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Coral Vue Hydros

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bevo5

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Hey everyone - I just joined this forum after buying a BioCube 29. I thought I'd say hi because I anticipate asking a million questions.

 

I've been keeping aquariums for about 20 years but gave up saltwater 15 or so years ago. I've been keeping/breeding African Cichlids ever since. So while I am quite knowledgeable about general aquarium keeping, I haven't messed with anything salty in a long, long time.

 

So far I've set up the 29 with just the standard stuff from the box. I've ordered a small powerhead to increase water flow, and I'm currently researching skimmer options. I'm going to want to stock this thing full and rely on water changes etc. for nitrate removal (I'm very used to water changes with my larger tanks, so this shouldn't be a problem).

 

I tossed a couple shrimp in there yesterday and now i'm going to wait for bacteria to do their thing, but in the meantime. My first question.

 

I know this is discussed a lot - but can someone give me the cliff notes on a skimmer that will fit in the back of this thing? Everyone says the coralife skimmer is junk, so I'll just buy another brand, but I'd prefer to now have to alter the tank too much since I'm just getting started.

 

So - a skimmer that will fit in either of the first two chambers?

 

Thanks,

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Ha - I am a UT fan, but I was born/raised in Lubbock so...

 

What stores are still there? I would go to Hi-Tech on 50th I think? But that closed right?

 

I'll check out the library link, thanks.

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I tossed a couple shrimp in there yesterday and now i'm going to wait for bacteria to do their thing, but in the meantime. My first question.

 

Hi! If those are table shrimp, ignore me (or read on if you don't want the decomposing shrimp to release stuff other than ammonia for the sake of the cycle).

 

If those are live shrimp, is there any way you can return them? Cycling would be a lot easier (and potentially quicker, depending on how quickly shrimp would be able to build up ammonia) if you purchased pure ammonia without scents or surfactants, then dosed the tank until you were at a concentration of 2-3ppm. The bacteria will have food as long as you keep the ammonia up, and in time they'll be able to eat through 2ppm within 24 hours. That's when you'll know you've cycled. You can also speed this up by adding bacteria, either seeding from another tank or purchasing something like Stability or One and Only.

 

It'd be better than adding table shrimp or live shrimp because you can directly control the concentration of ammonia (and thus the bioload your tank will be prepared for).

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I've always cycled my freshwater tanks with ammonia. I thought I'd try the (already dead) shrimp technique. But it is kind of starting to foul up the house, so I might switch back to the ammonia method. Do you guys do any water changes during that process? For freshwater I usually just let it go until nitrates start showing up and then do some water changes to keep those in check until the ammonia is cycled in under 24hrs.

 

Problem is that's a lot of store-bought water.....

 

I seeded the tank with some bacteria...never had success with those. But considering how quickly I've gotten a potent smell out of this tank, maybe they've already started attacking the shrimp. My salt water test kit is in the mail so I might just keep on keeping on with the shrimp for now. But wife is getting pissed off at the rotting shrimp smell.

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I've always cycled my freshwater tanks with ammonia. I thought I'd try the (already dead) shrimp technique. But it is kind of starting to foul up the house, so I might switch back to the ammonia method. Do you guys do any water changes during that process? For freshwater I usually just let it go until nitrates start showing up and then do some water changes to keep those in check until the ammonia is cycled in under 24hrs.

 

Problem is that's a lot of store-bought water.....

 

I seeded the tank with some bacteria...never had success with those. But considering how quickly I've gotten a potent smell out of this tank, maybe they've already started attacking the shrimp. My salt water test kit is in the mail so I might just keep on keeping on with the shrimp for now. But wife is getting pissed off at the rotting shrimp smell.

If the shrimp are smelling I am pretty sure they can be removed now.
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I'd remove the shrimp. The nitrifying bacteria you're looking to cultivate don't attack food on their own, it has to already have decomposed down and formed ammonia.

 

On the topic of store-bought water: You may want to invest in an RO/DI unit and some reliable salt, as well as a refractometer. Mixing your own saltwater (to your preferred salinity, in your own home) will pay for itself quite soon, depending your LFS' water prices. And if you're going to continue to buy pre-mixed water, make sure it's a consistent and reliable brand instead of water from the store's tanks or something along those lines (that water can be riddled with nitrates and waste, along with parasites and illnesses from the fish they bring in all the time).

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I took it out - i'm going to get some ammonia tomorrow and do it that way. Will be able to have a larger initial bio load this way anyway....and the house wont stink.

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Hey everyone - quick question:

 

I've been poking through the 50 pages on the nano-reef sticky, but I wanted to get some opinions on what to replace the bioballs with.

 

I use filter floss and could toss in some Purigen or chemi-pure elite, but for bio filtration it seems people are pretty well split on opinions. I was thinking of filling it with crushed up live rock? And, could I make it into a little refugium by adding a light? Or would that hurt bacteria growth for the bio filters?

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I used to raise Mbuna when they first hit the aquarium scene in the early 70s. Fond memories :)

 

Biologically, nothing has change in 15 years, of course. Water movement techniques, lighting and electronic control have changed and improved and products dedicated to smaller tanks have really expanded.

 

Reef tanks have more than sufficient biological filtration with just live rock and live sand, so I'd suggest leaving the rubble out as it's a detritus collection trap. I prefer not to use any type of mechanical or chemical filtration and simply rely on water changes and a consistent maintenance routine, so that's an example of how simple this all can be.

 

Nitrate in reef tanks is more stubborn to tackle than just water changes as one would do in freshwater tanks. The substrates, when not cleaned regularly, will contribute heavily to excess nitrate showing up in the water column above and beyond what is first consumed by algae and other organisms. Water changes will help temporarily, but within a few days the levels will be back up again. Cleaning the substrates of detritus will allow the nitrogen cycle to proceed more efficiently and, as a result, nitrate should not build up to high levels. In my 6+ year old unfiltered tank, both nitrate and phosphate stays undetectable (Salifert).

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Interesting - It does seem like sufficient live rock and water changes should create a relatively stable environment.

 

As for live sand - I already added aragonite to the tank. Should I remove that and drop in a bag of live sand instead? it wouldn't take my effort to do that for such a small tank.

 

OR, could I mix live sand in with the aragonite sand?

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Benvenuto, bevo5! You came to the right place. I love the biocube. Wish I had space for a 29gl. Good luck!

 

You could definitely mix the sand if you don't feel like removing the Argonite.

 

Oh, and if you have any Cichlid tanks still running, you should start a thread and post some photos! I would love to see them, as would many others. :happy:

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Awesome - and yeah, I'll throw some photos up of the cichlid tank later on. I was running a 180g peacock/hap tank until recently (I moved from NY to portland so it's waiting to be set up again). I'm thinking about setting it up as a frontosa/tricoti tank next to the reef tank. Give the fish something different to look at.

 

As for the live sand - is there a good online retailer you guys would suggest? Or should I just go buy a few handfuls from the LFS?

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As for the live sand - is there a good online retailer you guys would suggest? Or should I just go buy a few handfuls from the LFS?

 

Due to the heavy weight of the sand, there are additional shipping costs when purchasing online, which usually amount to a price higher than the price of the sand, itself... If you can find it locally, you're better off.

 

Look for CaribSea brand. Best bang-for-your-buck!

 

http://www.caribsea.com/

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Oh, and if you have any Cichlid tanks still running, you should start a thread and post some photos! I would love to see them, as would many others. :happy:

 

I dug up some pics - I just recently moved cross-country so I had to strip it all out, but these were the cichlid tanks I had to NYC. One is a 240 WC Moba/Tricoti tank (sold everything including tank), and the other is a 180 Malawi peacock/hap tank. I still have the 180 and I'm going to turn that into a frontosa tank here soon....unless I just go 100% salt, which is unlikely.

 

240GMOBAANDTRICOTI.jpg

 

 

MOBA-GROUP_1.jpg

 

 

TANKSHOT2_zpsfb3b4a22.jpg

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Hey thanks - I know a billion times more about keeping cichlids than biocubes, so this should be fun.

 

Question for y'all: I started my cycle last friday and added two small chunks of coralline-encrusted live rock the LFS gave me. My ammonia is up at about 3ppm and no sign of nitrites yet (as such I haven't even tested for nitrates). I noticed today that the coralline is browning and now I've got little bits of hair algae and brown algae spreading around.

 

That seems really quick to me - is it normal to have brown algae growing that quickly in a new tank?

 

Thanks.

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Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are a food source for algae, so if you're keeping the lights on it makes sense that it'd grow. I'm sure coralline will color back up if you leave the light off for now, but if there are other photosynthetic organisms you want to keep alive on the rock then algae will just be something to deal with. You could use something like hydrogen peroxide or physical removal until the tank's cycled and a CUC is an option.

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I was fully expecting to see the bloom, just thought it came later. No worries, thanks for the response.

 

My ammonia levels are still pretty high so I'm assuming it's a bad idea to drop the CUC in there? It would be fun to get SOMETHING in there to look at obviously...

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Absolutely no adding anything alive if ammonia levels are existent, no. :x

 

Cycling isn't really fun, it's necessary. But I've had fun watching for hitchhikers on the live rock. I still find new things months and months after adding any. (cough, mantis shrimp, cough) :wub: Still haven't seen the little guy again.

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