First if this should go in the new to saltwater section please let me know. I am new to saltwater afterall this is my first try at it. noob

First a little backgound. I have kept freshwater for about 20 years, got out of the hobby for a year. I had kicked around the idea of a saltwater, was going to convert a 55gal to saltwater but decided against it. Stupid Lease Agreements anyway I finally decided I couldnt take it anymore and had to have an aquarium again. began doing research again, reading up again, talking with the guys at the LFS again... and decided to give a saltwater / marine tank a try. decided on the biocube 14.

here are some pics of my set up. lemme know what you think. It has been up and running for a grand total of 5 days now, YAY! hurry up and wiat.... but im used to that due to my job. Ill keep updating this thread as I go along.

http://i16.tinypic.com/4pvug5d.jpg
http://i10.tinypic.com/660b4wi.jpg
http://i10.tinypic.com/6aytcv6.jpg
http://i13.tinypic.com/4zy22iv.jpg


Again, Lemme Know what you think.

Looks nice. I can't wait to see it after you start stocking it. I just started a nano too.

http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/member-tank-projects/4656-12-gal-nano-project.html

Welcome fellow BioCubian!

So Far So Good. I'll enjoy following your progress.

Hi Dragline,

First :welcome: to TR.

I like how you have the rock work, it looks great. I can't tell for sure from the photos but you want to leave enough room between the rocks and glass to get a Mag-Float or similar between them. It makes tank maintenance far easier.

PS, I just got a NanoCube about a month ago. There must be a bunch of squares around here!

Hi All,
noob
I added a Maxijet 900 and Hydor FLO to the BC14 today. I really like the water movement the FLO gives. :p When I first installed the Maxijet and FLO the water level in the pump chamber got very low and air was sucked in as well. There are now small bubbles all over the FLO and a few spots on the glass and Live rock... Will this cause a problem, should it be cleaned off or just left alone?

Also I noticed that there are a few small patches of brown gunk on the live sand... I think its the start of the Diatom bloom but not fully sure as I have only been cycling for 1 week as of today... Dont worry I wont rush into anything... Im still going to wait a good while until I am sure that the cycle has completed before adding any livestock. :up:

thanks for reading, any comments, tips, advice always welcome
Drag.

No worry on the bubbles, they'll go away. Certainly sounds like a diatom bloom. It's brown, not red, right? Looks like you're on the way.

When I put a MJ 1200 in my tank, the temp shot way up. I went back to the stock pump and have since just stuck with it. Maybe the MJ 900 will put out less heat.

I don't know this for sure, so someone correct me if I'm wrong. It seems that the flow in my tank is just fine with the stock pump. For example, if I feed something like mysis shrimp without turning the pump off, it generally stays suspended. Also, I've had to move things around so they wouldn't get blown around, like my mushrooms. My suspicion is that the flow with the stock pump is just fine for most things. Perhaps you get more bang for your buck flow wise in a smaller tank.

Thats my opinion so far.

just an update... YAY!!!!!! Ive GOT ALGAE, oh wait... that isnt always good is it? I just know its something different so either way it is kind of exciting to me. dont know what type of algae it is yet... I'll try to take some pictures and post them for help in identifying it, hopefully its some of the good kind rather than the bad kind. I dont think its hair algae because it is not tall , it is patterened like coraline algae but its green. anyway when i get home from work at 0600hrs Ill try to take the pictures... and then ill popst them for all to see.

I am so jealous...mine doesn't even have water in it yet :( lol. Next week though. It looks like it is slowly coming along. Have you decided what kind of coral your going to put in it yet?

Algae is a part of your tank's cycle so, in this case, it is a step in the right direction.

ok so I have been checking the parameters and the last few days they have been
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10ppm
PH 8.2
Salanity 1.024
Temp averaging 77F
Went to the LFS and he said that algae is common, and suggested adding hermits, snails and either an Emerald or Sally Lightfoot to help rid some of the Algae, also said up the waterchange from 10% to 15-20% to help keep the nitrate levels low thus depriving the algae.

I added 2 turbo snails, and 1 sally lightfoot... I know that the standard rule is "only bad things happen fast" I have had the tank running for 4 weeks. Did I add livestock too fast? and when it is time I wanted to add more cleanup crew but wasnt satisfied with the selection of the local LFS
What is a quality online source for Marine Livestock?
Thanks for the input.

you may enjoy this read..

The Building of a Reef (tank) (http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic23945-9-1.aspx)

Hello porthios and :welcome: to TR. Thanks for the link. Eric's stuff is always good!

Hi and welcome. its coming along nicely.