Top Down From the Frankenstein Biocube 16 Gallon Reef

brannock_16 · May 26, 2020

brannock_16 · May 26, 2020

Apologies for the dirty sand/rock...this was immediately before my weekly water change (as everything was looking pretty happy).

Tank is a Biocube 16 (I think - cl find from years ago) that I've frankensteined with upgrades and is roughly 3 years old now:

* 16 gallon biocube
* AI prime HD light upgrade (with gutted stock hood)
* VorTech MP10wES pump
* Eheim return pump upgrade
* Biocube filter floss and carbon in back chambers

I try to keep this tank simple, as I have a 5 year old and 1.5 year old at home. No dosing/media reactors/skimmer/etc. Just weekly 3-5 gallon water changes and topping off with quality ro water as needed.

Livestock:

* 1 x clownfish (percula)
* 1 x banggai cardinalfish
Various snails and blue legged hermits

The only thing really missing from this photo is a new orange hammer I picked up to fill in the bottom left sand bed.

Bryan68 · May 26, 2020

Very nice!!!

brannock_16 · May 26, 2020

Bryan68 said:
Very nice!!!

Thank you!

I'm kind of dreading having to move it in 3 weeks to my new place. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly.

trvsty · May 26, 2020

great little tank! the coloration on that nem is crazy

Nick82187 · May 26, 2020

I can only hope to have a tank looking that nice one day! Love all the mix of colors!

brannock_16 · May 26, 2020

trvsty said:
great little tank! the coloration on that nem is crazy

Thank you!

If you can believe it, it was a $10 rescue Nem that was bleached out and about the size of a 50 cent piece when I got it. Since then it's grown to what you see in the photo and has even split once (the clone is immediately below the one in the pic).

brannock_16 · May 26, 2020

Nick82187 said:
I can only hope to have a tank looking that nice one day! Love all the mix of colors!

Thank you! Much appreciated.

TriggerFinger · May 26, 2020

Very impressive, the color pop is amazing. What are the bright orange zoas in the front right corner?

bsn_rn_cen · May 26, 2020

Nice tank brother

brannock_16 · May 26, 2020

TriggerFinger said:
Very impressive, the color pop is amazing. What are the bright orange zoas in the front right corner?

Thank you very much!

The bottom most layer was purchased as Gobstoppers, and the ones above that were purchased as Sunny Ds (all started from 2-3 polyp frags).

Unfortunately my Utter Chaos were grown over and choked out before I got around to fragging/relocating them. Haha

brannock_16 · May 26, 2020

bsn_rn_cen said:
Nice tank brother

Thank you kindly, sir!

TriggerFinger · May 26, 2020

I was hoping so @brannock_16 I have some coming in the mail next week, I hope they do this well in my tank!

Mr_Knightley · May 26, 2020

Gorgeous tank, I can't wait to see more of it!

brannock_16 · May 26, 2020

Mr_Knightley said:
Gorgeous tank, I can't wait to see more of it!

Thank you!

Well, it's a pretty small tank. Haha. It's not drilled, nor does it use an overflow. It's just got the basic aio back on it still.

But I certainly can post some front on, side, and stand shots of the tank for everyone, if they'd like to see them. Tomorrow is glass cleaning day, so I should be able to get some decent shots.

On that note, if anyone has a recommendation for a decent photo filtering app or a reef lens for photos via smart phone cameras (because still rocking a Google Pixel 2 XL, haha), I'm all ears! Sometimes it's difficult to capture the 'true eye color' of everything with the phone camera and led light.