8 gal biocube mini-reef advice?

[naughty]

Hello! I'm thinking of starting my first saltwater tank and I've fallen in love with the nanocube idea. I'm really new to the subject though, and trying to figure out whether this is something that I would be capable of doing and whether it's really in my budget.

So far I've done a bunch of online research, thinking I want the 8 gallon biocube, are there many modifications that would need to be done to it?

I'm mainly thinking of putting the low maintenance corals in there, what are the best suggestions for those?

As for fish, I would be on top of the world if i could have a yellowtail blue damsel



and a small clownfish (should it be true percula or the oscellaris one?) in there. Is that possible?

Could anyone tell me what works well for the cleanup crew?

I'm still not completely sure what the whole setting up process is, my LFS showed me some bottle and said if you put that in the water you can put fish and live rock in it after 48 hours, is this a good idea?

Anyway, if anyone has any sort of advice on starting one of these babies, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks!

[dogstar74]

Best advice I can give you is to get the book "the new marine aquarium" it's the best 25 bucks you'll spend in this hobby. After reading that, I never lost a fish. I only started having trouble when I deviated from that Rx. It's been 10 years, and I still recommend that book.

I think you'll have trouble with those two fish choices. They are both in the same family and would probably fight. Actually, damsels are some of the most pugnacious fish on the market. But indeed they are some of the prettiest as well.

Good luck.
Aaron

[dogstar74]

Oh Yeah! welcome to Reef Central!

If you didn't see it, there is a forum for beginners. There, with a lot of research, you may find most of your answers to the questions you have. A lot of subjects regarding your nano cubes are posted here as well, so don't hesitate to ask them here, but some of these guys in this forum are doing some next level stuff. But jump around and see what catches your eye. Once you find a tank that you want yours to look like, then ask that user plenty of questions.

Cheers,
Aaron

[naughty]

Thanks very much for all your help!

I have been recommended that book by multiple people now and will definitely be checking it out. I looked a bit on the new to the hobby forums but it seems all their questions are geared more towards larger tanks, so I thought it would be more fitting to post in the forum specific to small tanks. Going to look more into other fish, i know i want a clown but i'll ask for help picking the other one later .

[naughty]

hey there! well i've done quite a bit more reading including the book you've recommended and have decided to go with the 14 gallon biocube and get the stand for it. i will be receiving it shortly and will start a journal thread then! in the process of figuring out some of the other equipment i'm going to have to get such as heaters and test kits and saltwater and live rock types, any input on those would be helpful

[SaltSolutions1]

Great to hear that you decided to go with 14g instead of 8g.

My advice is pretty much the same as above as far as read, read, and read and then read more.

It is extremely important to have patience in this hobby. I read somewhere on these forums when I was just starting out that the only thing that happens fast in this hobby is a disaster. And this statement could not be any more true. This pertains to adding fish, adding invertebrates, adding chemicals, adding anything for that matter.

Putting more than one fish in the 8g was gonna be pushing the bio-load limit a little bit, especially a clownfish. Those actually get pretty large. You may get away with one, maybe two in the 14g but not for a long time.

If you go to http://www.liveaquaria.com and type "nano fish" in the search box you'll see a very good selection of fish along with their MINIMUM tank requirements. I capitalized minimum because all of the tank requirements usually don't take into consideration the adult size of the species.

Feel free to ask me anything you'd like. I've been doing this a long time and have set up and maintained aquariums from 180g down to 5g reefs. This site is excellent. The information available here at Reef Central is priceless. The members are friendly and helpful.

Have a great day and I hope this helps.

[dogstar74]

Sounds like you're off to a good start and making informed decisions now. Great! Look forward to your build thread!
Aaron

[naughty]

thanks guys the build thread will be right here

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1951543

[SushiGirl]

Originally Posted by naughty

my LFS showed me some bottle and said if you put that in the water you can put fish and live rock in it after 48 hours, is this a good idea?

Everyone here gave you great advice, but I didn't see this addressed specifically & felt it should be. In a word, No. If your LFS is already starting to dispense this kind of (bad) advice, don't take their advice on anything. Research here or on the internet or other boards first, decide what you're going to do, and do that regardless of what your LFS tells you. You can still go there, just don't take their advice. They're in it to make money, and if your fish or corals die, they'll sell you more of them plus other "snake oil" solutions that won't work.

Nano tanks are a bit more of a challenge, since there is less water. Anything that fouls the water (or unstable parameters) will foul it more quickly than larger tanks. That said, my first tank was a 3 gallon & I had it for 4 years! Of course, it only took a year before I got a 10, then less than another year before I got a 38 LOL.

Also, the newbie threads & advice will still mostly apply to any size tank, plus, there's a Nano Reefs Board as well.

Welcome to RC and the hobby, it can be very rewarding!