Starting a new tank! NEED help please :)

[Franco B]

Hey guys, can someone help me and recommend some hardy corals I can start with? i am not worried about fish yet, but if you can recommend what mixes well and does not... it would be very helpful due to the LFS giving bad advice because they just want to sell things.

This is what I have:
Factory Bio cube 14 (2.5 weeks into cycle with prefect water according to API SW mater test kit)
Added live bacteria to water
Seachem reef salt (its at the green mark on the hydrometer)
Flow deflector
Small water pump for circulation
8 pounds live rock with some red zoanthids on it and a feather duster rock
5 pounds live sand

Very near future upgrades:
bio cube nano skimmer
water heater (its in the kitchen so it stays at 78*-80* but its starting to get cold at night)

Here's my story:
I have had plenty of freshwater aquariums with plenty of success . About 5 months ago I started my first SW aquarium with a bio cube knockoff tank that was 14 gallons and cheap. I jumped into it too quickly and added a lot of life into it. but I was lucky and everything flourished, I got cocky and jumped into a 30 gallon, everything was doing great until one of my 5 anemones snuck into the back of the tank and died. I caught it too late, but by that time the water was toxic and everything died very slowly within 3 weeks. all I have left now is a tomato clown fish. I wanted to start over with quality products. I broke down and finally bought a bio cube 14. I am into the 2nd week of cycling it and already have live sand and rock. today I added bacteria and tested the water. The water was perfect as far as the API salt water master test kit is saying. I want to wait another week or 2 before I start adding a cleaning crew. I already know what i am going to put in there so I don't need help with that. I can keep anemones alive just fine but I want to start with coral, I will be getting a single anemone for my clown fish so he has a home.

Thanks a million and hope to hear some good advice!

[chrisd]

a nem will not live in the bio cube with out a serious light upgrade and the tank is to small. plus your tank needs to be set up for at least 6 months to a year closer to a year before you can add one.
any soft corals and some lps would do fine in the cube.
you may want to add a koralia nano power head for more water movement.
one other thing you may want to do is to remove the bio balls, sponge and charcoal filter you do not need any of these things if you have live rock. after removing them just fill the tank untill the water in the second chamber is about one inch below the first chamber.
one or two small fish will be fine.
you should keep your salinity around 1.025.
and slow down you need to let the tank cycle i would wait at least 2 months before adding any corals or fish, a small clean up crew will be fine.

[Franco B]

ok cool , thanks for the reply, i read up alot sincy my last tank failed and my SW I.Q is alot better than before, theres some brown algea already growing on the live rock, sand and a little on the glass. what is best for the brown algea? any kind of snails or hermits? oh and should I take out the filter or leave it in? its the regular filter that came in the box, prier to puting live rock and sand into it I cycled the tank for about a week and half with just tap water and treated it with readystart, than i added everything else on that list. I heard im suppose to take out all the carbon filters when cycling? is that true?

[Kakalakasha]

Originally Posted by Franco B

ok cool , thanks for the reply, i read up alot sincy my last tank failed and my SW I.Q is alot better than before, theres some brown algea already growing on the live rock, sand and a little on the glass. what is best for the brown algea? any kind of snails or hermits? oh and should I take out the filter or leave it in? its the regular filter that came in the box, prier to puting live rock and sand into it I cycled the tank for about a week and half with just tap water and treated it with readystart, than i added everything else on that list. I heard im suppose to take out all the carbon filters when cycling? is that true?

The brown algae sounds like its most likely Diatoms.
Just a part of the cycle.
It will fade as the nutrients run out.
Do NOT use tap water.
It will cause failure of your tank.
Get an RO/DI or buy RO/DI water from your LFS.
If there isn't a LFS with RO/DI around you, you can get distilled water.

[Franco B]

oh dang too late, I used to buy water at the LFS but it just got be be a pain in the butt after a while with my last SA tank, I treated it with water conditioner if that matters any?

[bcrum51]

I would seriously consider more rock and an anemone would do ok in a cube as far as lighting they may get a bit large for the tank but I would seriously think about more rock like maybe 8 more lbs

[Kakalakasha]

Originally Posted by Franco B

oh dang too late, I used to buy water at the LFS but it just got be be a pain in the butt after a while with my last SA tank, I treated it with water conditioner if that matters any?

The water conditioner mainly removes the chlorine but it doesn't remove the phosphates which is the biggest problem found in tap water.
The phosphates will just help algae THRIVE in your system.
The stock lighting that comes with the BioCube is slightly inefficient for an anemone.
If you want one you're going to have to upgrade to t5 or metal halide.
And I agree.
Not neccesarily 8 more pounds, but I would get more live rock.

[Franco B]

oh I forgot to say after the first 8 pounds I did get another 3.5 a day or 2 after, It looks to me that I have plenty for now, after a month im goin to get some small pieces, anyways....if I did upgrade the lights would I be more prone to a algae bloom? is there anything that I can add to take out or treat the phosphorus? thanks again

[Franco B]

should I keep running that filter or take it out?

[Franco B]

Originally Posted by bcrum51

I would seriously consider more rock and an anemone would do ok in a cube as far as lighting they may get a bit large for the tank but I would seriously think about more rock like maybe 8 more lbs

i have a 3.5 more pounds I forgot to say, its only a 14 gallon tank, it can fit a lot of rock but too much looks weird and makes the tank too crowded! im also dosing with calcium A and B, is that too early? im going for the pink and purple algae to grow on them.

[Loverotties]

Usually 1 - 11/2 pounds is normal.