New Reefer needs some advice before getting started

[bark1ngspider]

Yes even with pellets they can still be tricky. If it was me I would start off with something cool like a pygmy wrasse and then after a couple of months get one but even the pros have a hard time with them... if you look up top ten note to get on mad hatters there like number 2

 

[micahsoft]

yeah, I wasn’t planning on getting one for at least 5 or 6 months of the tank being up. Hopefully I’ll talk myself out of it by then. Going to go with a pair of ocellaris clowns first. Maybe the long fin variety. My LFS had one in his display only reef And it was really nice looking.

 

[Ranjib]

Looking good. I own a bio cube and love it.
Your fish stocking plan is already at higher bioload level. Dragonets need frequent feeding, which will complicate things. I’ll recommend going bare bottom, and no hood (to allow kessil or ai prime mounting ). Definitely get an ro di unit (I recommend ro buddie ). An ato is a must . Pump looks great , but keep a backup handy. Sicce syncra is a good option. You’ll need additional power head if you plan to keep sps, but that can come lot later.



Godspeed .

 

[ks2509]

Thanks for that advice. Was planning on only a couple hermit crabs, and making sure there were plenty of empty shells. I use to have large land hermit crabs as a kid so I figured I’d need more shells. Is there a certain type of hermit that you find to be more peaceful with its fellow shelled neighbors? I’m really exited to get started, but and going to take it slow. Make sure I get everything planned out, cycle the tank for a couple weeks, then slowly add things a little bit at a time. And as always, change the plan when things go wrong.

I have only ever kept blue leg hermits so I can't speak on other types. They only killed the ones that fell and tiped over so just keep an eye out for upside down snails.

 

[micahsoft]

Looking good. I own a bio cube and love it.
Your fish stocking plan is already at higher bioload level. Dragonets need frequent feeding, which will complicate things. I’ll recommend going bare bottom, and no hood (to allow kessil or ai prime mounting ). Definitely get an ro di unit (I recommend ro buddie ). An ato is a must . Pump looks great , but keep a backup handy. Sicce syncra is a good option. You’ll need additional power head if you plan to keep sps, but that can come lot later.



Godspeed .

Thanks for the advice. I’m definetly going to instal an ATO. Probably In addition to the spare pump I’ll get a couple spare heaters so I can replace the one I have if it breaks and heat water changes before adding them in. Probably going to keep the hood for now. Not a huge fan of the look of the open top Biocube. Plus there’s a pesky feline that my wife is fond of that likes to go places she shouldn’t. (At least she not like my last cat that would ignore her water dish to drink all the water from a beta bowl and leave the poor thing in two inches of water)
Is they’re a big reason to upgrade the lighting in the cube? Or Can the upgrade be accomplish by installing different LEDs in the stock hood? I’ll take a look at the ro buddie and the sicce syncra.
any suggestions on building a reef pi setup? I have an extra pi 3 b+ and a zero w I’m not using right now.

 

[micahsoft]

I have only ever kept blue leg hermits so I can't speak on other types. They only killed the ones that fell and tiped over so just keep an eye out for upside down snails.

Thanks for the advice. From my research it sounded like the scarlets were the most peaceful. But I’ll keep my eyes out to flip any snails back to the upright position.