New to reefing, but not to salt! Biocube 32 intro...

[jk_s124]

Welcome and nice cube fellow biocuber!

 

[SPR1968]

Very nice set up, Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Greetings everyone!

Long time lurker to the forums though I’ve just recently just begun to give any input/make posts as all of my questions have been answered by you guys/gals in previous posts. Anyway, a little about myself. I’m new to the reef keeping, but not to being a saltwater marine aquarium enthusiast. Beginning about circa 1997-ish,I started a FOWLR tank in a 55 gallon aquarium my neighbor gifted to me. For many years, I kept it thriving with fish and anemones, with basic filtration and hardly any water changes. The tank is still up and running with my brother-in-law as a freshwater oscar tank.

I now have a Biocube 32 which has been up for 6 months, tomorrow. On that occasion, I would like to share my setup for those who may be getting into the hobby. I have found success with this particular setup, not without my fair share of losses. The losses that I did experience however were admittedly mostly my fault and resulted from being impatient. I am learning from my mistakes, as they can be costly. It is true, patience is key in this hobby.

Red Sea Coral Pro Salt Mix
Seachem Laboratories Matrix Carbon (as needed)
Seachem Purigen
Seachem Phosguard (as needed)
BRS High Capacity GFO (as needed)

Dosing-

Jebao dp-4 dosing pump
EZ-Dose Rimless Tank AIO Soft Tube Dosing Line Holder 6mm (amazon)
Red Sea REEF FOUNDATION A/B/C
Red Sea Trace Colors
Red Sea REEF ENERGY AB+
Vodka
5 gallon weekly water change (minimum) (all filters changed)

Chamber 1-

Hydor slim skim nano skimmer (with mods)


Chamber 2-

inTank Media Basket
inTank Bonded Poly Filter Floss
inTank Fuge Basket
inTank Fish Saver Guard
100 micron polishing filter (as needed)
Polyfil (pillow stuffing) (as needed)
Poly Filter Floss (as needed)

LED Full Spectrum Aquarium Refugium Light on back glass, facing fuge basket (when running chaeto)
CPR Aquatics Nano Tumbler Media Reactor (in fuge basket when not running chaeto)

Chamber 3-

Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm Heater 150w
AQUPON Koi Pond Filter Media Pad (Amazon) (Pre-Pump Filtration between chambers 2&3)

Sicce SYNCRA SILENT 1.5 return PUMP (357 GPH)
ATO sensor

AutoAqua Smart ATO Micro
Vittles Vault Stackable Pet Food Container (for ATO water container, inside wicker basket to conceal)
inTank Fish Saver Guard

Flow-

Hydor Koralia Smart Wave controller

Hydor Koralia Nano Evolution 565 gph x2

Vivid Creative Aquatics - Coralife BioCube Slip-Fit Adapter – 20mm to 1/2in Loc-line with 1/2in Random Flow Generator – RFG050


BRS 4 stage RO/DI 75 GPD with po4/co2/SiO2 eliminator add on. 5 micron whole house pre-filter due to well water.


Lighting-
Steve's LEDs with UV upgrade and Hurricane controller.

Testing-
Hanna-
Marine salinity tester
Phoshpate ULR
Calcium
Alkalinity (dKH)
Salifert-
Magnesium
API-
Saltwater
Master Reef


Aquarium Note App for logging parameters.



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Close up of how the skimmer fits into chamber 1, no hood modification needed.

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Steve's LEDs upgrade. Best upgrade/investment you can make for this tank.

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Dosing tube setup.

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Chamber 2. inTank media basket

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I have a piece of tape marking the max water line when the pump is running. I base that on where the ATO sensor is placed as well. Along the back wall, I have another piece to mark the level when the pump is off to avoid overfilling.

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ATO reservoir

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ATO reservoir hidden

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Skimmer supported by a zip strip in the front and the magnets in the back.

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Welcome to R2R. Looks like a well planned system. Great pictures.

 

[Reefnman2]

Welcome to R2R, nice set up!

 

[F i s h y]

welcome to the party! Happy reefing!

 

[LiveWire]

Welcome to the REEF!!

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Fantastic start!

 

[0utrageousfun]

Thanks for sharing this! It's giving me a lot of great ideas for my setup. What sort of mods did you have to do to run the Hydor skimmer in chamber 1? I am looking to do something similar with a skimmer in one and InTank media/fuge baskets in chamber 2.

 

[KWT]

Welcome to R2R, come in sit down and relax, enjoy

 

[MERKEY]

HHello and welcome to R2R....many months ago hahaha

 

[maceto]

Welcome!

 

[WirelessMike]

Welcome to the reef! Sweet setup! Glad to have you here.

 

[Jeffcb]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[G Santana]

Welcome aboard

 

[Xyloxo]

Thanks for sharing this! It's giving me a lot of great ideas for my setup. What sort of mods did you have to do to run the Hydor skimmer in chamber 1? I am looking to do something similar with a skimmer in one and InTank media/fuge baskets in chamber 2.

The only mod really was the removal of the magnets from the back of the skimmer. Without those, it slides in perfect..

 

[Macbalacano]

Welcome! Very nice tank & set-up!

 

[ShepherdReefer]

Hello and welcome to the channel.