Some questions.

I still have some questions that still confuse me when dealing with SW

Ok, I plan on getting a 29 gallon Oceanic bio-cube for my first SW tank. I also plan to get some accessories for it, such as the Oceanic bio-cube protein skimmer.

Now for my questions: Do I need to be running the Protein skimmer while cycling? Do I need to be running the carbon filter in the cycle also? Do I even need the Carbon filter?

I plan on getting some Polyps (Yellow polyps, button polyps, and orange spot polyps) and Mushrooms (Blue, Green Striped, Green, and bullseye) for beginner corals to start with, but Im wondering, will the lighting that comes with the bio-cube be able to support them? If not, what lights do you recommend for me to get to replace them with?

Are the corals I picked do well together? How far should they be spaced out? What other corals do you recommend for a beginner?

Should I go with Live sand or Agaronite?

Thanks In Advance.

 

All the corals you have chosen should all do well together.

I would not waste my money on live sand, just get some dry aragonite and it will become seeded.

 

unless you getting it used. you'd be better to get the JBJ Nano 28, much better setup than the biocube.

 

Thanks for your input! That helped a lot! Do recommend any other beginner corals for this setup (I would like to have a variety)? So I do need the carbon?

One question that also escapes me, Do corals need a cycled aquarium? If so, once cycled, how long do I wait till to add them? How many at a time? Will it effect the bio-load?

 

How so?

 

Tyspot1000 -
First of all WELCOME to 3reef!!

It's a happy community of assorted fruits and nuts that know their stuff. :8)

To answer your questions in my opinion:

Ppl have cycled their tanks with and without skimmers. I would suggest without for the reason being that during the cycle you should not be inputting or changing anything about your setup such as salinity, water changes, lighting, filtration, etc. So running a skimmer will actually be like if you were trying to teach a kid how to do math (or a tank how to be cycled) and instead did all of the math (or all of the cycling) yourself - so when the test comes (or you start to stock the tank) - failure is likely.

You also do not need to run carbon during the cycle - like the skimmer it is a crutch for the cycling tank.

It is very good idea to run carbon in a cycled tank IMO. It removes toxins from certain corals/inverts and will allow you to keep clearer water in most cases. You do not need the same brand filters that come with your tank tho. Ppl have used chemipure bags or chemipure elite (with GFO) or even media bags full of carbon in their filter chambers.

Just be sure to pack filter floss in the chamber around any media bad to ensure that the water flows through and not around the media.

Those corals you listed are all fantastic starter corals as they are forgiving in their parameter tolerances and light tolerances.

The stock lighting of your tank will be sufficient to keep any soft corals and even certain LPS corals such as frogspawns or torch corals.

As for distances, with most soft corals there are no "sweeper tenticles" like you see on stony corals. A lot of soft corals like mushrooms and polyps can grow right next to and touching each other with no negative effect.

To be safe, you can always just arrange your rock/corals such that the different polyps do not touch. Base your spacing on the fully expanded/open sizes of your corals as most expand and contract to some degree.

You have a good start to a list of corals.

I would also add:

any euphyllia- frogspawn, torch, bubble (not sure if actually Euphylla but def LPS)
Leathers (need to run carbon with them)
Acans
Blastos
Open Brain Corals
Kenya tree
Caulastrea (trumpet/candy cane coral)

There are literally dozens more species but this is what came to mind.


As for sand - do not get "livesand" because it is actually quite dead.

There has been no fresh oxygen in that bag for sometimes months - all the anaerobic bacteria is gone.

Better to get the smallest grain sand possible ( i like CaribSea aragamax pink oolite sugar sand.)

All you will have to do is to "seed" the araganite sand with some sand from a trusted, established tank and you are all set to start your cycle (you might want to add the raw shrimp that many use to cycle their tanks).

Hope this helps!!!

 

wavemaker, and you can get LED if you are inclined which IMHO if money is not an issue thats the best way to go as powercompacts aren't exactly cheap.

 

Yes the tank needs to be completely cycled to add corals/fish/inverts. It will adjust the biological filter each time you add something new so it is a good idea to add fish slowly and not more than one or 2 small ones for that size of tank, at a time. Thus allowing the biological filter to adjust and grow.

Corals add little to the bio-load unless you are target feeding them, you can add more corals at one time than fish or some inverts.

Allow 4-6 weeks for the tank to cycle and tests for ammonia and nitrites are 0 consistantly. I would start a tank thread and when you get to the point when the tank appears cycled, we instruct you on how to test it's ability to handle a bio-load.

 

Q/A in blue. Thanks for the reply!

 

Thanks! Seems similar to FW when It comes to stocking (to a point). Also, do I wait at least 2 weeks before adding anymore fish (Like FW)? Also, will do, I plan on making a Build/ Progress thread on my new tank