back in the game

youpey

youpey

New Member
after a little more then a 3 year break, i finally got a tank again.
tonight i bought a 14 gallon oceanic biocube. the tank isnt setup or even have any water in it, but i am siked.
i am going to buy all the sand and salt tomorrow and get it ready to get some LR to start the cycle.
i am planning on putting in a occeleris clown (maybe 2), but i think the tank is so small i should only get 1.
for the most part the tank will be what ever grows on the live rock, some cleanup crew and the clown
 
youpey

youpey

New Member
i was really mad at myself because my wife said i could bring it when we got married and moved in together and i didnt want to move it. i figured i would just get a new one eventually. i didnt think eventually would take more then 3 years.
i gave the entire setup to someone she knew, only to find out months after, he decided salt water was too much work, let everything die and turn the salt water tank into a reptile tank.
i was mad because he didnt even really try. i did all the hard work of getting it going and keeping it running with perfect water so everything would grow and flourish. all he had to do was monthly water changes and feed the fish. doesnt seem to hard to me.
anyway, i am glad to be back in the game. i am going to try to buy the salt, sand, heater and testing equipment today since i gave everything away when i moved. i would like to have the tank going for the rest of the week and the weekend before i toss in LR to get the tank cycled
 
troy989

troy989

Active Member
Originally Posted by youpey
http:///forum/post/3137804
i gave the entire setup to someone she knew, only to find out months after, he decided salt water was too much work, let everything die and turn the salt water tank into a reptile tank.
wtf! y didnt he tell u he didnt want it or put it on craigslist or give it away he shouldnt have just let them die!
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by youpey
http:///forum/post/3137804
i was really mad at myself because my wife said i could bring it when we got married and moved in together and i didnt want to move it. i figured i would just get a new one eventually. i didnt think eventually would take more then 3 years.
i gave the entire setup to someone she knew, only to find out months after, he decided salt water was too much work, let everything die and turn the salt water tank into a reptile tank.
i was mad because he didnt even really try. i did all the hard work of getting it going and keeping it running with perfect water so everything would grow and flourish. all he had to do was monthly water changes and feed the fish. doesnt seem to hard to me.
anyway, i am glad to be back in the game. i am going to try to buy the salt, sand, heater and testing equipment today since i gave everything away when i moved. i would like to have the tank going for the rest of the week and the weekend before i toss in LR to get the tank cycled

Welcome back to the hobby! I wish I had a friend like you who just gives away fully established saltwater tanks..LOL...If you decide to move again feel free to PM me...
..JK
 
youpey

youpey

New Member
Originally Posted by troy989
http:///forum/post/3137840
wtf! y didnt he tell u he didnt want it or put it on craigslist or give it away he shouldnt have just let them die!
yeah, i probably had 2k worth of stuff, including lights, filter and other stuff in the tank.
there really wasnt room in my new place for the 29 gallon and there wasnt enough space in a smaller tank to keep it all, most would have not fit anyway.
i spent two hours putting all the water, rocks etc in buckets to move to his house, then i helped him put it in his house, setup everything, with the timers for the lights etc. all this and he decided he didnt want it and basically killed everything. if i had known it, i would have just made room for it in my place and it probably would still be going.
 
youpey

youpey

New Member
after a days worth of disaster i finally got my biocube filled with crushed coral and saltwater
the tank was wobbling when i put it on the stand. i assumed the stand was bad since it was old, so i went out and bought a stand specifically for biocubes. 181 dollars later i get home to find the tank is still wobbly.
after much testing i found the tank was lopsided a little bit.
i brought it back to the store and exchanged it for a new one. the new one was strait, but i didnt need the new stand. although the new stand is very nice, it was 181 dollars i didnt need.
i guess around wednesday once all of the crud has been filtered out, and payday i will buy some cured live rock to start the cycle. that stand was my live rock money, so now i have to wait.
the tnak looks great though, even with nothing in it
 
youpey

youpey

New Member
finally got salinity level right. i think i lost count somewhere when adding it. now i cant wait for the cloudyness to subside. maybe after a day or 2 of not touching it will settle down.
i am worried the oceanic filter is not strong enough for a salt tank. on my old tank i had a canister filter good for 70 gal in a 29. i know it was overkill, but i remember the cloudyness went away in a matter of 6 hours
 
youpey

youpey

New Member
i have decided to get the maxi jet 900 and get rid of the bioballs for some media in bay 2.
the cloudyness didnt clear up so i am doing those changes and getting an additional powerhead. i am not happy that the tank still hasnt cleared up nicely
 
youpey

youpey

New Member
I finally ordered 21lbs of cured live rock, which should be in tomorrow. i got chemi-pure elite, some filter floss, carbon and my test kit
i am just waiting on the rock arriving, the media tray, which i can add whenever it comes in, i still need to buy the maxiplus 900, the koralia 1 and purigen, but i will get those at a later time.
so tomorrow i will officially start the cycle of my tank. i am siked on this. i will take pics tomorrow, no matter how cloudy the tank looks.
 
youpey

youpey

New Member
i got the live rock in
21lbs was too much. i broke some into smaller pieces to get it to fit, but i ended up not using 2 pieces. i just looked too crowded. i think it might still be a tad crowded, but i think it looks good.
i took a pic, but my sis in law has my card reader, so i cant post yet.
now for the good stuff. i found 2 LIVE emerald crabs. i small (unfancy) clam and 2 very tiny things that look like a circle slug that were sticking to the glass. they were tiny, so i cant tell what they are, i think maybe a snail??? i dont know, it looked too flat to be a snail. so i dont know. much of the rock had purple coraline (??) on it. i think i also saw a tiny star fish, but now i cant find it, so i dont know where it went. this is just the stuff i found in the first 20 minutes of looking.
i will look some more later once everything settles.
i dont know if anything will live through the cycle, but one can only hope. the live rock was completely cured shipped priority overnight from PA.
will post updates if anything else pops up
 
youpey

youpey

New Member
I got all of my live rock in today and i put it in the tank. i bought 21lbs, which was a tad bit too much. i didnt use 1 piece, and i had to break a couple of the larger pieces into smaller pieces.
on to the good stuff (hitchhikers)

I found 2 very small LIVE emerald crabs hidden hanging out in the Styrofoam box, so i caught those and put them in the tank. NICE.
I found i tiny star fish, which has now magically disappeared into the abyss of my 14g tank somewhere.
I found 2 practically microscopic things sucking on the side of the glass. i have no idea what they are, but the bottom of them looks like they have a small mouth, and they are almost flat. they are very tiny. i have no idea what they are.
i took a picture of the tank, but my wife loaned my usb sd card reader to my sis in law, so i cant upload them yet. i should get it back this weekend, so i will post pics then.
in addition my media tray arrived, and i installed that too.
i am siked, i really like how the tank came out. A+++ to PA for sending it so fast and delivering a great product
 
youpey

youpey

New Member
i checked my ammonia, nitrites and nitrates today just to see how the cycle was going, and shockingly i found
ammonia = 0
nitrites = 0
nitrates = 20
i am not going to add a fish yet because i know the tank hasnt cycled in that short amount of time, and i dont want to go backwards in my cycle by adding a fish and having it die
those numbers to me are good numbers for a tank.
everything is telling me there is no way my tank cycled in 34 hours, but my question is, if my numbers stay the same for a while, how will i know when it is cycled and safe for a fish??
 
youpey

youpey

New Member
pic from yesterday right after i added the rock, so it was still cloudy.

i re-arranged the rock a bit and i think it looks great now.



i do have one thing i am pretty sure it is aptasia. i will buy some joes juice tomorrow to clear it up
 
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