New to the site and saltwater. i have some questions

[gveng]

just wanted to say hi, long time freshwater fish keeper, brand new saltwater fish keeper. lol, i decided to go with an already established tank to jump start my new hobby.

i went with the 25g unknown brand cube w/ stand. i picked it up for $150.00 w/ all the chemicals, live rock, fish, automatic feeder, jugs, etc... the only down sides i've found so far is the stand will need to be painted, it has a lot of water stains and such and secondly the glass/plastic that covers the bulbs has a couple of cracks and from the looks of it its letting moister into the bulb area.

without anymore blabbing here are some pictures... i spent all morning cleaning the glass (previous owner kind of neglected it), arranging the rocks (i didn't like the dead coral) and kind'a trying to learn what i got myself into.

Before:


After:




and the questions:

what brand is this cube? here is the only logo i can find.


the cube has 3 switches in the back, 2 switches control the lights, but the 3rd switch has a cord that i don't know what it's used for.



according to the previous owner the tank is filtered by live rock but didn't go into my detail because i came pretty late to get the tank. from my understanding water goes into the right compartment where there is live rock, then flows into the left compartment where there is an air bubbler and one bio ball. from there it's pumped out into the tank. correct?


where do i point these? i haven't messed with them yet, but the tank did have some algae growth at the bottom of the glass. so i'm assuming there is no flow there?



-guy suggested i change 5 gallons of water every month. does this sound right?

-how long should the lights stay on? i don't have any coral yet, but do plan on buying some in the near future.

-the tank currently has crushed coral for substrate, but i want to change it to live sand... is this a good idea in an established tank? the tank has been up an running for about a year.

-can i hide the heater in the left compartment?

-i want to buy a skimmer... any suggestions?

-would a uv sterilizer do anything?

sorry for the long read and i really appreciate all the help.

[octoman2707]

Most of these are arguable but here is my opinion
UV sterilizers kill bacteria but some say they are useless are even kill good bacteria, and they expensive
its going to be hard to change the sand now , and it probably has some beneifical bacteria in it anyway
5 g of RO water per week sounds better
the heater shouldn't hurt if in one of those smaller compartments but that is were when water evaporates the water line in those goes down ,, i had same thing , but water level went to low and the heater was out of water and overheated and broke
lights 12-12 is a good place to start

[octoman2707]

O and the skimmer just beware of cheap ones(unless you plan on modifying it to improve its efficiency ) and one that wont fit the tank , cheap ones wont do more than make some bubbles and act like they work

And that might be a Biocube or a similar knockoff , but the extra cord if for moon light lEDs (maybe fans) , at least mine was LEDs

[gveng]

thanks!!

[octoman2707]

whats that blue fish?

[IridescentLily]

You've taken on a large responsibility.
I think that rocks that you're more interested in keeping the corals and fish thriving than the previous owner did.
So you kinda saved the tank (and tiny inhabitants) from dying.

From reading your post I would say you want to read up on the "cycling with rock", there are some threads specific about the basics of live rock part, and the importance of it, in this section which are "stuck" in place. Definitely read those first.
Yeah the Koralia type powerhead should be pointed wherever you think it needs more flow. Just as you thought, a place where algae is growing is good to point the flow toward.
Welcome to the hobby.
They'll tell you around here nothing good happens fast in this hobby.
But yet you're in the place or learning it in a "trial by fire" way lol.

Keep asking questions. :-)

[redsoxfan692]

Is that a Tang in there? If so, take it to your LFS for credit. It needs a 6ft tank.

Other than that, congrats on getting started up! I'll let the pros answer your other questions.

[lionfish_shane]

That blue fish is a yellowtail damsel. If you just moved the tank, keep an eye on your parameters. You may go thru a mini cycle from disturbing everything.

[redsoxfan692]

Good call. The pics were kinda blurry so I wasn't sure, and my internet is being stupid today so I didn't see the first couple pics until now.

/crawls away cursing the internet.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Originally Posted by redsoxfan692

Is that a Tang in there? If so, take it to your LFS for credit. It needs a 6ft tank.

Nope, yellow tail damsel.

You can swap out the crushed coral for sand but do it gradually to avoid creating a cycle. Remove a small section at a time and add the sand in then wait a week or so and repeat. The reason for this is that there is beneficial bacteria living in the crushed coral. If you remove the entire crushed coral bed you are removing that bacteria. Doing it slowly allows the bacteria time to adjust.