# 29 Gal Biocube start up!



## JoeCoolTM

whats up everyone, awhile back i decided to finally try my hand at saltwater. Ive been in freshwater tanks for about 3 years now and finally got the guts to try salt lol. I wanted to either convert my 55 to a reef tank or buy one but because of budget and what not ive decided to go with the 29 gal biocube. Yes i know that its not exactly for beginners because a bigger tank is more "forgiving" of beginner mistakes and what not but im pretty periodical about maitenence and stuff so i think i should be ok.
Anyways so far this is all ive planned and am open to all advice and suggestions!

30 lbs of live sand
30-35 lbs of live rock
2 Clowns
a scooter blenny
pistol shrimp 
watchman goby
hermits and cleanup crew
and maybe some hardy corals down the road

and yes i know to introduce fish slowly and to take time also


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## bmlbytes

Sounds good to me. To be honest, saltwater isnt really that much harder, its just more expensive. Once you get the tank set up, matainence is very similar to a freshwater setup. You just have to add salt, and if you are doing corals, certain nutrients. 

I'm sure you know this from researching saltwater, but here are a few quick pointers:
Try to buy the live rock as cured as possible
Purple algae is good.
You need shells of all different sizes for your hermits to change into
The clowns can become territorial
Mix the salt and water the night before a water change and drop a powerhead in the water to make sure it is completely mixed and air has dissolved. 
Once you start doing corals and more sensitive marine life, you need R/O water. With those kind of things, you need to know EXACTLY what is in your water.


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## JoeCoolTM

Yeah i was gonna get a koralia nano or even then 1 maybe. And about the water at local lfs i see people come buy big ol jugs of water for theor salt tanks. Is this already premixed and set to where i can just put in the tanl when i get home or will it still need to set? And yes i planned to do R/O water anyways is that not a necesity at first without the corals?
Thanks again!


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## TheOldSalt

Forget the scooter. Scooters are not blennies, but dragonets, and as such are extraordinarily difficult to keep alive in a tank less than a year old.


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## Tallonebball

Yeah I was going to say scratch the scooter and go with something like a lawnmover blenny or another smaller blenny.
Everything else is fine. 
I like those all - in - one saltwater tank packages. I have a 34 gallon red sea with tons of corals and a few really nice fish.
If your lights are nice enough you could also think about featherdusters, clams, and flame scallops. (the feather dusters and scallop actually dont matter light wise but they need good food)


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## JoeCoolTM

ok so scratch the scooter and lawnmower it is 
and yeah a local lfs here has the redsea max 65gal and thts def what im gonna be upgrading to once i get the hang of all of this 
and oh okay so there will be corals that i can do with the stock lights or will i have to upgrade the lighting?


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## OCtrackiepacsg1

Make sure the feller has enough to eat, lawnmower blennys are known for starving to death.


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## Fishfirst

Some fresh sheets of nori and making sure he's eating other prepared foods will prevent the above mentioning of starvation.


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## TheOldSalt

As for the lights.. maybe.
What I mean is that these biocubes come with different lighting packages. Some are made for reef tanks, but some are made for freshwater plants. If you got the saltwater package, your lights are probably okay for most things. Are they decidedly bluish colored, or more of a purer white? The white ones are for plants, unless you see the number 50/50 printed on the bulbs, but if that's the case you should still see a bluish tinge.


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## JoeCoolTM

oh okay well i havent gotten it yet but there are some at some local lfs around me so ill make sure to get the reef tank ready ones. Thanks everyone! Once i get it set up ill post a thread on the build for those who care lol


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