New biocube16 setup

[garye5007]

New guy setting up a biocube16 LED. I am 63 and consider myself pretty intelligent. My goal is to have a nano-reef with 2-3 small fish, 1 shrimp, CUC and someday add easy corals. Read the 17 pages of “new users read this” and this is my takeaway followed by questions. Parts are dated but the core requirements remain. Many differences of opinion. Here’s my plan.

Have tank, overbuilt stand,10g quarantine tank, bag of “live” sand and manufactured (dead) rock.

Need to buy,

refractometer, reef salt mix, heater, filter media, wave maker(s). test kit,  Ro-Di water. 
Questions…

Did I miss anything?

Wash  sand with tap water. Place rock then sand.

Figure 5-7 weeks of running display tank without livestock after cycle. No water charges during cycle. Test,test,test?
LFS Owner sells Ro-Di water for .05/gal. Do I trust his water? Also he pushed filter media and additions to tank that he said I can get livestock in 2 weeks (with my research, I’m not buying that) In time, gonna get my own Ro-Di system . 
Can I mix first salt in the tank?

Expect to do 2.5 gal changes every 10 days unless parameters warrant.

wave maker(s) 1 or 2 and how big?

Quarantine  new livestock 4 weeks?

Heater 50-75-100 watt most reviews are not good- recommendations?

Future additions,

skimmer, refugium. ATO.

Could use a mentor. online or local but I’m NOT joining a club( I’m kind of a loner). I’m in central Connecticut, how do I find one? 

Hows my plan sound? I really hope to get constructive responses.

Thank for for your time!

Gary

 

 

 

[gena]

Hi, Gary!  Welcome to Nano-Reef!!!!

 

First I just want to say .05/gallon for RODI????  That's an incredible price.  Especially if it's good water.  You can buy a hand-held TDS meter and test their water.  They are pretty cheap (like $10) on ebay or amazon.

 

I'll quickly answer a few of your questions.  I know people do mix the first salt in the tank, but I recommend doing it outside the tank in a separate bucket.  You can do what you want, but that's what I would do.

 

Depending on what livestock you plan on, as far as coral, you may not even need a wave maker.  The return could be enough.  You can purchase wave-making attachments for the return knozzle on your cube too.

 

I don't think I've seen any totally good reviews on heaters.  I picked up a used tank a couple of months ago and it had the original Petco heater in it, still going 6 years strong.  But I replaced it anyways just to be safe.  

 

Good luck with your new tank!  Sounds like you did plenty of research which is so important in the hobby 😊.  Looking forward to watching it grow! 

 

 

[stevie1493]

Hello Gary,

 

Congrats on joining the hobby, I hope it gives you as much enjoyment as it has myself..+1 to everything @gena shared. I used to purchase R/O from an LFS and discovered it had 20+ ppm nitrate, so it's hit or miss. I would definitely test it in your situation.

 

Overall your plan sounds great. The only issue I found is rinsing live sand. Live sand should be added directly to the tank after you finish your aquascape without rinsing. Tap water will kill the beneficial bacteria you pay for when buying live sand.

 

As far as QT, a 30 day observation QT is probably more than what a vast majority of reefers do. I have a medicated QT procedure which I think is kind of overkill. I'm starting to wish I just set up my QT as an observation tank so that I could use it as a frag tank/QT in the future. Since copper has been in the system I cannot do that.

 

[Clown79]

3 hours ago, garye5007 said:

New guy setting up a biocube16 LED. I am 63 and consider myself pretty intelligent. My goal is to have a nano-reef with 2-3 small fish, 1 shrimp, CUC and someday add easy corals. Read the 17 pages of “new users read this” and this is my takeaway followed by questions. Parts are dated but the core requirements remain. Many differences of opinion. Here’s my plan.

Have tank, overbuilt stand,10g quarantine tank, bag of “live” sand and manufactured (dead) rock.

Need to buy,

refractometer, reef salt mix, heater, filter media, wave maker(s). test kit,  Ro-Di water. 
Questions…

Did I miss anything?

Wash  sand with tap water. Place rock then sand.

Figure 5-7 weeks of running display tank without livestock after cycle. No water charges during cycle. Test,test,test?
LFS Owner sells Ro-Di water for .05/gal. Do I trust his water? Also he pushed filter media and additions to tank that he said I can get livestock in 2 weeks (with my research, I’m not buying that) In time, gonna get my own Ro-Di system . 
Can I mix first salt in the tank?

Expect to do 2.5 gal changes every 10 days unless parameters warrant.

wave maker(s) 1 or 2 and how big?

Quarantine  new livestock 4 weeks?

Heater 50-75-100 watt most reviews are not good- recommendations?

Future additions,

skimmer, refugium. ATO.

Could use a mentor. online or local but I’m NOT joining a club( I’m kind of a loner). I’m in central Connecticut, how do I find one? 

Hows my plan sound? I really hope to get constructive responses.

Thank for for your time!

Gary

 

 

 

Everything you listed seems spot on.

 

As for LFS water, the only way to know is testing tds levels. You can get a handheld tds meter on amazon. 

Some stores are diligent at changing rodi filters while others don't. Some don't even sell RODI but RO.

 

You can use distilled water. Its pure water, just ensure its not remineralized. 

 

I would not mix the saltwater in the tank, should be done in a bucket with heater and powerhead. Having an extra heater and powerhead for making water is essential.

You can get any powerhead for this.

 

Now to cycle dry rock tanks, its best to use Dr. Tim's ammonia dosing and biospira. You need an ammonia source and bacteria for dry rock cycling.

 

You will need ammonia, nitrite, nitrate test kit for cycling. Api is fine for these tests.

 

Most return pumps don't offer enough flow to not add a powerhead/wavemaker unless you upgrade the return pump and add a RFG nozzle and even then, theflow may not be accurate to properly keep detritus, food, etc suspended in the water column and filtered out.

 

You don't need a $400 wavemaker. There are affordable options for water movement.

 

For the filter. Getting or diy a media basket is best. Running activated carbon and filter floss is the common media.

 

Filter floss can be purchased in bulk and cut to size. change out 2 times a week.

 

Activated carbon. I always purchased seachem matrix carbon in the containers, a small media bag(i always had 4 on hand). I'd add 1.5 tbsp of carbon to the bag, rinse well and add to media basket. This was changed every 2 weeks.

 

Its enough carbon to reduce any toxins but not enough to strip organics.

 

The above method is more affordable for media use and allows you to control how much is used.

 

Stay away from nitrate and phos reducers. These should be used as needed.

[banasophia]

Yes, welcome! 

 

 

If you haven’t already, check out Jackal227’s Biocube 16 tank thread and mine, and our tank of the month write ups. Lots of us with Biocube 16s based our setups on Jackal’s. (I wouldn’t cut the tab between the first and second chambers though because the Coralife skimmer attaches to that if you want to add a skimmer in the future.)

 

The first post in my journal has a list of items that might be helpful starting out:

Agree with others to mix your salt in a bucket. 
 

For a heater, the cobalt neotherm 50w is a good choice. And I would use one powerhead; the hygger mini is a really nice one if it’s in your budget. I especially like it because it’s tiny, highly programmable, and most importantly the gaps are small so less likely for small fish to get in and get hurt. The jebao ow-10 and jebao slw-10 are good options to consider as well. 
 

 

[garye5007]

Thank you very much for the replies!!

Great advice I was looking for.

[debbeach13]

Hi Gary welcome to NR. I think you are really going to enjoy this hobby. You picked a great tank to start with. Most members here is very friendly and helpful. So the online mentors are right here. We have some members in Connecticut. 

22 hours ago, garye5007 said:

Could use a mentor. online or local but I’m NOT joining a club( I’m kind of a loner). I’m in central Connecticut, how do I find one? 

You may want to research the Connecticut Area Reef Society. Many clubs have reduced actual get togethers or meeting due to Covid-19 but it is still worth checking out. Local reefers often are a great and inexpensive way to get aqua-cultured corals. 

We love pictures but no required. Keep posting your progress and ask as many questions as you have.