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Advice for new bio cube owner

Michael Newman

Michael Newman

Just setting up our new bio cube. Water checked out fine today so we purchased two clownfish. This is our first saltwater tank. Does anyone have any lessons learned or dos / don'ts we should consider as we move forward with setup of tank? Any advice would very much appreciated.image.jpeg
 
kschweer

kschweer

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Looks great! The best advice I got was to be patient, ask lots of questions and do a lot of research. Remember only bad things happen fast in this hobby. Best of luck with it!
 
Michael Newman

Michael Newman

So one of my new clownfish has decided to swim only near the surface. The other one is swimming around near the bottom. Been like this for a few hours now. Anything to worry about?
 
Fish Brain

Fish Brain

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Clownfish can be weird like that and shouldn't be anything to worry about.

What size Biocube? First thing to do if you haven't done it already is to consider upgrading the return pump.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
David

David

Dont be alarmed. Clownfish do weird stuff, like fish brain said. As long as they are not lethargic, don't expect them to be normal. Wait till you see there sleeping habits. Hilarious. At night they might wedge them selfs in some where, sleep vertically, or upside down. No need to poke them at night to see if there ok. Let them sleep. It's normal.
 
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Trio91

Trio91

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You may want to insert a powerhead of some kind to avoid any dead spots from your return line. It's what I would do.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

hey there! I had a bc29 for many years before it sprung a leak. I must have moved it one too many times. Anyways what is that thing on the middle rock - it looks like an anemone - but like aiptasia. What have you set up in the back in terms of the compartments? there are many customized things you can do.
 
Zippy69

Zippy69

Just keep the tank as is for now. You will change as you go, lots of good advice here but Kevin ( kschweer) said it best, go slow. Just keep watching your tank and look at threads here, esp. Tank builds and all the DIY with it. But really don't go crazy yet, just watch and learn.

Cheers,
Pete
 
Trio91

Trio91

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I agree with zippy

IMO any cheap powerhead will do for now, nothing crazy is really needed. You can always upgrade down the line. It's just so that you can keep water moving behind rocks and in other places where your return lines don't reach. Maybe one of those cheap aqueons from petco.
 
Michael Newman

Michael Newman

So we woke up this morning and one of our clownfish was missing. They are small little guys ~ 6 months old. Do these guys like to hide out sometimes? We have a lot of rock in the tank. I could see how he could probably get into some tight spaces. Did the morning feeding and couldn't draw him out. Also checked salinity this morning and it was high. We're adding some RO water to bring it back into acceptable range. Could high salinity send the little guy into hiding? There is no trace of him anywhere...
 
M

mnat

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We have had nano tanks for years and one of the biggest issues is salinity if you do not have an ato. Given the small volume of water, salinity can swing quickly which is not good for your fish and corals. Tiny clowns can be tough because feeding them can be difficult. Hopefully he was just hiding but keep an eye. What are you using to test salinity and what was your reading?

Take a look at this website: inTank, LLC

They have a ton of equipment and ideas for nanos. The media baskets really are amazing and have improved every nano we have used them on. The other equipment is just for ideas, as you can probably find it locally.
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

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First off welcome to NJREEFERS! I like the look of the tank....the horseshoe look of the rock.

However, I do have a couple concerns, but maybe unjustified. You stated "we just set up our new biocube," and then state that you added the clowns. Did you allow the tank to cycle or at a minimum, use one of the denitrifying additives to shorten the cycle. If not, the clown could have succumb to the effects of ammonia....a deadly poison.

The second concern is salinity being off. Not sure how that could have happened if you continued to top off the tank with RO/DI water. How are you measuring salinity.....swing arm of refractometer? You can drop salinity fairly fast, but coming back up, you don't want to increase more than 0.003 RI per day.
 
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