14 gallon bio cube

[Brian Therien]

brand new 14 gallon biocube. Starting the new project with the help of a friend's dad who had a 90 gallon for 12 years. Add ons: protein skimmer, middle chamber made into refugium, and water circulator. I added the live rock, live sand, and water yesterday, roughly 36 hours prior to noticing the death of corraline. On the highest point of my live rocks, a good amount of the corraline has turned white. It is dying. Did I have it open to the air for too long whilegs I was aquascaping? I should be upgrading my stock halogen bulbs to 12" LED strips within the next few weeks (for the ability to grow hard corals and possibly Anenomes) so the lighting, if it's a problem, will be changing. What are your thoughts or suggestions for the tank. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

 

[ndz98]

Welcome to r2r!

 

[Omar Torres]

First of all welcome to R2R.
Secondly, when posting it is a lot easier for us to help if you are more detailed with your questions.

Now, How long was the live rock out? Usually all live specimens (ie Live Rock and Sand) should be kept in water at all times. I would not recommend having them out unless they are in a wet towel. When coming in contact with air, most life will start dying off the rock. You will see this when your rock creates a white mucus barrier in the tank itself. This is due to all the life dying off. Not all of it will die off, but it depends on how long you kept it out. My 29g biocube has live rock that never touched air. I wanted to preserve all life on it. Also, The leds may be too dramatic for live rock right away. Are the leds dimmed or are they running 100%? leds are much harsher then other light sources when it comes to coral and other organisms. It should be gradually raised over a period of time to give all live in the tank time to acclimate to the light intensity. The bleaching you are seeing may be the light on the coral. What skimmer? Pictures also help. Water Paramaters also help. where did you get the salt water? Where did you get the live sand? all this is important.

hope this helps.

 

[Brian Therien]

I do not know my parameters because I was informed I do not need to buy a test kit as I am early in the cycling process. The LED's I have are not dimmed, but they aren't the strongest on the market. Just the add ons that fit into the stock slot. I bought the live sand (nature's ocean) reef sand. And the water they suggested the salt water with added calcium for th3 cycling proces. Well they wrapped the live rock in wet newspaper, maximum the live rock was not in direct contact with water would be 5 minutes as I was aquascaping. The skimmer is the coralife skimmer that fits in the 14 and 29 gallon biocubes.

 

[Brian Therien]

Welcome to r2r!

Thankyou very much

 

[Brian Therien]

And because the stock filter couldn't fit with the new protein skimmer this is what I have as my first line of filtration. After 24 hours it's very dark already, should I rinse it out during the cycling or wait until it is cycled

 

[Diesel]

I would wait till your cycle is complete.
Everything that you turn on that can reduce the bacteria you should wait for a week or so.
Lights aren't needed in the cycling process either.
Skimmer off for the first 5 days.

 

[Brian Therien]

I would wait till your cycle is complete.
Everything that you turn on that can reduce the bacteria you should wait for a week or so.
Lights aren't needed in the cycling process either.
Skimmer off for the first 5 days.

Ok. No water changes, do not clean filter, and protein skimmer off. Thankyou very much

 

[kschweer]

Welcome!

 

[cameronh]

Welcome to reef2reef!

 

[120reefkeeper]

 

[Brian Therien]

Does anyone know what kind of coral this is and if it's alive. I'm pretty sure it is but I'm only asking because it came on the live rock when I bought it. There's another piece elsewhere except that one is flat as this one is spherical