New fowlr 29 gallon bio cube

[Josh90]

Hi everyone I recently purchased a 29 gal bio cube. I'm going to run it as a fowlr, I currently have 20 pounds of live rock. And some live sand. I'm wondering if I'm ready for a cuc. My water parameters have been at a constant
Ph-7.8
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0

What type of cuc should I get if I'm ready?

[Parrothead]

Hi Josh,

Welcome to Reeflands

Lets start here
How long has your tank been set up?
What is you pH?

Now the bad news, your tank is not really big enough for 90% of all the fish you will see in your local fish store(lfs), you are going to be limited to 3 - 4 of the smaller fish you will see.

Lets cover the questions and we can go from there

Again Welcome to reeflands

[Ninong]

Hi Josh90,




Your pH of 7.8 is on the low side. It should be at least 7.9 and preferably around 8.2.

Unfortunately, your 29-gallon aquarium is too small for any of the sand-mopping cukes. They require a lot more open sand bed than that. And I don't think I would attempt any of the suspension-feeding cukes either in an aquarium as small as yours.

Good luck!

[Josh90]

4 weeks ph 7.8

[Parrothead]

quick question, have you ever shown any nitrates at all when you test the water????


Also, here's a thought, those bio cubes and other all in one saltwater tanks are designed to pretty much be a nano reef, have you thought of going that direction vs. fowlr? reason I ask is as I mentioned you are gonna be seriously limited on the number and size of fish you can keep.

[Josh90]

Yea I know I wanted a smaller tank with only a few fish for now do to my small apartment. How can I raise my ph? And no they have never had a reading for nitrates but I just now started checking for them yesterday. So it could of already happened. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

[Ninong]

One question about your pH is whether your testing is reliable. Another question is what time of day did you take the reading? Your pH readings will be lowest in the morning just after the lights come on and highest in the evening just before they go out. Even if you don't have corals, you do have live rock and that anemone, so you will have some respiration at night that will lower the pH.

Once you upgrade your lighting, you might want to consider choosing a method to maintain a balance between calcium, alkalinity and magnesium in your aquarium. If those are in balance, you usually won't have problems with pH.

Suggested reading:

Low pH: Causes and Cures
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

How to Select a Calcium and Alkalinity Supplementation Scheme
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

You might want to make sure that you are maintaining proper salinity for your anemone. These animals should be kept at natural seawater salinity. It is generally accepted that natural seawater salinity is 35 ppt (1.0264 SG). Some people recommend keeping fish-only aquariums at slightly lowered salinity (1.022-1.023 SG). Personally I think 1.024-1.025 SG would be more appropriate. However, for reef aquariums with corals, anemones, clams, etc., I see no good reason for keeping the salinity below 1.024 SG, with 1.025-1.026 SG being ideal.

For the time being, since your aquarium is relatively small (29 gallons) and its calcium demand is low, you should be able to maintain appropriate water parameters with regular water changes (maybe 15% every other week). Make sure that your new saltwater is mixed to the proper salinity and temperature.

[Parrothead]

Yea I know I wanted a smaller tank with only a few fish for now do to my small apartment. How can I raise my ph? And no they have never had a reading for nitrates but I just now started checking for them yesterday. So it could of already happened. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

During the nitrogen cycle you see amm. spike which converts to nitrites which will also spike, nitrites turn into nitrates which are usually always present in a tank, it's not something you would miss, as it doesn't fall off and disappear as does the amm. or nitrites. I would double check your nitrates and also check the exp. date of the nitrate test kit. All tanks generally show some nitrates at the end of the nitrogen cycle, that's why I asked about it......

[Josh90]

So has my cycle even started since I'm not getting a reading for those? I thought the live rock and sand where supposed to start the cycle. My test kit is the API saltwAter master test kit. And it's not expired.

[Ninong]

Josh,

If you set up your tank four weeks ago, chances are your initial cycle is complete, unless you started with some really raw, totally uncured live rock.

Reef aquariums go through a continuous cycle process that lasts for the first 18 months or so but what everyone calls "the cycle" is just the initial period when ammonia rises and then falls, nitrite rises and then falls and finally nitrate rises and then falls. You say you have 20 lbs of live rock and some live sand. Did you buy the live rock from an LFS and did they have it in their live rock holding tank for a period of time before you bought it? If so, your live rock was probably fully cured when you bought it.

If I had to guess, I would guess that your initial cycle is complete at this point.

P.S. -- I keep forgetting that this is a FOWLR tank. So ignore the references to "reef" tank; however, the advice is pretty much the same. Your tank has probably completed its initial cycle and you could add a few grazing snails. I would wait another week or two before adding your first fish.

Check out all the sticky threads that Lee has in this forum, including especially this one: Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium

[Josh90]

What cuc would u recommend for me?

[Ninong]

What cuc would u recommend for me?

Unfortunately, your 29-gallon aquarium is too small for any of the sand-mopping cukes. They require a lot more open sand bed than that. And I don't think I would attempt any of the suspension-feeding cukes either in an aquarium as small as yours.

Good luck!

Josh,

I already answered that question in Post #3.

[Josh90]

Sort what I meant to ask was how many snails?

[Ninong]

Sort what I meant to ask was how many snails?

I would go easy. Maybe just two or three grazing snails (e.g. trochus snails) for algae and algal films and two or three Nassarius snails for your sand bed. Trochus snails eat algae and Nassarius snails eat carrion and meaty detritus. If necessary, you could feed your snails a couple of times a week. I found that the sinking pellets designed for carnivores work great for Nassarius snails and sinking algae wafers work great for any algae-eating critters. The algae wafers (about the size of a dime) are sold as freshwater fish food.

In any case, go slow.