I'm Finally Doing It!!!!!!!!! :)

**TidePool Daydreamer** · 07-28-2008, 12:26 PM

well everybody, i just got married 2 days ago. as a wedding present, my roomate got me a 29 gallon bio-cube!!!! so i'm gonna start setting it up today! (the stand is gonna be a pain in my butt!) so i will keep yall posted on my progress, as this being the first saltwater tank i have setup for my self. i will be asking alot of questions, so be prepared to get annoyed!!!!!

**Phurst** · 07-28-2008, 12:53 PM

Congrats on the wedding AND the tank!

Ask away, we're here to help.

***lReef lKeeper*** · 07-28-2008, 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by Phurst

Congrats on the wedding AND the tank!

Ask away, we're here to help.

+1 ... on both !!

**Skurvey Dog** · 07-28-2008, 05:36 PM

Congratulations! What an awesome gift. Funny how you will find that the tank will require more of your time and TLC than your better half.

J/K Enjoy!!!!!!

**CarmieJo** · 07-28-2008, 06:42 PM

Congrats on both!

**TidePool Daydreamer** · 07-28-2008, 09:13 PM

haha yeah she keeps saying that i've been thinking more about the tank than her, fortunately though she likes fish almost as much as i do, so it shouldn't be too hard. well i've got the stand built and the tank is almost ready to go, i;ve got to go get a few things from the hardware store and then i get to mix some water and let her run for a few days. then i'll get some pics up! and btw, does anyone know if a skunk clown will bond with a bubbletip anemone?

**Skurvey Dog** · 07-28-2008, 09:21 PM

Smart man for marrying a merwoman! Can't go wrong there. I think it's awesome. If you play your cards right and involve her with your marine interest from the start.... you will be a very happy couple. Especially come winter. A piece of tropical paradise! I am going to enjoy following your tank build.

I am not versed in Skunk Clowns so I'll let those gurus advise you on that one.

**TidePool Daydreamer** · 07-29-2008, 01:45 AM

ok, so here it goes, i've been doing my homework, and looking at fish and corals that would do well in my bio-cube. so i figured out that the skunk clown will bond with the long tentacled, and the sebae anemone, but will anemones do wel under the lighting in the cube? my next fish choices would be the randal's goby, purple firefish, and the bar goby. now im guessing that i will have compatibility issues with the fire fish, but how about with the bar and the randal's? i'll ask about some corals after i catch my breath from writing so much. haha

**Phurst** · 07-29-2008, 08:55 AM

An anemone will need quite a bit more light than the stock lighting on a Bio-Cube will provide, I'm sorry to say. You could always upgrade the lighting in the future should you decide you just have to have an anemone (and I will say, there's something very striking about a nano with an anemone and a clown), but for now, I'd pass. Anemone's also require very stable conditions (hard to maintain in a nano) and tend to prefer well established and matured tanks.

I'll let someone else chime in on the compatibility of your fish selection. I don't know how they'll get along.

**TidePool Daydreamer** · 07-29-2008, 12:10 PM

yeah i'm kinda hopin dick or someone else with a randall's goby will chime in about its compatibility. any ideas on good colorful coral that will do well, of course i know no stonys, but any really pretty softies?

**Phurst** · 07-29-2008, 12:14 PM

You can get great color from zoas, palys, ricordias, and mushrooms, all of which will do fine under stock lights. IMO, most of the really vibrantly colored leathers require higher light, and most of the softies like colts, xenia and kenya tree will add nice movement, but don't really offer much in the color department. Certainly though, you can have a very colorful tank with the stock lighting.

**Reef Newb** · 07-29-2008, 01:57 PM

also check out hammer coral. The are really pretty and very hardy. I found one at an LFS with green stems and pink head and it grows rather quickly. It should do well under the stock lighting of a biocube. Also look for duncans. Kind of expensive depending on where you get them but they too grow really fast. I bought a 3 headed frag about a month ago and I can see about 6 more smaller heads on it now.

**CarmieJo** · 07-29-2008, 10:37 PM

Any of the Euphyllia (hammer, torch, frogspawn) will be fine with the stock lighting.

Also, FWIW my BTA is huge and would almost reach from side to side in my NC24.

**TidePool Daydreamer** · 07-30-2008, 05:54 PM

ok, so deff scratch the anemone thoughts for now, and thanks for the advice on the corals, it will be a couple of weeks before anything goes in, but i just got done setting everything up, and i need to get a test kit tonight. but it looks beautiful so far, but my SG is 1.024, and temp is 81, so so far everything is looking up. im gonna throw some live rock in tonight after work, and leth that cycle my tank. how long should it be before i add the live sand after the rock, or should i add it with the rock to aid with cycling?????

**CarmieJo** · 07-30-2008, 08:20 PM

Casey,

I'd add the sand and the rock at the same time. Consider making rock stands like Amphibious'. This helps prevents dead spots in the tank. I would commend this article The Building of a Reef (tank) to you. I have been running my nano fishless since the first of March. I'll add fish back in eventually but I am deciding how I want to go with the tank. In the meantime my corals look great and I have gazillions of pods.

**dillan** · 07-30-2008, 08:26 PM

not sure if a clown you get would do it but my maroon clown hosts in my hammer coral

**CarmieJo** · 07-30-2008, 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by dillan

not sure if a clown you get would do it but my maroon clown hosts in my hammer coral

In aquariums not all clowns host but it is not uncommon to hear of them hosting Euphyllia, mushrooms, powerheads and various other non-anemone things.

**Reef Newb** · 07-30-2008, 09:50 PM

I vaguely remember listening to one of the podcasts about clowns that host in some euphyllia corals can irritate it so much that it could die...I may be mistaken though...just something to look out for.

**CarmieJo** · 07-30-2008, 11:30 PM

Actually a rough clown can even irritate an anemone to death.

**TidePool Daydreamer** · 07-31-2008, 01:33 PM

ok, so yeah no pics as of now, but as soon as i get a new camera, mine decided to go buh bye on me...

i'll get some up! but ive now got all my live sand and rock in the tank, and i'm off to wrk. so i'll try to get some pics up after its not so cloudy haha.

**TidePool Daydreamer** · 08-01-2008, 11:34 PM

ok, so the tank has been set up a few days now, and i have been debating on taking the bio balls out or not. my tank has about 20 lbs of LR, 20 lbs of live sand, and 15 lbs of regular reef sand. for some reason after being set up with LR and LS for 2 days, all my tests read 0 on all parameters, (don't have a phosphate test yet, but as it is cycling, i'll worry about the phosphate later) is this normal??? and if i were to take the bio-balls out, what would i replace it with other than LR? i'm going to be adding another 15 lbs in about a week, and i dont want the detrius buildup in chamber 2. any ideas???

**CarmieJo** · 08-02-2008, 12:07 AM

I recommend taking the bioballs out unless you are planning on a FOWLR tank. You can use that section as a fuge, to hold LR or you can just leave it empty. I use a baster to keep the detritus from building up.

If all your parameters are zero your cycle hasn't started yet. You can drop a raw table shrimp in there until you see an ammonia spike or you can add a pinch of food. Either way you are trying to add something that will give you the ammonia needed to start the cycle.

Whatever you do don't let some old school aquarist tell you that you have to add a fish or other living creature in order for the tank to cycle. This is cruel to the critter and entirely unnecessary.

**TidePool Daydreamer** · 08-02-2008, 01:04 PM

even in freshwater i never cycled with a live fish, so im not about to start now. but yeah i figured that since it had been 2 days after live rock had been added that my cycle wouldhave started, cuz i know i had some dieoff. but i guess its time to put patience into effect.

its just so hard cuz i'm so ready to get started on stocking.

**CarmieJo** · 08-02-2008, 03:55 PM

Double check the readings with another test kit. If they are zero too go ahead and drop some food or a raw shrimp in to give it a bump.

**TidePool Daydreamer** · 08-03-2008, 07:52 AM

ok, so as of yesterday, test readings are:

ammonia: .5
nitrites: 0
nitrates: 0
ph: 8.3
temp: 80.8 F

i need a better test kit that shows me more, but there is some limited stuff at petco, so off to aquarium world i go in a couple of days, but if i;m not mistaken, i do believe it's started cycling. it's funny how excited i'm getting over an ammonia spike.