Low Salinity

Harold Green · Jul 13, 2015

The easiest way to raise the tank salinity is to make up some fresh water at 1.o26 or higher. Set it up to drip slowly into the tank removing old tank water as room is need. Depending on the size of your tank this may still take a week to get the water where you want. Meanwhile take your plastic hydrometer to your lfs and have them check it against the refractometer they use for their tanks. You didn't mention what type of lighting you have on the tank. Led's will eliminate most of the heat gain from lighting. If it's high room temperature you may have to set the ac down below the tank temperature and add the fan to the tank. Make sure there's no sunlight hitting the tank or you'll get a lot of heat gain.

Th3D0n · Jul 13, 2015

Thanks again guys. I will definitely take my hydrometer to my LFS to ensure that it is accurate while I wait for my refractometer to arrive. @Harold Green the lighting I currently have in my tank is just the stock lighting that comes with the biocube 29. I have been researching some LED lighting and some mods that other have done online but still trying to decide what might be best for my tank as I want to have fish and coral.

Harold Green · Jul 13, 2015

The temperature issue is one of the reasons most enthusiasts recommend a large tank to start with. The temperature will change more slowly in a larger volume of water making it less apt to fluctuate rapidly, far worse than a little high or low. If your biocube has a complete top enclosure you may have to prop it open to allow more heat to escape. I'm not familiar with your lighting in a biocube. You may want to research the light you have and find out what corals will survive at that intensity before buying corals. Soft corals can often survive on lower lighting than the hard corals require.

Th3D0n · Jul 13, 2015

Thanks again @Harold Green. For the lighting on the Biocube, it comes with 1 LED strip, 1 36w actinic light and 1 36w 10k light.

Robertchrisroph · Jul 13, 2015

If you have any of those blue frozen things you put in lunch boxes. I use them if my temp is to high, I just put in sump and temps drop. I think there called blue ice

Th3D0n · Jul 13, 2015

After looking a bit more on the lighting for my biocube there are 4 additional slots for some LED strips and I was curious if I would have sufficient lighting with 4 of the white strips and the 1 blue LED that came with the tank? The idea is to safe some money on electricity by just using the LED's. Thanks.

Link to the White LED strip: http://www.amazon.com/Coralife-Energy-Savers-Biocube-Light/dp/B00890FCS8/ref=pd_bxgy_199_text_y

Harold Green · Jul 13, 2015

A lot of hobbyists use from 2 to 1 up to 4 to 1 blue to white. The tank may look dim but the blue provides more usable light for the corals.

Th3D0n · Jul 13, 2015

Good to know. So it would be better to buy more of the blue strips that white right?

Harold Green · Jul 13, 2015

If you're going to be trying for corals I would definitely go for more blue than white. Perhaps three blues to two whites or four blues to one white. Anyone out there familiar with lighting these biocubes with led's?

Th3D0n · Jul 13, 2015

Ok perfect. I know that I have 4 more expansion slots for additional LED's and I can either buy white or blue. Again, the tank does come with 1 strip of blue LED "moon lights" in addition to the actinic and 10k lights.

13jake · Jul 13, 2015

I once went to a Lfs and they where running their salinity at 1.018 because it is supposed to eliminate Infections and stuff. So you should be fine if you slowly acclimate the fish.