Oceanic biocube 29 gallon

[rockstarnsc83]

Hello guys, I am new on the forum. This is my very first post. I recently purchased a 29 gallon Oceanic biocube. So far, I cut some of the plastic behind the filter for more flow. I upgraded the pump to a Rio 6HF. Got a heater hiding in the pump chamber, thermometer with a probe. I invested in a RO system to clean my water and im using Instant Ocean sea salt.

I found a guy in Florida that was selling live rock from his established 8 year old tank. He had thousands of lbs and said rock of that quality would retail for about $12 a lb. I paid $4 a lb and got 40 lbs. Some of it i took a hammer too making rubble and its in the 2nd chamber with just 2 layers of bioballs on top. The sand is 50 lbs of fiji live white sand which made about a 3.5 inch sand bed. How does all of that sound so far?

Next, for lighting..I have a question that I hope doesnt sound dumb..but do I turn the daylight and actinic lights on at the same time..or at seperate times..how about the moon light l.e.d's? If anyone can give me a basic rundown on when I should be operating what lights that would help a lot. Because right now im thinking its either daylight for a certain amount of hours and then actinic for a certain amount...or either daylight and actinic for a certain amount and then moon lights at night. THANKS ALL

[poppin_fresh]

Sounds like you are on the right track all the way around.

Most people start the actinics a short while before the main lights so as not to startle everything in the tank every day. They may also do the reverse at night to ramp the lighting back down. You will want to run the actinics along with the daylights for the best color rendering. I would shoot for the main lights to be on about 10 hours a day with an hour of actinic before and after for 12 hours total.

You can have the moonlights come on any time you wish as they dont really do anything for the tank. They are more for our viewing pleasure. They dont need to run all night either, I wouldn't bother keeping them on much after you've gone to bed.

Ohhh and WELCOME!

[lReef lKeeper]

my VHO actinics come on at 9am, halides come on at 12 noon, halides off at 8pm, and actinics off at 11pm. HTH

[rockstarnsc83]

thanks guys... the tanks been running about 2 weeks..todays test readings show
salinity- 1.023
ph-8.0
nitrite-5.0 ppm or more
ammonia-.025 ppm
calcium- 350 ppm
phosphate- 0 mg
nitrate 110 mg or more

I know the calcium needs to go up..same with Ph

[lReef lKeeper]

everything alse needs to be at 0 before adding anything (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate)

[rockstarnsc83]

Here are some pics so far.

[poppin_fresh]

You're off to a great start. Two things...

1. Your PH is fine, leave it alone. Tinkering with it could cause problems
2. Dont worry about the calcium yet. Unless you have corals that need it (you dont yet) 350 is perfecty acceptable.

Many people think they have to dive in and start dosing this and that right from the start. The problem is that if you dont know what you are doing you will do more harm than good. Sometimes its best to LEAVE IT ALONE.

[lReef lKeeper]

^^^ what he said ^^^

[rockstarnsc83]

IM wondering what that is on the live rock in the 4th pic..anyone help me out identifying?

[lReef lKeeper]

looks like a dead coral skeleton, maybe a favia sp.

[Psychojam]

Are you refering to the hairy looking things on the left? My guess: probably some dead or dying stuff that's decaying and fueling your cycle.

[rockstarnsc83]

no, 4th pic to the right. These live rocks came from an established tank of 8 years. The guy lives in Florida and has like 3 550 gallon tanks of live rock thats been established..but I think hes down to around 350 lbs of live rock he had thousands of lbs.

[lReef lKeeper]

i was talking about this ...

[rockstarnsc83]

yeah, thats what I was talking about. I knew that you knew what I was talking about.