Coralife Biocube 32 - New Saltwater Setup

So as I am very well versed in freshwater and brackish water tanks I am new to salt water and my son has convinced me to get him one... I just have a couple (well maybe more than a couple lol) questions:

So I got the new 32g Coralife tank
Our eventually stocking list is going to be:
2 clown fish
2 yellow watchman gobies
1 royal gramma
(This could change if someone has some
Better advice...however the 2 clownfish must stay lol)
As for invertebrates I have no idea where to begin..I know that I should wait a small period between adding the first fish (clownfish will be the first ones added) before adding the invertebrates because we want to make sure they have food right? (That has what’s been told to me anyway)
So the plan we kind of have is after cycling the tank we will add the clownfish... then maybe a couple days- week add our first invertebrate... problem is with our above fish selection and due to the fact we are beginners I am wondering what type we should add first and what types would go with the fish selection above (we kind of want to have 1 shrimp (size appropriate suggestions please), and maybe 2 other different types (snails or something else that’s easy to take care of and won’t cause too much issues or breeding issues... unless my fish will eat the eggs then that’s fine)

Second part to the questions:
We have added and changed a few things around that were stock in this tank:
1- we went with the Intank media tray instead of stock and went with the tunze 9001 protein skimmer (as I heard the coralife ones are not any good)
So the plan is to have the heater in chamber #1- what is the best heater for these tanks? (Was looking at the Eheim 100-150w- not sure which wattage would be better?)

Then in chamber # 2 will have to cut the pieces off to make the Intank media tray work with the protein skimmer which is fine I know how to do that part... what I have got 100 different opinions on is what to stock the media tray with: our ideas starting from the top chamber going down: filter floss, then purigen (I don’t really care for carbon and have only ever used it to remove meds in my other tanks) then a seachem zip bag of matrix....
my problem is some people are saying that the matrix is the best and others are talking about chemipure (I have no idea what chemipure is so if I really don’t need it I’d rather stick to what I know.... like does it need replacing or it is good like the matrix where I basically will never have to change it?)

As for rock- we have decided against live rock because we don’t want to deal with invasive critters and most of the methods of removing them take away the benefits of having the live rock anyway so we were going for about 15lbs of the Carribsea LifeRock shapes and building our own sculpture... I know it may take a bit longer to cycle (I am adding biospira as well so hopefully that will make up the difference) and 15lbs is the recommended amount for this biocube (we will be adding soft corals in the future)
I will be adding about 12 lbs of the carribsea seafloor special grade reef sand (as again 12 pounds is what is recommended) and I’d rather have less rock and sand and more fish anyway.... which is why I was adding the matrix to help combine that and the rock as the main bio materials...

We have no choice but to use distilled water and I am thinking of using instant ocean for my salt, however I have discovered that it comes in seasalt and reef crystals... for what we are setting up will one be better than the other? Or no different?
Also we plan on adding the hydor WiFI Wavemaker (probably not right away but down the line, as I don’t see it as a necessity from the start- anyone have this newer model and any pros/cons?)

We have also purchased the Intank cover thing that closes the gap by the lights for the gobies so they don’t jump behind and get in between the tank and the chambers

Any information you guys can help with would be great and please just comment if you are familiar with all or any of the specific items I am talking about... specifically anyone who has the new biocube 32 and Intank media tray with the protein skimmer I mentioned

Also if there are any fish incompatibilities please mention those along with recommendations for the invertebrates
(The company says 3-5 fish + 3-5 invertebrates should fit this tank nicely and we have stuck with smaller type fish so I think those would be fine size wise...said we were like 70-80% stocked)

Any other relevant stuff I am missing or overlooking please feel free to add in but please spell it out in layman’s terms because I don’t quite get all the short forms yet lol

 

I wouldn't do 2 yellow watchman gobies. Unless they are a mated pair they will fight in a tank that small (and one may kill the other). They are generally peaceful with tank mates but hate each other with a passion. Some fish like clownfish with gender changing capabilities are fine in pairs, but most are a nightmare in pairs. Reduce the number of watchman gobies by one and maybe replace it with another small fish (ie Blenny). As for inverts, you actually add them first before the fish. Once your cycle completes you will get a diatom bloom (ugly brown stuff), which will provide plenty of food for your inverts. The other advantage to this is that a few crabs and snails are much cheaper than adding a pair of clownfish and testing things out. Among the most useful for a tank that size would be trochus snails. Hermit crabs are debatable, some feel they do more harm than good. I will always have a few in my tank, but I won't stock a bunch of them. They do eat detritus (fish poop), left over food bits, etc. that few snails will touch. I might also recommend getting a single conch snail. It will keep your sand bed clean and will actually eat detritus and left over food bits like a crab. I have 5 of them in my 90 gallon tank and they do an amazing job. Saltwater snails can breed, but it's far less common in a marine aquarium than in freshwater. I have yet to hear of anyone having their aquarium overrun with a bunch of trochus or conch babies and I have always had to buy more snails if I needed more. As for not having a choice but to use distilled water? You can purchase a portable RO system that can hook up to a Garden Hose for $60-$70 USD from Amazon.ca and you can get the 4 stage RODI system for not much more. I would trust it far more than distilled. There is actually a guy on here who did a comparison between the two and there was no comparison. With distilled his tank was covered with brown gunk in a few days, with RODI he had just a little starting to form on his rock after a week.

 

Thanks for the stocking tips and I live in Canada... no garden hose year round.... I have to completely shut off the lines to my outside hoses when it starts to get cold because it will literally freeze and burst the pipes...
And that’s odd about the adding the inverts first... you are the first I have heard of doing that... what if I don’t end up with a diatom bloom? I’ve had tanks that have had massive ones and others that have has none when done cycling... the clownfish will be fine.. I am aware of the changing of genders and have been told by ALOT of people that 2 are completely fine to keep in that tank... now with the gobies... I have bumblebee gobies I. My brackish tank and was told they could also do this and never have... you think they would not be able to each find a spot of their own like the bumblebees do? Otherwise a blenny was on our list...
Do you have any comments on the set up of the InTank media trays or the chemipure va the matrix?

 

Congrats! I'm going to warn you, once you start saltwater, you'll be hooked lol.

So I got the new 32g tank
Our eventually stocking list is going to be:
2 clown fish
2 yellow watchman gobies
1 royal gramma
(This could change if someone has some
Better advice...however the 2 clownfish must stay lol)
As for invertebrates I have no idea where to begin..I know that I should wait a small period between adding the first fish (clownfish will be the first ones added) before adding the invertebrates because we want to make sure they have food right? (That has what’s been told to me anyway)
So the plan we kind of have is after cycling the tank we will add the clownfish... then maybe a couple days- week add our first invertebrate... problem is with our above fish selection and due to the fact we are beginners I am wondering what type we should add first and what types would go with the fish selection above (we kind of want to have 1 shrimp (size appropriate suggestions please), and maybe 2 other different types (snails or something else that’s easy to take care of and won’t cause too much issues or breeding issues... unless my fish will eat the eggs then that’s fine)

The biocube series are great tanks. On the yellow watchman gobies, are you planning on getting a male and a female? If not, then you'll have to only get one. Also, IME, yellow watchman gobies are extremely shy. I'd get something like a black ray goby, yasha, or one like that. A super cool relationship between the goby, any of those including the YWG will work with it, is a pistol shrimp. There's a shrimp called a Randall's Pisotl Shrimp that will pair up and live int he same burrow as the goby! It has terrible eye site, so it'll dig and build the burrow, and the goby keeps watch and gets food for it. Its super duper cool to watch and they usually are braver with a shrimp.

For invertebrates you want to add a basic CUC (clean up crew) as soon as the tank is cycled. By that time, their will be algae, but you want to start small. I'd start with around 3 Trochus Snails, 2 Astrea snails, 4-5 Cerith Snails. The snails will not breed usually, the Ceriths may but they will defintely stay around the number you buy. If you want, hermit crabs are lots of fun to watch, but don't do all that much cleaning up. If you like them I'd get two or three small blue legged ones and one larger scarlet legged hermet. They do clean up detritus and algae, and are hilarious to watch. From then on, if you find the tank needs more CUC to deal with algae, you add more but its easy to add lots during the "uglies" as we call them. Its the first little bit of the tanks life when it will be getting lots of algae and diatoms and all kinds of stuff. Its completely normal and it will die back in a few weeks. There's also some shrimps with a lot of personality like a Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp that you can get just to enjoy. Its a gorgeous shrimp, and will help clean up detritus, you do have to feed it but very cool symbiotic relationship with any fish you get in, as it will set up a cleaning station and clean it. Very pretty, cool shrimp.

We have added and changed a few things around that were stock in this tank:
1- we went with the Intank media tray instead of stock and went with the tunze 9001 protein skimmer (as I heard the coralife ones are not any good)
So the plan is to have the heater in chamber #1- what is the best heater for these tanks? (Was looking at the Eheim 100-150w- not sure which wattage would be better?)

Sounds like you're off to a great start! inTank media trays are really nice and make life a lot easier. I've never really looked into a skimmer as I don't really believe they're needed for nano tanks, but that should do quite well and help you keep nutrients down.

IMO best heater you can get is the Cobalt Neotherm 150 or 200 watt (as I'm sure you know from FW, it depends on how cold your house is, ect). My house stays at 78* during the summer and 68 during the winter. I have a 100 watt on my 20 gal and it works great. Extremely easy to use, no annoying calibration, you set the temp by clicking a button and EXTREMELY stable. Mine stays at 78.6 no matter what. Very slI'm and good looking and will last a long time.of all the things you can skimp on in a reef tank a heater and lights are the two you cannot get away with.

Then in chamber # 2 will have to cut the pieces off to make the Intank media tray work with the protein skimmer which is fine I know how to do that part... what I have got 100 different opinions on is what to stock the media tray with: our ideas starting from the top chamber going down: , then (I don’t really care for carbon and have only ever used it to remove meds in my other tanks) then a seachem zip bag of ....
my problem is some people are saying that the matrix is the best and others are talking about (I have no idea what chemipure is so if I really don’t need it I’d rather stick to what I know.... like does it need replacing or it is good like the matrix where I basically will never have to change it?)

I would completely mix up you placement of stuff. Put the heater in the return chamber, aka chamber #3. Put the intank media basket in the first chamber, and do filter floss on top where you can easily remove it, carbon on the middle if you want it, and mabye a polishing micron cloth on the bottom. Chemipure is carbon, but some of the versions have other stuff mixed in like GFO (removes phosphates) or other stuff. Purigen will basically do the same thing as regular carbon, e.g. cleaning up the clarity of your water. You can definitely use purigen instead. A zip bag of Matrix is perfect, I'd do one (smaller bag) in the intank media basket, and then another bag stuffed full in the second section. Read more on that in the next paragraph. The small bag of Matrix will be perfect for instant cycling QT whenever you need it.

This is going to sound crazy but... if you can, return the skimmer. What!? I know. You probably think its the best form of nutrient reduction. Actually, you'd be far better by using that middle chamber of your tank as a refugium. A fuge with macro algae and something like coral rubble or saechem matrix or something in the bottom, will not strip the water of "good" organics. I think the corals use the organics that have not broken down into nitrates and phosphates yet. Whenever I clean my fuge there's always a bit of detritus and organics that have settled in there, and the corals have a crazy feeding reaction. The macro algae will leave the good organics, but easily remove the nitrates. It will also become a pod hotel. Pods are little tiny bugs that are very important. They keep your tank clean by eating algae, cleaning up detritus, eating extra food, providing food for the fish and corals, and countless other good things. All you need to get is a ittle grow light. I can get my ntirates down to 0 in 2 days if I cranked up my light on my fuge. Right now its running only 4 hours at night and nitrates are 2 ppm.

As for rock- we have decided against because we don’t want to deal with invasive critters and most of the methods of removing them take away the benefits of having the live rock anyway so we were going for about 15lbs of the Carribsea LifeRock shapes and building our own sculpture... I know it may take a bit longer to cycle (I am adding as well so hopefully that will make up the difference) and 15lbs is the recommended amount for this (we will be adding soft corals in the future)
I will be adding about 12 lbs of the carribsea seafloor special grade reef (as again 12 pounds is what is recommended) and I’d rather have less rock and sand and more fish anyway.... which is why I was adding the matrix to help combine that and the rock as the main bio materials...

Caribsea life rock is a really good looking rock. To help build your sculpture you can use super glue gel (you'll be using crazy amounts of this throughout your saltwater career lol) and epoxy. Two glue two rocks together just mix as much epoxy as you need, don't usually need much, and slather on glue on one rock, squeeze the epoxy onto the super glue, slather more glue onto the epoxy, and press the second rock into it. Hold it until the super glue sets, and then don't move it until the epoxy hardens. It will be like a rock. I use the Loctite Super Glue Gel from Walmart this stuff. Cheap, and lots. Don't get scammed into the easy squeeze bottles, they're more expensive and way less super glue. I'd get a armful lol. Biospira I've heard works really well. If you find an LFS you trust, and don't see any pests in their live rock tank, you could get a pound or two of live rock to really boost your cycle and get a huge boost on biodiversity.

We have no choice but to use distilled water and I am thinking of using for my salt, however I have discovered that it comes in seasalt and ... for what we are setting up will one be better than the other? Or no different?
Also we plan on adding the hydor WiFI (probably not right away but down the line, as I don’t see it as a necessity from the start- anyone have this newer model and any pros/cons?)

Instant ocean, get the sea salt. The reef crystlas has a very high alk and calc and mag for speeded up growth but you don't need that yet. Its a good, cheap, steady salt.

Like this pump for the wavemaker That looks like a good one.

Any information you guys can help with would be great and please just comment if you are familiar with all or any of the specific items I am talking about... specifically anyone who has the new biocube 32 and Intank media tray with the protein skimmer I mentioned

Also if there are any fish incompatibilities please mention those along with recommendations for the invertebrates
(The company says 3-5 fish + 3-5 invertebrates should fit this tank nicely and we have stuck with smaller type fish so I think those would be fine size wise...said we were like 70-80% stocked)

There's some different options stocking wise. Here's some possibilties, check them out and if you like one tell us and we can figure out a way to work it into your stocking. If you decide to go with a fuge instead of the skimmer you'll be able to stock much higher as it will easily take care of nutrients.

Clownfish
Shrimp Goby (this includes Yellow watchman, barbershop, Yasha, ect)
Sixline wrasse
Yellow Coris Wrasse
Pygmy wrasse
Pink Lined Wrasse (if you decide ont he sixline I'd get the pink lined instead, it won't possibly go rougue)
Royal Gramma
Purple Psuedochromis
Coral Beauty
Flame Angel
Tailspot blenny
cleaner goby
starry blenny
a few more options but I can't think of them ATM.

Sorry if I missed it... btu what's your lighting? Is it the LED version or T5? Are you planning on keeping corals? I would. If you already are getting the equipment your planning on all you will need is a better light and you can keep corals easily. And OH corals are so much fun.

Sorry for the long answer lol. Don't be afraid to ask questions! Gonna tag some help stella1979 Nart

Also, check out Nart beginner nano thread. Lots and lots of good information. Nart's Budget Nano Saltwater Guide For Beginners

 

Thanks for the stocking tips and I live in Canada... no garden hose year round.... I have to completely shut off the lines to my outside hoses when it starts to get cold because it will literally freeze and burst the pipes...
And that’s odd about the adding the inverts first... you are the first I have heard of doing that... what if I don’t end up with a diatom bloom? I’ve had tanks that have had massive ones and others that have has none when done cycling... the clownfish will be fine.. I am aware of the changing of genders and have been told by ALOT of people that 2 are completely fine to keep in that tank... now with the gobies... I have bumblebee gobies I. My brackish tank and was told they could also do this and never have... you think they would not be able to each find a spot of their own like the bumblebees do? Otherwise a blenny was on our list...
Do you have any comments on the set up of the InTank media trays or the chemipure va the matrix?

The point that I was trying to make is that the RO Buddie has a pretty universal coupler which makes it easy to setup and attach to things. You could also do it from an indoor sink or tub faucet with a small adapter. I am a fan of chemipure elite as it is a mix of carbon and GFO (aka Granulated Ferric Oxide) that helps keep break down phosphates in the tank.

 

Ok so where to begin... that was a lot of reading and I have a brain injury so please excuse me if I missed something...
Culprit - so although the heater can go in chamber 3 instead of chamber 1 it is not possible to put the InTank media basket in chamber 1- there is no options for the other than to go into chamber 2... 1 because it won’t fit (it’s designed specifically to go into chamber 2 and it definitely has to go there because of the set up with the protein skimmer... so not an option... the only thing I could do is change the heater from the first chamber to the third but it is recommended to go into the first... and I figured I might as well put it in the first because otherwise the first chamber will have nothing in it...
Also I’m not sure if you are familiar with the Intank media trays but it’s literally as simple as opening the top and you just pull out the floss and replace... you don’t have to pull out the whole thing or anything like that... it’s like a 5 second job.... it’s right at the top and extremely easy to access (even easier than the stock trays)

As for the other gobies mentioned how big do they get? Most of the fish are in the 2-3”
Range full grown (in fairly familiar with gobies as I have brackish tanks.. I have violet dragon gobies and bumblee gobies and others...
But I’m not too familiar with the full salt water ones....

Also about the “pods” yes I am familiar with copepods... I get them in the bottle (seachem I think) and my dragon gobies love them as they are filter feeders I just use a turkey basket to shoot some down into the sand and it keeps them nice and purple and healthy....

What maybe I should have mentioned is that this will be my one and only salt water tank and it’s really my sons (he’s 12... however when it comes to brackish and freshwater he knows more than more adults lol) he has his own 64g Axolotl tank in his room that he maintains perfectly on his own from testing to water changes to cleaning his canister filter.... I made him wait nearly a year of maintaining it on his own before I would let him get this tank...
I have my own (75g, 64gx4, 50g, 26g, 20g, 10gx2) so again this will be our one and only tank for salt water lol

As for using the Refugium instead of the protein skimmer it will cost me ALOT more because then I have to buy InTanks Refugium thing also.... and I’m concerned that with all these different things for a 12 year old to be watching for and taking care of might add up to a bit much for just a biocube (I understand it might be a better set up but it may become to complex for him)
As for the control of the nitrAtes I think the purigen will suffice- my reason for saying this is that I have like 60ppm (minimum) right out of my tap and in even my biggest tanks (75g’s just one pouch of the purigen takes it down to 5...plus because I use them so much I am very familiar with recharging them and I’m trying to be as cost effective as possible with out skimping on things- that’s why I was suggested the skimmer over the Refugium)
I don’t want him to get discouraged and

So for stocking I would be better to do the following (and I’m really looking for someone just to give us the most easiest beginner fish and inverts possible lol that will fit comfortably in the 32g (which with these tanks really are not 32g’s... I think it’s closer to 29 gallon - without rock and sand etc)

So Fish list:
2 clownfish
1 yellow watchman goby
1 royal gramma
?? What else would be best...

Inverts:
I really only want these for like clean up crew type deal so what would be an easy 3 to add that won’t require much work

Also the tank is going to be going in a room that is dark unless the lamps are on... so I’m not expecting a ton of diatoms or algae (I know I’ll have some ) and I also intend on keeping the lights on the tank off until it’s nearly cycled...
I really want to stay away from live rock (I know it’s better) but I really really don’t want anything that I don’t purposely put in my tank.... I have a very good LFS- it’s a privately owned chain that started with 1 store and now they have 5-6... its actually my only store I can buy fish from... but what they do for me is that I order exactly what I want and then they order the fish for me and I pick them up as soon as the delivery comes (I get my order completely separated from everything else straight from the supplier even if I only order 1 fish... this way it stresses them way less because I grab them as soon as the order is in and take them home and drip acclimate and quarantine that way they aren’t going into their tanks at all....
We are also sticking to soft corals only (not sure if I mentioned this or not but just for ease that’s our plan....

For the person who talked about glueing the rocks can you post that again for me but maybe a bit more detailed? I know it was fairly detailed however (stupid brain injury) and all the posts at once kind of overwhelmed me because I can only read very slow and regain so much at a time...

Also what about egg crate- black styrene? My plan was to try and find the black stuff and just simply cut it to fit just where my rocks touch the bottom glass

A lot of my problem (being in Canada is a lot of this stuff is not always available to me... most of the stuff is US based places that “some” will ship to Canada but it’s often more expensive then the product lol
So any fellow Canadians that can find anything mentioned above please tell me where to get it...
Like we don’t have Walmart’s that sell fish or petco’s or anything like that anywhere even remotely close to where I live....

So does anyone else have their heater in chamber 3? I’ve only ever heard or seen them in chamber one.... otherwise chamber one is kind of a waste of space... I suppose I could add another small bag of matrix in the bottom...

As for the comment about filling chamber 2 with a ton of matrix... the InTank media thing has ALOT of room for a lot of matrix.... all of the shelves are kind of removable and such... so I can make it where the top of the Intank part is smaller (filter floss) then the second part is also adjustable so plenty of room for a bag of purigen... then I can make the bottom huge... more than enough room for a lot of matrix in the “zip bag” (I use this method in all my HOB’s too) this set up is also what is recommended by the InTank people... but by adding this tray and the 9001 protein skimmer it’s leaves no room for really anything else in the second chamber... and then I was going to leave the third chamber (where the output pump is alone)
As I mentioned the only other thing I am considering down the road is the hydor WiFI Wavemaker... but not a necessity..

Now please do not shoot me!!
I have done fish in cycling many times using products like biospira (TSS for my freshwater tanks)
I have had HUGE successfulness with this.. so I’d also had the thought of setting up rocks sand saltwater... leaving it run for about 3-4 days and add the biospira and add the clownfish as they are very hardy and good for cycling with (now with my experience with TSS I have never seen a spike of ammonia over .5 and it lasted about a day or so and then never a spike over 0.25 nitrites and again the same about a day or 2 at most- sometimes my tank has even cycled without my seeing the spike in either it happens so quick if done properly) from what I understand TSS is the freshwater version of biospira so I was contemplating a fish in cycle with just the clown fish and possibly one clean up crew member if there are any that someone can suggest or if anyone has done this (fish in cycle) with biospira is it similar to the TSS? Because my fish have never suffered ANY adverse effects from this and I have never had any losses at all....

If someone who has the 32 biocube and really knows their stocking... (remember I am trusting you lol)
Just give me a list of fish and inverts or clean up crew that will not cause my any problems and will make this simple for my son... I really don’t want or do we need anything complex... so the simplest the better... the only thing he has his heart set on is his clownfish... so if you have a full stocking list and when to add which ones that would be oh so very helpful and a couple options will work... again I’m sorry if I missed anything it was a ton to read all at once... lol
Thank you to everyone for your input I really appreciate the help!

 

The point that I was trying to make is that the RO Buddie has a pretty universal coupler which makes it easy to setup and attach to things. You could also do it from an indoor sink or tub faucet with a small adapter. I am a fan of chemipure elite as it is a mix of carbon and GFO (aka Granulated Ferric Oxide) that helps keep break down phosphates in the tank.

I’m not even sure I can get that in Canada... never heard of it or seen anything like it... we have to buy the whole systems (like 300-400$) and considering I can get gallons of Distilled water for like dollars it just doesn’t seem feesable to get the big unit.... of you can find a place that I can get it in Canada let me know because as I mentioned down below we don’t have all the options that you guys get in the US

Sorry and about the salt... so instant ocean the regular stuff is good enough also right now for our brackish we just use a 5 gallon pail and Mix the salt in temperature matched water and just use a spoon to mix it (because the salinity changes in brackish usually anyway) but I know salt water tanks need to be a bit more mixed throughly so is there a cheap power head or something I can use to mix it up good and be able to add right after for water changes and such? Or how do you guys do it?
Also if I mix a couple 5 gallon Pails and put lids on them will they stay mixed at the right salinity or will it change... I’ve never tried this before but it would be helpful if we could mix a couple buckets at once and then use them for water changes in the future... my house temp will be fairly close to the water temp (maybe a difference between 78-80 degrees) that’s why I’m not even sure I need a heater but will be better to have one just in case...
I just wasn’t sure if that was possible or if it would gradually lower salinity or how that would work (or even if I kept a heater in the buckets to keep it the same temp as the tank)
Thoughts or impossible? Lol
When I mix my stuff for my brackish I always just mix what I need and use it all at once but it’s a big tank so water changes are bigger... with the low stocking we plan on keeping we won’t need much of a water change... anyway just wondering if it would keep and if so for how long and how would be the best way to do it?
Thanks

Congrats! I'm going to warn you, once you start saltwater, you'll be hooked lol.



The biocube series are great tanks. On the yellow watchman gobies, are you planning on getting a male and a female? If not, then you'll have to only get one. Also, IME, yellow watchman gobies are extremely shy. I'd get something like a black ray goby, yasha, or one like that. A super cool relationship between the goby, any of those including the YWG will work with it, is a pistol shrimp. There's a shrimp called a Randall's Pisotl Shrimp that will pair up and live int he same burrow as the goby! It has terrible eye site, so it'll dig and build the burrow, and the goby keeps watch and gets food for it. Its super duper cool to watch and they usually are braver with a shrimp.

For invertebrates you want to add a basic CUC (clean up crew) as soon as the tank is cycled. By that time, their will be algae, but you want to start small. I'd start with around 3 Trochus Snails, 2 Astrea snails, 4-5 Cerith Snails. The snails will not breed usually, the Ceriths may but they will defintely stay around the number you buy. If you want, hermit crabs are lots of fun to watch, but don't do all that much cleaning up. If you like them I'd get two or three small blue legged ones and one larger scarlet legged hermet. They do clean up detritus and algae, and are hilarious to watch. From then on, if you find the tank needs more CUC to deal with algae, you add more but its easy to add lots during the "uglies" as we call them. Its the first little bit of the tanks life when it will be getting lots of algae and diatoms and all kinds of stuff. Its completely normal and it will die back in a few weeks. There's also some shrimps with a lot of personality like a Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp that you can get just to enjoy. Its a gorgeous shrimp, and will help clean up detritus, you do have to feed it but very cool symbiotic relationship with any fish you get in, as it will set up a cleaning station and clean it. Very pretty, cool shrimp.



Sounds like you're off to a great start! inTank media trays are really nice and make life a lot easier. I've never really looked into a skimmer as I don't really believe they're needed for nano tanks, but that should do quite well and help you keep nutrients down.

IMO best heater you can get is the Cobalt Neotherm 150 or 200 watt (as I'm sure you know from FW, it depends on how cold your house is, ect). My house stays at 78* during the summer and 68 during the winter. I have a 100 watt on my 20 gal and it works great. Extremely easy to use, no annoying calibration, you set the temp by clicking a button and EXTREMELY stable. Mine stays at 78.6 no matter what. Very slI'm and good looking and will last a long time.of all the things you can skimp on in a reef tank a heater and lights are the two you cannot get away with.



I would completely mix up you placement of stuff. Put the heater in the return chamber, aka chamber #3. Put the intank media basket in the first chamber, and do filter floss on top where you can easily remove it, carbon on the middle if you want it, and mabye a polishing micron cloth on the bottom. Chemipure is carbon, but some of the versions have other stuff mixed in like GFO (removes phosphates) or other stuff. Purigen will basically do the same thing as regular carbon, e.g. cleaning up the clarity of your water. You can definitely use purigen instead. A zip bag of Matrix is perfect, I'd do one (smaller bag) in the intank media basket, and then another bag stuffed full in the second section. Read more on that in the next paragraph. The small bag of Matrix will be perfect for instant cycling QT whenever you need it.

This is going to sound crazy but... if you can, return the skimmer. What!? I know. You probably think its the best form of nutrient reduction. Actually, you'd be far better by using that middle chamber of your tank as a refugium. A fuge with macro algae and something like coral rubble or saechem matrix or something in the bottom, will not strip the water of "good" organics. I think the corals use the organics that have not broken down into nitrates and phosphates yet. Whenever I clean my fuge there's always a bit of detritus and organics that have settled in there, and the corals have a crazy feeding reaction. The macro algae will leave the good organics, but easily remove the nitrates. It will also become a pod hotel. Pods are little tiny bugs that are very important. They keep your tank clean by eating algae, cleaning up detritus, eating extra food, providing food for the fish and corals, and countless other good things. All you need to get is a ittle grow light. I can get my ntirates down to 0 in 2 days if I cranked up my light on my fuge. Right now its running only 4 hours at night and nitrates are 2 ppm.



Caribsea life rock is a really good looking rock. To help build your sculpture you can use super glue gel (you'll be using crazy amounts of this throughout your saltwater career lol) and epoxy. Two glue two rocks together just mix as much epoxy as you need, don't usually need much, and slather on glue on one rock, squeeze the epoxy onto the super glue, slather more glue onto the epoxy, and press the second rock into it. Hold it until the super glue sets, and then don't move it until the epoxy hardens. It will be like a rock. I use the Loctite Super Glue Gel from Walmart this stuff. Cheap, and lots. Don't get scammed into the easy squeeze bottles, they're more expensive and way less super glue. I'd get a armful lol. Biospira I've heard works really well. If you find an LFS you trust, and don't see any pests in their live rock tank, you could get a pound or two of live rock to really boost your cycle and get a huge boost on biodiversity.



Instant ocean, get the sea salt. The reef crystlas has a very high alk and calc and mag for speeded up growth but you don't need that yet. Its a good, cheap, steady salt.

Like this pump for the wavemaker That looks like a good one.



There's some different options stocking wise. Here's some possibilties, check them out and if you like one tell us and we can figure out a way to work it into your stocking. If you decide to go with a fuge instead of the skimmer you'll be able to stock much higher as it will easily take care of nutrients.

Clownfish
Shrimp Goby (this includes Yellow watchman, barbershop, Yasha, ect)
Sixline wrasse
Yellow Coris Wrasse
Pygmy wrasse
Pink Lined Wrasse (if you decide ont he sixline I'd get the pink lined instead, it won't possibly go rougue)
Royal Gramma
Purple Psuedochromis
Coral Beauty
Flame Angel
Tailspot blenny
cleaner goby
starry blenny
a few more options but I can't think of them ATM.

Sorry if I missed it... btu what's your lighting? Is it the LED version or T5? Are you planning on keeping corals? I would. If you already are getting the equipment your planning on all you will need is a better light and you can keep corals easily. And OH corals are so much fun.

Sorry for the long answer lol. Don't be afraid to ask questions! Gonna tag some help stella1979 Nart

Also, check out Nart beginner nano thread. Lots and lots of good information. Nart's Budget Nano Saltwater Guide For Beginners

Thank you so much for all that info... I’ll try to go step by step for what I haven’t answered since you took the time to write that all up and help me so much (ps the link at the bottom rod great!)
So I’m a little confused about putting the Intank media rack in the first chamber (they say it will only fit in the second chamber and then they make another rack that fits right beside it for the fuge.... so I’m slightly confused at how you think I should set it up.... they advised either of these ways (top- filter floss middle- purigen OR biomax bottom- purigen OR biomax...) they emailed me back and corrected themselves...so in your opinion would it be better to put the biomax - middle and purigen on the bottom? Or vice versa?
Also if I get the fuge rack they both literally fit side by side in the second chamber (I can see if I can find the picture and attach it- I think I got it to attach let me know if you can’t see it)
If I was to buy the fuge rack and add more biomax and macro algae (that’s what they recommend putting in it) what kind of light does it need exactly and how would I go about installing it? Also I have no idea what macro algae is... does it require replacing? Is it really necessary if I just add the seachems bottled pods? Could I just get away with the one media tray... skip the fuge and add another bag of matrix in the large spot where the fuge rack would have went? I’m just trying to eliminate work for my son, again he’s only 12 lol but a very smart responsible 12....

As for Lights this is the new 32 with the LED automated light upgrade (programmable) so would I need to upgrade the light again to keep just simple soft corals? we aren’t going for anything crazy at all... just the easiest ones..

Also the tank recommends 3-5 fish and 3-5 inverts.... would I be ok to add that full list of clean up crew you mentioned

3- trochus snails
2- astrea snails
4-cerith snails
1-Scarlett cleaner shrimp

2- clownfish
1- royal gramma
1- yellow watchman goby
1- purple psuedochromis

Would that overstock the 32g biocube (remember it’s not really 32g’s but I am going east on the rock (around 15-17 pounds) and 12 pounds of sand)
It also says on the compatibility chart that everything would get along except the purple psuedochromis and the royal gramma- it has a big red N lol not even a caution... what would be the reason for this? If you are aware...

But let take out one of the other if we have to because of compatibility issues would that overstock the tank? It seems like a lot since they are saying 3-5 inverts and 3-5 fish no?
Maybe it just seems like a lot because some of those snails are pretty small
- we really like the idea of the goby/shrimp combo and the clownfish again are a must lol but I love the look of those other 2 fish (royal gramma and purple p. So if they would get along would adding all of the above be too extreme? I’d rather understock it then over stock it since we are beginners....
Also with that stocking list (unless you have to remove some for compatibility or too much stock for the 32.... how would you add them... in which order and how far apart to the main tank from qt)

And I’ll just go with the normal salt....
Here’s a question I don’t understand.... because I have to use distilled water... what is used on these tanks as a buffer for the PH? Is it the rocks and such combined with the salt or what is used? I’m just confused a bit of what keeps it’s from jumping all over the place? Sorry I’m used to my freshwater tap water that has the KH to buffer it and it never changes... but the distilled water won’t have any kind of buffers so in lost there lol

Sorry again for all the questions you have already been a big help!

 

First things first... Congratulations to you and your son on this next step in your aquarium journey!

1. Okay, so not to be a smart butt, but reading all this made my brain hurt. So, let's get started with water, the most basic element of any build. You seem firm on distilled water being your only option, however, I would say that the cost of weekly water changes with purchased water will only exceed the cost of buying an RODI system over time. Consider not only the cost of water, but the gas, time, and effort of hauling, let's say, 5 gallons of water every week (that's accounting for water changes, but doesn't leave much for topping off.) Also, most of us are not going to a store to purchase RO or RODI units, so is there any problem with ordering online? Free shipping from Amazon Canada.


I also agree with Jesterrace in that though we may believe distilled to be pure, we simply can't trust the companies that produce it. I have also seen both successes and failures using distilled water, and this is simply because one brand may have better standards than another. Because of variances between water sources, whether it be distilled brands or water purchased from an LFS, it is simply a better idea to set yourselves up for longterm success by producing your own pure water.

Also, water filtration units were an alien thing to me as well at first. Like anything, learning how they work and how to maintain them will come with a little time and research. Again, making your own water is the only way to be sure that you are not adding 'stuff' with your water. Stuff like nitrates and phosphates, (which will turn your tank into an algae garden), or possibly stuff like heavy metals, (which will certainly kill inverts, corals, and fish), or even stuff like calcium, (which is a necessary mineral in saltwater tanks, but your salt will achieve the right level of calc, and we don't want variances from the water source.)

2. Flow - You most certainly will need more of it than the stock return pump provides. No, I do not have experience with this tank, but a simple search of 'Biocube 32 stock pump flow' will yield many results showing that folks replaced the return pump with a MaxiJet 1200 and/or added a powerhead to the tank. I also do not have experience with the Hydor WifI wavemaker, but I would hazard a guess that it will be just fine, and your stock will be happier with the flow rate a salty tank needs from the beginning, so I wouldn't hold off on this. Unlike freshwater tanks, low flow on a marine tank still means about 15x your total water volume, so try to provide that early on.

3. Stock - The clean-up-crew you listed in your last post will be just fine. Of course, any living thing adds to the bioload, but as long as you don't go crazy, the bioload from the cuc should be negligible. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that it's important to stock slowly, from least aggressive to most aggressive. Clownfish AND Psuedochromis can be total jerks and once they establish territory in your tank, they will be unlikely to share. They are more than capable of killing the other fish you have on your list. I know it's not as fun, but for the best chance of community tank success, you should stock the goby first, then the gramma, following with your aggressors. I'm not sure I'd throw a psuedochromis into the mix at all, but if you must, please try to get an aquacultured orchid dottyback, as these are considered to be the least aggressive of a very aggressive bunch.

4. Filtration - I've always read that filtration should be in this order... mechanical, then biological, then chemical. This would put Purigen last and this is how I run Purigen in two freshwater tanks. Carbon... I'm unsure about your aversion, but as you know, it removes meds, which are sort of like dissolved toxins in the water. Do you also know that corals release their own toxins? Some softies are even known to shed their 'skin' every month or so, and this can be toxic to other corals in the tank. This is known as coral warfare, and many, myself included, keep a bag of carbon running just in case. It hurts nothing. ChemiPure comes in different mixes, as mentioned, but always has premium carbon as well as other ingredients for phosphate removal and water clarity. Up to you what to use, as none of these chemical options are a necessity... until they are. Coral warfare and phosphate levels rising inevitably happen in reef tanks.

Whether to run a refugium or not is entirely your decision of course. These are my thoughts. I agree with Culprit on skimmers vs. refugiums on smaller setups... smaller meaning less than 70g's or so. I also feel quite strongly that you will not need the InTank refugium basket to run a fuge on this tank. The ease of setting up a refugium is actually a selling point on this tank, (it's advertised right on Dr.'s Foster & Smith's site.) All you need for a fuge is the chaeto, some rubble or biomedia, a plant light, (the Biocube 32 advertises it's clear backing, for light to shine through, as part of the ease of running a fuge on this tank) and something to 'cage' the chaeto. We don't want chaeto floating into other areas of the tank or filtration, but caging it is as easy as getting a sheet of plastic canvas and cutting and placing it as needed. In case you're unfamiliar with the stuff, plastic canvas is available in craft stores for under $1 a sheet.
Darice® Plastic Canvas, Clear

Regardless of using distilled, RO, or RODI water, your goal is to start with water in it's purest form, in which case, yes, it should have a very low or zero KH, which leads to an unstable pH. However, your salt will add all kinds of minerals and buffers to the water, and this will keep not only your pH, but also your mineral parameters in line. Just keep up with those water changes and everything should stay nice and stable.

That's all I've got for now, but, please keep the questions coming. We'll all have our own opinions, of course, but we love to help, and you are of course free to take and leave what you choose.

 

As for the other gobies mentioned how big do they get? Most of the fish are in the 2-3”
Range full grown (in fairly familiar with gobies as I have brackish tanks.. I have violet dragon gobies and bumblee gobies and others...
But I’m not too familiar with the full salt water ones....

The black ray goby and yasha stay pretty small, the yellow watchman will definitely get the biggest. But that doesn't matter too much as they stay on the sandbed in a burrow.

Also the tank is going to be going in a room that is dark unless the lamps are on... so I’m not expecting a ton of diatoms or algae (I know I’ll have some ) and I also intend on keeping the on the tank off until it’s nearly cycled...
I really want to stay away from (I know it’s better) but I really really don’t want anything that I don’t purposely put in my tank.... I have a very good LFS- it’s a privately owned chain that started with 1 store and now they have 5-6... its actually my only store I can buy fish from... but what they do for me is that I order exactly what I want and then they order the fish for me and I pick them up as soon as the delivery comes (I get my order completely separated from everything else straight from the supplier even if I only order 1 fish... this way it stresses them way less because I grab them as soon as the order is in and take them home and drip and quarantine that way they aren’t going into their tanks at all....
We are also sticking to soft corals only (not sure if I mentioned this or not but just for ease that’s our plan....

Sorry to say it but in all likelyness you'll still have diatoms and algae. Yes sometimes they're triggered by the excess ammonia, but your rocks and sand will still be leaking all kinds of silicates and nutrients. You will be able to avoid a good bit of the algae by keeping your lights off. stella1979 used completely dry rock and sand and has a gorgeous tank. It will just take a bit longer to get the biodiversity and coralline algae.

For the person who talked about glueing the rocks can you post that again for me but maybe a bit more detailed? I know it was fairly detailed however (stupid brain injury) and all the posts at once kind of overwhelmed me because I can only read very slow and regain so much at a time...

Sure! Hope you get better soon. Its definitely overwhelming at first but once you get it its like, whoa its pretty simple haha.

To help build your sculpture you can use gel (you'll be using crazy amounts of this throughout your saltwater career lol) and epoxy. I really like the two little fishies Aquastik epoxy. To glue two rocks together just mix as much epoxy as you need, don't usually need much, and slather on glue on one rock, squeeze the epoxy onto the super glue, slather more glue onto the epoxy, and press the second rock into it. Hold it until the super glue sets, and then don't move it until the epoxy hardens. It will be like a rock.

I use the Loctite Super Glue Gel from Walmart this stuff. Cheap, and lots. Don't get scammed into the easy squeeze bottles, they're more expensive and less glue. I'd get a armful or order some in bulk. I usually pick up 5-6 packs and go through them in a few months.

Also what about egg crate- black styrene? My plan was to try and find the black stuff and just simply cut it to fit just where my rocks touch the bottom glass

You can definitely use it if you want but I've never used it. Just put your rocks straight on the glass, and then fill in sand around. I don't like it because ifyour using burrowing fish they can't get under the rocks because of the eggcrate.

So does anyone else have their heater in chamber 3? I’ve only ever heard or seen them in chamber one.... otherwise chamber one is kind of a waste of space... I suppose I could add another small bag of in the bottom...

I do. I keep all my "equipment" in my return chamber aka chamber #3. I don't see why you would waste space in chamber one or two. In chamber one I have a sponge at the bottom, for QT emergencies(instant cycle) and then I put a polishing micron felt cloth on top. On my tank it has a little overflow piece on the outside that clips onto the overflow, creating a overflow instead of a flow in. I stick floss in that and change it out daily.

I have done fish in cycling many times using products like ( for my freshwater tanks)
I have had HUGE successfulness with this.. so I’d also had the thought of setting up rocks sand saltwater... leaving it run for about 3-4 days and add the biospira and add the clownfish as they are very hardy and good for cycling with (now with my experience with TSS I have never seen a spike of over .5 and it lasted about a day or so and then never a spike over 0.25 and again the same about a day or 2 at most- sometimes my tank has even cycled without my seeing the spike in either it happens so quick if done properly) from what I understand TSS is the freshwater version of biospira so I was contemplating a fish in cycle with just the clown fish and possibly one clean up crew member if there are any that someone can suggest or if anyone has done this (fish in cycle) with biospira is it similar to the TSS? Because my fish have never suffered ANY adverse effects from this and I have never had any losses at all....

I have also used TSS+ in my freshwater tanks for instant cycle. If your already using TSS just get a $1 bottle of pure ammonia at the dollar store (check to make sure it doesn't have surfectants by shaking it, if it foams and stays foamed it has surfectants - don't get it), and do a fish out cycle. Yes you can do a fish in cycle but if you use Biospira it will only be a few days and you'll spare the clownfish possible gill damage. You can do it if you want, but make sure to have saltwater on hand for water changes.

If someone who has the 32 biocube and really knows their stocking... (remember I am trusting you lol)
Just give me a list of fish and inverts or clean up crew that will not cause my any problems and will make this simple for my son... I really don’t want or do we need anything complex... so the simplest the better... the only thing he has his heart set on is his clownfish... so if you have a full stocking list and when to add which ones that would be oh so very helpful and a couple options will work... again I’m sorry if I missed anything it was a ton to read all at once... lol
Thank you to everyone for your input I really appreciate the help!

If I had a 12 year old son for a first time saltwater tank I would do:

2 clownfish
1 yellow coris or pink line wrasse
1 Tailspot Blenny
1 Royal Gramma OR Purple Psuedochromis.
1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

That list will be active, hardy, easy to keep, and fun to watch.

As for Lights this is the new 32 with the LED automated light upgrade (programmable) so would I need to upgrade the light again to keep just simple soft corals? we aren’t going for anything crazy at all... just the easiest ones..

Awesome! You should definitley be able to keep easy corals like mushrooms, GSP, pulsing xenia, zoas, ect., and probably some LPS too if you wanted. Those are all very easy especially the soft corals.

Sorry and about the salt... so instant ocean the regular stuff is good enough also right now for our brackish we just use a 5 gallon pail and Mix the salt in temperature matched water and just use a spoon to mix it (because the salinity changes in brackish usually anyway) but I know salt water tanks need to be a bit more mixed throughly so is there a cheap power head or something I can use to mix it up good and be able to add right after for water changes and such? Or how do you guys do it?
Also if I mix a couple 5 gallon Pails and put lids on them will they stay mixed at the right salinity or will it change... I’ve never tried this before but it would be helpful if we could mix a couple buckets at once and then use them for water changes in the future... my house temp will be fairly close to the water temp (maybe a difference between 78-80 degrees) that’s why I’m not even sure I need a heater but will be better to have one just in case...
I just wasn’t sure if that was possible or if it would gradually lower salinity or how that would work (or even if I kept a heater in the buckets to keep it the same temp as the tank)
Thoughts or impossible? Lol
When I mix my stuff for my brackish I always just mix what I need and use it all at once but it’s a big tank so water changes are bigger... with the low stocking we plan on keeping we won’t need much of a water change... anyway just wondering if it would keep and if so for how long and how would be the best way to do it?
Thanks

The regular stuff will be perfect for this tank too. I just got a two pack of 850 gph sunsun powerheads off of Amazon for $10. They'll mix it clear in 5 minutes. I just fill up 4 gallons of saltwater, put my spare heater and powerhead in, and pour 2 cups salt mix in (when I still used Instant Ocean sea salt). Let it mix until clear and test with a refractometer. Yes, for the most part. You may have to add a cup or two of freshwater when you open them but probably not if they're tightly sealed. If your house stays at 78-80 you don't need a spare heater. I've kept Instant ocean saltwater for 2 weeks without a problem before, I just put a powerhead in to keep it mixing.

Thank you so much for all that info... I’ll try to go step by step for what I haven’t answered since you took the time to write that all up and help me so much (ps the link at the bottom rod great!)
So I’m a little confused about putting the Intank media rack in the first chamber (they say it will only fit in the second chamber and then they make another rack that fits right beside it for the fuge.... so I’m slightly confused at how you think I should set it up.... they advised either of these ways (top- filter floss middle- purigen OR bottom- purigen OR biomax...) they emailed me back and corrected themselves...so in your opinion would it be better to put the biomax - middle and purigen on the bottom? Or vice versa?
Also if I get the fuge rack they both literally fit side by side in the second chamber (I can see if I can find the picture and attach it- I think I got it to attach let me know if you can’t see it)
If I was to buy the fuge rack and add more biomax and macro algae (that’s what they recommend putting in it) what kind of light does it need exactly and how would I go about installing it? Also I have no idea what macro algae is... does it require replacing? Is it really necessary if I just add the seachems bottled pods? Could I just get away with the one media tray... skip the fuge and add another bag of matrix in the large spot where the fuge rack would have went? I’m just trying to eliminate work for my son, again he’s only 12 lol but a very smart responsible 12....

I'm sorry. It really is a ton of stuff to try and learn. If you can fit the media rack and a fuge rack in I'd say for sure get it. I'd do filter floss top, middle biomax, and bottom purigen.

the fuge/media rack is going to be perfect if it looks like the picutre. Macro algae, you would use something called Chaeto. Reefers on here like Nart can send you some. Basically its algae that grows in strands, so its not separate like normal algae. It also grows in a clump. What happens is you put enough in it fills about 50% of the fuge chamber. It will grow, using nitrates and phosphates. Once the chamber is filled up, you cut it in half so it fills 50% again, and throw the other half away. That's a lot of ntirates and phosphates you just threw away. All you will need is the fuge rack, a grow light from Amazon, adn teh chaeto. It will save you lots of time and salt. The fuge will make things far more easier. Less water changes, no worrieng about nutrients, ect.

With a fuge, I can skip my weekly water change, only have the fuge light on for 4 hours a day, and have nitrates at 1. All it needs is for the macro algae to be pulled out once a month or so, cut in half, throw one half out and put the other half back in.

Also the tank recommends 3-5 fish and 3-5 inverts.... would I be ok to add that full list of clean up crew you mentioned

3- trochus snails
2- astrea snails
4-cerith snails
1-Scarlett cleaner shrimp

2- clownfish
1- royal gramma
1- yellow watchman goby
1- purple psuedochromis

I would do EITHER the royal gramma or the psuedochromis. The CUC, that is a good start, but later on you may want to add more. You want to start small though. Here's my stocking list I'd do: You can definitely change

2 clownfish
1 yellow coris or pink line wrasse
1 Tailspot Blenny
1 Royal Gramma
1 Yellow Watchman Goby or Yasha goby or Black Ray Goby
1 Pistol Shrimp
1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

That list will be active, hardy, easy to keep, and fun to watch.

It also says on the compatibility chart that everything would get along except the purple psuedochromis and the royal gramma- it has a big red N lol not even a caution... what would be the reason for this? If you are aware...

A Royal gramma and purple psuedochromis will NOT get along. They're the same type of fish. They will kill each other.

Here’s a question I don’t understand.... because I have to use distilled water... what is used on these tanks as a buffer for the ? Is it the rocks and such combined with the salt or what is used? I’m just confused a bit of what keeps it’s from jumping all over the place? Sorry I’m used to my freshwater tap water that has the to buffer it and it never changes... but the distilled water won’t have any kind of buffers so in lost there lol

The salt has a very high KH, around 8-9. It, the sand, and the rocks will buffer the pH. The salt adds the minerals.

 

I see how is gonna be Culprit

 

I see how is gonna be Culprit

I'm confused? Loll

 

First things first... Congratulations to you and your son on this next step in your aquarium journey!

1. Okay, so not to be a smart butt, but reading all this made my brain hurt. So, let's get started with water, the most basic element of any build. You seem firm on distilled water being your only option, however, I would say that the cost of weekly water changes with purchased water will only exceed the cost of running this tank over time. Consider not only the cost of water, but the gas, time, and effort of hauling, let's say, 5 gallons of water every week. Also, most of us are not going to a store to purchase RO or RODI units, so is there any problem with ordering online? Free shipping from Amazon Canada.


I also agree with Jesterrace in that though we may believe distilled to be pure, we simply can't trust the companies that produce it. I have also seen both successes and failures using distilled water, and this is simply because one brand may have better standards than another. Because of variances between water sources, whether it be distilled brands or water purchased from an LFS, it is simply a better idea to set yourselves up for longterm success by producing your own pure water.

Also, water filtration units were an alien thing to me as well at first. Like anything, learning how they work and how to maintain them will come with a little time and research. Again, making your own water is the only way to be sure that you are not adding 'stuff' with your water. Stuff like nitrates and phosphates, (which will turn your tank into an algae garden), or possibly stuff like heavy metals, (which will certainly kill inverts, corals, and fish), or even stuff like calcium, (which is a necessary mineral in saltwater tanks, but your salt will achieve the right level of calc, and we don't want variances from the water source.)

2. Flow - You most certainly will need more of it than the stock return pump provides. No, I do not have experience with this tank, but a simple search of 'Biocube 32 stock pump flow' will yield many results showing that folks replaced the return pump with a MaxiJet 1200 and/or added a powerhead to the tank. I also do not have experience with the Hydor WifI wavemaker, but I would hazard a guess that it will be just fine, and your stock will be happier with the flow rate a salty tank needs from the beginning, so I wouldn't hold off on this. Unlike freshwater tanks, low flow on a marine tank still means about 15x your total water volume, so try to provide that early on.

3. Stock - The clean-up-crew you listed in your last post will be just fine. Of course, any living thing adds to the bioload, but as long as you don't go crazy, the bioload from the cuc should be negligible. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that it's important to stock slowly, from least aggressive to most aggressive. Clownfish AND Psuedochromis can be total jerks and once they establish territory in your tank, they will be unlikely to share. They are more than capable of killing the other fish you have on your list. I know it's not as fun, but for the best chance of community tank success, you should stock the goby first, then the gramma, following with your aggressors. I'm not sure I'd throw a psuedochromis into the mix at all, but if you must, please try to get an aquacultured orchid dottyback, as these are considered to be the least aggressive of a very aggressive bunch.

4. Filtration - I've always read that filtration should be in this order... mechanical, then biological, then chemical. This would put Purigen last and this is how I run Purigen in two freshwater tanks. Carbon... I'm unsure about your aversion, but as you know, it removes meds, which are sort of like dissolved toxins in the water. Do you also know that corals release their own toxins? Some softies are even known to shed their 'skin' every month or so, and this can be toxic to other corals in the tank. This is known as coral warfare, and many, myself included, keep a bag of carbon running just in case. It hurts nothing. ChemiPure comes in different mixes, as mentioned, but always has premium carbon as well as other ingredients for phosphate removal and water clarity. Up to you what to use, as none of these chemical options are a necessity... until they are. Coral warfare and phosphate levels rising inevitably happen in reef tanks.

Whether to run a refugium or not is entirely your decision of course. These are my thoughts. I agree with Culprit on skimmers vs. refugiums on smaller setups... smaller meaning less than 70g's or so. I also feel quite strongly that you will not need the InTank refugium basket to run a fuge on this tank. The ease of setting up a refugium is actually a selling point on this tank, (it's advertised right on Dr.'s Foster & Smith's site.) All you need for a fuge is the chaeto, some rubble or biomedia, a plant light, (the Biocube 32 advertises it's clear backing, for light to shine through, as part of the ease of running a fuge on this tank) and something to 'cage' the chaeto. We don't want chaeto floating into other areas of the tank or filtration, but caging it is as easy as getting a sheet of plastic canvas and cutting and placing it as needed. In case you're unfamiliar with the stuff, plastic canvas is available in craft stores for under $1 a sheet.
Darice® Plastic Canvas, Clear

Regardless of using distilled, RO, or RODI water, your goal is to start with water in it's purest form, in which case, yes, it should have a very low or zero KH, which leads to an unstable pH. However, your salt will add all kinds of minerals and buffers to the water, and this will keep not only your pH, but also your mineral parameters in line. Just keep up with those water changes and everything should stay nice and stable.

That's all I've got for now, but, please keep the questions coming. We'll all have our own opinions, of course, but we love to help, and you are of course free to take and leave what you choose.

Ok where to start lol 1- I know the distilled water I have is pure... I have done the tests on it and there is no traces of anything (it doesn’t come from a fish store)
Secondly I chose that because I have been told that RO units do not remove everything... well my water here is well water that has copper and nitrAtes and hard water even WITH a 2500$ water softener... and the softener again will cause it’s own issues.... I also do not believe it have a tap that I can connect that machine to.... I’ll attach a picture of the tap that I could connect it to and I don’t know if it’s even possible.... (I would need to buy extra parts and take apart my whole faucet head) not to mention I’m not really sure where I would store such a thing as I have NO place anywhere near my sink or even an extra room or cupboard or anything... it would have to be stored in the basement or something... which seems like just another chore (also I don’t pay for gas to get to the grocery store to get the distilled water... I’m fortunate that I don’t have to pay for gas to go anywhere lol but again if you have an idea when I show you my tap please let me know.... it’s not an average faucet... they are all touch faucets and VERY expensive so I’d rather not go around messing with them... (see pics)

Yes I have already ordered the hydor WiFI Wavemaker... I broke and got it lol but you are the first I have seen in my research to have heard of that complaint (keep in mind this is for a child, he will be looking after it and doing all the work himself as he does on his 64g freshwater tank) so we will never have anything complicated or crazy types of corals etc... it’s goinf to be as simple as simple comes.

As for stocking it all depends... I will agree and disagree with that statement.... most people have told me to start with the 2 clownfish (yes I know they CAN be aggressive but are also very hardy- I have stocked many tanks with everything from neons to 12” cichlids so I think I can handle that... my question about when to stock what was more like... Should I add a few clean up crew and fish.... then a couple more clean up crew and fish.... or will that clean up crew be fine right off the start.... or add a few with each new fish I add..if that makes sense.... after doing our own research we have decided to leave out the purple p. (I’m not spelling that all out lol) but you know what I mean... I was just looking at a stocking list someone mentioned and now see they are not compatible what so ever.... so he’s gone off the list...

So we have- all the clean up crew we mentioned before:
3x trochus snails

2 x astrea snails

4x cerith snails

1x scarlet cleaner shrimp


And for fish:
2x clownfish

1x watchman goby and 1x Randalls pistol shrimp (I’m guessing by the behavior described to me that I may want to add these together)

1X pinkline wrasse

1x royal Gramma

If anyone sees compatibility issues let me know... but these are the most common ones that have been advised to me... keep in mind if we have room we can always add something else down the road... this is going to be a very slow process anyway... I will never add fish before a month in Qt... and never add fish more than like 2 at a time unless they are small schooling fish that are better to be added all at once but the only ones in this case may be the Randall’s shrimp and the goby seeing as the way they were described in their relationship and I will be adding the clownfish together and those will be our first... the only thing I want to be sure of is can I add all those snails right away after cycling with my clownfish... I will have access to extra biospira if I get too high of a spike right away to help calm it down... I don’t want them to starve... what you guys have to realize is this room is very dark... no light unless the lamps are on which I know I will end up with algae but I’m concerned because the lights will be out and it will be dark in there that I may not end up with as bad of a one as some people.... this room is as dark as a basement so maybe would I be better to cycle with the lights on occasionally to make a little more algae for these guys?
Like the 64g tank in the same room (has a 406 and a sand bed for his axies... never even had a slight diatom bloom... like nothing... nothing on the sand and nothing on the thermometers and nothing on any decor.... which is unusual.... there is usually some kind of diatom bloom at least a little but I think it has to do with the room being so dark? I don’t know....

And thanks... that’s what I assumed about the salt... I think I am going to do (I’ve already skipped out on the protein skimmer) and I think I am just honestly going to leave the big space beside it empty... for now... I may add another smaller bag of matrix and this way once we get things running I can add a bag of phosguard if I notice things getting out of control and just start with a bit and adjust... it will be easy because it’s just going to be in another one of those zip bags so to add more will be a snap... but for what we plan to run I don’t think I’ll need it.... if read ALOT about the benefits and such if running chaeto and basically it’s like everything else in the fish world half the people say it’s an awnful idea and others say it’s great... the only benefits that I could conclusively come up with is phosphate and nitrate removal and the addition of pods... well as for the nitrAtes I Know the purigen will take care of it... like I said I have it naturally occurring in my tap water and it’s anywhere from 60-80ppm and 1 bag of purigen lasts months in my tanks and takes the nitrAtes down to 5... and that’s in a 75 gallon tank... so I think it should be able to keep them under control along with the matrix... if not I’ll have plenty of room to add a second bag.... which will for sure take them down to 0....
as for the media it all depends..for example my HOB aquaclears go mechanical, chemical, biological.... however my 406 canister filters (starting from the bottom) go mechanical, biological, chemical... so it really depends....
The advice I have been given by the many users of the InTank tray is that it does not matter as long as the filter floss is on top... and then the second chamber is more adjustable so it is bigger and I will most likely put the matrix there and then the purigen... (same way my canisters are setup) and I have had no problems, I don’t know why they differ but even the pictures of the InTank trays show to put it this way... so I’m just gonna stick with it like that... either way will work just fine...
As for the pods I believe I’m just going to dose with the seachem products occasionally... I already feed a variety of the NLS foods which are extremely good and healthy IMO I use the Thera a and the various other regular sized foods depending on what I am feeding....
I think as long as we stick with good water changes keeping it always once a week we should be ok... and in a tank this small (it’s around 29 gallon actually minus what gets displaced from the sand and rock and Wavemaker etc) is the weekly water changes won’t be to an extreme... I am thinking we will probably end up with around 20 gallons of water in the actual tank so if we change out 5-8g (maybe 10 gallon once a month) we should be just fine and everything will have what they need....

Also this is what I hate about fish keeping.. there is no real straight forward answers lol
It makes it so **** confusing... I deal with it all the time with freshwater... (I’ve been keeping freshwater fish for over 30 years so I’m be no means a newbie to fish... just full salt water stuff lol)
Like for example even when it comes down to the salt people are arguing about it... some say I really should be using Red Sea because the instant ocean doesn’t have enough or as many trace minerals as the one type of Red Sea.... ugh... I think I’m just going to go with the instant ocean and buy the box that comes with the 3 or 4 separate bags in the box (I really wanted something that comes in a large tub with a lid but I can’t seem to find any instant ocean ones that do except for the reef crystal one but I was told I don’t need that... so again confusion.... lol sometimes I think it’s better to just do it and see what happens because everyone has contradicting set ups.... I was just looking for the easiest... nothing complicated... lol I think I’ve made it worse...
Sorry again if I missed something... please mention it again... as I mentioned before when there is a lot to read at one time I miss a lot because of my brain injury... hard to focus and read stuff


** sorry I forgot to ask something (I think lol)

So I think I asked this but I will ask again:

After all is set up and cycled and quarantined:

1- add ALL of the cuc that I mentioned at once?
I know they are all fairly small (like an inch at max for most- and as I mentioned in my previous posts I get all my stuff as babies and it comes shipped right from the supplier separate from the fish stores orders)
So will it be ok to add them all at once or should I choose a few and then with each fish add more? If I should add them slowly in which order (if it matters)

My thoughts were this: adding the full cuc and the goby and Randall’s Pistol shrimp to start....

Wait 1-2 weeks depending on parameters and if everything is stable

Add royal gramma

Wait 2 weeks depending on how things are looking parameter wise

Add pink line wrasse

Wait 2 weeks and see how things are going

Then add 2 clownfish (they will be babies)

Then leave tank for about a couple weeks to a month (and no I don’t mean leave it as in don’t do water changes I mean more like “monitor it”)

Then if I notice algae or it doesn’t look like the cuc is doing a great job maybe add a couple more of certain ones depending on what the problem is and what the specific cuc member will take care of....

Does that sound reasonable? My concern is just adding all that clean up crew at once... I don’t want them to starve but I suppose if I am noticing that there is nothing much for them to eat I could put in a small piece of algae waffer in or a tiny bit of extra food that will make it to the bottom for them? I know they are only snails mostly but still living creatures lol
Does the clean up crew also eat pods? Or just the fish? I could always add a small dose of them to help keep them fed until the full stock is in? And again this is only if they appear to not have enough to eat....

 

If you have distilled water that is really pure (ie zero or near zero TDS) and your tap water has suspect metals/minerals it might be better in your case. Most people get distilled from the store and it's little more than tap water that's been through a Brita Filter. I would definitely stay away from the Dottybacks, about the only one I would ever recommend is the Orchid (not to be confused with the Purple). It makes me very glad to see that you have not forgotten about the most underrated fish in the hobby. . . .THE WRASSE. Every tank should have one of some kind. Very cool fishes for color, personality and temperament. One of the things that can drive you nuts is finding a fish that won't be aggressive, but also isn't going to spend most of it's time in hiding either. The Peaceful Wrasses check both of those boxes. I have a juvie Melanurus and a juvie Blue Star Leopard in my 90 gallon and I wouldn't trade them for anything. If I had a small tank again, the Pink Streaked (Pink Line) would be very high on my list. They have very interesting coloration that photos simply can't do justice to and they have a very unique sort of jerky movement.

Here is my tank with my wrasses:

 

Awesome! Yes I think if you seen my edit to my last post I am going with the pink line wrasse....
And I took away the other one.. too many incompatibilities with what we want... have a look (if you haven’t at my stocking and cuc list and how I was going to add them and let me know what you think)?

I am 100% certain that the kind I buy (distilled water) is actually distilled water... as I mentioned before I have a water softener and I know the man that owns the company very well (kind of like family) anyway I had known the risk of distilled water and I had him take a sample of it for me and test it for everything lol and it came back clear... it’s water in its truest form lol like starting from 0 and because of my water softener and the well water already having copper and all kinds of things in it...I think it would be the safest route... and it’s not that expensive I think it cost me 1.29 Canadian for about 2 gallons... and with our fairly light stocking (I think) this tank isn’t going to hold much more than like 19-20 gallons of water after everything is in it... so if I have to spend like 5$ a week to me it’s worth it... to be sure that I am getting good water... I know I could get a RO system but it won’t be easy to hook up to my faucets if you seen the pictures....they are not standard by any means lol and I’m not handy by any means... plus the RO system doesn’t take everything out and with the in my water I think I’d be going through the cartridges like crazy and still end up with odd stuff in there... especially with the cheaper ones that Ive been shown...anyway I’m gonna try it out and see what happens... corals and stuff are a while away anyway... so it’s just going to be the cuc and the fish along with the dry rock (and other media) in the back... I’m not going to bother with a Fuge or protein skimmer as most people have said to skip them both on a biocube... and just monitor... like I said if I notice my phosphates getting high I will just add a small bag of the seachem stuff (phosguard) and we will just test and monitor everything and see how it goes... just gonna take it slow and like I try and teach my son.... a lot about fish keeping is unfortunately trial and error (for the most part) so we shall see how it goes... like I said above as well I’m just not sure exactly how to add the cuc and the fish... I put my thoughts in my last post just waiting to see if anyone has any other options or better ideas... (and that all my fish will be arriving as babies) they never touch the lfs water... as they are unpacking the order there is always a box with my name on it and I grab it and go... so they won’t have to be acclimated twice = less stress

 

For the cleanup crew, wait until you get your diatom bloom (brown algae) at the end of the cycle and then add maybe 5 snails and 1 or 2 hermits. This will ensure that they both have a food source and to see if your tank is good to go without spending a bunch of money on fish.

 

Yes I am aware of all of that... and I have a specific list that was given to me that will work for my size aquarium I just didn’t know if I should add them all at the beginning or not

 

Yes I am aware of all of that... and I have a specific list that was given to me that will work for my size aquarium I just didn’t know if I should add them all at the beginning or not

Definitely not. Start with a small cleanup crew (like I mentioned above) and see how they do for a week or two. Then add one or two fish (clownfish should be added last as they are the most territorial/aggressive on your list) wait a couple of weeks and then add one to two more. Going slow is key in this hobby. The last thing you want to do is freak out a newly cycled tank with a massive bioload demand.

 

Definitely not. Start with a small cleanup crew (like I mentioned above) and see how they do for a week or two. Then add one or two fish (clownfish should be added last as they are the most territorial/aggressive on your list) wait a couple of weeks and then add one to two more. Going slow is key in this hobby. The last thing you want to do is freak out a newly cycled tank with a massive bioload demand.

So I’m not sure if you seen my list of what I am using for my cuc... but there is about 10-11... but they are multiples of the same things (I believe) should I add like a couple of each to start and then the rest after some fish.... or should I add them by species (like all 3 of one species or 2) and then the rest later.... I’m not sure if snails care about being in groups or not... that’s why I ask... if you haven’t look at my list of intended cuc... and then my list of the way I am adding the fish.... and yes I know the most aggressive go last... which the most aggressive thing I am adding is 2 clownfish... and let me know if you think I should change the order or even better if you could write after cycling add:
1st add: X amount/ type of snails and such all at once

2nd add: this fish.....
Etc.... if you have time... and if you want me to write an exact post (Incase you can’t find my final stocking for inverts and fish (it has changed from the start but is listed in here... somewhere let me know and I’ll put it on a separate post so you don’t get confused with all the changing of minds lol and again only if you have time I would appreciate it

and also I’m not sure who told me to put the InTank basket into chamber one but it does not fit nor does it go there... it’s impossible.... just in case anyone else stumbles across this post or is following it
See attachment... they also sent me a second email stating that it’s actually physically impossible to put it there lol please No ONE be offended by what they said.... this is them not me speaking... I just asked if it would fit in chamber 1.... and if any mods would be necessary if I added their fuge basket which for now I am not lol
So darn confused

Definitely not. Start with a small cleanup crew (like I mentioned above) and see how they do for a week or two. Then add one or two fish (clownfish should be added last as they are the most territorial/aggressive on your list) wait a couple of weeks and then add one to two more. Going slow is key in this hobby. The last thing you want to do is freak out a newly cycled tank with a massive bioload demand.

On I know all that stuff... I’ve been doing freshwater tanks for like 30 years lol... so I get at least that much but I’ve never had to really deal with crabs or lobsters or even snails (I don’t keep any in my FW) so that’s why I wasn’t sure how much they eat or if they run out of algae if they eat other things etc

 

On I know all that stuff... I’ve been doing freshwater tanks for like 30 years lol... so I get at least that much but I’ve never had to really deal with crabs or lobsters or even snails (I don’t keep any in my FW) so that’s why I wasn’t sure how much they eat or if they run out of algae if they eat other things etc

Hermit crabs will start eating snails or just about any other food source if nothing else is around. Be aware though that no matter what you are probably going to be replacing them every few months (especially if you end up with an invert muncher in your tank, like I have).

 

Hermit crabs will start eating snails or just about any other food source if nothing else is around. Be aware though that no matter what you are probably going to be replacing them every few months (especially if you end up with an invert muncher in your tank, like I have).

In any of my posts there is no mention of adding any crabs of any sort... all I said was that I don’t have experience with them...or that type of stuff... I posted my stocking list but it’s ok I think I got all my info from a strictly saltwater forum because I was getting minimal help here a couple people gave me some sound advice....so I went to a nano saltwater one and they helped a bit more thanks anyway though