New to hobby

jasonb40

jasonb40

New member
Hi everbody name is jason. I have a biocube 14 with stock pump, matrix instead of bio balls, and max jet 400 circulating pump. 20 pounds live sand and 14 pounds live rock. Orange clown, blood shrimp, 3 red scarlet hemits, and 5 snails. Thinking about adding a skimmer in chamber 1, adding more matrix in chamber 2, and replacing sponge with purigen. Also have small colony of zoas and palys. Tanks been running for 3 months. Just looking to see if this is good idea to keep nitrates down. I do 3 gallon water change every week.
 
Hello Jason. Welcome to CR!

How high are your nitrates? A skimmer and just regular WCs should keep the level down.
 
Skimmer is great for removing organics before they start breaking down into the nitrogen cycle. I've heard some good things about matrix too. I've never used purigen though. Sounds like you got this handled, and welcome to the site!
 
Welcome!

Sounds like you are off to a great start! I'm a fan of both Matrix and Purigen, as both have worked well for me.

If I were you, I'd definitely add a skimmer and I'd scrutinize how much your feeding. Whatever you put in the tank has to go somewhere :)

Pics!
 
ultimatemj said:
Welcome!

Sounds like you are off to a great start! I'm a fan of both Matrix and Purigen, as both have worked well for me.

If I were you, I'd definitely add a skimmer and I'd scrutinize how much your feeding. Whatever you put in the tank has to go somewhere :)

Pics!
Click to expand...
Feed every other day with frozen shrimp. Just started rinsing it first this week. Heard that helps.
 
Frequency + quantity fed = Total feed

Rinsing looks to be a myth, I don't bother.

For reference, I've got a wrasse, a dwarf angel, 2 cardinals, a goby, and an assessor and I'm feeding 1/4 of a frozen mysis cube every morning and every other evening...and I'm fairly sure I'm over feeding...when I started I was feeding a cube at a time :embarassed: and my nitrates were fairly high :rofl:
 
Hi, Jason. Welcome.

So I started the hobby with a 29 biocube about 4-5 months ago. I also had nitrate problem with a skimmer, limited feeding, weekly water changes, etc. The only thing that helped me to bring the nitrate down to 0 was vodka dosing and having chaeto in the fuge. I now feed my fish as much as I want.
 
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