Ok, so I just started to set up my 29 gallon reef tank, so far its just the tank and live sand and some crushed coral, a store here will sell me the water premixed for 1$ a gallon to fill up on, so i was going to get about 20 lbs of live rock and add it the same time as the water ect. how hard will it be to get it going? ive seen how some people say to set it up and it sounds ALOT more complicated than they said at the store, at the store they said add the sand and live rock with the saltwater, keeping the salinty at about 1.024 -1.026 and after about 5 days add in a damsel to get the cycle going (the live rock is cured and have undergone the cycle already) and about 4 days after that i can add the fish i want (2 clowns, and a firefish) and thats about it for now. how hard will this be to set up? or were they pretty much right on what to do
setting up 29 gallon biocube reef
- Thread starter NthPvttucker
- Start date
What sort of equipment are you using to move water and filter the water?
Your setup sounds about right, but I would lengthen the time between steps. Set it up, wait 2 weeks, add a damsel, wait at least 2 weeks, add another fish, wait, etc. During this time you should be testing to see where your water is at(nitrates, nitrites, ammonia.) Maintaining the tank also must be considered and regular 20-25% water changes will need to be done.
im going to buy some buckets and get the water from the store since its about a dollar a gallon and buy some extra so i can have some on hand for water changes, evaporation ect i dont want to buy a RO system for a 30 gallon biocube its not worth it lol the RO water at that store is .50 cents a gallon, but on the biocube it has a wet dry filter on it, it looks pretty nice and im going to buy a protein skimmer in a week or so
Ok. You probably know this, but make sure you topoff with the RO water without salt.
I would not use bioballs on a saltwater tank. I would pull them if at all possible and use rock rubble instead. Bioballs will produce a ton of nitrate and make it hard to maintain good water quality.
Getting a protein skimmer is a great idea and will help a lot!
It is just live or dry rock but in small enough pieces that they can fit in the compartment. You can get this rock at fish stores, but would be much cheaper from craigslist or your local reef club. You won't need a whole lot of it because you don't have a very big area to fill. I assume your bioballs are in the back of the cube under the hood?
yes they fit in the back there, i guess could i get a few live rocks and just use a hammer and break apart the larger rocks? idk if they have them at my store ill check how full does it need to be? like FULL full or half way ect?
Yes, that would be a good idea. Maybe a little over half full. You can still leave the intial filter pad, just make sure you clean it at least once a week or so.
yeah id keep in the sponge and the regular fiilter and replace it once a week give or take, so half ful sounds pretty good, any adice youd give on saltwater?
Go slow. Nothing good happens fast in the saltwater hobby. Ask a lot of questions and read a ton of info, it will help you learn and make far less mistakes than most(myself included).
Keep up on your maintenance. Being lazy and falling behind can cause a lot of problems that are much more difficult to fix. Feed small amounts more frequently so less food gets wasted(lots of people just dump a bunch in once a day).
Know what you are getting yourself into
Saltwater tanks and reefing are very very addicting.