New to the hobby. Few questions

[Coral Hoarder]

Hey, welcome to the hobby

So you can definitely mix rock I wouldn't thought tends to look off instead I would get a few pieces of established rock to put in the back compartment .
Definitely buy new sand sand is cheep.why use someone's gross old problem sand. A few extra bucks goes along way. Definitely start by adding a few snails and hermit crabs when you start getting an algea bloom i would recomend doing a fish less cycle as its kinda hard on the fish.
The best way to clean your tank would be to go to Walmart and buy 3 gallons of vinegar will cost like 6 bucks an mix it with enough water to run the tank till its clean

[DKoKoMan]

As everyone has already stated above, these are all good options. At the end of the day mild Your Tank to your personality and personal taste. If you want that natural look of a Reef you may want to ditch the fake rock or limit it. Do your thing, ask questions and most of all have fun.

[RichKlit]

Thanks guys!!! Going super slow no rush at all. Got it set up, sand in and rock in!!! Looks so good IMO. Are there any upgrades I will need down the road? I have the standard 14 gallon biocube no upgrades?

[RichKlit]

Hello everyone, I have another question for you guys I was able to get a protein skimmer for my biocube and I installed it but it's not producing any bubbles and the water isn't even drawing up to the collection cup? Is it the air pressure or does it take time before bubbles occur?

[WarDog]

Skimmers tend not to work right away on a new tank simply because there is nothing for them to skim out yet. Patience. It always takes several days to tune a skimmer. Make a small adjustment and give it several hours to see the outcome.

[RichKlit]

Thank you I tried to YouTube and got no results and when I googled it it talked about micro bubbles spitting into the tank. Thanks again.