PFB's 29g Bio Cube Diary

[pigeonfarmboy]

This is the first aquarium I have owned. I know very little but have learned a lot in the last couple days. I set the tank up in the only room in my house without direct sunlight. I removed the bio-balls, setup the pump, and rinsed the carbon filter. I poured 30lbs. of sugar sand in first and then built up the live rock arch. I think it will get rearranged as I've read now that it's a bad idea to place the rocks on top of substrate without much support. Didn't think about it shifting. Filled the tank and immediately put in the recommended amount of Zip drops to dechlorinate. I put in the Koralia and aimed it up to help stir the salt. I used Reef Crystals and added 1/4 cup per gallon per LFS instruction. Box says 1/2 but they said it's better to be under than over. It seems like it didn't really dissolve as well as I expected.
So my current measurements are:
SG - 1.016
Temp - 70.5*

I got the rest of my testing supplies today so I'll check the rest soon. I also picked up a Marineland stealth pro heater, purigen, chemipure elite, and a mag float today.
Going to convert the back middle chamber to a refugium. Ordered the inTank Media basket, fuge basket, and fish saver guard so I'll hang my filter bags on the media basket and keep the cheato on the fuge basket. My tank has the window already in the back so I'll probably run a light through the back. Don't think I'm going to run any filter floss.
As you can see in the photo I'm having trouble with the sand being blown around. Just a re-aiming of the heads? Should I place the Koralia higher on the right back or is there a better spot in my setup?
My overall goal for this cube is to be as self-sufficient as possible. With that in mind, here's a list of specimens I like the look of. Please make any suggestions or additions. Of course I realize not all of these would fit in the 29g.
Tomato Clown
Lawnmower Blenny
Yellowtail Blue Damsel
Sixline Wrasse
Plate Coral
Red Gorgonian
Yellow Gorgonian
Green Star Polyp
Long Tentacle Anemone
Blueleg Hermit
Scarlet Hermit
Halloween Hermit
Emerald Crab
Feather Duster
Fire Shrimp
Nassarius Snail
Orange Frilly Sponge
Derasa Clam
Batik Starfish
Red Serpent Starfish
Orange Linckia Starfish
Blue Linckia Starfish
Chocolate Chip Starfish
Starfish and crabs are my main attractions. Fish are just so dynamic it'd be hard to not have any.
Something I've not seen in a Nano tank are Garden Eels. Is there a reason for this? After seeing them at a large aquarium it would be neat to have them at home if possible.
Thanks for all the help. I'm really excited about getting this going.

 

[soviettaco]

Well its looking good man! I would move the Power Head to the top you don't want sand blowing around and going through your pump. Don't worry about testing right now just get your salt to where it needs to be and get the temp up to 78 (thats a pretty good temp IMO) I'm guessing thats man made rock and not live rock right? And is that live sand?
Fish list sounds good except for the damsel those buggers are nasty, and if you decide to do a sixline make sure it is the last fish you add also it may become a problem with a clown in there. Anemones won't be able to go in for 6 months and I would say the same is true for clams but thats if you have the right lighting.
Corals sound good but gorgonians should probably be for later down the line. And your going to want to take this slow, but I think you already know this.
Now all you have to do is start your initial cycle and you will be on your way!!

 

[aquapod 24]

if youlike crabs then i would sugest a sally light foot crab. they are very active and get relativly big

 

[soviettaco]

Wow what was I thinking I forgot to suggest crabs which is my favorite thing to put in a tank, ok there are anemone crabs, porcelain crabs, decorator crabs (which will move everything around and stick it to themselves), pom pom crabs, arrow crabs, starwberry crabs, fiddlers, electric blue hermit crabs, shame face crab (but they will eat your smaller hermits), horsehoe crabs, sebra hermits, jade hermits, red leg hermits, sand sifting, giant hermit crabs, sally light foot (as said earlier), make sure you get Halloweens and not the Hawaiians
this is a Hawaiian
http://www.hawaiian-reef.com/images/...equin-crab.jpg
they will eat everything including you

Thats all I can think of right now.

 

[pigeonfarmboy]

Roger! Working on salinity and temp right now. Got it up to 75.6* now. I'll check SG tomorrow.
The rocks are Live Rock. Don't think the sand is live, bag says Aragonite.
That list of specimens is just what I thought looked cool so the input is really good to know.
I won't worry about levels, but I should be testing Nitrate right? That's the main tell-tale of cycling correct?

 

[nissan577]

what you wanna check now is ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. checking those making sure they go to 0ppm. and ph between 8.2-8.4
everything is looking good. more rock will be good to add. it may be to new but a refugium will be great for pods to grow and to lower nitrates in your tank.
heres a link on how to do it.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/vb/s...27&postcount=1
any question please ask

Carlos

 

[pigeonfarmboy]

Got the Temp up to 78 and the SG to 1.022 now. I'll check the other levels tonight. Still need to get an ammonia test but I have everything else.

 

[soviettaco]

Sounds good, see if you can get that sg to 1.024. Let us know when you start testing.

 

[pigeonfarmboy]

Got my inTank Package. Shipping was super fast and it's nicely made stuff. Unfortunately I got a bad case of food poisoning over the weekend so my tank progress has been delayed.
Before I got sick I was reading my "The Marine Aquarium" book by Philip Hunt/Barron's. I was unaware the my pump and powerhead were pointed incorrectly. That I should instead have them aimed up breaking more surface tension for CO2 & O2 exchange? When I did this though I noticed my water was evaporating quite rapidly. Compared to before, I was hardly loosing any water in my system.
I'll get back on it this week and get everything lined up. With good results maybe we'll see some life in this tank soon.

 

[small triggers]

yeah,, you need to hav atleast one pointing upwards to break the gunk on the surface and to help with oxygenation,,, i have my stock pointing downwards so there is flow through the tank also. and yes it does make your water evaporate a little fast,,, but its okay....
By the way that is a fairly good book to get started with...

 

[pigeonfarmboy]

Yes that book has been a great help in addition to the info here.
So I got really sick last week and haven't been able to get the testing supplies. Picked them up today and got these results.
SG: 1.024
Temp: 73
Ph: 8.4
Nitrite: 0.25
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 40
Gonna have to have the fiancee help me with the testing as I'm red/green colorblind and it takes me a long time to discern the exact match to the charts.
I rearanged the back section of my tank today with the inTank media & fuge baskets. I'm using purigen and chemipure elite in the media basket and haven't gotten the cheato yet. I lost some temperature during the day and I wonder if it's because the water isn't flowing through the heater properly. I took out the stock filter so I wonder if that was slowing the water flow enough for the heater to work before. Seems like it's not able to keep up now. Check out the photo and recommend if I need to change the position of the heater or what I should do?

Thanks!

 

[soviettaco]

Check if your heater setting was somehow changed by an accidental nudge. If the temp continues to decrease it could be that the heater is broken. Looking good though

And if you ever need a test done but can't dicern the color cards on your own take a cup of water to you LFS in a tupperware container (I use a water bottle), typically they will do trates, trites, P.H., Ammonia, and SG tests for free. Its cheaper that way too

 

[pigeonfarmboy]

I had unplugged the heater to hookup a spike strip for power. Looks like that's all it was haha. Everything is back to normal 78*

 

[soviettaco]

Originally Posted by pigeonfarmboy
http:///forum/post/3229060
I had unplugged the heater to hookup a spike strip for power. Looks like that's all it was haha. Everything is back to normal 78*
I almost said check if you have it plugged in but I thought nooo he has it plugged in

 

[pigeonfarmboy]

Originally Posted by SOVIETTACO
http:///forum/post/3229140
I almost said check if you have it plugged in but I thought nooo he has it plugged in

It must have just been the short time it was unplugged as I switched it over to a spike strip.
Today went to my shop to get water tested just to make sure my colorblind results weren't wrong:
SG: 1.026
Temp: 78.5
Ph: 8.4
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 30
Looked good so I brought home 4 blue-legged hermit crabs! Here's pics of two of them:

And this one had to do some acrobatics for the camera.

I'll pickup some extra shells for them soon and get some snails and an emerald crab next.
I've decided I'm going to get a sixline wrasse when everything is setup for one. No other fish for now. Maybe a couple clowns but that'd be it. Gonna get my calcium up and start getting some corals too. Feather dusters first probably.
The chemipure elite/purigen definitely made my water much clearer. Seems like my temperature is stable too. Just need to get some cheato for the refugium now.