First saltwater tank. Coralife BC 29

[djsuperman]

Hey everyone, i just purchased my first tank. Heres what i got:
Corallife biocube 29
25lbs of live hatian rock
20lbs live pink fiji sand

Im very new to this and did a lot of research and i was sold on the biocube. Being the new guy on the block, i would like to know a few things.
When should i do my first tests?
What should my numbers be before introducing coral/fish
Should i do a water change while the tank cycles?
Should the lights be on while cycling?
What modifications are recommended in regards to filtration ( want to make this a reef tank)

 

[fernb]

I also have a 29 gal Coralife BioCube and it took my tank 1 1/2 weeks to finish cycling. You can test during the cycling process. you will first see a spike in ammonia followed by a spike in nitrites and finally a nitrate spike. When the ammonia, and nitrite levels are back to zero do a water change to bring down your nitrates some. At that point I added my cleaning crew. I purchased my first corals soon after this and only added corals that are easy to care for and don't mind less than ideal water conditions, ie. mushrooms, zoanthids.
I went real slow in adding fish as I new that was going to increase load significantly.
You can follow my thread and see what modifications I made along the way
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/nano-reefs/118571-fern-isabels-29g-coralife-biocube.html

I hope this helps.

 

[djsuperman]

Im on day 2 and did my first saltwater test ( since ive never done it before) and this is what i got:

Thoughts?

 

[revhtree]

Tank is looking good! I like the aquascape!

 

[fernb]

Im on day 2 and did my first saltwater test ( since ive never done it before) and this is what i got:

Thoughts?

Looks like your ammonia and nitrites are zero and your nitrate is 5ppm. I would add clean up crew to start and give them some fish food to feed on and watch your parameters. You want to slowly add more bioload to increase your bacterial concentration until you reach a nice equilibrium. You may want to consider getting rid of your bioballs in camber two like I did and convert that to a refugium. Mine has helped to keep my parameters in check.

 

[djsuperman]

Thank you. On the back where the maximum/minimum lines are, is that where i have to keep the water level?

 

[fernb]

Thank you. On the back where the maximum/minimum lines are, is that where i have to keep the water level?

I cut the back tabs some to allow more water into chambers 2 and 3. This way I increased my refugium space and overall water total.
But to answer your question, you don't want the wager level to go below that minimum line, otherwise you will burn out your motor.

 

[justgotwet]

I also have the 29g biocube and put a tunze 9004 skimmer in chamber 2 and also a second pump in chamber 2. I also cut the side of chamber 1 to increase water flow. I also put a diy ato in chamber 1 and also put a led kit in the hood.

 

[djsuperman]

Does the same tab have to be cut on the new corallife biocube? I know the older oceanic biocube had that problem but i believe the coralife fixed that

 

[djsuperman]

Day 5 and ive added a bit of mysis to spike ammonia. Came home to copepods/amphepods i think. Theyre little white bug looking things crawling and floating in the water and glass. Seems to be maturing well

 

[fernb]

The copepods are small and the amphipods are the larger ones.

 

[djsuperman]

Im on day 6 here are the parameters: ( added a bit of frozen Mysis)
PH-8.0
Ammonia 0.25 - 0.50
Nitrite- 0.25-0.50
Nitrate- 10-20ppm

I have copepods in the tank already. My question I guess is when should I put my CUC in there?

 

[glb]

Im on day 6 here are the parameters: ( added a bit of frozen Mysis)
PH-8.0
Ammonia 0.25 - 0.50
Nitrite- 0.25-0.50
Nitrate- 10-20ppm

I have copepods in the tank already. My question I guess is when should I put my CUC in there?

Your tank is cycling nicely! I'd wait until the ammonia and nitrites were gone before adding cuc's. It's moving along nicely so hopefully it won't be long. IMO it would be better to add fish first because they're less sensitive to water chemistry than corals. A newly cycled tank isn't all that stable and it might be a good idea to wait a bit for the corals. Just my 0.02.

 

[djsuperman]

todays water parameters

 

[peter505]

Nice tank to dive in with. I got a biocube 29 as my second tank and in my opinion, a new filter system is a really good idea. look up InTank filtration. It does the job on my cube.

 

[fernb]

Your parameters are looking much better. Go ahead and add some CUC. You are fairly safe to do so now. Start with just a couple of hermits or snails or both. Some people don't like hermits. Do some research. Take your time and learn as much as you can as you go. Continue to check parameters as you add some food for these. (not too much food).
You can add fish or easy corals soon. Please don't get talked by LFS into getting a damsel first to see if safe. These can be very aggressive. Do your homework.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[djsuperman]

Nice tank to dive in with. I got a biocube 29 as my second tank and in my opinion, a new filter system is a really good idea. look up InTank filtration. It does the job on my cube.

Just ordered the media basket, fuge basket, chemipure, and purigen from them last week. Hope to get it this week and change out the dreaded bioballs. I was thinking of just leaving chaeto in the fuge basket, and the chemipure/purigen/filter floss in the media basket since i have 25lbs of live rock in the dt. Thoughts?

 

[djsuperman]

todays parameters.

After looking through a lot of posts here and google, added my fish first with a meager 6 snails. I did not want to throw a full CUC in the tank because i didnt want the to starve. I very much want a cleaner shrimp in there but i want to be sure it has plenty to work on. Im trying out 6 very small turbo snails which from the looks of it have eaten most of the brown algae off the sand and have pretty much glued themselves to the top of the tank glass. The 2 clowns are very small and are just swimming up,down,left, right throughout the tank. They havent chosen an area yet. Im basically waiting on the intank media basket and fuge basket to come in to make things a bit better. Heres a pic of the pair in action.

 

[djsuperman]

 

[djsuperman]

Todays parameters. Everything is going good. Turbo snails arent doing much but stuck to the top of the glass. Clowns are good. Water change, bioball removal and media basket get put in this week. Gotta go buy some chaeto for the fuge.