New to the Hobby...Three Weeks into a 32G Biocube Setup...What do you think?

[paulhinrichsen]

Hey Everyone,

New to the hobby, used to have a pond and a freshwater aquarium growing up in NJ...but living in Florida now in a townhouse I decided to get into saltwater fun! Here's a list of the stuff I have going so far.

Brand new Biocube 32g
Lighting:

• PAR* 53
• Peak PAR* 81
• LUX* 2200
• Peak LUX* 3430

Hydor Koralia Nano 565gph Circulation Pump
Biocube's Stock Pump 264GPH
Hydor Slim Skim Nano Internal Protein Skimmer, 23-35 gal (Inserted into Chamber 1)
35 pounds of Fiji-Live Rock
35 pounds of Caribsea Live sand


I am planning to grab some more live rock so i can stack it a bit higher towards the back of the tank, and put some in Chamber 2. Since Chamber 2 for me is basically empty, I ordered some Copepods (tisbe and tiger) and was going to put some live rock rubble, and dose small amounts of oceanmagik to build a population in the second chamber 2.

Anyone have any recommendations on how i can improve? I was wondering if there are any very easy, blue led lights that fit the biocube 32 to give off the flourescent look. I am definitely planning on growing a heavy amount of coral and rock anemones. The only fish im for sure grabbing is a snowflake clownfish. For cleanup crew, if i have rock anemones...what is my best option? I was hoping to get a starfish in there, wasnt sure if that would cause conflicts. Another question..will the copepods have any issues making it through the thick sponge that filters between chamber 2 and chamber 1 which push them back into the tank?

Money isnt a huge deal, i would definitely prefer doing this right rather trying to cut corners...so if there is anything else people have found that works really well for dosing with corals, or if another small pump would help...let me know!

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!! https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.138750/

 

[Jason mack]

Welcome To R2R , My only suggestion would be too move the rocks away from the glass on left Side , give Your self room too clean there , i try too make Sure i can get past all my rok work with my magnetic cleaner ..!

 

[dbl]

Welcome to R2R fellow Floridian.

 

[Tahoe61]

Welcome

 

[Mikedawg]

Welcome.

Might want to look at Sicce 1.5 pump to replace your stock unit; would add an additional 100 gph which makes for a significant increase in flow rate and is equally as quiet. Also, would give you extra "power" if you decide to add an IM Spin Stream to randomize water flow.

Are you happy with the Hydor protein skimmer ? - I'm looking around for options currently.

 

[paulhinrichsen]

Welcome.

Might want to look at Sicce 1.5 pump to replace your stock unit; would add an additional 100 gph which makes for a significant increase in flow rate and is equally as quiet. Also, would give you extra "power" if you decide to add an IM Spin Stream to randomize water flow.

Are you happy with the Hydor protein skimmer ? - I'm looking around for options currently.

Since im still cycling, and there is currently nothing but live rock and sand in there, its not really skimming anything. I get some foam and bubbles in the skimmer but i havent really seen anything worth skimming accumulate in there. Its been running about 8-9 days.

Also, the stock pump is 265gph, would upgrading to Sicce which is 360ish gph make that much of a difference? I already have a total of about 800gph

 

[Salty1962]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Mikedawg]

Since im still cycling, and there is currently nothing but live rock and sand in there, its not really skimming anything. I get some foam and bubbles in the skimmer but i havent really seen anything worth skimming accumulate in there. Its been running about 8-9 days.

Also, the stock pump is 265gph, would upgrading to Sicce which is 360ish gph make that much of a difference? I already have a total of about 800gph

Have the Korallia powerhead as well. I upgraded filter pump because I wanted to get better turnover of water for Sea Chem Matrix media and for corals that require moderate to higher flows. So far, seems to be working well for these purposes.

 

[Katrina71]

How can you not like a cube?

 

[Murica]

Welcome.

Might want to look at Sicce 1.5 pump to replace your stock unit; would add an additional 100 gph which makes for a significant increase in flow rate and is equally as quiet. Also, would give you extra "power" if you decide to add an IM Spin Stream to randomize water flow.

Are you happy with the Hydor protein skimmer ? - I'm looking around for options currently.

I have a hydor and from personal experience.. It definitely gets you by but I feel there are better skimmers out there.

 

[Mikedawg]

I have a hydor and from personal experience.. It definitely gets you by but I feel there are better skimmers out there.

Thanks, recommendations? I've had pretty good results with the Coralife skimmer but would like to get away from the wooden block bubble maker and find a higher tech solution which would fit in first chamber.

 

[Murica]

Thanks, recommendations? I've had pretty good results with the Coralife skimmer but would like to get away from the wooden block bubble maker and find a higher tech solution which would fit in first chamber.

I can't give you any specifics myself but I'm sure there's plenty of people who would like to chime in. I feel like skimmers are those things where it may be worth getting expensive ones.. Unfortunately..

 

[Mombo]

I just started my cube as well. I would pass on putting the rock in chamber 2 in the back. It will become a pain for you in the future and end up building up nitrates.

Look into the inTank media basket made for that tank. I just added one to mine and its excellent.

Same company makes a Fuge for chamber 2 if you want to have chaeto or something back there and put your pods in. Instead of the rock.

The Tunze 9001 skimmer also fits the biocubes. Might be what youre looking for.

How deep is your sand bed? I felt like mine was getting quite deep after adding a bit less then 20lbs. Rock looks gorgeous!

 

[paulhinrichsen]

I just started my cube as well. I would pass on putting the rock in chamber 2 in the back. It will become a pain for you in the future and end up building up nitrates.

Look into the inTank media basket made for that tank. I just added one to mine and its excellent.

Same company makes a Fuge for chamber 2 if you want to have chaeto or something back there and put your pods in. Instead of the rock.

The Tunze 9001 skimmer also fits the biocubes. Might be what youre looking for.

How deep is your sand bed? I felt like mine was getting quite deep after adding a bit less then 20lbs. Rock looks gorgeous!

My sand bed is about an inch and half. What did you put in the media basket in your second chamber? I could probably grow the pods in the main tank, im not getting a gobby or anything that i think will blow through a few hundred in a day, so i would assume they should have an ok time growing and culturing in the main tank, especially since theyll have a head start on anything in the tank

 

[Mombo]

Currently I am only planning on only using filter floss until my tank gets moving. But it has 3 levels so you can use chemi pure or carbon or whatever on the different levels. Gives you some options for layering stuff though. And makes it super easy to just pull the filter floss out and drop a new one in when it gets dirty.

 

[Jenyphur]

I have gone with the intank media modification in chamber 2 and it is working great I use filter floss on the top and then purigen on the second row and chemi-pure on the bottom row.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[paulhinrichsen]

I made a few big decisions today, I purchased Steve's LED upgrade for the Biocube today..it was on a mega sale and i figured i might as well go for it. I also am having him cut a hole in the hood so i can fit the protein skimmer in Chamber 1. Has anyone does this? Also, i purchased in the intank Media basket, dosed my water with OceanMagik and added a 16oz pouch of copepods in there.

 

[paulhinrichsen]

Here's everything i grabbed.