Pennsylvania Biocube 32 Gallon

[ride4mud]

Fish

• Ocellaris Clownfish (2)
• Purple Fire Fish (1)
• Yellowbelly Damsel (1)
• Ruby Red Dragonet (1)

Coral

• Blue Tip Hammer
• Finger Leather
• Green Star
• Red Dotty Mushroom

Invertebrate

• Astrea Snail (2)
• Turbo Snail (2)
• Margaria Snail (2)
• Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit (2)
• Scarlet Red Leg Hermit (3)
• Blood Red Fire Shrimp (1)

Tank

• Stock Pump
• Jabao RW-4
• Aquatic Life 115 Skimmer
• Aquatic Life RO Buddie
• Zcro Digital Thermometer

I have the skimmer in the 2nd chamber. Pain in the but with the changing water level. The next mod I am contemplating is removing the lid from the hinge and mounting it above the tank by ~2 inches. My hope is to get the skimmer into chamber one and to let the cube breath better. It seems to run hot to me ... water ~82 degrees during the day.

Cheers.

 

[ndrwater]

Looking great so far!! Keep the updates coming!!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Looks good! Welcome to the forum!

 

[Katrina71]

If you want to keep your hood, look at Steve's LED upgrade. If you want to go topless, there are tons of lights to choose from. The hood is limiting. I have one.

 

[Raege]

Welcome to R2R. Nice tank.
My oldest has the Bio 32 and with this summers heat waves in Mass he found just leaving the small hatch open with fan blowing toward tank helped keep temp inline just more Evaporation and topping off.
Will be following along be interesting to see your mods to the lid

 

[Katrina71]

I'm thinking about drilling holes in mine just for exchange.

 

[Mikedawg]

Fish

• Ocellaris Clownfish (2)
• Purple Fire Fish (1)
• Yellowbelly Damsel (1)
• Ruby Red Dragonet (1)

Coral

• Blue Tip Hammer
• Finger Leather
• Green Star
• Red Dotty Mushroom

Invertebrate

• Astrea Snail (2)
• Turbo Snail (2)
• Margaria Snail (2)
• Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit (2)
• Scarlet Red Leg Hermit (3)
• Blood Red Fire Shrimp (1)

Tank

• Stock Pump
• Jabao RW-4
• Aquatic Life 115 Skimmer
• Aquatic Life RO Buddie
• Zcro Digital Thermometer

I have the skimmer in the 2nd chamber. Pain in the but with the changing water level. The next mod I am contemplating is removing the lid from the hinge and mounting it above the tank by ~2 inches. My hope is to get the skimmer into chamber one and to let the cube breath better. It seems to run hot to me ... water ~82 degrees during the day.

Cheers.

Good setup. I used plastic coated magnets to set my Aquatic Life at correct height (one inside skimmer; other external) in the second chamber and it was easy to adjust vertically. I also propped open the feeding door and covered with plastic mesh to increase escape of hot air; fan in the Cube is not sufficient if your ambient temp is high. I enjoyed my tank and would recommend you consider adding an Intank media basket if you want to improve filtration.

 

[Chrisfish]

Welcome to R2R

 

[Katrina71]

Mikedawg knows his cubes!!! Taught me a lot.

 

[Electricianreefer]

Looks great

 

[Mikedawg]

I'm thinking about drilling holes in mine just for exchange.

I never thought of that but it makes sense; certainly better than floating ice cubes, especially when they are needed for more important things.

 

[Katrina71]

I never thought of that but it makes sense; certainly better than floating ice cubes, especially when they are needed for more important things.

Exactly!

 

[ride4mud]

Good setup. I used plastic coated magnets to set my Aquatic Life at correct height (one inside skimmer; other external) in the second chamber and it was easy to adjust vertically. I also propped open the feeding door and covered with plastic mesh to increase escape of hot air; fan in the Cube is not sufficient if your ambient temp is high. I enjoyed my tank and would recommend you consider adding an Intank media basket if you want to improve filtration.

My current filtration setup:

1. (2) Eshopps Large Foam Filters in chamber 2 (against chamber 1 wall)
2. (2) POLYBIO POLY FILTER. Cut in squares sitting on top of foam filters. Water overflow from chamber 1 to poly filter (two stacked) then to foam filters.
3. 6.5 ounce Chemipure Elite in bottom of chamber 2 in front of filter to chamber 3.

I found this setup online when researching the Biocube. It looked reasonable and was inexpensive at the time. Suggestions? Good / bad?

Thanks everyone! Really loving the saltwater tank.

 

[Krzydmnd]

My current filtration setup:

1. (2) Eshopps Large Foam Filters in chamber 2 (against chamber 1 wall)
2. (2) POLYBIO POLY FILTER. Cut in squares sitting on top of foam filters. Water overflow from chamber 1 to poly filter (two stacked) then to foam filters.
3. 6.5 ounce Chemipure Elite in bottom of chamber 2 in front of filter to chamber 3.

I found this setup online when researching the Biocube. It looked reasonable and was inexpensive at the time. Suggestions? Good / bad?

Thanks everyone! Really loving the saltwater tank.

You really don't need foam filters, they will be one nutrient havens unless you are very consistent with cleaning them every other day. Many ppl remove the foam from the biocube immediately, including small one at the bottom of the pump chamber.

floss filters in your media rack are enough IME with the biocube.

 

[Mikedawg]

My current filtration setup:

1. (2) Eshopps Large Foam Filters in chamber 2 (against chamber 1 wall)
2. (2) POLYBIO POLY FILTER. Cut in squares sitting on top of foam filters. Water overflow from chamber 1 to poly filter (two stacked) then to foam filters.
3. 6.5 ounce Chemipure Elite in bottom of chamber 2 in front of filter to chamber 3.

I found this setup online when researching the Biocube. It looked reasonable and was inexpensive at the time. Suggestions? Good / bad?

Thanks everyone! Really loving the saltwater tank.

Glad things are going well. You've got a lot of rock for housing bacteria which will be your main filter "material" once it has matured. For mechanical I would just use one or the other products (above) in order to keep flow at maximum; btw, some reefers on this forum have upgraded to the Sicce 2.0 with a random flow generator nozzle head and it makes a significant difference. And, I wouldn't automatically use the Elite unless your water parameters suggest to do so. It might be that simple is better for this size tank and current bioload.
Good luck.

 

[BedrockIOMC]

Looking good, what is your temp set at? I don't have a issue with temp on mine. I have it set at 77 and it never gets to 80 and hold very well.

 

[ride4mud]

Looking good, what is your temp set at? I don't have a issue with temp on mine. I have it set at 77 and it never gets to 80 and hold very well.

I have an auto heater preset at 78. The temp of the tank is definitely room temp dependent. Cool night last night (~57) and the tank was at 77.6 this morning and holding well.

 

[BedrockIOMC]

I have an auto heater preset at 78. The temp of the tank is definitely room temp dependent. Cool night last night (~57) and the tank was at 77.6 this morning and holding well.

ANd its jumping up tp 80? wow! wonder why mine never jumps that high. what is your house temp during the day? I do keep mine pretty cool.

 

[William Morris]

This fan fits right into the back opening of the Biocube: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0049RNVXI/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Works great - keeps my tank at 77-78 degrees. No modifications are necessary either.
Will need to run an ATO because of the evaporation.
I would also recommend Steve's LED kit - easy to install and gives you a wide spectrum to work with.

 

[ride4mud]

Have been trying to get a skimmer to work for about three weeks with no luck. It would only fit in chamber 2 which is a constant struggle with the water level changing. So today I raised the roof! I now have the skimmer running in chamber 1.