New Biocub 29 set up

Hi everyone. I am new to reef aquariums and have had my tank sitting empty for the last month or so as Ive plowed through books and forums gathering information

Ive run into quite a bit around here regarding the biocube 29 (THANK YOU) and upgrades/set up..I have a few questions:

** What is necessary to upgrade immediatly? Ive seen some of the chamber 2 upgrades from the InTank brand that others have posted. They look great but...would you start off with better filtration or keep it on a wish list for later...

**Where to put stuff in the back of the biocube. Ive seen a lot of people talking about adjusting chambers etc.First how do you do that...and then with the upgrades from inTank (specifically the Nano 9002 protein skimmer) it looks as though people are putting these in chamber 2.....so is only the heater in chamber one?

What filter media do you recomend? Stick with the charcoal that Biocube comes with or switch it up....?

**Last question for now: In one of the books I read it talked about putting your live rock in (after having 1/2 the h20 in) and then adding your sand so your live rock doesnt have the potential of shifting and possibly damaging a fish or coral. My LFS has never heard of this and assures me I can put sand in first and then my live rock. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance and sorry for all the Q's. I want to do this right from the get go.

Oh, last question: What book is considered the "must have" to go to for anwsers???

 

Hey Leanna,

First off, welcome to the wonderful world of reefing!

I just switched to a Biocube 29 and can tell you that I highly recommend the intank upgrades as soon as possible. Their media basket makes a world of difference, though if you want to save some money for right now, you can skip the Tunze 9002 and just do more frequent water changes, until you have money to put toward the skimmer.

In my media basket, I run filter floss in the top compartment, then Chemi-pure Elite, then Purigen at the bottom. It gives a really good level of filtration, but you need to make sure you change the filter floss out regularly.

For the chambers, I have my heater in chamber 1, media basket and skimmer in chamber 2, and my return pump/ ATO in Chamber 3.

As far as books go, I would actually recommend just searching through forums instead. So much of reefing has to do with opinion/ personal experience that having multiple perspectives on an issue tends to be much more helpful, than just one author. IMO- finding people who have similar tanks to yours and asking what has worked for them, tends to be the best route.

Hope this helps!

 

I like the The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Finner.
The Reef Aquarium Volumes I,II,III.