:
 
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petco doesn't sell dogs and cats....but some of their stores actually have nice set ups. It really depends on the upper management. knowing your local stores in the most important thing, if one is out does the next one carry. good luck with the cube
 
Looks like a good start. You might want to reduce your light cycle until you start to to add corals. 12 hours will just create alot of algae.
 
Live Rock

Live Rock

I made the drive today to the LFS and it was really worth it. Actually by mistake found a second LFS that had an even better selection and was much nicer. I ended up buying a pieve of live rock that is beautiful to begin with but on closer inspection has several colonies of zooanthas. There are also some things that look like baby feather dusters and I saw a baby snail.

One thing I wanted to ask the board was the guy at the LFS said to do weekly water changes even now while my tank was cycling. I thought that I was supposed to wait until the end of the cycle?

I hope to put some new pictures up tonight or tomorrow.
 
One thing I wanted to ask the board was the guy at the LFS said to do weekly water changes even now while my tank was cycling. I thought that I was supposed to wait until the end of the cycle

I can't help but ask. If you know enough not to do a water change while you are trying to cycle the new tank, then why in the world did you ever put livestock in it right from the start?
 
Well my brother in law who helped me with a lot of the setup said to get the snails and hermit crabs. Then in the book that I have it says to drop some damsels in to help speed up the cycling process.
 
The cycle will happen with or without fish. Just be patient and check the water parameters and you'll know when the cycle is complete. Back when I was just starting I did the put fish to speed it up and all that happened was the fish died, I wasted money, and killed perfectly good fish.
 
You said yourself that the false perc you put in was having a hard time of it. I wouldn't stock anything else as for livestock unless you know your tank has cycled. I feel like you are just asking for problems and taking the chance of everything you add ending up dead.
The set up looks nice so far. Be patient and take your time to get it all going right the first time and you will get a lot more enjoyment out of your syatem in the long run.
 
184165Picture.jpg

So over the past couple of days this brown stuff has begun growing in the tank pretty rapidly. Based on the discussion above I was wondering what everyone's thoughts are on adding maybe a couple of more astra snails and maybe another turbo?
 
I am waiting for my test kit to get here. The kit was $40 in the store 15 online. I will let you know what happens what it arrives.
 
Tanks lookin good cjsott !
Rccub23 is right that is a diatom bloom ,perfectly normal . It will probably get worse before it gets better. Next it will be replaced by a bright yellowish green algae that will form on your glass. You will be able to brush it away very easily with your hand or whatever but will return in several hours when the lights are on. After a while that to will subside. It is all part of your cycle.
 
Thanks for the help everyone. Stopped by the lfs store tonight and got another turbo snail. This brings my cleaning crew to:
2 turbo snails
2 astrea snails
6 nassirus snails
5 hermits
1 emerald crab
1 cleaner shrimp

I was thinking about adding a couple of more astrea snails and maybe a hermit or two more. What are your thoughts?

Also I was wondering when I should do my first water change?
 
Well the tank is looking awesome. My true perc is doing great and I wanted to ask everyone for some more stocking options. I think I would like to have another clown but what are some other good hardy fish for nano reef systems? Also does anyone have suggestions on some beginner corals that I can start researching?>
 
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