Hello, looking to get as much info as I can

Hello all, my name is Josh and I am just starting to get into the whole saltwater aquarium hobby, I have done freshwater before but I can see that salt is a whole new world. I joined this group hoping to just meet some new fellow hobbyists that are willing to help with some questions i might have. I am quite inexperienced and any help or tips anyone is willing to offer will be appreciated. With that said I just bought the biocube 29 and im hoping i made a fair purchase that will help me get some experience under my belt. Ultimately im just hoping to be able to keep a few fish and inverts in my tank for now and eventually move some coral in. Any suggestions on beginner fish or coral?

 

Hi and welcome LR!

Do a search on biocube modifications. Does yours have the PC lighting? If so, that will limit the types of corals you can keep to mostly softies. I started with a cube years ago. I had a pair of clowns, royal gramma and a yellow watchman goby in mine. I ended up upgrading to a bigger tank within a year. Take your time and be patient. Nothing good happens fast in this hobby. Ask as many questions as you need to b/c we are here to help.

 

Hi and welcome. Stay away from the damsels

 

Hey guys thanks for the reply. I have been doing some thorough research the past few days to make sure I do things right. As far as the lighting in the tank I'm not sure. But if I have to stick to the soft corals I'm okay with that cuz I actually find those the most interesting. I think I jave a good idea of the fish I want but now I'm into the whole other world of corals. Can you guys suggest any nice looking corals for me to start with? And maybe what I can put in there as far as a clean up crew?

 

And u said no damsels Aquarian? Do they cause too much trouble for the other fish? I was thinking i wanted to try a cheap fish for my first so in the unfortunate case that it does die I'm not out a lot of cash but with limited space I also don't want to get stuck with a fish that I would not normally choose for my tank. Like chromis for example, cheap but not particularly striking. Is the best route just to get a clown or two? They are awesome fish and I think I saw some in the 20$ range.

 

I agree with aquarian. Get a clown, they are just as tough except they are more tank friendly. They are extremely hard to catch once you want to get rid of them too, I had to disassemble my entire dt to catch one fish.

 

Thanks mariobros, what does everyone usually do when they do want to get rid of a fish? Will local stores buy them or what? I know the guy at my LFS said that if I bought this Toby puffer and it out grew my tank that he would take it back and give me another smaller one or similar sized fish. Is this usually the case or was he just being extra helpful?

 

That is the case. Typically trade or in store credit. I have 1 lfs that does a consignment. ... not to thrilled with that, but I have no room for frags.

 

well thats awesome though, i was always worried that i would be stuck with whatever i chose and thats it so at least i know you have a chance to experiment and not just lose the money you spend on fish. do you have any suggestions on corals i could start with?

 

Hey salt would upgrading the lighting in my biocube with the extra LEDs that it already has slots and is set up for be enough for other corals or would i need to replace the entire lighting system completely? Because it has extra slots for 4 more LEDs i believe or is even that still not enough?

 

Damsels are way to aggressive and territorial, your better with clowns (which are in the damsel family) but are much better fish.

 

Welcome aboard.

A clown or a blenny are 2 great starter fish, damsels can be very aggressive in a small tank, there are exceptions, but they're usually the very expensive less hardy damsels.

You can buy several different LED retrofit kits for the Biocube. I have a Steve's LED on my wife's tank and a Rapidled on mine, both work quite well. You can add controllers to LEDs and have a sunrise and sunset on them which makes it more natural.

 

Does it have tube lights in it that plug in on one end of the bulb? If so, then that is PC lighting. Some of the cubes now come with Halides or even LEDs. I don't know which you have but if you are unsure snap a pic and post it so we can help you figure it out.

 

I believe they are all LEDs here is what my lights look like

 

Thanks for the info Rob I think im gonna do the safe bet and start with one clownfish but as far as corals go im still kinda lost on what are good coral to start with besides LPS or SPS, i forgot which one is the easier one
Bubble corals have kind of stuck out in my mind as one of the corals i would like to have in my tank though i dont know how hardy they are compared to others.

 

Bubble corals are tough, that was my very first coral almost 30 years ago. They are low light corals and DO require small feedings weekly. They are also VERY aggressive corals and should be kept well away from others as they can send out sweepers and can kill corals that are placed too close to them.

 

Starter corals
SOFT CORALS Pretty much everything is good
Mushrooms, leather corals, Zoas, palys,

LPS
Frogspawn, torch coral, hammer coral, acan, dunken, pagoda cup, candy cane r trumpet coral

SPS (all SPS are more advanced)
ElkHorn, monticap, Montiporia Digtia (I think the rest are a bit more advanced)

Avoid at all cost
Carnation coral, flowerpot aka goniporia (sp), gorgonians, anemones of all types.

 

Pfft, I'd give him one of these bastard GBTAs to cycle with, I'm beginning to think they're indestructible, lol. WTF is a dunken coral?

 

What is a GBTA? Check it out, this is what I have so far. I decided to buy a pipe coral, it looked pretty and seems like they aren't too hard to keep alive and I got it pretty cheap. It was either this or a mushroom.