I thought it was time to post a thread on my budget reef. I started with a 29 gallon biocube that I picked up for 125 in stl while at a conference. When the icestorm killed my tank a couple of years ago I kept the live rock in a tuff tub which it died and turned to dead rock which I started curing in early june. This was a long long process I got some dirty water from a buddy in stl and watched it cure. The beginning of august I went got the tank, sand , ect and filled the tank aquascaped, and watched impatiently. It was at this point I added instant ocean bio spira, which I am more than pleased to recommend to anyone. While the cycle was going I got an itchy dremel finger and began the diy to the filter and the hood. I replaced the stock fans, added a panorama pro led strip , modified the back with a skimmer , aquatic life nano (amazing little skimmer for $50), put together a media basket ( running purapads,chemipure,purigen) , created a fugr area on the left side of the filter rack. And now am adding live stock .... Enjoy