My first tank 29g Coralife Biocube

[andymcl82]

Well, when I was a kid I had a salt water fish tank for some time so I recently decided I wanted to give it a shot for myself.

Equipment:
Coralife Boicube 29 gallon
Coralife stand
Hydor Slim Skim nano
Koralia 425 power head
Fluval M150 heater
20 pounds of Fiji Pink live sand
A little over 20 pounds of cured live rock
Around 20 gallons of pre-mixed water from LFS
InTank Media basket (currently being shipped)


Here are some pics:
Both actinic and 10,000k (much whiter in person)

The chamber setup

The skimmer is on the second divider facing the first chamber. It came with some suction cups for the wiring that I used to stick the air line on the back lid instead of it being stuck in the top of the skimmer. I felt like it would get more fresh air this way. The skimmer itself fits perfectly with a bit of room to spare. The cup can lift out of the back lid and most likely the entire skimmer could too. I'm going to put the media basket right in front of it.

I'm basically done cycling just gotta check the levels one or two times. And probably do a water change.

I'm gonna do fish, a couple easy coral and of course some inverts.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[G_Sanab922]

Nice start! Following along

 

[spspirate]

Welcome to REEF2REEF!!!

 

[neddog]

I don't know If your looking for advice but the best advice I can give is take it slow, very slow. One fish wait a few weeks and then another if you want. get a good test kit and Test at least once a week,or more, when you first get going. Even If you got well water from a well established tank you may not be cycled. You will have a diatom die off where everything turns a dusty brown. then a few weeks to a month later you may have a green algae stage perfectly normal. Then again you may already know all this just thought I'd give you a heads up just in case. I have the JBJ 28 nano cube very similar tank to yours and I love it. Good luck and remember nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank

 

[neddog]

Also your tank cycle doesn't really start until you put a fish In there. Usually a damsel maybe a clown that's what is going to start your cycle. Again sorry if you know all this already. Also research everything and ask people here if your next live stock choice is a good Idea. I'm new to this site but they seem like a really good bunch here, and I'm sure would more than willing to help you through the process. Congratulations and welcome back to the hobby!

 

[G_Sanab922]

Good info. Could agree with almost everything. But regarding the cycle and fish. It is preferred that you don't cycle your tank with fish. The shrimp method or dosing bacteria is the most used throughout most hobbyist.


Gabriel

 

[Ryan2428]

Good info. Could agree with almost everything. But regarding the cycle and fish. It is preferred that you don't cycle your tank with fish. The shrimp method or dosing bacteria is the most used throughout most hobbyist.


Gabriel

#1 I agree

 

[andymcl82]

Yea I cycled with a shrimp. I currently have a decent amount of algae. About 20% of the tank. Never any diatoms. My rock was cured when I got it so there was virtually no die off. I waited a week after testing zero on both ammonia and nitrite and I confirmed the tests at the LFS. I just added a red legged hermit and a emerald crab on Tuesday. Nitrates haven't gone over 10ppm due to water changes. Gonna test again today. Probably do a water change and then possibly a fish this weekend. There's a mated pair of black and white clown fish that are pretty small that I had my eye on the other day at the LFS.

 

[neddog]

Good info. Could agree with almost everything. But regarding the cycle and fish. It is preferred that you don't cycle your tank with fish. The shrimp method or dosing bacteria is the most used throughout most hobbyist.


Gabriel

It's funny I was going to mention the shrimp but I myself have never tried it. I'm an old school reefer I only upgraded to LED's this year LOL. The shrimp method may have been around when I started reefing But the internet was not so I missed out. Heck reefing has changed so much in the last 10 years, It's crazy the advanced that have been made. I was out of the hobby for almost 10 years and just started back up In January of this year. So I've been trying to learn and catch up on all the new and better methods. The selection of livestock alone has increased ten fold in that time. Witch might be the same boat your in having a tank now after so much time IDK.

 

[G_Sanab922]

It's funny I was going to mention the shrimp but I myself have never tried it. I'm an old school reefer I only upgraded to LED's this year LOL. The shrimp method may have been around when I started reefing But the internet was not so I missed out. Heck reefing has changed so much in the last 10 years, It's crazy the advanced that have been made. I was out of the hobby for almost 10 years and just started back up In January of this year. So I've been trying to learn and catch up on all the new and better methods. The selection of livestock alone has increased ten fold in that time. Witch might be the same boat your in having a tank now after so much time IDK.

Haha no prob. All we can do is keep learning!


Gabriel

 

[andymcl82]

Well I've added a decent amount of stuff since cycling the tank.

1 red hermit
1 emerald crab
1 Ocellaris Clown
1 Black and White Clown
A Green Star Polyp
A Violet soft coral (I can't remember the name so hopefully some one can ID it for me)

The violet coral that needs an ID. The name had violet in it.

Also, should I be worried about the algae growing on the GSP? In the store it was the nicest looking one of its size/price.

 

[G_Sanab922]

Nice pick ups! Good choice on clowns. Hopefully you can get them to breed. That would be a cool mix.
Your GSP should be fine.


Gabriel

 

[andymcl82]

Nice pick ups! Good choice on clowns. Hopefully you can get them to breed. That would be a cool mix.
Your GSP should be fine.


Gabriel

Awesome, thanks.

 

[sam263]

Looks good mate. Im just starting a 25g nano aswell hoping to add some live stock next week. How doew your clowns get along?

 

[andymcl82]

Looks good mate. Im just starting a 25g nano aswell hoping to add some live stock next week. How doew your clowns get along?

Pretty good. The black one has nipped at the smaller orange ones fins a few times and taken 3 small chunks out but they have healed back fast. The orange one has been doing the submissive vibrating/shaking so the black one has been less aggressive. Other than the nipping there have been no problems

 

[G_Sanab922]

Pretty good. The black one has nipped at the smaller orange ones fins a few times and taken 3 small chunks out but they have healed back fast. The orange one has been doing the submissive vibrating/shaking so the black one has been less aggressive. Other than the nipping there have been no problems

That's normal then. They are going through their cycle now. Congrats!
Still waiting for mine....


Gabriel

 

[Scubafrog]

Great looking tank. Following as this is almost exactly what I want to do as my first saltwater tank.

 

[andymcl82]

Ooooookaay. Well it's been a little since I posted but I've made a ton of changes.

The skimmer is now in the first chamber. I hated having it in the second because the water level is always changing. It's sitting on an egg crate stand that I made (you can barely see it). It didn't fit with the magnet suction cups.

I got my intank media basket running filter floss, purigen, and chemi pure elite. I also made a DIY refugium that I have yet to stock. (I may eventually just get the intank one because the media basket build quality is just great and I'm a perfectionist like that)

I got a ton of coral. (Pardon my misspellings)
Singulara. It has an awesome tael glow under my blue led moon lights

"Blackout" zoas. Which are all black except for the skirt at night.

More stuff in next post......

 

[fishroomlady]

looking good!