New to Saltwater, starting BioCube 14g, help!

[orangutan]

Hi all, I am officially diving into the saltwater arena. I have plenty of experience with freshwater (cichlids and the like) so I am not a complete newbie, but I need some startup advice!

I basically know how to start, but I was wondering if anybody knew where to find a basic step by step approach to a biocube setup, or if someone could provide me with one.

This is all I know right now based on some preliminary research:

Getting live sand & cured live rock, mixing sea water, BEING PATIENT AND LETTING IT CYCLE. I also know about cleanup crews and recommended fish for nanos.

Here is what I am unclear on:

Recommended corals & how to attach/feed them
Supplements that most people use (for calcium, alkalinity, etc...)
What to feed (I know it depends on the fish/coral, but I dont know anything!!)

Thanks all for advice.

[Mr.Peanut]

Welcome to TRT.

Dont worry about corals and stuff too much yet. Its gonna be a few months before those are going in the tank. You really dont need to feed them much.
Many corals will come from the store on a small piece of rock that you can glue to your rock. Others can be held in place in various ways. Again, it will depend.

Supplements.....you wont need too many. As long as you use a quality salt, Instant Ocean for example, and do regular water changes. Your tank will be fine. I add 2 supplements...vita-chem for my filter feeders and purple up for added calcium. Try not to add things you are not testing for. I made the mistake of dosing purple up without testing CA. No harm was done, but my CA was way too high.

What to feed will depend on your inhabitants. I feed sea weed, frozen foods, commercial pellets, fresh seafood I have even feed chop meat and chicken on occasion. Your tank will thank you for a varied diet.

I wish you tons of luck with your new tank. And remember to be patient.

[orangutan]

Thanks alot, its a good thing I am a patient person. What about using RO/DI water? Is that really necessary or is dechlorinized tap water fine.

[Loverotties]

RO/DI or distilled water is what you need!

[YLChik]

tap water has lots of things that the algaes will use to consume and grow

You'll want to look into an RODI system, or ability to get water from somewhere and check the TDS of that water.( total dissolved soilds) Your looking for 0.

To give you an example my water comes in at 350 tds after my rodi it's 0....