My first saltwater aquarium. 14g BioCube.

[color_copies]

Hello all,

Below are photos of my first saltwater aquarium, Its a 14 gallon biocube. I just finished putting it all together little over an hour ago, so there are no corals or fish yet, just sand and rocks right now, gotta wait for the cycle to finish. Right now its the basics, but i will be updating when major changes occur. I am 100% open to all comments and criticisms, after all this is my first saltwater aquarium and my knowledge is very limited.

Lets begin

The Aquarium
Coralife BioCube 14 gallon

The Powerheads
Hydor Koralia 425GPH

The Heater
AquaVia 50 Watt

The Thermometer

Light Timer

Refractometer
MarineDepot.com Brand

MarineDepot.com free T-Shirt

 

[Amba]

Great setup, looks like you did some research, some nice goodies you got there! Looking forward to your tank!

 

[ErinCahir]

Looks great!! And AWESOME shirt.

 

[Ted]

Looking good.

 

[Smitty]

Looks good so far.

 

[ZyberGoby]

nice start cant wait to see where your reef go's from here

 

[color_copies]

Nothing really new. I did you first water test and the results are below.

Ph: 8.4pH
Am: 0.50ppm
Ni: 0ppm
Na: 10ppm

 

[Ted]

coming along...

 

[color_copies]

I do have a question for everyone. Is having two 425GPH powerheads overkill or too much for the fish?

 

[cvcdrk]

Might be a little much, but I would test it out and see how it works. Along with the return, you're probably at about 75x turnover with the two Hydors. You can always point one against some glass to lessen the flow a bit. Try some different configurations and see how it works out. If necessary, remove one and you have a free powerhead to use when mixing water.

 

[Amba]

I would put one on the back wall and one on the side wall, both on the same side if that makes sense.

 

[color_copies]

Might be a little much, but I would test it out and see how it works. Along with the return, you're probably at about 75x turnover with the two Hydors. You can always point one against some glass to lessen the flow a bit. Try some different configurations and see how it works out. If necessary, remove one and you have a free powerhead to use when mixing water.

Im going to remove one once the tank is fully cycled. I just didnt want too much of a current for small fish.

 

[color_copies]

New water check update

Ph: 8.4pH
Am: 0.25ppm
Ni: 0ppm
Na: 0ppm

 

[TBrewerton]

Looks like you might be done! Photos :D

 

[color_copies]

I got my first critter for the tank. Its some sort of snail. A friend of mine gave me 6 of his many. I don't know what kind it is.

 

[ZyberGoby]

I got my first critter for the tank. Its some sort of snail. A friend of mine gave me 6 of his many. I don't know what kind it is.

it's a Nassarius snail great little tank mates eating meaty leftovers in your tank.:Cheers:

 

[color_copies]

More life for the tank. Scarlet Skunk shrimp. I do have one question; what are the "seed" like things in its tail?

 

[TBrewerton]

Says - "PhotoBucket - sorry this person moved or deleted this image"

You can upload images directly to the forums by clicking User CP at the top of the screen and then clicking on Pictures & Albums on the left hand side then create an album

 

[ZyberGoby]

well the photos wont show but the seed like things could be eggs. so your shrimp may be preggers. Photos would confirm this if they worked. hopefully you can get them to work so we can truly id what it is. But I'm betting its just egg clutches.

 

[color_copies]

Says - "PhotoBucket - sorry this person moved or deleted this image"

You can upload images directly to the forums by clicking User CP at the top of the screen and then clicking on Pictures & Albums on the left hand side then create an album

Fixed