sheepdog76
Active Member
Wanted to share a DIY mod I just did on my Skimmer in my Biocube.
I have an Aquatic Life Skimmer which has been doing great however as many of you will understand it can be a pain to empty. To make mine harder it is in a place that I don't have easy access to the back chambers. Many times I would goto empty the skimmer it would move making for a five to sometimes 15 minute adjustment period to get it skimming right again. So Im sure I'm not the first or only but I set out to make a "No Touch" method to empty the collection cup. I got hose from Lowes (cause its less then LFS stuff) and took a 90deg elbow from my collection of Air pump parts, a condiment bottle, and an Aqualift. I cut the top of the bottle just enough to fit the hose in tight and hooked it to the lift pump. on the other side I took off the top of the skimmer which on this one has holes already and put one end of the 90 in and connected a small piece of hose then ran the rest to my pump. I also hooked the power to my home automation so I can control it through wifi and set it up to go on and off. Works great and now all I do it unscrew the bottle and empty it.
I have an Aquatic Life Skimmer which has been doing great however as many of you will understand it can be a pain to empty. To make mine harder it is in a place that I don't have easy access to the back chambers. Many times I would goto empty the skimmer it would move making for a five to sometimes 15 minute adjustment period to get it skimming right again. So Im sure I'm not the first or only but I set out to make a "No Touch" method to empty the collection cup. I got hose from Lowes (cause its less then LFS stuff) and took a 90deg elbow from my collection of Air pump parts, a condiment bottle, and an Aqualift. I cut the top of the bottle just enough to fit the hose in tight and hooked it to the lift pump. on the other side I took off the top of the skimmer which on this one has holes already and put one end of the 90 in and connected a small piece of hose then ran the rest to my pump. I also hooked the power to my home automation so I can control it through wifi and set it up to go on and off. Works great and now all I do it unscrew the bottle and empty it.
sheepdog76
Active Member
Thanks it works really well. Yes I did do the other mod on the air intake with a Biocube you find you pretty much need to because its near impossible to set it up and not suck water. However when I did mine the little nub the line is attached they say becarful not to break..... mine broke but that turned out to work great also I just hooked the line to the pump and it fit right through the opening and at the end I put the air adjustment. You can also see in my pics I have taken a small piece of 5/8id hose and hooked it to the knob that open and closes the intake because you will also find that in the biocube if you have bigger hands trying to adjust it and not move the skimmer is a pain as well. With the hose the adjustment is easy and accessible.
carmine leonetti
Community Member
I'm waiting on my jbj 45 gallon to be delivered my first plug in system I'll post pics already got a kessil 160 and a tunze silent 1020 gph return to ramp up the flow rate can't wait
What do you keep your lights settings at? I just recently upgraded with the nano retro 5 channel w/ ML. I am seeing some great growth in the tank, but I'm always curious to what others with the same setup are doing.My BC14.. 14 lb real reef rock / live sand hardware includes RW4, BC skimmer, BC inline uv and I just upgraded to nanobox LED's with bluefish controller.
TetoCCB
Active Member
How many Coralife BioCube14s are out there?...
I started mine in December of last year...
This is day one - everything stock... 12 lbs live rock, 20 lbs live sand, and two damsels...
Two weeks...
The damsels didn't work for me, so I removed the live rock, scooped 'em out and returned them... Got two true percula clowns, a frogspawn coral, a hammer coral, two trochus snails, and two blue legged hermit crabs...
Plenty of hitchhikers...Novice that I am, I even found the aiptasia interesting...
I started mine in December of last year...
This is day one - everything stock... 12 lbs live rock, 20 lbs live sand, and two damsels...
Two weeks...
The damsels didn't work for me, so I removed the live rock, scooped 'em out and returned them... Got two true percula clowns, a frogspawn coral, a hammer coral, two trochus snails, and two blue legged hermit crabs...
Plenty of hitchhikers...Novice that I am, I even found the aiptasia interesting...
saltyphish
Certified Sand Groomer
just redid mine little barren on corals still waiting on my frags to become algae free. but here it is.
TetoCCB
Active Member
My first modification: removed bio balls and added matrix... added, and later removed, rock...
The final modification restored the full trickle plate with filter pad... added bugs and an astrea snail...
Removed stock lighting and added a Current TrueLumen kit...
Most recent shots, below... Just over four months in...
The final modification restored the full trickle plate with filter pad... added bugs and an astrea snail...
Removed stock lighting and added a Current TrueLumen kit...
Most recent shots, below... Just over four months in...
saltyphish
Certified Sand Groomer
I use this same pump in my 29 biocube and love it.
My first upgrade to my BC29
revhtree
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My Tank Thread
My Aquarium Showcase
- Joined
- May 8, 2006
- Messages
- 49,235
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Nice cubes!
Bubbles3660
New Member
- Joined
- May 4, 2016
- Messages
- 5
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- 8
My old BC14 with pimped out Reefkeeper and HQI MOD.
7TanksNCounting
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2016
- Messages
- 16
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- 16
Biocube 29
Eshopps Nano skimmer (75gr)
Hydor flat heater
In-Tank Media basket
Coralife UV
Sicce pump
Vortech MP10
LEDS
All sustained for 6+mons in this tank, which was all fragged off or purchased when downsizing from my 3yr old established 120.
Rainbow bubble tip anemone
Rainbow fusion palyenthoas
Heavy blue splash chalice
Purple hearts paly
War favia
Cupids montipora
Gator chalice
Purple faced palys
Teal king zooanthid
Blue and red rhodactis mushroom
Ultra blue gongipora
ORA Red goniopora
Dragon soul favia
Red tree sponge
Rainbow mini maxi anemone (2)
Rainbow acans
Green/orange lobo
Blastomussa merletti
Rainbow montipora
Superman montipora
Meteorshower montipora
Tridacna Clams
Green birdsnest coral
Diamond watchman goby
Mandrin goby
Blue hippo tang (fiji)
Royal gamma
Sixline wrasse
Cleaner shrimp
Ocolaris clown
Eshopps Nano skimmer (75gr)
Hydor flat heater
In-Tank Media basket
Coralife UV
Sicce pump
Vortech MP10
LEDS
All sustained for 6+mons in this tank, which was all fragged off or purchased when downsizing from my 3yr old established 120.
Rainbow bubble tip anemone
Rainbow fusion palyenthoas
Heavy blue splash chalice
Purple hearts paly
War favia
Cupids montipora
Gator chalice
Purple faced palys
Teal king zooanthid
Blue and red rhodactis mushroom
Ultra blue gongipora
ORA Red goniopora
Dragon soul favia
Red tree sponge
Rainbow mini maxi anemone (2)
Rainbow acans
Green/orange lobo
Blastomussa merletti
Rainbow montipora
Superman montipora
Meteorshower montipora
Tridacna Clams
Green birdsnest coral
Diamond watchman goby
Mandrin goby
Blue hippo tang (fiji)
Royal gamma
Sixline wrasse
Cleaner shrimp
Ocolaris clown
7TanksNCounting
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2016
- Messages
- 16
- Reaction score
- 16
Beautiful!My old BC14 with pimped out Reefkeeper and HQI MOD.
pdiehm
Valuable Member
Will take pics once the light is on.
29 BioCube, with 20-25lbs of Marco rocks, and 3 spheres of marinepure in the return chamber.
Tropic Eden reef flakes, just under 30lb bag.
Aquamaxx HOB-1 skimmer with the intake and output in chamber 1, flowing into an InTank Rack with floss, Purigen and ChemiPure Blue. Media, i try to change monthly, filter pad changed every 2-3 days.
Aquamaxx FRS GFO reactor, 1/4 cup changed monthly.
AI Prime light using ONCheffy's light schedule from nano-reef.com.
Currently have a favia, fluorescent green polyps and some Zoa's. A GBTA, that hosts my male clown (presumably male), a female clown, a bi-Color blenny, pair of peppermint shrimp, and a cleaner shrimp.
Haven't quite got the jist of things yet, haven't seen a ton of growth from the corals, and I recently lost my firefish, who was having problems getting food because the clowns and the blenny are flat out pigs. Came home one day to find his dead body in my anemone who was happy to have a meal. The clown, not so happy to see something other than him in the anemone.
29 BioCube, with 20-25lbs of Marco rocks, and 3 spheres of marinepure in the return chamber.
Tropic Eden reef flakes, just under 30lb bag.
Aquamaxx HOB-1 skimmer with the intake and output in chamber 1, flowing into an InTank Rack with floss, Purigen and ChemiPure Blue. Media, i try to change monthly, filter pad changed every 2-3 days.
Aquamaxx FRS GFO reactor, 1/4 cup changed monthly.
AI Prime light using ONCheffy's light schedule from nano-reef.com.
Currently have a favia, fluorescent green polyps and some Zoa's. A GBTA, that hosts my male clown (presumably male), a female clown, a bi-Color blenny, pair of peppermint shrimp, and a cleaner shrimp.
Haven't quite got the jist of things yet, haven't seen a ton of growth from the corals, and I recently lost my firefish, who was having problems getting food because the clowns and the blenny are flat out pigs. Came home one day to find his dead body in my anemone who was happy to have a meal. The clown, not so happy to see something other than him in the anemone.
