New 32g

[Darla]

Hey all,
We are in the process of setting up a new 32 gallon biocube. It was the shinniest on the shelf so it came home with my husband lol
Today is day 1 and step 1. Has 40lbs of crushed coral substrate. Probably could have used less but it looks nice..
And 3 pounds of live rock. Just little pieces for now, the large piece I wanted was $50 and i just couldnt dish that out right now.

I have been reading a lot online,there seems to be a lot of contradiction out there. So by what I've read... heres my plan. (Very very open to suggestions!)

Next week, possible large live rock acquiring, peppermint shrimp.
Week 2/3: banded shrimp (?)
Week 3/4:black and white strip damsel
Week 4/5: 2 clowns and anemone
Week 5/6: blenny or gobe - to enjoy the very sandy bottom of tank.. hoping he digs in the front so my son can watch him spit out the sand from the burrow.

Any modifications are welcome!

I dont want a protein skimmer, so what should I should I substitute that with?

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

to RS ! Start a tank thread so we can follow along, we Love pics !

Be sure to complete your "Cycle" before adding livestock ! the stickies here are great !

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?forums/just-starting-out-sw-beginners.4/

 

[Pancho75]

Welcome to RS!!!!

+1 please wait more time to add livestock. For the anemone you may want to check if your lights is tuned keep it in good shape and please post some pictures! we want to see your progress ! ! !


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[Darla]

Welcome to RS!!!!

+1 please wait more time to add livestock. For the anemone you may want to check if your lights is tuned keep it in good shape and please post some pictures! we want to see your progress ! ! !


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When do you suggest adding?
Am I ok with adding the shrimp first?

 

[Pancho75]

When do you suggest adding?
Am I ok with adding the shrimp first?

You can add the shrimp first or the fish both will require to add some food.


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[DaveK]

Hey all,
We are in the process of setting up a new 32 gallon biocube. It was the shinniest on the shelf so it came home with my husband lol
Today is day 1 and step 1. Has 40lbs of crushed coral substrate. Probably could have used less but it looks nice..
And 3 pounds of live rock. Just little pieces for now, the large piece I wanted was $50 and i just couldnt dish that out right now.

I have been reading a lot online,there seems to be a lot of contradiction out there. So by what I've read... heres my plan. (Very very open to suggestions!)

Next week, possible large live rock acquiring, peppermint shrimp.
Week 2/3: banded shrimp (?)
Week 3/4:black and white strip damsel
Week 4/5: 2 clowns and anemone
Week 5/6: blenny or gobe - to enjoy the very sandy bottom of tank.. hoping he digs in the front so my son can watch him spit out the sand from the burrow.

Any modifications are welcome!

I dont want a protein skimmer, so what should I should I substitute that with?

You have several major problems here.

Typically for live rock you want to have about 1 pound of rock per gallon of water. In other words you need about 30 pounds of rock total. You need about 27 more pounds of rock. It need not be all live rock, some can be dry base rock. You still need the rock though, since it is the basis of biological filtration in SW system.

You also need to cycle the system. This means adding some sort of organic matter, letting it decay, so that the biological base is established. The best way is to use a piece of raw shrimp, like you get from the grocery store. When ammonia and nitrite have peaked and dropped back to zero, your system is cycled. This takes from about 2 weeks to a month or more. Yes, you going to need test kits for this.

I would highly recommend adding a clean up crew of snails and hermit crabs before adding any fish. Since it's a new tank, you don't need to add too many. I'd use about 10 to 15 snails of various species to start. Let them get established before you add anything else.

On trying to read a lot online. Yes, there is a lot of incorrect, obsolete, and not applicable information on the net. Get yourself a couple of good book on SW systems and study them. That will give you a good place to start. Here are two to start with.
The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner
The New Marine Aquarium by Michael Paleta

Note on the books, you can often find used copies on places like Amazon at greatly reduced prices.

On livestock selection. Do not add any of this until you have the system cycled.
ok to the peppermint shrimp
maybe on the coral shrimp. They sometimes go after other shrimp and fish.
no to the black and white striped damsel. These get really nasty as they grow. Generally avoid all damsels, unless that's the only fish type you want.
ok to clowns. Make sure they are healthy.
no to the anemone. These require well established tanks, high quality water, and lighting. It usually takes about a year for a tank to reach this state. At that point, then consider an anemone.
ok to a blenny or gobie. However, many don't dig as much as you would think.

I'm not trying to be flip, but you want a protein skimmer. While it is possible to maintain a tank without one, they are highly recommended. They are one of the few things that can remove waste products before the biological filtration needs to deal with it. Yea, something decent is not going to be inexpensive, but a skimmer makes life so much easier that it's well worth the investment.

 

[Darla]

You have several major problems here.

Typically for live rock you want to have about 1 pound of rock per gallon of water. In other words you need about 30 pounds of rock total. You need about 27 more pounds of rock. It need not be all live rock, some can be dry base rock. You still need the rock though, since it is the basis of biological filtration in SW system.

You also need to cycle the system. This means adding some sort of organic matter, letting it decay, so that the biological base is established. The best way is to use a piece of raw shrimp, like you get from the grocery store. When ammonia and nitrite have peaked and dropped back to zero, your system is cycled. This takes from about 2 weeks to a month or more. Yes, you going to need test kits for this.

I would highly recommend adding a clean up crew of snails and hermit crabs before adding any fish. Since it's a new tank, you don't need to add too many. I'd use about 10 to 15 snails of various species to start. Let them get established before you add anything else.

On trying to read a lot online. Yes, there is a lot of incorrect, obsolete, and not applicable information on the net. Get yourself a couple of good book on SW systems and study them. That will give you a good place to start. Here are two to start with.
The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner
The New Marine Aquarium by Michael Paleta

Note on the books, you can often find used copies on places like Amazon at greatly reduced prices.

On livestock selection. Do not add any of this until you have the system cycled.
ok to the peppermint shrimp
maybe on the coral shrimp. They sometimes go after other shrimp and fish.
no to the black and white striped damsel. These get really nasty as they grow. Generally avoid all damsels, unless that's the only fish type you want.
ok to clowns. Make sure they are healthy.
no to the anemone. These require well established tanks, high quality water, and lighting. It usually takes about a year for a tank to reach this state. At that point, then consider an anemone.
ok to a blenny or gobie. However, many don't dig as much as you would think.

I'm not trying to be flip, but you want a protein skimmer. While it is possible to maintain a tank without one, they are highly recommended. They are one of the few things that can remove waste products before the biological filtration needs to deal with it. Yea, something decent is not going to be inexpensive, but a skimmer makes life so much easier that it's well worth the investment.

Thank you!!!
I am going to add more live rock.i just couldnt put out the money for it right away,will buy the larger one this week coming.

Do all protein skimmers bubble and spill over? I had one 10 years ago and it over flowed daily,no matter where I set it.

Do I leave the raw shrimp in the tank for that full month?or just until it gets nasty looking?

Doing an Amazon search on these books as soon as I'm done this post.

Will the snails mate and have a population explosion?

Thank you so much!!

 

[DaveK]

Keep in mind that you need not use expensive live rock for all the rock in the system. You can use dry base rock for most of it. Here is one example (offsite) - https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/marco-reef-saver-dry-aquarium-live-rock.html This is about $3.00 USD per pound verses about $7.00 per pound for actual live rock. Over time the dry rock will acquire the bacteria base and other things like pods, sponges, tube worms and so on.

A good skimmer might fill up, but it should not spill over. There are a lot of good skimmers on the market, but there are also a lot of junk products out there, especially on the low end. Best thing to do is to make your selection and ask about it here before you spend the money. When sizing a skimmer get one rated for a tank about double the size you plan to use it on. In your case you want one rated for about a 60 to 75 gal tank. As usual, always buy top quality equipment. This doesn't mean most expensive. You'll only need to buy it once.

You leave the shrimp in until the cycle completes. You want a source of ammonia to kick off the cycle.

Some snails will reproduce, but it's unlikely you'll have a population explosion, like you often see in FW tanks.

 

[saintsreturn]

As always, Dave nailed this.

Let the tank cycle before adding any livestock. Damsels can be pretty fish, but everyone i have purchased i have since sold or traded back in. They get aggressive and tend to dominate fish, even larger ones. I personally never recommend these at all.

Add rock. 1:1 is a common practice, but you can skimp out a little here to fit the tank and aqua scape. I typically buy the lighter, more porous rocks, as they provide lots of surface area and hiding places. Especially since you are going to naturally cycle your tank, i would go with dry rock as its cheaper and pest free. Just rinse it out with RODI and set in place. Pickup a small piece of liverock to help the seeding process and enjoy watching the progress.

So many folks think they need or want nems to go with their clowns. I personally love looking at them, but will never have another one in my system. They move around and become a risk or nuisance to things i care more about. Either way you go, you will want to buy this much later on in the process. I killed more than i have ever wanted to admit by trusting sales people and adding them way to early in the process.

On the skimmer, i ran a tank very successfully for years without one. I started thinking to myself, meh, whats all they hype? When i upgraded from a 29 to a 75, i bought one that i budgeted for and will never skip them again. I spent a lot of time on my system with water changes and filtration, but the skimmer helped make things easier and cleaner to work with. Where Dave and I do not align, is i prefer to have an under rated skimmer versus and over rated one. What i mean is i would buy one rated for your tank size or slightly less. This means you run the chance of overfilling and you will empty it more often than a larger rated one, but it also skims full time and i find it to be more consistent. Either way, running one is better than not.

With that said, buy the best (not most expensive) equipment you can buy that fits your tank. You will save a lot of money versus buying something now and then replacing later. Take your time and take lots of pictures. Share those pictures as we love seeing the progress too

You will really enjoy looking back and seeing how the tank has progressed along the way.

 

[Humblefish]

I realize it's already done, but why did you go with crushed coral substrate over sand? Crushed coral requires a lot more maintenance... i.e. periodic vacuuming to get trapped detritus out. From my way of thinking the only reason to use crushed coral is for biological filtration and there would need to be an undergravel filter plate for that scenario.

 

[Darla]

I realize it's already done, but why did you go with crushed coral substrate over sand? Crushed coral requires a lot more maintenance... i.e. periodic vacuuming to get trapped detritus out. From my way of thinking the only reason to use crushed coral is for biological filtration and there would need to be an undergravel filter plate for that scenario.

Because it was all the store had lol

And I liked ththe random shells.
It's what I had years ago. I was told it was the best back then.

 

[Humblefish]

Because it was all the store had lol

And I liked ththe random shells.
It's what I had years ago. I was told it was the best back then.

It might be OK. But if your nitrates start spiking, vacuum the gravel and you'll see what I'm talking about. With sand the crud tends to stay on top, or you can always get nassarius snails or sand sifting fish to help keep it clean.

 

[DaveK]

If the op had it to do all over again, I'd recommend aragonite sand, but using crushed corals isn't the end of the world. I wouldn't remove and replace it for, at best, a moderate improvement.

While we are on the subject of what is available at your LFS, you may find yourself buying a lot of equipment from online and other sources. Very few LFSs maintain an inventory of really top quality equipment, and/or offer few choices. While I do believe in trying to support your LFS, I don't believe in limiting my selection or paying a lot more money.

 

[Darla]

If the op had it to do all over again, I'd recommend aragonite sand, but using crushed corals isn't the end of the world. I wouldn't remove and replace it for, at best, a moderate improvement.

While we are on the subject of what is available at your LFS, you may find yourself buying a lot of equipment from online and other sources. Very few LFSs maintain an inventory of really top quality equipment, and/or offer few choices. While I do believe in trying to support your LFS, I don't believe in limiting my selection or paying a lot more money.

Not to mention everything is way cheaper online.
I live in an area with limited supply of everything lol
So ordering online is cheaper. Even with shipping.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Lots of great advise from everyone in the replies above...

Cycling tank:

drop in a raw deli shrimp and let it rot:

Watch for the ammonia to soar then fall to zero, then the nitrites soar & then fall to zero, then the nitrates soar, once this happens, do water changes to get rid of the nitrates - tank cycled

Depending on the state of your LR (how cured it was & how much die off it had), in general it will look something like this...

an API Saltwater Master Test Kit for about $20 will test for all the above...

 

[Darla]

What's your thoughts on the black clown fish
Thinking because the anemones are out of the question right now. Maybe a couple fo different clowns (in a month or sos time,when cycling is complete)

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

I love clownfish my 1st two fish added once the tank cycled, were Oscallis clownfish (Nemo was an oscallis clownfish) I watched them at the LFS (local fish store) a tank full clownfish, I found 2 that stayed side by side, one a little bigger than the other, the have mated many times and 9 years latter still stay side by side. Black clownfish are pretty too !

 

[Darla]

I love clownfish my 1st two fish added once the tank cycled, were Oscallis clownfish (Nemo was an oscallis clownfish) I watched them at the LFS (local fish store) a tank full clownfish, I found 2 that stayed side by side, one a little bigger than the other, the have mated many times and 9 years latter still stay side by side. Black clownfish are pretty too !

I was thinking an orange one.. or 2 and a black one.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

You can have 2 black or two orange or a black and an orange- but don't get 3 or it will be trouble, you want a peaceful tank where all the fish play well together.

Here an older post related...

I believe (Doni - woodstock) who was our RS clown fish expert said once the problem is having 3

if you search for RS members woodstock she has lots of post and stickies - she was a renown breeder of clownfish.

all clownfish are born male - the most dominate one will convert to a female - a very fascinating fact

my guess is the bullying is related to having 3

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index...le-when-the-current-female-of-the-group-dies/

 

[saintsreturn]

Out of everything i have had in my system, and how much has changed as i went from a 29-75-110, there has been one constant.

Blemo. He is our Black Osc... (i hate spelling that word) and he has traveled with us from NJ, to FL, to TX and survived my learning curves and constant moves over the years.

So i love those clowns for sure