Hello my fellow aquarists,
I am bran spankin new to the hobby, in fact I don't have anything in my tank yet. Just live sand mixed with black Tahitian sand. I plan on running a reef tank. I have a 35 gallon bowfront glass aquarium, protien skimmer, 300w heater, 1 850 gph power head and a hang on back bio wheel filter for up to 75 gal ( i figure a little overkill never hurt anything) I have 25 lbs of live rock coming in tomorrow. My tank has been cycling for about 3 weeks. So my question is... the live rock I ordered is supposedly "pre-cured" but there is no way of knowing what kind of shape it will be in when it arrives. So, would it be ok to do any additional curing in my display tank? I would think that it would actually build a stronger biological filter, but that is why i am looking for advice from you. As of right now I don't have anything to cure it in.
As far as lighting goes... right now I only have the single bulb florescent hood that came with the tank could I put a T5 10,000k florescent or a blue actinic into this fixture? Or do I need to buy another fixture?? ( If you know of a good quality light fixture for cheap like under 100$ please let me know.)
Since this is my first tank I figure it would be fun to let all of you watch it grow with me as I learn more from your advice. What a better time to start then now while it is still in its "fetal" stages. I will post some pictures after I aquascape the LR but right now its kinda boring just some sand and a couple of conch shells i got from my grandmother from the 50's to add a little retro vibe (just kidding actually I was just tired of looking at only the sand).
By the way this is a little off subject but if you by chance have any old conch shells lying around and just don't know what to do with them they make great little plant holders. Just put a little water in the bottom and a couple bamboo stalks or philodendron and there you have a perfect little companion for your standalone nano.
~Jon
