I am creating a new FijiCube 22.4 AIO build. I have under a year of experience keeping fish and this will be my first build over 14 gallons, with a protein skimmer, refugium, and hopefully room for more soon like UV or dosers.
Components:
- Fijicube 22.4g PRO AIO Aquarium(Includes filter sock holder, Media basket, and a 300 GPH controllable DC pump)
-Fiji Cube Large Hang on Back Refugium
--Refugium Light TBA
- Innovative marine Mighty Jet Mini (For Refugium)
-IceCap k1-50 Protein Skimmer
-Hygger Mini Wave Maker
-Auto Aqua Smart ATO
-Helio 100w PTC heater (Might need more juice here my house is typically around 67F)
-Kessil A160WE w/ A Series mounting arm
-Kessil Spectral Controller
-12" AI Blade Glow
The fiji cube AIO has a very spacious 4 inch deep rear chamber and the HoB refugium addon gives me about a 7 gallon filter chamber. First I have taken advantage of this with an Icecap k1-50 protein skimmer. Everyone says nano skimmers are terrible and this is like a full size skimmer but with a 4"x4.5" footprint. However, the first problem I am having is the skimmer has 2 wings around the pump and it forces it to be in one specific direction. In the current position it leaves about .2" between the pump and the walls of the sump(2nd picture). This skimmer hangs on the edge and doesn't balance on those wings so I might just remove them.
Refugium: I am really hoping the HoB addon works well but I've never had a refugium before. An added benefit of the HoB is it comes with a place for me to install probes and dosing lines in the future. The mightyjet mini is leftover from my previous build and will give me control of the flow going through. I'm not sure what light yet but I am thinking about trying my fluval 13.5s original light. Will it grow other algae's instead of the right algae's? I could also get a kessil h80. It could connect to my controller which would be nice but I'm not sure the small lens would be a good fit for the fiji cube HoB refugium. I could aim it at the back of the refugium to hit all of the box instead of just the top but then it would be going through the acrylic. I need to investigate more to find if that is a good idea.
Wavemaker: Hygger Mini wavemaker is amazing. I really like how wide the flow is for the smaller aquariums I have. The controller works well. It isn't intuitive to control but it works.
Lighting: I was drawn to the kessil shimmer early when I had a bad experience with a cheap LED bar. I am going to try and mix the AI Blade Glow for some color pop and use the kessil whites for fish color/shimmer and hopefully I can find some pretty cool mixes between the two. I think it is a great mix of lights but we will see. Mounting is going to be awkward; I am hoping AI's elevated tank mount is tall enough to mount it beside the kessil without shadows. If not I am going to have to jerry rig it to my Kessil mounting arm somehow.
Fish stocking: Frankly, I am reckless when it comes to buying fish so I always end up with another aquarium lol! This aquarium is to hopefully go back down to one to focus all my effort on. I had 3 but I shut down the quarantine/returned a fish to store and am hoping to combine my 2 remaining tanks into this one.
I have 2 clown fish, a Yellow watchman goby, and a rain ford goby all about 2". I'd like to get them living comfortably in this cube for a couple years and then upgrading
I have separated the clowns and the yellow watchman goby before but I am hoping it was because the size of the aquarium. I don't know if this will work or for how long.
I'm still trying to decide how to mechanically filter. I could buy 14 filter socks then learn to toss them in the washing machine once a month. I could also cut some egg crate, put it in the filter sock holder, and cut filter pads to fit. Not sure what will keep my protein skimmer/ATO running better or if the extra work is worth it for cleaner water.
Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any advice!
Components:
- Fijicube 22.4g PRO AIO Aquarium(Includes filter sock holder, Media basket, and a 300 GPH controllable DC pump)
-Fiji Cube Large Hang on Back Refugium
--Refugium Light TBA
- Innovative marine Mighty Jet Mini (For Refugium)
-IceCap k1-50 Protein Skimmer
-Hygger Mini Wave Maker
-Auto Aqua Smart ATO
-Helio 100w PTC heater (Might need more juice here my house is typically around 67F)
-Kessil A160WE w/ A Series mounting arm
-Kessil Spectral Controller
-12" AI Blade Glow
The fiji cube AIO has a very spacious 4 inch deep rear chamber and the HoB refugium addon gives me about a 7 gallon filter chamber. First I have taken advantage of this with an Icecap k1-50 protein skimmer. Everyone says nano skimmers are terrible and this is like a full size skimmer but with a 4"x4.5" footprint. However, the first problem I am having is the skimmer has 2 wings around the pump and it forces it to be in one specific direction. In the current position it leaves about .2" between the pump and the walls of the sump(2nd picture). This skimmer hangs on the edge and doesn't balance on those wings so I might just remove them.
Refugium: I am really hoping the HoB addon works well but I've never had a refugium before. An added benefit of the HoB is it comes with a place for me to install probes and dosing lines in the future. The mightyjet mini is leftover from my previous build and will give me control of the flow going through. I'm not sure what light yet but I am thinking about trying my fluval 13.5s original light. Will it grow other algae's instead of the right algae's? I could also get a kessil h80. It could connect to my controller which would be nice but I'm not sure the small lens would be a good fit for the fiji cube HoB refugium. I could aim it at the back of the refugium to hit all of the box instead of just the top but then it would be going through the acrylic. I need to investigate more to find if that is a good idea.
Wavemaker: Hygger Mini wavemaker is amazing. I really like how wide the flow is for the smaller aquariums I have. The controller works well. It isn't intuitive to control but it works.
Lighting: I was drawn to the kessil shimmer early when I had a bad experience with a cheap LED bar. I am going to try and mix the AI Blade Glow for some color pop and use the kessil whites for fish color/shimmer and hopefully I can find some pretty cool mixes between the two. I think it is a great mix of lights but we will see. Mounting is going to be awkward; I am hoping AI's elevated tank mount is tall enough to mount it beside the kessil without shadows. If not I am going to have to jerry rig it to my Kessil mounting arm somehow.
Fish stocking: Frankly, I am reckless when it comes to buying fish so I always end up with another aquarium lol! This aquarium is to hopefully go back down to one to focus all my effort on. I had 3 but I shut down the quarantine/returned a fish to store and am hoping to combine my 2 remaining tanks into this one.
I have 2 clown fish, a Yellow watchman goby, and a rain ford goby all about 2". I'd like to get them living comfortably in this cube for a couple years and then upgrading
I have separated the clowns and the yellow watchman goby before but I am hoping it was because the size of the aquarium. I don't know if this will work or for how long.
I'm still trying to decide how to mechanically filter. I could buy 14 filter socks then learn to toss them in the washing machine once a month. I could also cut some egg crate, put it in the filter sock holder, and cut filter pads to fit. Not sure what will keep my protein skimmer/ATO running better or if the extra work is worth it for cleaner water.
Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any advice!
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