Chemical for Tank

I am about to setup my 29 Bio cube tank (reef that I plan on having (2) maroons, shrimp, blue hermits, and snails) and need some recommendations:

1) What chemicals do you all recommend I purchase (Amquel, etc). What do I need for corals. Should I look into lime suggestions immediately for adding fresh water to tank?
2) How much LR should I purchase (pounds). Josh at premium aquatics recommended buying all LR for this setup and no base rock, do you agree?
2a) Should I place LR on eggshell and then put live sand around rocks? I would guess 20lbs would be enough if I did it this way?
3) I purchased the SR3 skimmer for the biocube, should I not install until the tank has cycled?
4) How long should I wait after I put water in tank to put LR in? I plan on buying initial tank water from store (premix / ro/di).
5) How long should I wait before adding any of the above inhabitants (including corals)?

Thanks again, you guys have been great!

 

Hey Kelly, you might wanna do a search on "cycling" a tank here on the site. Also, if your interested, we're doing a group buy from Bulk Reef Supply. Check out the thread here & the link to the site for most of your reefing equip. & needs at discount prices.

 

Since you're buying premixed saltwater that is RO/DI you don't need to treat it with Amquel. You won't need lime either. Calcium, Magnesium, alkalinity, and trace elements will be in the salt mix.

I don't think you need egg-crate in this situation. Put your sand in, cut some plastic and lay it over the sand. Then slowly fill your saltwater into your sump. This way you won't have a snowstorm of sand. Once your tank is half filled with water, GENTLY pull up the plastic and place your rock being careful not to disturb it too much. Fill up the rest of the tank.

Base rock is very dense compared to live rock. 20 lbs of live rock would be too much for this tank IMO.

Whether you skim or not while cycling is a matter of personal preference.

You're probably planning on cycling with the live rock so you'll add the rock immediately. You won't add corals until the cycle is over.

 

If it was my tank I would try to ensure the rock at the bottom of the tank is resting on the glass bottom not on the sand to avoid potential rock slide later on.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/im-out-done-not-faint-heart-66097.html

 

I thought the purpose of the egg crate was to protect the glass from the rocks (distribute weight)? I definately do not want to have happen that I saw on your post Phil! Help me understand why placing the rock on glass is better (does the sand support the rock base structure?)? I will look at the link for the bulk purchase but did not see a link.

So if I purchase an RO/DI unit I do not need Amquel? There seems to be hundreds of supplements that can be added to reef tanks, I would not need any of them?

Thanks again,
Jay

 

Hi Kelley

the egg crate used exactly how you think it it used - it is there to protect the glass
but if you dont use it (a large percentage of people dont) then stack the rocks directly on the glass base and not on the sand , if you stack them on the sand and later have a Goby or any other species that likes to tunnel - thats when you could get rock slides

If you use RODI water IMHO - you dont need to add any of the water purfier type solutions

Depending on what you keep, you may need other additives in the future, but when you start, if you start with easy, beginner species (which most do) then water changes alone
coupled with coral foods, rather than chemicial supplements are all you need IME

Steve

 

Sounds good Steve, I plan on a couple Maroons and mostly leather corals (easier the better). I need this tank to be a success so my wife eventually lets me get the dream tank

Last question, I read a book last night on Nano tanks and it mentioned the undesirables that come in LR. In your experience what % chance do I have of getting the bad anemones or even worse those thumbsplitters! Is there any type of LR that is better or worse for this type of intruder?

 

Its a gamble to be honest

one of the most common reasons for using all base rock and no live rock is simply the concern of undesirable nuisances like pest nems, crabs, mantis, Algaes etc can all arrive with any live rock purchase

basically some people cure it outside of the tank and do a thorough inspection of it to remove anything they find on it

there are some good things come with live rock, but the most important thing is the bacteria as thats what we need for our filtration

If you have not purchased your rock yet, consider using base rock with a couple of small pieces of live rock which you can inspect easily and the pieces of live rock, will help to seed the base rock with bacteria and the base rock will eventually colour up

Steve

 

A lot of this is opinion. But here is mine anyways

 

Pest anemones (like aiptasia) I would say 100%. You do all live rock, you are going to get them.
If your talking about mantis shrimp, I would say rare. They seem to occur more with Florida rock.