Starting out again... Help.

carlagracie

carlagracie

Member
I have tried in the past to keep a SW tank and have had no luck. Tomorrow we are getting a brand new Bio cube from my wife's parents who bought it a year ago and never took it out of the box. It has been about 8 months or more since we had any tank. We would like to start off small and work our way up to a larger setup one day. We know nothing about Bio cubes but we see them in the lfs setup and we think this will be a good starting point. It is a 29g Bio cube. We know about how much live sand and live rock to get but that's about it. We may even get it setup tomorrow or Friday. I will buy the proper test kit also. My question is will this make a good starter tank for sw? Thanks.

P.S when I try and start a new thred on my computer this box that I'm typing in now will not come up and I can't post using a computer so I have to use my tablet and I don't care for using it that much. Does anyone have any ideas?
 
BLADEYAMAHA

BLADEYAMAHA

Well-Known Member
Read and learn as much as you can on the basics before you set it up, that's my advice, I read and worked at a Pet store and it was 9 years before I set my first one up. You don't have to wait that long, LOL! Watch out for some pet stores as they will not give good advice and will sell you anything to make money, come here first with questions before you buy, there are a lot more knowledgeable people here than myself and I've been in this for 15 years. Its a good starter tank, no question. May require mods, smaller tanks are harder to maintain, do your water changes weekly, and top off daily. When you get your live rock scrub it and rinse it, it may have to cure. Put the sand in first and lay down trash bags over the sand(this will keep your sand form being stirred up as bad) and then put 1/2 your saltwater in and then put your live rock in after removing the bags and then fill the rest of the way up. What kind of lighting does this one have?
 
BLADEYAMAHA

BLADEYAMAHA

Well-Known Member
20 pounds of live rock and 20 pounds of live sand-IMO. I think someone is hacking the forum and messing it up, I've had problems with it too today. There are a lot of add on options for this tank that make it better. What direction are you planning to go with the tank, Corals?, Fish Only with Live Rock)FOWLR System?, Start off slow, allow 8 weeks or so for the tank to cycle, get a refractometer, use RO/DI water, there will be algae blooms for the better part of the first year it is set up. Use good quality salt like Red Sea. Water changes are 10% a week. I can't say it enough, top this tank off daily with RO/DI water or your salinity will get off and you will possibly kill fish, inverts and/or corals quick. Its going to take about a gallon and a half of fresh RO/DI water to top this thing off daily.
 
BLADEYAMAHA

BLADEYAMAHA

Well-Known Member
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Back!
 
tnwillia

tnwillia

Well-Known Member
Welcome! The more reading you do first the less you will open your wallet. SW is not like FW you can't do it all in a day. The key is to go "PAINFULLY SLOW" in your building, cycle and addition of livestock! Good luck and have fun with your new tank!
 
carlagracie

carlagracie

Member
For lighting this has 2 36w Bulbs 1 bulb is 10,000k and the other is a true actinic bulb. Are the bulbs ok? Im going to go to the lfs and get about 40 gallons of their RO/DI water and some live sand and rock today as well. I will keep you all posted today.
 
C

cheeks69

Wannabe Guru
RS STAFF
carlagracie said:
For lighting this has 2 36w Bulbs 1 bulb is 10,000k and the other is a true actinic bulb. Are the bulbs ok? Im going to go to the lfs and get about 40 gallons of their RO/DI water and some live sand and rock today as well. I will keep you all posted today.
Click to expand...

That'll be fine for some soft corals such as mushrooms, zoanthids and leathers but anything light demanding would require an upgrade in lighting such as this HQI setup.
 

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dmatt88

dmatt88

Has been struck by the ban stick
If u spend a few months learning how to care for water you will be just fine. Go slow. Their accurate there for sure.

,....I tend to talk about reefing
 
carlagracie

carlagracie

Member
Sounds good. I dont plan on having many corals at all so it sounds like the lighting is going to work. We just got back home we went to our LFS which is called The Fish Doctors here in Michigan. He has been in business for about 25-30 years and I know family members that do business there that have been into SW and FW for 15 years now and say they are very good people who work there and never been told wrong. I bought 20 lbs of live rock and 20 pounds of live sand. Also came home with 35 gallons of RO/DI water.
 
G

gbose

Member
CarlaG:

I'm just a SW newbie -- started SW in August last year. But I think you're in good shape if you have an LFS you trust. I suggest (from my 6 months :eek: of experience)

1) Add live sand and live rock (oh, yeah, don't forget the water :)).

2) Give it a couple of weeks to cycle, checking water parameters. When your cycle is done (NH3, NO2 zero, NO3 < 5PPM), then add maybe a couple of soft corals, if you're interested -- I love them! (leathers, mushrooms -- colorful and inexpensive).

3) Start weekly 5-10% water changes. Top up between changes with RO/DI water (NOT tap water)

4) You'll be getting diatoms (brown gunk) and green algae. Add a clean-up crew (snails, mainly).

4) After 4-6 few weeks, add one fish. Keep monitoring water measurements, using your new API kit.

6) Slowly -- maybe one in 6-8 weeks -- add a couple more fish or invertebrates (shrimp, maybe a sad-sifting star).

7) If you like your coral as much as I like mine, add as many as you like (read up and talk with your LFS. Some of them are aggressive and kill each other )

8) enjoy and Have Fun!!!!

Gbose
 
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