New to saltwater and forum with 14 biocube

[louy99]

im new to saltwater tanks. i have always wanted to do this and finally got the guts to start one. i originally bought a 6.6 gallon fishtank at petco. it was cool to start with. all i had was some live rock, mini max carpet and two fish. i wanted to do something nicer so i got a used 14 gallon on craigslist. since then i have added more and am really enjoying it! here is my tank. it is completely stock at the moment but have extra light coming in from nano-tuners ( 3.24 nanocustoms lighting upgrade).

 

i hope i uploaded the image right...

 

 

-Luis

[rovster]

Looks good. Make sure you check out the resource guide. Let the modding begin! I started with an in tank media rack and upgraded return pump. I just added a second powerhead, so I've got a k240 and k425 and the corals love it. My next mod will be the lights. Make sure you upgrade the fans, but I think your kit includes that.

[louy99]

thanks! i have read a lot about taking out the bioballs but to do it slowly over a period of weeks. is it better to have nothing in there than have bioballs? some people say to remove the sponge in the last section where the return pump is. is that something you did? im considering the media basket but i have spent so much more money than intended, id rather not do that right now. nothing has died in my tank and i have had it up for 4-6 months. if anyone has a good website with info on this media basket and what to put in it that would be helpful. im not fully understanding it. thanks again!

[stifler51]

Just google inTank media basket. Bioballs are just a cesspool of junk from the tank recirculating back into your tank. A media basket is basically like a mini fuge in your tank. Filtering the water thru more beneficial filter media than the terrible bioballs.

 

In my MB. i use to have Floss/purgien/chemipure elite. Now i have floss/Chaeto/Chemipure. I removed the sponge cuz it just gets clogged with junk and always forgot it was down there. Id rather have the pump blow it back into the tank so the floss could pick it up rather then contributing to the nitrates in my tank. I now keep my bag of purgien in that spot.

 

For floss, i just go out to the wall of mart. pick up some polyfill from the fabrics area. making sure its not treated with anything like fire prevention chemicals or whatever and use that. Change it every few days instead of getting a protein skimmer.

 

As far as taking out the bioballs. when u scrape up the money to get a basket. Slowly remove the bioballs over and couple weeks. If u took them all out at once its like dumping the cesspool directly into the tank.