New to hobby, have some questions

Whats up everybody, Im new to the hobby and have a few questions. I have a 14g Biocube and right now its in the process of cycling. There are 3 different lights One light is pure white, the other is purple/Fluorescent and the last one is the Lunar blue moon light. Is there a certain rotation or schedule i should have these on? Also I plan on buying Livestock next weekend sometime, should I do a water change before that? And how long should i wait to add Inverts like Shrimps, Snails, Crabs. etc.

Thank You!

ohhh my you opened up a can of worms!!! hehe

Prolly the first think you will want to do is start testing your water - yes, you will want to do a water change, but, when your tests tell you so!!

As for testing -
Test for - Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate - you should see a spike in each of these, and once you get to where you have zero Ammonia, and Nitrites, and very little nitrates, then you are safe to start adding things like snails, crabs, corals, fish, and whatever else you want! The slower the better tho

Read read read!! Thats my best recommendation right now... read every thread you can think of about tanks, equipment, nitrogen cycles, and test

Ohhh and on the lighting - most people leave the moonlights on 24/7 (or on just at night) and the purple and white one on during the day, say 10-12 hours or so a day

Originally Posted by estanoche

ohhh my you opened up a can of worms!!! hehe

Prolly the first think you will want to do is start testing your water - yes, you will want to do a water change, but, when your tests tell you so!!

As for testing -
Test for - Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate - you should see a spike in each of these, and once you get to where you have zero Ammonia, and Nitrites, and very little nitrates, then you are safe to start adding things like snails, crabs, corals, fish, and whatever else you want! The slower the better tho

Read read read!! Thats my best recommendation right now... read every thread you can think of about tanks, equipment, nitrogen cycles, and test

Ohhh and on the lighting - most people leave the moonlights on 24/7 (or on just at night) and the purple and white one on during the day, say 10-12 hours or so a day

+1 to Joanne's advice. The most important virtue to have in this hobby - PATIENCE!! It's aggravating for sure, but will be the best for you in the end. The worst thing to do is buy and add livestock before your tank is done cycling. Not only will you lose a lot of fish and corals in the process, but you will start to lose confidence. Patience, patience, patience!!

Oh, and

The less water the more room for error, so you'll need to pay more attention then some of us w/ bigger tanks. I also recommend keeping water mixed and on hand at all times for an emergency water change, just in case. And +1 on the read everything you can.

First off WELCOME TO THE SITE!!!!! It's great to have you here.



Also, how long has your tank been running? You're going to want to wait till the cycle is done before adding any livestock. That can take up to 8 weeks, but normally 4-6 weeks.

If you have food for the inverts you can add them, by food I mean algae or fish poop. lol. So usually just about the same time you add fish.

One more thing to remember on top of all the testing is to only add one fish about every two weeks or so. That way your tank will have enough time to catch up on the nitrogen cycle and help you to maintain better levels.

They are also right on the smaller tanks being harder to keep level. The small ones are so cool though. I've had a few and always end up putting everything back in my big tank.

Can you put up pics of your setup? Maybe tell us more about what equipment you have?

Live rock is something cool and important to have also. In those smaller tanks it can be the majority of your filtration.

This isnt the best picture my cell phone is not that good lol i will get better ones soon


Thanks for all of the advice, I left out some stuff i see lol. My tank has been cycling for about two weeks and have done a couple of test myself and took a sample to my local aquarium store. As of right now my levels seem to be mostly good but i was going to continue doing a test every few days or so for about another week and then bring a sample to my aquarium store again. Ive been browsing this site and talking to some people at an aquarium store in my area awhile before starting my tank up. Also my girlfriend has 2 freshwater tanks so she has been helping me too. I just wanted to clear up a few things i didnt really explain anything at first but i hope this helps some! Thanks again

ohhh awesome!!

Well 1 note on your clean up crew - remember, snails poop too!! So don't add too many

Hi bizzy! sorry I missed your original welcome! so......... .....patience is the hardest part of this hobby, but boy does it pay off!

so by now you've had your tank cycling for almost 6 weeks right? what are the parameters?
have you added any livestock?

Bizzy. Hows the new tank doing?