Fiji cube 81 ext upgrade

ks2509 · Sep 28, 2021

lfs got 6 captive bread yellow tangs in this weekend. Eating like pigs. Got it in an acclimation box in my wb for now until this tank has finished cycling. Hopefully it does well.

ks2509 · Oct 10, 2021

Cycle is done. Did a 40 gallon water change yesterday and then picked up 6 chromis today. Going to let them have the tank to themselves for a week or so then will the yellow tang. Hopefully all of my fish and corals will be moved over by Halloween.

ks2509 · Oct 11, 2021

Finally came out of hiding to get a picture of them. All are eating and looking happy.

ks2509 · Oct 14, 2021

Well after 4 days with fish and no rise in ammonia or nitrites the first test coral is in. A cheap $5 green chalice that almost died on me a couple years ago in a crash and has clawed its way back. If all goes well I'll slowly start moving corals over in a week or so. Also picked up a whitetail tang today. Didn't plan on one but my LFS got 2 beautiful ones today and it is one of my dream fish. So they are going to QT it for me and I'll bring it home in a month.

Mayacan · Oct 15, 2021

ks2509 said:
Well after 4 days with fish and no rise in ammonia or nitrites the first test coral is in. A cheap $5 green chalice that almost died on me a couple years ago in a crash and has clawed its way back. If all goes well I'll slowly start moving corals over in a week or so. Also picked up a whitetail tang today. Didn't plan on one but my LFS got 2 beautiful ones today and it is one of my dream fish. So they are going to QT it for me and I'll bring it home in a month.

That seems small for a multi year frag? I also just got a White tail Tomini tang (is that the one you are talking about?). Cool fish but he is getting bullied by my 2 spot bristletooth tank.

ks2509 · Oct 15, 2021

Mayacan said:
That seems small for a multi year frag? I also just got a White tail Tomini tang (is that the one you are talking about?). Cool fish but he is getting bullied by my 2 spot bristletooth tank.

It is small for an old frag. But it almost died this time last year when I had a big phosphate swing. It was only a speck of an eye left a few months ago. No I have a tomini as well this one's name is white tail bristle tooth tang.

ks2509 · Oct 16, 2021

Yellow tang has been doing awesome in the nem cube. Eating any and everything got some color starting to come through. So this morning decided to move it to the new tank and let it get settled before everything else gets added the end of the month.

Also moved a green torch from my 40 over it hasn't been doing very good the last few days retracting alot. Moved it yesterday afternoon and it's looking 10x better today. Also got a small trumpet coral from my lfs as another tester coral.

Very happy with the color of the corals under these illumagic blaze lights.

Mayacan · Oct 16, 2021

ks2509 said:
Yellow tang has been doing awesome in the nem cube. Eating any and everything got some color starting to come through. So this morning decided to move it to the new tank and let it get settled before everything else gets added the end of the month.

Also moved a green torch from my 40 over it hasn't been doing very good the last few days retracting alot. Moved it yesterday afternoon and it's looking 10x better today. Also got a small trumpet coral from my lfs as another tester coral.

Very happy with the color of the corals under these illumagic blaze lights.

Pics?

ks2509 · Oct 28, 2021

Sorry for the radio silence. Been busy with life but everything is looking great, the majority of the corals have been in for almost a week now and looking very good. Most everything has spent a couple days on the sand bed to acclimate to the stronger lights. This weekend I'm planning on bringing my new white tail tang home from the LFS, and I will add it my fox face and tomini in at the same time. After that I will be waiting on my lid before I move my 6 line Stripe blenny and corris wrasse over.

ks2509 · Oct 30, 2021

Brought home my new whitetail tang today and man is it stunning. Definitely going to have to glue corals down well with it in the tank.

ks2509 · Nov 30, 2021

Not a whole lot of new in the tank recently. Things are doing well took a few pictures today.

Jakels5253 · Mar 25, 2022

With the external overflow and plumbing what is the distance from wall to front of glass? After everything do you feel like this was big enough of an upgrade from a 40aio?

ks2509 · Mar 25, 2022

Jakels5253 said:
With the external overflow and plumbing what is the distance from wall to front of glass? After everything do you feel like this was big enough of an upgrade from a 40aio?

I have it setting 5.5" off the wall. I went this size because of the space on the wall I wanted it on. In hind sight I would have done their next size up of a similar 4 foot tank. There is more room on the wall than I thought. However I am happy with the size of the tank over my 40 aio.

Jakels5253 · Jun 7, 2022

How do you like the tank lid?

CoralB · Jun 7, 2022

I have a Fiji cube as well and love it . I would also suggest the octo regal series with the auto shut off switch in the skim mate cup . Great skimmers and dc power is the way to go.

ks2509 · Jun 10, 2022

Jakels5253 said:
How do you like the tank lid?

I love the lid fits perfectly.

ks2509 · Jun 10, 2022

Quick little updat. I am currently awaiting a replacement tank. Around the end of December I noticed a small air pocket in the front bottom seam. Contacted fiji cube and they said it was under warranty and would be replaced. However as stated that was 6 months ago and still awaiting the tank which I have been told is built and awaiting shipping for weeks now. As much as I love the look, dimensions, Stand, and sump I will probably never own another fiji cube product based solely on the customer service. Mainly the lack their of and how long they are taking to ship this replacement.

Mppp · Jun 15, 2022

ks2509 said:
Sorry for the radio silence. Been busy with life but everything is looking great, the majority of the corals have been in for almost a week now and looking very good. Most everything has spent a couple days on the sand bed to acclimate to the stronger lights. This weekend I'm planning on bringing my new white tail tang home from the LFS, and I will add it my fox face and tomini in at the same time. After that I will be waiting on my lid before I move my 6 line Stripe blenny and corris wrasse over.

Where did you get those trachs they are incredible?

ks2509 · Jul 6, 2023

Wow over a year without an update. New job and family time has taken most of my time as well as getting back into golf. The tank has been back up and running post replacement 5 or so months now. Took things slow getting back together and running. Lost a few fish and most of the corals while in the holding tank. Currently I for fish I have a biota yellow tang, tomini tang, 5 chromis, a yellow and 6 line wrasse, clown fish and a pygmy hawk fish. I have come to the conclusion that this is enough fish plenty of movement and nutrients are staying in the optimal levels.

About 2 months ago I saw that fiji cube came out with their own filter roller that is a drop in with their sumps. After a couple days of reading reviews I decided to pull the trigger and get one. After discovering that the silencer plates are a must have item for it and lower flow its working like a champ. It does take some fidgeting with it to get it inplace when the sump is in the stand. But the extra 5 min hassle every other month to me is worth it.

As far as coral go I have had several blastos acans and favia that were doing great so when a couple local people had some Monti caps for free I grabbed a red and purple one and then a green one from a LFS for $15. They have been doing great and entrusting down and growing great for over a month now. In the last couple weeks I have added a couple cheaper acros and torts from other locals reefers.

The last week I have been looking into dosing kalk mainly for Cal and Alk. The idea if one supplement for the two big elements and ph is a huge draw for me. After alot of research as normal for me I settled on a saturated solution dosed overnight to start. Then all day if needed. I purchased a 20L from Petco for $27 for my reservoir to mix the kalk in. It fits perfectly beside the tank. I got a single versa dosing pump to dose it almost continuously over night.

The plan was to eventually get a full apex with trident but when I went in to my LFS today to get the versa I got a great deal on the APEX jr which for now will do everything I need until I can save up for the EB382 and Trident. Which I am fine with because the Ph monitoring will be good to help set the dosing schedule and I can easily keep testing alk and cal manualy a couple days a week. Hopefully I'll have that up and running by the end of July after my son's birthday and family vacation is done.

If anyone has any input on kalk dosing please let me know. My levels are staying good now with weekly 25% waterchanges but I would like to be able to do smaller ones once I get kalk going. I plan to start with a couple hundred ml a night when the ph is the lowest and testing daily to see how I need to adjust.

Sorry for the long winded update I'll try to keep it shorter from now on.

ks2509 · Jul 10, 2023

Got my Apex Jr set up yesterday, just as easy as I have heard every one say it was. Next weekend I will be setting up my kalkwasser dosing system once I have a decent trend of ph and dkh. I plan on starting out fairly slow with the kalk at 1 tsp/gal and about half of my evap rate /day which is ~2700ml mostly dosed overnight to start since ph is lowest overnight. Not 100% on what brand of kalk I will be using most likely it will be either scheme, brs, or brightwell. For the main fact they are available at multiple LFS and with issues with online Stocking in the past id prefer to be able to have a store backup.